Summer behind us/Coming home to Guam

. . . and did I mention the last few days of our stay in California included my brother, Mark, coming from Hawaii to Folsom to compete in a worldwide outrigger paddlers' competition? What a great, fun outing! Nannette (his wife) and my niece, Kellie, were there too.



My sister and her hubby came from San Jose and we all had a nice, albeit short, little visit just prior to our return to Guam, including dinner at a great little Mexican restaurant in Folsom.


(Okay, they just don't do Mexican food on Guam like they do in California!) Ole', mi familia! I miss you all!




Another feature of our last week in California was the birthday party my granddaughter threw for her 2 year old dog, Ben! It was a fun-filled evening with Ben and a few of Kylie and Jordan's friends, ending with cake and ice cream and screaming kids having fun on the trampoline out back. OH, if I could only bottle their energy and bring it back with me!!!



Just a couple of days after Ben's 2nd birthday party, we were boarding the plane and heading home to Guam. This year when we flew to LAX, we were pleasantly surprised at the addition of some chairs to the waiting area next to where we had slept on the floor the previous year. But it was SO cold! I think Erin and I put on every spare article of warm clothing (which wasn't much, since we only packed warm-weather clothes!) and we were still cold! Thankfully, Erin had a lightweight blanket in her duffel bag or we would have been colder than we were!



Back on Guam, the rainy season is well underway! One of my favorite parts of living here is that we see rainbows several times a week. Here is a shot of one that I took one of our first days back.
Being in the States was wonderful, yet it also felt great to be home again in Guam. Thanks to all of you who put us up (or put up with us) during our stay!



Before we knew it, a week had passed and we found ourselves waving good-bye to Erin as she boarded a plane for Palau. (For those of you who are not aware of it, she does not teach on the same island where PIBC is. We are on Guam - she is in Palau, 2 islands and about 900 miles south and slightly west of us.)




Right after we sent Erin off for a semester of teaching in Palau (upstairs in Guam's Won Pat Airport), we headed downstairs to greet volunteer Peggy, who is teaching English in Chuuk this year (meaning I will not need to fly down once a month to teach an intensive English writing class there). We joined fellow PIBC staff members Brad and Cheryl, and Cristel with her fiance', Ben, in greeting Peggy after her long flight from the East Coast of the States.




And so we are back! The weeks of preparation were busy, but not so busy that we couldn't sneak away for a couple of hours with others from here at PIBC and enjoy visiting some Argentinian sailors and their ship down at the Navy base. It was a fun little outing! Sign on in another few days and we'll have a post featuring the campus prep and return of our students! Blessings to all,
Tim and Melody