Where America's Day Begins...

We just got back from our vacation to Guam, we had so much fun! This is the first real vacation we've been on since our honeymoon, so we were overdue. We started by taking the bullet train to Tokyo, then another train to the airport. We got to Guam around 2am, but Annelise had spent so much time cooped up on our laps that we were up until almost 4 playing with her. The next day we explored the island a little, we saw an old friend at the BX on the Air Force base, and I ate a DELICIOUS cheeseburger! We stopped at a Spanish fort to take some pics and met two Buddhist monks! On Friday, the sky was pretty overcast so we ate some delicious Mexican food and then went to an aquarium. We love taking Annelise to aquariums, she adores water and fish and this aquarium had a good-sized tunnel to walk through with all kinds of fun sea life. John bought Annelise a stuffed sea turtle that we named Squirt, like the turtle in Finding Nemo. We ended up at one of the public beaches that afternoon, Annelise loved the 80 degree water and was delighted to sit in the sand and splash around. She also tried to eat some sand, and judging by her diapers I didn't do a very good job of keeping the sand out of her mouth. That night we got some delicious steak at Tony Roma's. I know, I'm the idiot American who goes on vacation to a tropical island and eats American food, but I miss American food! I haven't found a decent steak in Misawa and the Homemade 1/2 pound Cheeseburger at Jeff's Pirate's Cove was so good I almost cried.

On Saturday, John went scuba diving and Annelise and I slept late. That afternoon we did some more exploring, and we did the same on Sunday. Sunday morning John went diving again and Annelise and I walked down to the Denny's for breakfast. The kid is so used to Japanese people fawning all over her that I think she was a little disappointed by her reception on Guam. People thought she was cute, but they had better things to do than play with her. That afternoon we took some pictures at the place where Ferdinand Magellan landed on Guam in 1512, I felt very historical. Monday morning we planned on driving to the Southern tip of the island and going to a resort, but Annelise was having a bad morning and we ended up just hanging around the room. That night, we went to dinner at Rhonda and Popeye's house, it was so nice to spend some time with old friends. It made me feel like we're in the 'real' Air Force, we've been around long enough to go to dinner with people we used to be stationed with. (p.s., we just found out that some of our old neighbors from Cannon are moving here, that makes me feel even more grown up! People always talk about how small the Air Force is and how you meet up with people you used to be stationed with and now it's happening. With John's career field, we're very likely to switch types of bases with each move so I had given up hope on being stationed with people I actually know.)

Tuesday morning we went back to the AF base to do a little more shopping and mail our souvenirs home so we wouldn't have to cart them with us on the planes and trains. We went to the beach on the navy base that afternoon and had a wonderful time. I bought a floatie for Annelise, which she did not like very much because it impeded her splashing abilities, and we spent some time in the deeper water so Annelise could actually swim with the fishies while John snorkeled a bit. Then we sat on the beach, on the beautiful sand, in the crystal-clear water, and just enjoyed some time together as a family.

We had a wonderful vacation, even if Annelise misbehaved on the train rides back. She spent the first night in Guam in a 'fort' that we made by blocking off the space between the two beds with pillows and a suitcase, but then we bought a pack-n-play for her to sleep in the rest of the week. It would have cost us almost $200 to rent a crib from the hotel so instead we bought an $80 pack-n-play and I didn't have to worry about how clean the sheets and mattress were. We ate some delicious food, including pancakes that were the size of dinner plates and almost an inch thick. When you go to Jan Z's for breakfast, you only order one pancake. They have delicious tropical tea on the island, it's mango-flavored and doesn't need any sugar. I looked up the brand they serve at the Mexican restaurant and I can't afford it, it's $9 for 6 bags!

Annelise is now crawling like a champ and pulling up on anything that stands still. She also got her fourth tooth on the train ride to Tokyo and now gives the sweetest baby kisses ever. We took lots of pictures while we were on Guam, we even figured out how to use the timer so that we have a few (crooked) family pictures. Check ajminear.shutterfly.com for the pics, hope you enjoy them!