Another Day in Paradise

The view from our front door - these are no swaying palm trees!

Today is a blah day. Garrett woke up this morning needing a day off from 7th grade. I can hardly blame him. This has been a week of change. The new quarter started on Monday with a bundle of new classes, including the dreaded GYM CLASS.

And if Garrett doesn't go to school - Madi doesn't go! She claims her body can "just tell" when Garrett's not there . . . she can't even write her name correctly. (Don't anyone even dare mention school phobia!)

So it's a homebody day with mom (no complaints here!).

The kids are helping me make dinner for yet another new baby born to an "Oakleaf family". In the past couple of weeks we've had 5 babies born within the spouse club - that's a lot of new mama dinners!

I'm starting to run quite low on my Costco ribbon stash with all these dinners! I'm thinking a Hawaii shopping trip may be in order.

Try a little harder to be a little better

After hearing of the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley I feel solace in knowing that he has returned to his wife that he cherished dearly.

I always loved hearing President Hinckley talk. He along with his wife came to Iceland in 2002 while we were living there and spoke to the church members. I remember it being a rather intimate gathering with just the Icelandic members and our small military branch. I was very impressed by what he said and the spirit he carried with him.

What is the great strength of [this] Church? . . . It is the emphasis which we place on families. We live in a world where the family is falling apart. We put great emphasis on the family. Keep your families close together, and love and honor your children. Raise them in truth and faith to love the Lord" (meeting, Reykjavík, Iceland, Sept. 11, 2002).

9/11/02 Madi enjoying playing outside the church awaiting the Prophet's arrival.

He invited his wife to come to the microphone and asked her if she had anything she would like to add. She shyly said "He always does this to me... No I don't have anything to add..." It was the cutest thing I ever saw.

I found a great quote from Marjorie Hinckley that sums up their lives together as well as how I want to live mine...
"I don't want to show up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed with long perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon with mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want there to be grass stains on my shoes from mowing Mrs. Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and I really lived!" (Marjorie Pay Hinckley)

What Lives at the Hospital?

Coco the Hospital Crab, of course!
O.k. -at first glance you'll notice Dave's stubby fingers. Get past that and you'll meet Coco the crab.

Chris Morrison - a good friend of Dave's at work - came across this crabby friend at the hospital on Thursday. He kept him in this trash can the rest of the day so he could bring him home to show . . . . .

well, the neighborhood.

His claws were incredibly strong! One of the neighbors was using a pampered chef bamboo spoon to check him out (o.k. - poke at him, I guess) when he grabbed hold of it and he wouldn't let it go! I can see how they easily break into the coconuts without breaking a sweat. His underbelly was a beautiful brilliant blue - with orange specks. Honestly - such a waste that you have to pick him up to be able to see the color! (How will he ever find a suitor with that tactic!!!)

After the ooohs and ahhhs - along with the photo shoot - the kids took the creature back into his favored environment. The jungle seems to suit him much more than the trash can.

How to spend a holiday in Guam

Bunny Addiction!

To make up for the yucky images of the last post, here's a warm fuzzy video starring the furry members of our family. Whoever said bunnies were dumb obviously never spent much time getting to know one.

Warning: We've got the willies tonight!

We've become fairly de-sensitized to the insect world while living on this part of the planet. We've given up on killing the spiders before we get in the shower with them. We share the kitchen with a variety of different arthopods. Even the Bunns have succumbed to letting the ants share their food bowl without stomping at them. Madi's ankle was overrun by red ants while we were outside with the bunns tonight. We brushed them off, went inside for some benadryl then simply moved to the front yard.

As we were coming in through the garage, I noticed the largest mud dauber nest I've seen in a very long time - and it was pretty fresh!

These red mud nests are found on every possible surface in Guam. Windows, the car muffler, bikes, chairs, shoes, doors, etc. Usually, we just hose it off or bump it loose and watch the little green caterpillars that are typically inside try and escape. Until tonight - what we found inside was heeby geeby gross! It was like an insect hater's nightmare all globbed up in red mud!

Female black and yellow mud daubers paralyze spiders, pack them into the red mud nest using their head until the nest is full, lay one egg and seal the cell.

