First Day of School

Wednesday, 30 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

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Yesterday was Favorite Girl’s first day at her new school. Her attitude has been wonderful considering this is her third school in three years. I’m glad we’re moving so much when she’s young and hopefully we’ll be settled in one place when she’s in high school.

Children are allowed to walk to school alone but, being the over-protective mom that I am and since we’re about a mile from the school, I will either walk with her or, more likely, drive her.

First impressions of her new teacher are positive. I met with the teacher after class and she mentioned needing parent volunteers. Since I’m actively seeking a job, I didn’t want to commit too much too soon so I said “Yes, I will help when I can. I did a little volunteering in Germany.” Well, FG piped in with “A LITTLE ~ you got an award for all your volunteering last year.” So much for trying to keep a low profile.

In the photo, FG is holding a ‘schultüte” which is a cone filled with goodies i.e. candies, pencils, stickers, fun shaped erasers, etc. The German tradition of the schultüte is: it is given to 1st graders on their first day of school and the children take it to school with them. FG’s cone for her first grade was huge and matched her backpack but other kids, with more creative moms, had home-made cones which were GORGEOUS!

Last year on the first day of second grade, FG’s German nanny Nadja gave her a smaller tüte and this year I continued the tradtion by using the same cone and filling it with goodies. FG was so happy when she saw it. She loves traditions!

Posted in Favorite Girl, Travel | 3 Comments »

Back to the Boonies

Monday, 28 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

After several weeks off, mostly due to rainy weather, we returned to Boonie Stomping. We explored the southeastern coast and ended in the village of Inarajan. It was a beautiful day ~ sunny, clear and, most importantly while hiking, not too hot. The drive to the area is spectacular. Gorgeous views of the ocean and the southern part of the island is much less developed. Our hiking guide got permission for us to park at someone’s house which sat right on the beach ~ so lovely.  As always, we were welcomed by the local hospitality.

The entire five mile hike to Bear Rock, at Agfayan Bay, was along the coastline in water up to my knees. Talk about a good workout for my legs. Can you make out the “bear” in the photo below?

There were a few waves which made me a little leery and concerned for my eight years old but we were able to time it so we made it through without getting pushed around too much by the water.  Being from Hawaii, I have a healthy respect for waves and never turn my back on the ocean. Sometimes there are rouge waves lurking…

On our way back home, we stopped at a fun seaside restaurant called Jeff’s Pirates Cove for a late lunch.  It’s a tourist stop but you can’t beat the atmosphere, beach-side location, good food and fast service.

Posted in Guam, Hiking, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Toast to Sean

Sunday, 27 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

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A toast to Sean Sims on his birthday ~ never forgotten and always in our hearts.

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Bees! Part Deux

Sunday, 27 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

Both FM and FG were not overjoyed with my post yesterday about the bee attack. FG doesn’t like to remember and FM thought it was bad mojo to talk about it. So it was strange when FM took the dogs out for a walk around 5:30 pm and got attacked by  “boonie bees”. These boonie bees look like small wasps to me because they are darker than regular honey bees and have a wasp shape. While on the walk, FM stopped to talk with the neighbor across the street and was standing near a palm tree.  One of the dogs must have brushed the hive and they went after FM, stinging him about 10 times, mostly on his scalp. He said the one on his lip hurts the most and feels like he just got a shot novocaine. Lovely, eh?

On the positive side, the neighbors have three young children and I’m glad FM found the nest rather than one of them.  FG had a chilly response when I told her what happened, she said “I guess you’re next, Mommy.” You can bet I’ll be checking carefully as to where the dogs stick their noses!

Posted in Guam, Travel | 1 Comment »

Flashback Friday Killer Bees of 2004

Saturday, 26 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

It was a gorgeous August morning in Germany so FG and I decided to take the dogs for a walk in the forest, something we’d done on countless occasions over the past 3 years. FM was “away” so we drove out to the forest and proceeded to walk along a dirt trail. We were about a half mile from the car, FG and Sport were about 100 yards ahead of me when suddenly, FG turned to me with a look of sheer terror. My first thought was “OMG, she’s found a dead body” and, because she wasn’t moving, I thought she might be in shock. I yelled for her to run to me and that’s when I noticed a dark cloud over her. As she ran, I realized there was a swarm of bees attacking her!

I can’t even begin to describe the adrenaline that surged through me. Needless to say, the dogs were on their own at that point while FG and I ran as fast as we could to the car which was about a quarter of a mile away. The bees were only attacking her, not me or the dogs. We all made it to the car with the bees still swarming and a couple managed to get in the car. I raced the dogs home and headed to the emergency room all the while FG screaming from the pain. 

We stopped counting after 27 bee stings ~ most of which were on her head.  I had one sting on my hand from trying to pull the bees out of her hair and it hurt like heck ~ I can’t imagine the pain she was in. To this day, I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn’t driven to the forest and had walked there ~ the bees would have followed us all the way home, I’m sure.

After the incident, I researched the internet and according to all the descriptions, it sounded like it was africanized bees. Once FG was able to talk about it without crying, she explained Sport had stuck his nose into a hole in the ground and disturbed the hive. It was consistent that the bees only went after one target ~ the dogs didn’t have a single sting.

So far, we’ve not experienced any traumatic animal incidences here in Guam but it is a little disconcerting when FG hums the theme to “Jaws” every time she sees a large fish while snorkeling ~ now that’s a whole different kind of anxiety.   

