Leaving Guam

I really don't have many words to say about leaving Guam. I am so emotionally done with saying good-byes. I am exhausted.

So hard leaving the people here (Melda puts how much we are going to miss the Thorntons in a nutshell for me - click here to read it). I couldn't even watch Melda singing in church this morning without crying.

Love that Zion face! Gonna miss those boys.

Our last days have been a whirl

Japanese time trial up at Leo Palace- amazing experience that will need its own blog to cover properly.

And a Tsunami going away party for us.

SO hard getting out of there without being sad.

We are going to miss this team, this amazing coaching, these amazing people.

Spent today finishing up the Guam Bucket List

Cold Stone Ice Cream

Nails at the salon!

It will be nice to be on the plane tomorrow if only to not think about all the sadness of leaving, worrying of packing, the effort of finishing up here.

I know its been great for us, cause its hard to leave.

A couple of sidebar items from last week:

Maddy got third place in the science fair for the entire middle school! So proud again!

Ellie made it through her last day of school- sad but I am proud to say with minimal tears. She is going to miss that class!

Also proud that she saved her money for the last year and bought herself a kindle! I was skeptical at first- but let me tell you, packing one kindle sure beats packing the 7 books we usually would have!

So, we're packed and ready- alarm set for o-dark-thirty.

Thanks for reading for the past two years. I am glad I had the chance to share what's been going on with us while we have been so far away :)

A happy summer to everyone, and a big ADIOS to Guam- we'll just have to see what the next duty station holds for us..... maybe it will be blog-able?

Sooooo busy...

Packing house stuff, packing girls up, packing me up..... all while trying to say bye to everyone...

Look for one more big blog this weekend before we leave early, early Monday morning- ug.

Guam Bucket List continues....

Gab Gab day with the Thorntons!

Had a great time- lots of jumping into the three sided pool.

I had a ton of great photos (including Michael doing a front flip!) but I'm having a tough time loading them- I think the blog isn't liking my editing on the photos for some reason? Either way- really great afternoon.

In the evening, we went to the Polynesian show at the Pacific Islands Resort.

Really nice show.

So the bucket list is almost at an end- gotta recheck what the girls added to it to be sure we've done it all.

6th Grade Done- Maddy Finishing Strong!

Maddy is officially done 6th grade- they had her award ceremony today.

So proud of our Maddy!

She has a lot of awards and achievements to prove all that she has accomplished this year at McCool Middle School. I love the Academic Challenge Bowl Participation Award. The list seriously goes on and on-

But Kevin has declared his favorite to be the Academic Excellence Award:

- in the top ten of all the 6th grade students.

Straight A's for the year. She did it, reached her goal.

Way to go Maddy!

Really just so proud :)

Sorry! I'll have to double blog tomorrow night- Kevin won't give up the computer!

Saturday in photos...

Maddy and Ellie had a fun day......

Started this morning with a Leo Palace practice:

Kevin and I decided to "run" the 5 k course that goes around the Leo Palace grounds.

Cute little signs are all along the way to keep you company:

Though any circuit that has to wish me luck.... makes me a little leery of how its going to go....

Then of course warnings of pigs- and there was also an iguana warning- doesn't bode well for the run either.

There should have been a sign warning "caution, this trail is up hill both ways" cause really- sooo steep! I shouldn't complain- its more me being out of shape than anything 'cause Kevin really did fine with the hill.

This photo doesn't do the hill justice:

I was suckin' so bad! Ran the first half downhill (1st mile was at an 8min something pace- yay me!) then the rest I couldn't even catch my breath it was so beyond "uphill" (at a walking pace of 14 min something mile- boo me), they should have a name for this course- like "uber-up-hill".

Nice scenery though to go with the tortuous jog.

Made it to the finish- you can tell by the happy people on the sign-

5.57 km...... up hill both ways-

The rest of the day was all about finishing up the girls "Guam Bucket List".

