Visit to Talofofo Falls

When we visited Talofofo falls, we took a cable care ride down into the valley where the falls cascade. Malissa, Justin and Sara (Malissa's friend) took the first care and Curt and I followed in the second car. Pretty view and short ride later we were able to view the falls.

This is the view of the top of the falls taken from the cable car on the way down.

Once you get to the bottom, there is a water hole to go swimming. We left our suits and towels up at the top and you only got one round trip cable car ride, so we didn't get wet here (that is, if you don't count the sweat). Being in the valley, it was very buggy (the cable car attendant provided us all with some bug spray prior to our descent). Here you see some folks enjoying the cool water.

While we were down in the valley the kids took a ride on the "monorail" which looked like a few chairs attached a platform with wheels, pulled by a lawnmower sized generator. The weight limit was 180lbs, so Curt and I walked back while the kids took the ride.
Here is a picture of Justin going over the falls on this bridge. Of course he is jumping up and down and trying to scare everyone else.

One of the coolest things about this area, this is the site where a Japanese soldier hid out for 24 years after the end of WWII. The hole was only a few feet wide and about 6 feet below the surface. He was found by some locals and later came back to visit this site after returning to Japan and getting married.

Here is a picture of Curt with is Harley "do rag" feeding the hogs. This is just outside the enterance to the Falls.

Fun was had by all!!

Hunter arrives in Guam

Hunter has finally arrived in Guam. He left Philadelphia on Sunday morning at 0702 and flew to Houston TX and then on to Honolulu HI. He spent almost 24 hours in Honolulu and then boarded a Flight 1 to Agana Guam. He was picked up by the Andersen Pet Lodging and after spending about 36 hours at the kennel, he was allowed to come home.

Hunter seems a little tired, but otherwise he looks great and has been exploring the house. Here is a picture of him outside the house after our after dinner walk. If you look through the palm trees, that is the Pacific Ocean. And the second picture is Hunter in his bed resting after our walk.

Thanks to Aunt Rita for taking such great care of him, I know he appreciated all you did for him and we do too. Thanks to Grandmom and PopPop for getting him to the airport and preparing him for his long journey.

Aunt Rita, Hunter wants to know when he is going to have a pet cousin to visit with when he comes back to the states. I hear there are some lonely pups at the SPCA.

Sound Retreat

Well I don't have any pictures for this, but I had a cool experience yesterday. I got to conduct my first retreat. I took my squadron out to the parade grounds for the 5pm retreat ceremony. For those that are not familiar, this is where we retire the American Flag at the end of the day. I stood in front of a formation of about 50 MDOS personnel. I announced "Sound Retreat" and the honor guard proceeded to prepare to accept the flag. At the end of the bugling of retreat, we prepared for the National Anthem by "presenting arms" (saluting). After the National Anthem, the honor guard folds the flag and presented to me stating, "Ma'am, the flag is secured" I then salute the flag and then they take the flag away.
Moments like this is when you get goose bumps and have a great sense of pride. After the flag leaves the parade grounds, I call "squadron dismissed" and we are off for our long weekend. Cool stuff!!

Underwater pictures

Hello everyone. Here are some pictures from our first snorkel trip. We all got brand new snorkel equipment and headed down the Naval Air Station Guam at GabGab beach and went snorkeling. It took us a little bit to get into the water, but once we were in, we were good. The water temperature is about 83-84 degrees so even mom got right in.

Of course we don't know what kind of fish we are seeing yet, but if you can enlarge these photos, they are pretty cool.
We saw lots of different fish and coral and of course this wasn't the best camera either (one of those $12 underwater jobs), but we had fun with it.

Malissa is having a great time here.
Curt and the kids are going to do the scuba diving class as soon as Curt gets his physical. Mom will wait until after her big inspection to do that. We miss all of our family and friends and I am kind of disappointed that we haven't got many comments--actually except for Mom and Dad, we haven't heard from anyone on the blog. Is it too hard or a hassle to get into, please let us know. Well have a good day and hopefully we can get out and about this weekend too.