Merry Christmas!

Santa made his way to the island of Guam and the boys were excited to see the results. Drew did have one package arrive late (it missed the first sleigh delivery). Everyone enjoyed their presents; the boys are feverishly learning how to play their two new Wii games, The Bigs and Playground. Drew is honing his piloting skills by learning to fly his Air Hogs plane in the 20 mph Guam wind. Nate is busy reading or playing anyone that will challenge him in chess.
We all had dinner with our friends across the street and really enjoyed the day. The weather was, of course, beautiful and sunny, 87 degrees as usual. We missed most of our family, but had Gram here for the Holiday. We hope you all had a great Christmas and have an exceptional New Year!

Tokyo, Japan...A good time was had by all!

We just got back from our second trip to Japan and really enjoyed ourselves! We tried to get Drew and Nate to understand that it is not typical for most people to have 2 stamps in their passport by ages 9 and 12. After it was all said and done we had spent 5 days in Japan and we are convinced we saw most every square inch or centimeter.
We stayed at The New Sanno Hotel in downtown Tokyo and it was excellent as always. The Asakusa Temple provided a great learning experience for all of us and we left with a greater understanding of a different religion. Scott and Nate were interviewed by Tokyo TV asking them about the supersize rice bowl at Wendy's. Nate had plenty to say as usual.
The Tokyo Tower gave us a great view of the city and a reprieve from the frigid 53-degree weather (hey, our blood has thinned by this time). We say a prayer and feel sad for all of you snow dwellers every week. Andrew said a prayer at St. Andrew's Catholic Church, another escape from the cool weather.
We had an excellent day at Tokyo Disney Sea Amusement Park and would recommend it to anyone. The Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Tower of Terror were both huge hits.
On the fourth day we visited the Imperial Palace East gardens. We finished off the trip, after logging multiple miles on the Tokyo Metro Subway, by visiting the Edo-Tokyo Museum complete with an English tour guide. If you get a chance to visit Tokyo please do, it is a great time and you will learn something new around every corner.
Just before boarding the plane for the ride home Jean and Scott were both upgraded to first class, priceless time together. Please let us know if you want more details on the trip, we took almost 200 photos in the few days there.

Congratulations Scott!

While we were on vacation in Tokyo Scott received word from his boss that he was officially selected to be promoted to the rank of Major. It looks like by April 2008 it should be a done deal. Way to go Scott! We are so proud of you!

Gram on Guam

Boy, have we been busy this week. Jean's mom flew into Guam on Thursday and we have been non-stop ever since. Friday Gram was able to see first-hand how home schooling on Guam works. Saturday Gram "ran" her first 5K. She did a great job and managed to complete it in under 49 minutes. It was all about getting the t-shirt. "Way to go Mom!" After the 5K many prizes were raffled off and Gram won a ball cap and a bottle of wine. I think she was ready to open that wine bottle immediately!

Sunday will be a big day for all of us. We are leaving for Tokyo early in the morning. The O's were in Tokyo for a few days before arriving on Guam but this will be Gram's first time....Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can get out and explore the city from morning til night. We won't be bringing our computer so you'll have to hear all about our trip when we get home. The boys are in charge of journaling all that we do so we don't forget any of the details.