Starting with the Harley Davidson store- girls love it in there.

Buying more charms for their Guam bracelets.....

Of course yogurtland made the list....

Tomorrow we will be knocking "beach with the Thorntons" and "PIC Dinner Show" off of the list- which only leaves going to the Onward Water Park.

Kevin and I did date night tonight with Maria- and of course Stewart showed up briefly. Really gonna miss our Tsunami friends.

Nice day had by all- looking forward to time with the Thorntons tomorrow :)

Ellie's Day

The school year is coming to an end- 3 and 1/2 more days for the girls. This week there were a lot of end of the year activities.

Today we got to go into Ellie's classroom for some plays they were putting on, and her end of the year award ceremony.

In her main play she was "Spiderella"

So she had eight braids with tiny shoes on them to represent her eight spider legs.

Truly, she did a great job. Knew her lines perfectly and played the part well with great expression in her voice. Really good job.

Mrs. Kranz has been a lovely teacher for Ellie this year.

Ellie is really going to miss her. A very inventive teacher, who gives a lot of encouragement for the kids to think big and reach goals. It was so cute today, when we were talking about the class presentation today- Ellie said "Ya, poor Mrs. Kranz has been so stressed out all week." -Love that she was worried about her teacher.

It was nice that Kevin could make it, and we pulled Maddy out of class so she could be there too.

I can't even say how proud I am of Ellie. She does so well in and out of the classroom. Academically she is great, and socially she is even better. So compassionate and loving to her family and friends. You can't help but love her.

My sweet, sweet girl :)

Phone Photos

Sorry about the quality of todays photos- all were taken on my iphone.... not bad but still, not great.

I have been banned from sounding excited about coming home, and no longer allowed to do the days left on Guam countdown- I have been informed that it is insensitive to those I am leaving behind (sorry Mel :(

Truly though, I don't think leaving Guam will be difficult- we will most likely never be here again, and I am ok with that- its the people we are going to miss, not the island itself. And really- I am not happy about leaving Melda and the boys behind, but at least them we know 100% that we will see them again, no questions. They aren't Guam friends, they are forever friends and there is nothing temporary about that.

But ya Mel, for you- no more countdown :P

I have been spending a lot more time in and around Kevin's office since I have become a stay at home mom, and since we are down to one car (lots of drop-offs and pick-ups..... though not as many bike-rides as Kevin has been doing). And I have discovered that he has a nice office!

I should have taken one more photo of the other side of the room with a huge conference table. Big office! Not sure he will ever have one quite this big again after this job, but we'll see....

Maddy's certificate came in the mail today-

1st place in all Guam for their E-cybermission science experiment that they submitted. Really so happy and so proud of a lot of neat honors she has gotten this year (on the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) team, invited to DC for a youth leadership conference, invited to join the Jr National Honors Society, school finalist for the geography bee, on the academic challenge bowl team, on the principles honor (straight A's) list for every quarter this year). Yes, it seems a bit braggy- but I think since she has really done so very well.... I think I can do a little kvelling!

Stayed home from swim practice tonight.

Yes you heard correctly- its an unusual thing, but there it is.

Maddy still has an outer ear infection- today is actually the first day it is starting to feel better. Gotta love how she has to hold her head when the ear drops are in:

And Ellie had homework she was trying to finish up:

Yes, her homework was reading.

Tomorrow is the last day for reading points at school. Ellie had set a goal for herself to finish this Fablehaven book and get the points for it- so Ellie pointed out to me that I have always said homework comes first. That combined with the fact that Maddy wasn't swimming, supper wasn't ready and Kevin miraculously appeared home at 4:20..... I admitted defeat and we all stayed home.

Ellie spent the whole evening at home finishing up the reading points book, Maddy read her new James Patterson book, Kevin was on his iPad, Aggie slept in her bed at my feet, and I blogged early :).

Nice quiet night for the Gillams.

I'll have to commit this night to memory since we have a lot of busy days coming......