Getting Brave!

Thursday is playgroup at our house. Katelee discovered the red wagon this week and Sister was more than happy to pull her around. These two shots say more than a thousand words!

This afternoon we headed to the beachside playground with some friends. Liv was off playing, but I got this shot of Katelee in the sand before my camera battery died. She was a little unsteady-

Happenings

The days simply fly by here on the island. We try to stay busy to help the time pass quickly, which seems to be working. I will try to get better about keeping this thing updated! Here are some random shots just to let you all know what we have been doing.

Last weekend, Guam was visited by the Christain band Sonic Flood. Our chapel praise team went to the concert on Saturday night and then hung out a little while at the beach with them on Sunday-there is a pic from Sunday, but I don't have it yet. Sunday, the two protestent services combined, so we got to worship with the gospel folks and man can they rock it out! The energy was contagious and we all had a ball! It was also very cool to spend time with the praise team outside of chapel-what an amazing group.

Eating out is something we tend to do 2-3 times per week, and on this particular occation, we were at a local chinese favorite enjoying some honey walnut shrimp (although, I am certain not as good as what LaDonna made!) They love the kids at this place and always bring out a dish of ice cream for each. As you can see, Katelee enjoyed it immensely-as she licked the dish clean!

We are certainly a household of girls-playing dress-up is a regular thing- and not just dressup-it has to be princess dress up. Here, Liv poses with the crown our friend made her. She has told me just recently that she is not a princess, though. At least not yet. Not until she marries Nolan...oh, my. She is not even 4 yet! I tell her she is a princess to Dad and I, but she just shrugs her shoulders as if to say, "whatever mom, I already told you. Not til I'm married. To Nolan" Lorri, what are we going to do with these two?

Reading Nook

Not too long ago, I reagrranged furniture in our living room and ended up creating a little reading nook for the girls. It has recently become a favorite spot-especially for Katelee...check it out!

The girls sharing some quiet time in the afternoon.

On this day, all Katelee wanted to do was cuddle up with teddy and share a story...if only he were not so big. As you can see, little deters her once she sets her mind.

Not feeling so great, but cute as can be.


I was again taken by her quiet time and snuck over to catch the moment on film...

Her reaction was less than thrilled-she is basically telling me off in this shot!

Bummin' Around

At the end of a very uneventful day (I did not even get out of my jammies til after noon) the girls and I headed down to Tumon Bay with some friends. It was a bit cool-for Guam-but a good time was had by all. Katelee has officially become a beach baby-she was loving the water and would go in all by herself! She even laughed when she fell and got her face in the water. Olivia had fun and is such a great big sister. After getting the water bugs cleaned up, we headed to dinner. Taco salad. Yum. Now the girs are both snug in bed-as I plan to be soon! Only got the one photo, but that is something!

Yesterday, Saturday, we met a friend down south at Jeff's Pirates' Cove for fun in the sun and fellowship and food. After lunch, we headed down to some tidal pools to play and swim. It was awesome-some locals had their music turned up and the afternoon had a real down-home feel to it. Enjoy some shots of our day!

Dressing up in Mama's clothes already!

Oops! Sandy Face!

Is this supposed to be relaxing? (Heidi with the girls.)

The sun-it's too bright!

Peek-A-Boo!

Back to Reality

LaDonna took off this morning at 7:30 in a flood of tears-both hers and Olivia's. Needing a jump start into life just the 3 of us again, we joined some friends at the BX for a little retail therapy, lunch and playtime at the new tumble area. In this first photo, Liv shows off one of her new dresses we got 3 for $10 at Chamorro Village. So pretty. Poor Katelee is exhausted in the pic of her, as you can probably tell. Mama is too, so off to bed I go!

Vacation Day 11

The fun times have come to an end and in the morning we will put Grandma Donner on an airplane to go home-back to reality, cold, fires, own bed...it is not all bad! And back to reality for us too. What a great transition back to Guam for the girls and I. It was a bit difficult to come back and not have Mark here, but we were kicked into high gear with Donner here. It helped a ton. So, thanks Grandma Donner for coming half way around the world to help us settle in-yeah, not much settling was done...thank goodness! Today we enjoyed a real "beach day" at Tumon Bay followed by a trip to Chamorro Village. Good times were had by all. The spot on the beach we found was perfect-sand toys/play houses for the girls in the shade and sun and waves when we all got hot. We will definately hit that spot up again.

Vacation Day 10

Ten down, one to go. Can we add a few more please? I think we are both in denial about getting back to work as usual. Today, we lunched on honey walnut shrimp (Chinese!) before heading to the tidal pools down south. We also checked out Namo Falls, which was a beautiful botanical garden and waterfall that sits off the beaten path. Then it was around the southern end of the island to meet the fruit guy. Liv and Katelee rode a carabou. Kate was scared until the beast started to move and then she just giggled with delight. It was the funniest thing! Then we went to Jan Z's for burgers and sweet potato fries by the dock-perfect evening for it. We then barely made it for sunset at Two Lover's Point-no pics there, though because Katelee fell asleep in the car so Grandma Donner and Liv just ran up to the rail for a quick peek. We tried to find an alternate route home, but ended up on a beach I had never heard of before. Cool find-I can't wait to get back and check it out a little more thoroughly!

Vacation Day 9

Day 9 already? The time is just flying by! This is going to be a quick one and will try to add more tomorrow, but it is late and it has been a super busy day. We started the day with a new decal for the truck so we can get on base-important stuff. Then we headed to Ross with friends, shopped, had food and headed to Navy for some beach time. San Luis was beautiful, although it was pretty overcast. Still, we got some great pics! Enjoy!

Climbing Trees

Playing in the Sand

Splashing Mom

Vacation Day 8

Today was a laid back day. We started with church-and Grandma got the brunt of the duty of getting the girls ready for it so I could go sing with the praise team. Thank You, Grandma Donner! Then back to the house for waffles and eggies. Naptime! Then in the late afternoon we headed out for Steaks and Shakes (got our American in) and shopping at the world's largest KMart. Exciting times. I did find shoes for $5. Hard to beat. Burgers and milkshakes were hard to beat, too!

Vacation Day 7

Day 7 already? The time is absolutely flying. We headed to Tumon today for some good Italian and Underwater World-Liv's favorite! I was teasing with LaDonna tonight, she came to Guam and has had food from all over the world-Greek, Mexican, Jamaican, Italian...we just need to knock out Guamanian, American and Chinese! Enjoy the pictures!

After dinner tonight we headed to the mall for Cold Stone...

...and the Merry-Go-Round.