Amy's Favorite Places

In celebration of Marcy's long journey to Guam we have been adventuring around Guam. I am in people shock after living by myself for the past few months, having not just one, but two people in the house is a real treat. Tom was feeling sick early in the week, but he has just about kicked it and is feeling much better.

Lucky for us, Marcy arrived on Monday night and we had Tuesday off from work for Veteran's Day. We took her on a drive around the rather lovely southern side of the island. Here are a couple of pics for Fort Soledad.

Yesterday we went to my absolute favorite place on the island, Talofofo Caves. I have been there a few times and I LOVE it. I found a "new" cave yesterday (new to me). That one involved crawling on our bellies to get through the small opening at the beginning. The reward was a beautiful view on the cliff side.

Unfortunately, we had to go back out the way we got through, because even though the cave did come out to daylight on the cliffside, there was nowhere to go from there. You can see how thrilled Marcy was with this...

Actually, Marcy liked the caves too.

Today we had a picnic at Ritidian Point, which is my favorite beach on the island. After the beach we stopped in Tumon for gellato and a trip to the Underwater World aquarium.

Tomorrow we are flying to Rota for two nights so Marcy can see more of the Marianas. Rota is a pretty little island with nothing to do but relax.

There are more pictures from the visit on Flickr.

Here is one more of Tom from our kayaking trip a couple weekends ago...

And one of the two of us...

Visitor Update

Sorry for the lack of blogging.  We have been doing a lot of stuff lately and Marcy is here to visit!  She came on Monday night and will be here until next week.  I have pictures from our kayak trip two weekends ago to add to the blog.  More to come soon..

Happy Halloween!

Tom is home! He arrived on Tuesday at around noon. We have been having a grand time since, it is great to have him home.

Last night we went to a small Halloween party at our neighbor's house. I reworked a costume idea I used a few years ago, I think it came out better this time. Here we are, the bather and the bath...

I hope you all had a fun Halloween, despite the snow for some people. My costume would not have been so good for Trick or Treating in the snow.

Sylvester likes to blog..

I ran to get my camera the other day when I saw Sylvester posed at the computer... funny!

The trip to Japan two weekends ago was good. Tom and I had a nice time in Yokusuka and Yokohama. We just happened on a street jazz festival and an Oktoberfest in Yokohama. I am very happy that I went, it has made these last couple of weeks bearable. He should be home early this week. I don't know exactly when yet, but soon! Hurray!

Last weekend I ran in a relay team for a 20K. We each had a 5K leg, which is not bad except that we had to be there at 5am, which meant getting up before 4am. I ran the last leg, so I did not even start until close to 7am. We did alright. None of us are particularly fast runners, so we made a good team. My leg was almost all up hill - arg. I did not do too much for the rest of the day last Sunday besides lay by the pool and sleep.

Nothing exciting this weekend either. I did a lot of cleaning and baked pumpkin scones for Tom's homecoming. It is amazing that he has been gone since June! So much has happened since June. Hopefully there will not be anymore long trips between now and next June when we depart Guam.

The Jet Set

Well, I am flying to Japan again tomorrow. Since Tom is delayed and Tuesday was his birthday and Friday is our Anniversary, I am going up to see him again. We have been married for four years tomorrow. It was quite smart of us to get married on a holiday weekend! We get a guaranteed day off every few years for celebration. I don't plan on taking my camera to Japan this time since we will not be leaving Yokosuka, but I will update on the trip when I get back.

Enjoy Columbus Day!

Indiana Jones Adventure

Today I went on a hike with my neighbors from across the street to an old, overgrown burial temple built by a wealthy Chinese man in the 1970's for his tomb. He is no longer buried there because his family had his remains moved to China, but the remains of the temple are still there, and it would have been quite a sight when it was new. Here are a few shots of the entrance arch and the burial area.
There was a paved walkway with several stairs leading from the entrance to the burial sight. As you can see, the whole place is quite overgrown now:

The hike was a nice welcome back to Guam after my latest round of travel. It was a lovely day out, no rain for the whole time we hiked.

Too Funny!

Tom sent me this photo of himself, Matt (his CO) and a random baby. I think it is hilarious!

Where will we go?

I have been keeping pretty busy, but not really doing much too exciting lately. I dove a few times in the last couple weeks, no pictures because my underwater camera died.

I also did a couple of "failed" hikes. "Failed" meaning that I did not find the destination or even the trail I was looking for. I am going again this afternoon with a friend, and I am determined to find the waterfall this time!

My big accomplishment over Labor Day weekend was to clean my closet, and I have actually kept it that way since then. I am working on establishing a good habit before Tom comes home (which is now sometime later in October, by the way, we don't know when). You know, they say it takes weeks to establish a good habit and luckily for me, I have those weeks to work with. Now, if that is not seeing the upside in a crappy, long separation from Tom, I don't know what is. So, anyway, although not exciting, here is a picture of the closet as it has been for the past two weeks. I am determined this time to break a life-long messy closet habit.

Perhaps by showing everyone this picture, I will feel bound to keeping it organized and clean.

I also flew up to Saipan and back for work last week. I was there for a couple of days and got to have dinner with our friends Julie and Rusty Friday night.

You may be wondering what the title of this post is all about. Well, the Shopping List of jobs for our impending transfer came out. So, now the reality that we are almost done with this tour in Guam is very real. We are looking over the list, trying to find the best jobs which will allow us co-location. This is not as easy a task as it may sound. Unfortunately, since Tom is delayed, we will not be able to talk in person about this rather large decision, and will have to do it over the phone. We will make do. I am more disappointed that he will not be home for his Birthday or our Wedding Anniversary this year. I even already have his birthday present (unheard of for me, as most of you know). Speaking of Birthdays, Happy (slightly belated) Birthday to Peggy and Karen, who share a birthday in August!

Next weekend I fly to Virginia again. I have a week of training in Williamsburg, then I will spend the weekend with Karen and Rahul and Krishnan. I am looking forward to that, although not necessarily to the flights...

Hopefully I will have some waterfall pics to post later on today.

Update: Ah, Guam. Turns out that the only place it rained today was in the valley where the waterfall I intended to hike to is. Good for falling water, bad for hikers. We abandoned the hike about halfway in for fear of the muddy, slippery, steep traverse back out. Somehow it would be very embarrassing for two CG officers to need inland SAR assistance. I will not be deterred, though, I will see Upper Sigua Falls if it is the last thing I do on Guam!