Grandma and Opa's Visit

Thursday

Ypao beach a lot of snorkeling and relaxing. This was the day EVERYONE got sunburned. We put quite a bit of sunscreen on but it didn't seem to work. Backs, arms, legs and faces.

Just sitting in the ocean relaxing

Daniel, Kathryn and Ralph going out for a snorkel

This is Daniel's first coconut tree that he got to the top of.

He picked two coconuts

As soon as we got home he macheted them open

Friday

We went to this cave a swam a bit, it was weird for me because I have never been in a cave.

It was kind of a bust because all these high school students were there. Apparently its a great skipping school hang out. Then we tried to go to this lookout point at Santa Rosa (an old volcano) and Daniel's truck got stuck in the deep mud.

We had to call a tow. We actually found the point after we were towed.

Then we went home and watched the BYU game over at the Jimenes' house. Great food and company but a bad game.

Saturday

The day we were going to try to save face from the day before so we woke early and went to the swap meet/flea market. It was kind of fun. We bought crocks for Alexander and a new swimsuit for Eva. They had fresh crabs for sale (all still alive) and the fish were still flopping around. Daniel hates flea markets and any kind of shopping so we were out of there fast and decided to try to catch a dolphin tour boat ride. So we went down to Agat. Not too far away about 40 minutes or a half hour. So off we went. It started raining really badly. We got down there and found out we had to charter a boat. We were thinking about it but then it just wouldn't stop raining (when its raining you can't see much in the ocean here, you need the sun out) so we decided not to go and as I was trying to reverse my car (the murano) wouldn't gas. It moved but wouldn't respond to me pushing on the gas. So I went and parked and called Daniel to
come back. He tried to drive the car and turned it off and it wouldn't turn back on. So we called another tow man (30 minutes away) He came and tried to revive the car but forgot his jumper cables (he was the car help person our insurance provides) we found out nothing was working so he had to tow the car to Tamuning (20 minutes away from our house, 30 minutes from Agat). Augustine came and rescued us. We were there for about 2 hours so we looked up and down the marina and saw angel fish and a squid or octopus.

Daniel went to the Mechanic and he said the alternator and battery needed to be replace. 500 dollars. But Augustine has the same car as we do but in black and told me the alternators were recalled back in '05. So as soon as I got home I googled it and sure enough the alternators were all recalled for our car. So I called the Nissan Dealership and sure enough they are going to replace the alternator for free. Our day was all gone by the time all this happened. As soon as we got home Alexander laid on the floor and fell asleep (those are the new crocks he got that morning).

So Daniel and I got home and got ready for Rachel's baptism (I spoke and he said a prayer). We went and got some special brownies (not from that 70's show) and some Hawaiian food but everyone was exhausted at the end of the night. So our last days were not that great but I hope the majority of their stay was fun.

Sunday

The blessing which I already blogged and Kathryn and Ralph left. They are off to Tokyo they should be landing in an hour or so. I hope they see a lot and take pictures.

This is right before we went to the airport.

Alexander is still really sad. He knows they are gone and keeps expecting them to come through the door.

The 4th continued

The first picture is the spot Magellan landed in Guam. He stopped in Guam on one of his trips around the globe and then he stopped in Fiji after us and they killed him. The Picture of me Lete and Bubba is at an old spanish fort with its old cannons. The picture of Lete with the white statue is the sad monument for Magellan. We drove back and forth trying to find it and it was actually at the first place I stopped. It was well hidden and not very big considering its a monument for Magellan. I mean the monument for the pope that visited is like huge and even rotates (well it used to until it broke and no one will fix it) so yeah I guess world history isn't seen as important here!!!. The picture with Daniel and the coconut is Daniel getting a coconut for me. We finally found a coco palm short enough to get one without climbing. My mother had to help me peel it. it was very difficult the green stuff on the outside is extremely strong. The last picture is of my mum and Lete sitting on the painted stone showing Talofofo Falls. We didn't get to go there because when we went they were closing and you have to pay to get in to hike to it which is dumb. So maybe later daniel and I will go with the kids and hike it. We didn't get to see the famous replica cave of Yokoi the Japanese soldier who survived for 30 something years here without being found. The day was really fun.

On another note my mother and sister left Sunday evening and monday morning the rainy season began. It is pouring right now still and the thunder last night was so loud!! I think it is because of the Ocean because I have never heard it that loud anywhere. Well thats all for now. We are fine here.

Oh I forgot I think our camera really is broken now so I am not sure when you will see more pictures. It does funny things and puts lines all over the picture and shows no part of the picture and a new camera is not on the list of stuff we plan to get in the next few weeks so the next pictures of Eva and Alexander might be of her really old looking instead of newborn looking.

Miriam

Daniels Job

I am just posting a few pictures of me at Work. This is Daniel by the way. I really enjoy the work aspect of my job. I enjoy being outside and not stuck in the office all day, but having the office option available to me if it gets to hot outside. What I really like about the job is seeing the success of my work, being able to see the fruits of my labors. It is just nice to see accomplishments from my crew and me. What I don't like about my work is trying to please 3 or 4 different people on the same project who all have different opinions about how the Landscaping should be done. For example in the last picture it is a beautiful potted Bougainvillea bush on the pool deck at one of the properties I work at. I think it looks beautiful, and that is after weeks or months of training my crew how to prune for flowers, fertilizing, and water stressing it just a little to get maximum flowers. Apparently now it needs to be trimmed down to just twigs because it looks "overgrown". So this is what I deal with on a daily basis at my job. And it is not enough that I have to satisfy 3 or 4 different opinions at each property, sometimes those opinions change. Oh well, as long as the properties look good to me.

The other pictures are of some coconut tree pruning we do around the poolside at our properties. Normally we use a bucket truck because it is way more efficient. When we can't though we go up the trees. You will notice the one picture of me being a great supervisor. My hands were sweating just watching him go up the tree. In another picture you will see one of the guys truly enjoying the fruits of his labor. It was funny because this was one of the last trees we were doing and there was a crowd watching us prune and knock the coconuts off (apparently the hotels really worry about coconuts falling off trees and hitting a guest in the head) and when one of workers opened one up and drank from it all the guests came over and asked of they could try one. So there we were cutting off coconut tops so guest could drink from them. One of these days I am going to get trained on climbing trees and soon you will see Daniel up in a tree pruning the coconuts.