The larvae are pale yellowish about 3/4 inch long. Pupation occurs within a cocoon inside the cell (one looked like it was wrapped in wax paper). Other female mud daubers take over a mud nest, open a cell by moistening the clay with water and emptying it of spiders and the other wasp egg. They then deposit their own paralyzed spiders, lay their own egg and seal over the cell with more mud.

We just could not believe how much was packed into all the cells! And I'm not positive the spiders were all dead. The gross mess was scattered across the lower 1/3 of the garage - I'm limiting the photos so you don't get too creepy crawly yourselves!

Gecko Time

It's supposed to be a sign of good luck when you find a gecko in your house.
At 8 Anderson it's quite the opposite, scattering everyone until Mom has proven capture!

I have become the official gecko getter over the past 3 years. Honestly - I think they're amazing little creatures that travel faster than the speed of light! Amazing that is until I see a tail separation coming.

You probably know that lizards are very casual about losing their tails. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of a lonely tail still wiggling around after being abandoned by its owner.
But then again - it's not an image I truly enjoy reliving by choice.

Then there are skinks. They are the rather plain brown lizards that you see running around on the sidewalks outside. I think the skinks are suicidal. When I'm mowing the lawn they get all upset and start running around.
The first place they try to hide is under the lawnmower.

Tonsil Takedown

Madi's tonsils came out January 9th.
The ENT made it clear this would not directly affect her ASO levels (which are continuously high since last Feb. - but no one knows WHY?) But hopefully it will help with her many sore throats. (Silly me - I think the ASO issue should be figured out. But what do I know!)
Madi was in the OR by 9AM and we were back home tucked in bed by 12:30/lunch.

When we arrived that morning for surgery - the case before us was a "no show" (how can you be a no show for surgery?) Madison had the entire pre-op room and staff to herself. Statistically speaking, you can't beat the care with 12:1 ratio.
Even with all that attention - she was still wishing she had made the choice to go to "Misse's hospital" - where she knew Misse would have been with her the whole time.

The redeeming factor for the experience was Madi's recovery nurse. She too has had a rough year since arriving on the island - very similar to Madi's. Those two swapped stories and shared tips like how to deal with walking around the commissary when you really want to crawl.
She left with a tiny bit of a smile and somewhat of a wave as Dad carried her out on his back (a wheelchair for Madi? Are you KIDDING!?)

Monday (Winter Break is OVER) Blues!

You know you're in Guam when . . . .

You just start cooking crepes for the kids first morning back to school and the power goes out! I offered to scramble eggs on the grill - but I figured that was a "NO" when I got "eeeeewwwww" as a response. Thank goodness for apples and peanut butter!
Honestly, it's been such a good break it was really hard to see it end. Madi actually felt good enough for all of us to truly enjoy Guam. Madi enjoying the ocean kayak with Brooke and her dad.

Goofing off at Gab Gab

The critters among us

Here's a fact for you . . . . .No matter where you are in the world you are never more than 6 feet away from the nearest spider.

I'll take that statistic any day over running across one of these scary looking beasts!

This particular "critter" was found outside a hanger up at Andersen Air Force Base. These crabs are the largest "hermit crabs" in the world. They can't swim but they live near the water - hence living on Guam. Their claws are so strong that they can crack a coconut and they eat the meat inside ... ta-da! the name Coconut Crab.

Now let's put that claw fact into perspective here. When us humans want to savor some fresh coconut meat, it takes plenty of sweat, strength and a hammer to get through that outer shell. (unless there's a machete around - but that's a different story)

Some locals catch coconut crabs when they are smaller - keep them until they grow a bit and then eat 'em. I've known some people to kill them by putting them in the freezer. I think that the only way this guy was going to fit in a freezer is if it was a walk-in type!
I certainly hope that I don't see one of these things when I'm on my evening walk.

It's new to me!

Happy New Year! While you Mainlanders were at your various "First Night" celebrations or watching Dick Clark - we were already working on starting our 2008 shiny and new.

Ahhh - the sound of power washing always gets me excited. It's even better than vacuuming!

Nothing beats the satisfaction of clearing away the rainy season's algae growth from our little portion on Guam.

The bunnies go through a little territorial crisis with the newly glaring driveway and walks however. They spent the evening "re-claiming the area" with their chins. It's quite humorous really to watch the whole process. But then again, it doesn't take much to entertain us.