Random Week on Fantasy Island

You know it's a good week on Guam when for five of six days in a row you wake up and immediately put your bathing suit on. Here's how my ridiculously awesome week has gone:

Saturday Nick and I went to a pirate party. A birthday party, you say? A command party? A pre-Mardi-Gras party? No. Just a random pirate costume party at a beachside restaurant on a Saturday afternoon in March. Just for fun (awesome idea, Stephanie!). We had a great time putting our costumes together. I went as a pink pirate and Nick wore this little kid pirate hoodie that prompted people to call him "Spongebob Pirate" all day. This (left) is what we looked like when we got to the party.

Throughout the day, Nick "acquired" pieces of everyone else's costumes, so he ultimately looked like this:

See the parrot on his shoulder?

We had a blast dancing and hanging out with friends. It kind of felt like someone got married because of all the random celebrating we were all doing.

It also kind of felt like his entire command went on a giant vacation, especially when it came time for the sunset... gorgeous!

Sunday we went to church and it was rainy and cloudy all day. Booooring! So we'll just skip Sunday.

Monday afternoon I was getting work done when I got a call from my friend Kate. "Hey, I'm bored and it's beautiful out. Let's go snorkeling." This is why I love Kate. This being Kate's last week, we decided to go for a snorkel outing to one of the classics, Gab Gab Beach here on base. We drove over there, got out, stared at the ocean, which looked typhoonish, got back in the car and came back to my house. We made smoothies with the fancy new Ninja blender I scored for my birthday (thanks April!). After an hour of gabbing, we realized it was beautiful again, so back to Gab Gab! So glad we went for attempt # two. We saw a purple squid that was about a foot long, a really big (and thus ugly) puffer fish, and one of the sea turtles that hangs out there. It was a great last snorkeling trip for Kate. I purposely didn't bring my camera because you are pretty much guaranteed to see cool stuff when you don't have a way to document it. Sure enough!

Tuesday our women's Bible study went to the Hyatt because one of the ladies has a membership to use the gorgeous pool area. It didn't dawn on me to take pictures there at the pool (rather, three pools), but it was beautiful, relaxing, and a perfect place to finish up our study. We have been doing a study called "The Power of a Woman's Words," and it has really opened my eyes to, well, how powerful our words are. I am excited for our next study, which starts next week. We are doing one of my favorites on Ecclesiastes... A Life Well Lived... the study that we named our San Diego Bible study after ("Rocky Road").

Wednesday I hurried back from my staff meeting to pick up Kate for her last Guam hurrah. We went to Inarajan Pools, which is a bit of a hike--about 45-minute drive--but well worth the trek. Once there, we parked it picnic style with our beach chairs, pool floaties, yummy snacks and fun girl time in the sun. We reflected on Kate's two years in Guam, tried to pick a middle name for her daughter Sloan, and raved about how marvelous the pools are. It was a great day up until we dropped Kate off and found ourselves having to say the big goodbye. Kate got on a plane the next day (today... tear*) to move back to the States to have her baby and wait for her husband to join her in a few weeks. I am seriously going to miss this girl. No one else calls me on random weekdays and says, "Let's go snorkeling!" Definitely going to miss that.
 


Lastly, today, I woke up, threw on another bathing suit (I have a ton of laundry to do!) and joined the Thursday hiking group to a place called Priest Pools. The hike there was relatively short, although steep, and pretty fantastic, as we had a great view of Cocos Island, where I kayaked a week ago. 

 Our final destination was a series of about four pools of water connected by small waterfalls. There was a great view of the ocean in the background. We parked here, ate our lunch, and went for a dip. I was the first one to brave the pools--not because I was showing off, but because I was dripping with sweat from the hot, unshaded hike to get there. The fresh water pools are fueled with rainwater so they are a bit cooler than the ocean... and so nice to get out of and not feel all sticky.

Pretty clear water... you can see all the way down to my shoes!

After an hour of hanging out, we started the trek back to the van. It was another beautiful day here, hotter than it has been. Summer is definitely around the corner, which means it's time to get out and do as much as I can before the blazing sun gets too harsh. I came home to a Skype call from my friend Mary in Tokyo. She and her daughter are coming to visit in just a couple of weeks - woohoo! An awesome end to a fabulous week (for me... poor Nick is home sick today). It's weeks like this when I find myself calling this place "Fantasy Island." Seriously can't believe I live here!