Posted in Flashback Fridays, Germany | Leave a Comment »

Way before the dawn

Friday, 25 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

FM gets up at 3:50 am on weekdays because he has a half hour drive to PT (physical training). PT is done very early here due to the heat and humidity. The early mornings also holds true for organized runs on the weekends. A charity 5K scheduled for tomorrow has a showtime of 5:15 am and the run starts at 6 am.

It makes for early nights for FM, my night owl. The strange thing is, I, the morning person, recently turned into a late-nighter. What’s up with that? It’s like we’ve switched biorhythms. I still have to get up early (between 6-6:30) to walk the dogs and it’s made me a little sleep deprived, not to mention a little cranky. I’ve found the best way to “get over” the lack of sleep is to head to the beach. Swimming is so invigorating and watching the fish is like having my own huge acquarium. I’ve been there everyday this week.

Each time I go snorkeling, I see such different types of fish. Could have sworn I saw a snake the other day. It was way too skinny to be an eel but perhaps it was a baby eel. The best time to snorkel seems to be late in the afternoon (around 5:30-6 pm) so FM has joined us a couple of times. FG got a little freaked out by a few fish who turned the tables on her, swam close and checked HER out. She thought one was going to bite her.  That ended her snorkeling for the day.

Tomorrow’s weather looks favorable so we’re going to attempt the scheduled boonie stomp.

Posted in Travel | 1 Comment »

Not pretty but it works…

Thursday, 24 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

It may not be pretty and, it certainly isn’t fancy, but if you want to know current Guam time, click on “Guam Time” in the right-side column. A big, fat, disproportioned clock will appear.  It’s the best I could do for now.

Posted in Travel | 5 Comments »

Days of Summer

Wednesday, 23 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

The days of summer vacation are fast coming to a close for FG. She’s more than ready to get back to the classroom even though she is still having a blast with snorkeling, playing with her friends and her favorite: staying up late and sleeping in.

The other day, FG mentioned how she liked the German school schedule a lot better. I have to agree. The Germans have a year-round school schedule and it allows for time off throughout the year not all at once during the summer. They start school in September, have a week off in November, two weeks in December/Jan, two weeks over Easter, two weeks in late May or early June and then the month of August off. It allows the children breaks throughout the year and they don’t get bored to tears with three months off in the summer.

We don’t find out who her teacher is until Friday at 5 pm when the school will post the classes on the front doors. Hmmm….I got a little spoiled with the Würzburg school which had a open house BEFORE school started so all the parents could meet their child’s teacher. And since FG loved her teacher so much last year, she’s anxious to see what her new teacher will be like.

Now that she is back to school and we’ve unpacked the boxes, I guess it’s time for me to get serious about working again…

Posted in Guam, Travel | 3 Comments »

Rainy Days and Movies

Sunday, 20 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

It’s been very rainy here in Guam and, since we are fair-weather boonie stompers, I’ve been catching up on a lot of movies I missed while in Germany and also getting my money’s worth from Netflix. I went through an “F” phase: “Failure to Launch”, “Flightplan”, “Fever Pitch”, and “Firewall”. The only one which I found mildly entertaining was Fever Pitch.  The others got fast-forwarded or shut off completely.  Sure glad I didn’t waste my time going to see these films at a theater.

Last night, FG and I watched “March of the Penquins” ~ Loved it! First off, I hate the cold and, since I tend to empathize rather than sympathize, I was “uncomfortable” throughout the movie, but it was worth it.  I never knew the sacrifices penguins go through to procreate: the moms losing a third of their body weight to produce an egg, the dads not eating for 4 months to keep the egg warm, staying out in 80 below temperatures, both parents trekking 70 miles between the breeding grounds and the ocean (multiple times), etc. Makes us humans look downright selfish as parents  😉  If you haven’t had a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. Good family viewing.

I need to add to my Netflix rental list, so let me know if you have any movie recommendations for me.

Posted in movies, Travel | 9 Comments »

Flashback Friday Brussels 2002

Friday, 18 August, 2006 by Beachbums1

During our trip to Brussels, we endured what seemed like a never-ending stau:

We went to the Atomin, via the Metro, and got caught in a big rainstorm. It was unusually cold and rainy for August.  The Atomin was built in 1958 for the World’s Fair and reminds me of something out of “War of the Worlds” ~ I thought it was pretty strange looking and it was even more weird inside. My stomach did a flip-flop in the elevator on the way up. If you are a fan of art-deco, this is the place for you:

We explored the sights of Brussels:the Grand Place, Sablon Square, the gorgeous, gothic St. Michael’s Cathedral, the Cinquantenaire Arch & Park, and one of my favorites, the cute Manneken Pis. From what I hear, there are several different stories about this statue of a little boy taking a pee, but the one we heard was he was relieving himself in the yard of a witch and she turned him into stone.

We took a day trip to Waterloo and climbed the 216 stairs of the Lion Memorial (which looks towards France). FG and FM are at the top of the memorial looking out at the battlefield:

Before we went to Brussels, I had heard from other people and had read about the delicious chocolate. I’ve got a sweet tooth and have had more than my share of chocolate so I couldn’t imagine that it could be much better than other chocolates.  Chocolate is chocolate, right? Wrong! The chocolate I tasted at the Marcolini chocolate shop at Sablon Sqaure was beyond yummy. Oh, the decadence… from then on, anytime someone said they were going to Brussels, I’d put in my order for more delicious chocolate.

Posted in Belgium, Brussels, Flashback Fridays, Travels | 2 Comments »

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