Swimming.

It's still hot here and a/c is expensive so we went to the pool.

We traumatized this poor kid the last time by trying to teach him how to swim so he worked on his tan a lot of the time.

June and Christina doing "water taxi"

We love Christina! 

Sight Seeing Again.

We went driving around one day and happened upon this site by the airport. It amazing how much was left here from the war. It's everywhere and not really marked so you never know when you'll find one.

Owen always enjoys exploring. :-)

halloween.

Halloween really snuck up on us this year. I had zero of the normal cues to get my butt into gear (ie: colder weather, leaves changing, the smell of cinnamon...) so I ended up sewing the kids costumes the day before our ward's Halloween Carnival.

Tim and I were shocked to find that halloween buckets were $5 at stores! I grabbed a few for $2 on sale and still felt ripped off. I'm still getting used to the weird pricing out here. Things that were expensive in the states (like organic baby food) are super cheap and cheap stuff is at least twice as much. (We went to buy a rice cooker and it was $135! Luckily, I found one somewhere else on sale for $25.)

Ever since June was born I wanted them to be Pebbles & Bam Bam because of the vast differences between them. I didn't know that by the time Halloween came around Owen would be thinning out and June would finally be chubbing up! 

They crack me up.

Our wards carnival was fun but I wanted to get more use out of their costumes so we took them to a the Trunk or Treat at American Memorial Park. (I say "the" trunk or treat because it's the only one here. Trick or treating is non-existent here)

Owen has recently gotten this fear of masks (snorkel masks especially) and gloves so he was a little nervous to let go of Tim's hand but he was excited about all the candy.

It was so hot that I was actually glad we got rained on during the trunk or treat! The kids didn't seem to mind. :-)

Saipan on a scooter.

A few nights ago we were a little frazzled events during the week so I told Tim to put his party socks on because we were going out! A friend of ours has a scooter and agreed to let us borrow it for a night out on the town. I couldn't believe how different it was driving on a scooter as opposed to riding in a car! I was missing out on Saipan! It was so much fun and the air at night smells just like the Philippines. Looooooved it.

The plan was to ride along Beach Road and watch the sunset as we drove to a restaurant on the southern end of the island. Unfortunately, we missed it (Tim got off work a little later) but the drive was still really fun with all the lights at night. We're kind of lame and hardly ever go out at night so it was pretty thrilling!

We ate a Spicy Thai Noodle Restaurant and it was fantastic. We are a little food snobby but we loved this place. And how cool is it that you can sit on floor pillows?! We sat at a table but it was so cool that it's an option. I felt like we were in a real Asian country!

My ride for the night. I took this baby for a spin at our friends house but was terrified I would crash so I made Tim drive all night.

We stopped by the local Thrusday Night Street Market to check out some vendors (it was SO much easier to wander through the crowd without the kids) and get a slice of the Hyatt's cheesecake when we happened upon this. It was the strangest thing. There was a man on a TV (which sounded like a loudspeaker) talking in Chinese I think while these people did various breathing/tai chi techniques. It was a little creepy (the loudspeaker reminded me of Jim Jones) but funny at the same time.

We sat on the beach eating cheesecake and watching the crabs scuttle around people some teenagers came and killed the vibe. SUCH a fun night though. All the way home on the scooter I felt like shouting, "I love Saipan!" (and my hottie for a husband, naturally)

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.