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.

Kalabera Cave

We had tried once before to go to Kalabera Cave but got nervous when the "map" seemed a little off. We tried again a week or so ago when we saw someone else going in the general direction and followed them! It actually helped tremendously in a) getting us there! and b) helping us figure out what was so special about the cave.

Kalabera Cave is SUPER old. The original local tribes used to use the cave way back when. During the war the Japanese soldiers used it as a hospital. It's a HUGE cave and pretty creepy. The local tribes carved and painted faces in the walls that are still there and extremely eerie. The cave itself makes a lot of noise (ie: water trickling, etc.) and is extremely dark. You can go further inside but you have to bring your own lights and supposedly it gets a little difficult to breathe. A few years ago they actually found a skeleton of a Japanese soldier in a pit there that was fully clothed. My camera oddly went out of whack and wouldn't take any pictures so Tim went back with the phone and tried to take a few. He said it was extremely creepy. He snapped a few shots and ran back out. ha! :-)

It's a really cool cave and I'd love to go back and explore it more without the risk of taking the kids down there but I am a little nervous as to what I may find.

The jungle growth will literally take over everything if you don't cut it back. Half the street signs are covered in vines. When you go hiking in the actual jungle it can turn extremely dark because of how trees are just draped in foliage.

it's not an X-terra but it's rugged AND luxurious!

Randoms.

Sandy, sleepy June.
I think she looks so chubby here I just couldn't help but post it!

Owen got his first bike! He still doesn't know how to ride it (regardless of our many attempts to show him) but he is perfectly content pushing himself around the yard in it. :-)

Tim and I went on a date where we went snorkeling, caught some HUGE waves and ate at a beachside grill. 

Owen found where the best seat in the house was.
(*yes, we are VERY sweaty here! The humidity is insane so we've just resigned to being wet all the time)

Owen HATES to wake up. Sometimes he has these huge fits when he gets up from him nap and I have to use my last resort bribe, a lollipop. I think it's so funny how scowly he still is even though I let him watch and movie AND have a treat.

Baby hand. I see this EVERYWHERE now.
June is on the move and I have to be very careful where I step because she is quick!

Bird Island Lookout

We stopped by Bird Island lookout while we were checking out some other sites. It was kind of neat to see where we had hiked a month before. We hiked down the cliff to the beach and then walked thru the water to this island with our neighbor and then all around the island before swimming back. It's still been the most fun thing we've done here to date.

My friend lent me this awesome sling. June is still pretty small but after awhile she gets heavy!

Isn't this the coolest tree? I love the vines coming from it.