So much to blog....

Left on Thursday for Saipan- small island (yes, smaller than Guam...) about a 40 minute flight north of here. Its half the size of Guam, and has one main road. Anytime we had asked where something was we were told "you can't get lost on Saipan"..... well we managed to come pretty close to losing our way right out of the airport- but we pulled out the "map" (mostly advertisements and cartoon points of interest on it) and found our way back to the one road on Saipan.

Spent our first hours there touring the north side of the island. Gotta say- Kevin for some reason loved this place. He kept saying "Saipan is way better than Guam" or "see the foliage, its better than Guam's" or even "the ocean is better here...." Frankly I found it to be a small and a bit sadder version of Guam. Looked like more poverty, poorer schools, less stores- and the biggest discussion of the weekend was- is it cooler or hotter on Saipan than on Guam?..... I lost the opinion poll as I contended that Saipan was way hotter...... must be that is just felt that way because statistics show its not. But man it sure felt WAY hotter.....

The ocean there really was beautiful.

Here are some photos of the north side of Saipan. There was a cliff that is called "Bonzai" and its historical significance has something to do with a bunch of Japanese soldiers and Chamorros jumping off in WWII instead of surrendering to the Americans....... Maddy's profound words - "well thats just wrong!" Horrible history, but a nice overlook:

Further north was the "Grotto". It was an inlet surrounded by rock where the ocean comes rushing in through a cave. Really neat, and supposedly a great diving/snorkeling spot. We had thought we could swim there, but when we arrived the signs said swimming wasn't allowed- too much undertow, and really once you see it you understand why:

....lots of rocks and the water really washes in and pulls out quickly. Looked dangerous to me, but Kevin and the girls figured they could have done it if the "safety mom" (as Ellie has taken to calling me) wasn't there.

After touring around the 12.5 mile length of the island, we headed to the hotel and spent the rest of the day and most of the next at its water park.
WAY too much sun time over the weekend- went through a whole container of sunscreen and still had some pink faces on the girls. But a really great time at the water park and hotel.

Late afternoon Friday we moved over to a different hotel which was next to the pool where the swim meet was. Also a nice hotel- great big room with three beds, the girls were in their glory not having to share.

Saturday was the swim meet. Not many best times- though Maddy has an unconfirmed B time in her 50 breast.... we don't have the results back and frankly may not anytime soon- while we were there they posted the results from the meet they had on April 5th.......

Nonetheless the girls had a great time and got to socialize with Tsunami Saipan- our "sister" team. Also got to swim in a salt water pool- the algae covered walls were an added bonus. Maddy is sticking to her claim that her backstroke time was so bad because her feet slid off the green wall on her start and turn.... Kevin was saying how far I have come. He says a few months ago I wouldn't have had our kids swimming in this poor of a facility and now I don't even bat an eye at our girls slipping on algae...... he has a point.....

Algae and incredible heat didn't stop them from having a great time.

The funniest part was flying back to Guam, seeing it from overhead it looked so huge to me after leaving Saipan..... can't wait to see how huge Canada looks to me next week :)

Bringing us to Sunday. The year end swim party was today. Both girls received outstanding swimmer awards from Coach Toshi. This is a huge honor and speaks to how much effort they are putting in..... this is not one of those teams where everyone gets an award just because they are signed up- its really an earned thing on Japanese teams. I am so proud of both of them!
I told Coach Toshi he needs to smile in pictures, he told me traditional Japanese men don't smile for photos. When I took this picture I tried to have him smile- the funny part is, he broke out in a huge smile right after..... he didn't smile for the team photos I took recently either:

One last cool thing:
The US Navy hospital ship- the Mercy, is in our port here on base. Love the idea of a floating, portable hospital. I think this is the one that recently was in Haiti. Just wanted you guys to be able to see a picture!

There, done the longest blog ever! Sorry to squeeze so much into one blog but I was a few days behind......