Slowly getting more settled

Hey guys!
A lot has happened since the last post. Micah received a phone call on Friday from the vehicle processing center saying that his car was here and it's ready to be picked up. He is very excited to get his car. We also went to the home gallery (furniture store on base) to buy a bed but ended up buying two couches as well! We were very lucky to score some awesome deals as far as prices. We only ended up paying $1800 for everything. Our house is coming together very quick and now all we need is a kitchen table, chairs, a coffee table, and rugs!

Micah just got home from work which means that it's time to go pick up his car. I will post more tomorrow!

-Donna

Buster is such a sweetheart. His favorite thing to do is cuddle with his mama.

Finally, a new post!

Hey guys!
Sorry for not posting anything. We have been very busy lately getting settled in our new house. First of all, the earthquake that occurred on August 10th, did not affect Guam. Even if it did, we wouldn't have to worry because Guam has some of the strictest building codes in the world. In fact, there are several earthquakes every day; they just aren't strong enough to be noticed.

Now for an update. Micah is currently in FIT which is his "indoc" class. He goes to that class instead of doing actual work on the ship. In FIT, Micah has learned general facts about the island (what fish to be afraid of, the culture, etc.) and also the "need-to-know" facts about the USS Frank Cable.
As for me I have been exploring the island, the base, and hanging out with Buster.

Everything is going great. We are having a blast. We now have internet, cable, and a house phone. Our house is now starting to look like a home.

We met a few other young couples, one of them live across the street from us. We have been hanging out with them a lot, going to the beach, and even having barbeques. When we were at the beach the other day, Micah was snorkeling and found an awesome shell. When he brought it back to where I was sitting, we realized that there was a snail/slug living inside of it!!! We kept the shell and one of our friends told us that we had to boil the shell/snail in water for about 20 minutes to clean it out. When we boiled the shell, the entire house reeked of dead fish. It was pretty gross. We plan to continue to find neat things at the beach and display them around the house.

Now that we have internet in our house, I will be able to post more often!

Love,
Donna and Micah

The awesome shell that Micah found.

This is how clear the water is here!

We have found that taking lawn chairs is a lot more enjoyable than laying on a towel!

This is Gab Gab Beach. It is currently our favorite beach and it's only 5 minutes away! There are a lot of Japanese defensive caves from WWII scattered around base and on the beaches.

Buster wearing Micah's shirt

Buster follows us EVERYWHERE! We bought him a bed, but he rarely sleeps in it because he's usually in our bed!

Our first "real" mean in our house. Cheesy enchilada Hamburger Helper and garlic mashed potatoes.

Our bed. (Micah wanted a picture of it)

New Addition to the Family

Hey guys!

Sorry, I haven't been posting anything lately. Since we moved in to our house, it hasn't been as easy to get on the internet (we haven't set it up yet).

Anyway, everything has been going great. We have done a lot of snorkeling and shopping for things for the house. When we went snorkeling on Sunday at a beach on base. We were able to see tons of fish that we didn't see at the other beaches. The beach we went to was a nice oasis after a 20 minute hike down the side of a cliff. Despite being stung by an anemone, we had a lot of fun.

Also this weekend, we were driving around and exploring the island when we decided that we wanted to look into getting a dog. We went to a shelter and looked at the dogs. We ended up deciding to get a male named Buster. The shelter said he is between 1-2 years old. He looks like a beagle-dachshund mix. All in all, he is very cute and extremely sweet. He is getting fixed tomorrow and then I will go pick him up when he wakes up from his surgery. Micah and I are both very excited.




****NOTE TO DULCI, SNICKERS, AND LEXI: BUSTER IS NOT REPLACING ANY OF YOU. MICAH AND I STILL LOVE ALL THREE OF YOU AND WE WILL BE HOME SOON WITH A NEW FRIEND FOR YOU TO PLAY WITH.*****

Our House!

Yesterday, we went to the housing office to sign up for the housing waiting list. After we filled out an application for government housing, the lady who was helping us handed us three separate keys. She then told us that we could look at 3 houses and choose which one we wanted to live in. We went to the first two and were very happy. When we went to the third one, we forgot all about the other two and fell in love with it. When we went back to the housing office to tell the counselor which house we wanted, she asked when we wanted to move in. As it turns out, we are moving in tomorrow, July 28!!!

Our house is two stories with: two bed, 2 bath, kitchen, living room, laundry room, garage, back porch, and not to mention, there are like a million closets!

If you would like our mailing address, post a comment and leave your email address. That way I can just send out a mass email.


Here are some pictures: (sorry they're out of order)

The back porch...

...stairs...

...bathroom...

...bedroom...

...garage...

...laundry room...

...dining area...

...kitchen...

...living room...

...and finally, the front of the house!

Beach Hunting!

Last night, we went to Kmart to buy some groceries. As it turns out, Kmart is the place to be on a Sunday night. It was packed. There were little kids running around everywhere and everyone was taking there time walking through the aisles. The best part of that experience, however, was that there was a Little Caesar's inside. They had signs that said "Hot'n'Ready" but it wasn't as "ready" as it is at home. It was $10 (instead of $5 at home) and we had to wait about 15 minutes. It was worth it though.
This morning we woke up at 5 and couldn't fall back asleep. We went to McDonald's for breakfast and ate it on the beach. Then we decided to drive around, explore, and find more beaches. Here are some pictures. We took a video too, but we're having trouble uploading it.

Also while we were exploring, we found, what we call, "The Strip". Basically, it consists of restaurants and stores. Some of the restaurants we saw were: Hooters, Planet Hollywood, Burger King, Hard Rock, Friday's, Outback, Lonestar, McDonald's, and Taco Bell.

-Donna and Micah

We went exploring and found a little cove with huge rocks.

When you drive down the road, there are signs every few blocks that say "Public Beach Access". If you follow those signs, there is usually an area to park on the side of the road and then there's a path that leads to the beach. While we were walking from the car to one of the beaches, we saw a zoo!

To get to Flores Beach (one of the main beaches), you have to drive down the side of a cliff on a very curvy road. When you begin to head down, you can see the tourist/resort area of the island. This area is called Tumon Bay.

We're not really sure what this is supposed to be, but we saw it while we were walking to Flores Beach. I thought it was cute, so I took a picture.

Tumon Bay

This picture was actually taken last night when we went to Kmart. There were 3 of these signs in the parking lot. Apparently, parking on the roof is a very common thing here.

And this is our rental car. A blue, Nissan Versa.

Pictures From Our Journey Here

Here are some pictures from when we were on our way here:

My mom, sister, and I at the St. Louis AirportThe signs on the stall door in the bathrooms at the Narita Airport (Tokyo)

Japanese Toilet Paper
The toilet.....
And the instructions on how to work the toilet....

Right now we're in our hotel room eating Taco Bell. It cost us $14.62 to buy the same meal we would have gotten at home for $6-$7!!!! Everything is expensive here. Gas is $4.08 for premium, cigarettes are $6.50/pack, and the milk was $2.99 for a quart. We're gonna go to the beach after lunch. We will update with pictures later.

Love,
Donna and Micah