Sunday Sight Seeing.

Sunday afternoons can be a little boring after church so we usually load the kids in the car and go sight seeing. You'd think after 3 1/2 months we'd run out of things to look at on a 70 sq mile island but there is so much history here that we still have lots to see and do!

A lot of things were destroyed during the war and not many of the churches survived. This old bell tower is the only original part left of it. The church itself was rebuilt a few feet away.

They have all kinds of peace memorials for the fallen here and this probably my favorite. On a rainy day you can see the words a lot better but it's still beautiful all the same. (and a tad bit funny because it reminds me of the Hollywood sign)

One of our good friends told us about this awesome spot where an old satelite was left. We were really excited to see it but we pulled up we saw several men in army uniform with guns. I immediately freaked out and came up with a crazy theory that the government was "secretly," still using the satellite and we were going to get shot for trying to see it.

In reality they weren't real soldiers but a group of friends about to play a game of paintball. Pretty sweet place to play it actually. They requested I take their picture after laughing at me for freaking out.

That white line is the reef!

That tiny island is Managaha (we have a great view of it from our house). 

Pre-School

A few of the mothers in our ward started a co-op preschool in September. It has been so great! I am definitely NOT teacher material and they are both amazing. Owen has been learning a lot and has gotten very close with the other children and LOVES the other moms. It's so amazing to see him learning and he has really surprised us in what he actually knows. He learns all kinds of new things like letters, numbers and even Chinese! June tags along too and is SUPER into it. She's probably more interested than Owen. :-) 

Drawing shapes in shaving cream. 

June was dying to get in on the fun!

I love to watch him learn.

The whole group!

Japanese Autumn Festival.

Someone at work told Tim about the Japanese Autumn festival. Things here aren't really publicized so it's a wonder that anyone knows when things are but we went and had a blast.

How awesome is this?

Hello Kitty masks!

There were girls in Kimonos everywhere. So beautiful.

I loved this lady. She wore hers so proudly.

June and Christina. We love having Christina around. The kids love her and we always have so much fun.

These kids are TINY! I think they were around 5-7 in age. So cool.

Owen was getting "Asian"ed out.

Street Market.

Every Thursday night they shut down a street here and local restaurants and vendors will set up little shops of food and trinkets. The food is SO good and CHEAP. We went every week for the first two months! We've cut back a little since then but we still just love to go.

Saipan-da!
Saipan has this hilarious mascot that is a panda with a curved unicorn-like horn and they call it the Saipanda. I LOVE Asain characters and I fell in love with this as soon as we got here. They even have a Saipanda bus! I go absolutely crazy for it. :-)

They sell fresh, young coconuts where they cut the top off and stick a straw in it. You drink it right from the husk itself. Soooo delicious. And good for you!

Unfortunately, this is not the first time I've seen whole roasted pig. Filippinos have these all the time. Gross!

10 Months

June is already 10 months! I admit I'm not as good about writing these down with #2 as I was the first time around but here is what little bug is up to these days:

-has four teeth! Her two top teeth came in but you don't see them unless she's doing a cheesy grin.

-speed crawler

-still bites every so often and STILL pinches. I have little tiny scars all over my chest and arms from her little nails digging into me. Both our kids do the pinching thing as a comfort mechanism (pinching and pushing on me with their feet, Owen still does this too).

-talks and talks and talks.

- she now screams when she wants attention. pretty sure she learned it from Owen.

-plays with Owen really well most of the time but they are still working on sharing.

-eats all day long. lately this is all she ever wants to do.

-still wants to be held a lot but now that she crawls and plays with Owen she lets me put her down a lot more often. (hooray for getting things done!)

-eats her toes

-can stand for a few seconds on her own.

-is definitely a climber.

-loves books.

-talks to herself a lot in the back of the car during rides. sometimes after putting her to bed you can hear her in there talking. every once in awhile she'll yell, "mom!"

-sleeps til about 6:30am most nights! wahoo!

-is still really tiny. (18lbs 26 inches) We met a little girl the other day who was only 6 months and she was as big as June! 

-has lots of nicknames: Junie, bugsy, bug, gooby, etc.

-LOVES Owens preschool. She gets into it more than he does.

-copies everything Owen does.

-loves phones and gadgets.

-screams in protest!

-can wave and clap!

-likes to be hung upside down!

We love you little bug!

Mr. Mom

Poor Tim has had to be Mr. Mom the past week. I caught two viruses at the same time (the flu and a saipan version of strep) which triggered my migraine and I was literally sick for more than a week, half of which I was completely useless. I spent most of Tim's four day weekend lying pathetically in bed while he cleaned the house, did the shopping and played with the kids. We finally all got hauled to the doctor's office and we are fully drugged and feeling great! Now my exhausted husband can have a break!

So cute.

June loves the beard.

Dad the jungle gym

Also, June is now eating her feet. Apparently everything is on the menu nowadays.

Love these crazies.

Twins.

Everyone is always telling us how alike Owen and June look. In fact, when June was first born Tim and I called her mini-Owen for the first few days. She looked just like him! They are opposites in every way imaginable but they do look a lot alike. (aside from the HUGE weight and height difference, ha!)

One day I was teasing Owen and I put his hair up like June's. We laughed so hard at how similar they look, especially when they don the same hairdo! Owen actually liked it and requested it again later. Guess it's time for a haircut!

Forbidden Island

Went to Forbidden Island lookout yesterday. It was beautiful! It's amazing because you would never know you could see such an impressive sight until you're almost against the cliff. Saipan is full of surprises that way. The jungle is just so thick you never know what is just around the corner. You can actually hike down to the beach and to the island but it's long and not really for kids as young as ours. One day Tim and I will venture out and try it.

Owen was so crazy during this trip. The foliage is pretty thick through here and the lookout point is pretty high. Owen has no idea what danger is and almost face planted about a million times. He made us SUPER nervous the entire time.

Pictures are really nothing compared to real life. The scenery here is unbelievable.

Tanks in the Beach

The other day while Owen was at pre-school we went to a beach where you can see some tanks in the water. There was a huge battle there during the war and there were more than 30 tanks on the beach, burning. Most are still there but you can see at least two during low tide. I've been fascinated with it since we got here so we went to take some pictures. Unfortunately, my lens wouldn't go out as far as I'd have liked and Tim vetoed my idea of wading out closer pretty quick. :-) We ended up taking more pictures of the baby instead. 

She is so curious. She loves putting her hands on my face, so funny.

Her hair is so long! I have to have it up or back with a pin or you can't see her face. Tim refuses to let me cut it though so she will just have to put up with me doing her hair everyday, I guess!

There's actually two in the picture, the other is further away to your left. Isn't it crazy?

Loves her daddy :-)

Poolside.

It can get really hot here with the humidity and though we have a pool I don't like to go alone with the kids. Unfortunately, the kiddie pools here are SUPER expensive, so I bought them a rain basin instead :-)

They play really well together now and it's SUCH a joy as a mother to see my children getting along. I love to seeing them playing and giggling with each other. So sweet.