Christmas '09...

After Christmas shopping, decorating and landscaping, my parents finally got to relax a bit in their vacation in Guam. We woke up and opened our presents. For some reason, 90% of the gifts under the tree were for Anna. Not that we didn't all get our fair share of gifts.

One of the things Anna got that she needed most was maternity clothes. She's been squeezing into clothes that didn't fit for a month now. I've tried to get her to go shopping for clothes, but she really does not like shopping. She was happy, however, to receive the clothes as gifts.



After the presents we contacted some friends of ours here who got us an all-day pass to the Hyatt Hotel's water park.



We were pretty hungry so my parents decided to have a treat first. We went to the fancy Christmas Buffet before we got wet.



Then we did what Anna loves best, "playing tourist."

Mom rockin' her Bo Derek beach body

And after a full day, we returned home to our new crock pot full of food. We had our Christmas dinner like a real family (except that I had the camera rolling...)



And rather than stay up late, we had to hit the sack. Tomorrow morning at sunrise we will be flying to Saipan.

'round Guam...

The first day my parents were here we had the ultrasound. The second and third day we saw the island.

It started with a drive down south, stopping at all the WWII stuff we could find. My dad likes the war stuff.

This memorial is at Asan beach, one of two locations where the US approached when re-taking the island.

Caves and fallout shelters left behind by the Japanese are common here.

After some WWII stuff, we went to Tolofofo Falls. These are picturesque falls and also the spot where a Japanese soldier, Yokoi, lived in a homemade cave and hid from the war for 28 (or so) years. Some call him a hero, others think he was a moron. I'll let you be the judge.









And we also saw relics from the old Spanish rule.

This is an old courtyard in downtown Hagatna.

This is Fort Soledad, where the TV show Amazing Race filmed two years ago.

And, of course, we saw some Chamorro stuff. The Chamorro are the indigenous people of Guam. One of the most iconic symbols of Guam is the Latte Stone. These stones go so far back in Chamorro history that they don't have any actual evidence of what they were used for, but it's pretty well accepted that they were foundations for homes.

These Latte Stones were found in a village down south that was annihilated by US soldiers in WWII, so they were brought to central Hagatna.

We concluded the day by visiting Chamorro Village. And out-door market place that comes alive every Wednesday. Mom bought trinkets to bring home and they got to try some local food. They even had a carabao there. In Guam, a Carabao is nothing like the ones you have heard of before. Really, it'a a water buffalo. It reminds me of the Veggie Tales song. Here, that song is safe to play because it's not too hard to own a water buffalo. This one had a Santa hat on for the tourist to pose with. I didn't want to pay for a pic, so I just snuck this one in quickly so you could get the idea.



Tomorrow, we are going to really play tourist by relaxing all day at a resort.

You Can't Go Home Again, But Home Can Come To You...

Since I have left my childhood home for my mission, I hadn't spent more than a couple of years at the same home. On my mission I moved every couple months. I went home for just under two years before moving back to Hawaii to go to school. Then I moved every semester or two. After that I moved into an apartment. So, it's nice to finally have a home of my own that I plan to stay in for a while.

There's something nice about being the master of your castle. But at the same time, there's a lot of responsibility and work. I worked full time on the house when I first moved in. Then I started my new department at work and found all of my energy go in that direction. Then, I got some added help.

My parents made their first trip to Guam to visit Anna and me for Christmas and New Year's. It's always good to have family, but I was a bit worried that I wouldn't find enough things to do for the two weeks they planned on staying. Being in my first house and needing all the help I could get in home ownership the down time we would have had became occupied with home making chores.

There's a host of things planned for my parents for fun as well. So, rather than list them all here, I'll post them in pieces as they happened.

There's something odd about being the one who is hosting your parents at your house for the first time. It is like crossing an imaginary line. Up till now, when we talk about going home, we mean where we grew up. Now, we have completed the transition and home is where we are right now.

It's A Girl! ...I Think...

World, meet Maia Lani Bodine!

Today we had our first ultrasound. My parents came to visit for Christmas so we scheduled the ultrasound so they could be there.

The tech was reluctant to confirm the gender, but we had a good spread eagle shot between the legs and there was nothing there. So, this whole time we've been calling the baby "Benji." My mom suggested since it was a girl we just alter the existing name to a girl's name; Benjina (pronounced Ben-jai-na). And so we have decided to switch to "Maia." I think Anna and I will leave the naming up to ourselves.

We couldn't be any happier, boy or girl. It was an early Christmas for us when we got to meet this little girl...

The Imu Turkey Thanksgiving Experiment...

This month has been a whirlwind for me. Pregnant wife, new house (and associated repairs), and new doubled work load. So I have been looking forward to this long 4-day weekend.

Anna and I teamed up with another couple from my office who are also away from their family, Joe and Lilian. Rather than do things the traditional way, we tried to imu the turkey. An imu is a low tech, underground pressure cooker. Imu is Hawaiian, but many islands cook this way calling it slightly different words, like umu. Typically, one associates imus with a big full pig and apple in the mouth. Really, you can cook anything in an imu.

We identified a location for the pit.



Someone had cooked some pigs in this hole six months ago, so it was easier to dig the pit. Anna and I grabbed some logs. There has been some bad rain lately, so this wood was only partly dry. We had some charcoal in the pit and Anna and I were carrying over our wood to the pit. Just then, the very second Joe lit the match to start the pit a burnin', it began to downpour like you wouldn't believe. By the time it was back to a drizzle, the pit was wet, the wood was soaked and we felt a bit timid with progressing.

We hid out by the car off and on during the drizzling moments.



When we finally got the fire going and the rocks as hot as we thought we could we put the turkey in and covered it with banana leaves and dirt.



Four hours later we came back to assess the level of our success.



Drum roll....NOPE. Wasn't done. We did get the turkey to as hot as 140 degrees F, but not quite enough to really cook it. So, with that we did the most American thing we could. We kept with the true Norman Rockwellian spirit of Thanksgiving and went to KFC. I hate to admit it, but it was actually quite tasty.

This could very well be the last year I try an imu turkey. We did finish our turkey in the oven. The imu did have a positive effect, too. That meat fell off the bone. Despite the half-and-half cooking, it was moist and tender.

Ok, so I may not be the big kahuna of island cooking. Still, I try. And we had a great thanksgiving anyway. In the end, the imu was just for fun, as is the any of the food. It's really about who you spend the day with. Being thousands of miles away from our respective families, it was nice to be with each other. I once told Anna the nice thing about our relationship is that wherever we move, as long as we have each other, we are with family. And that is what I'm truly thankful for.