Where In the World is Guam?

Several months ago, we were in the planning stages of where we would go for our Christmas vacation. We knew we wanted to go somewhere warm, tropical, adventurous, and not sooo far away from Shanghai that we would have to deal with jet lag when we returned. Alison's cousin Jeff Copeland and his family are currently living on the naval base in Guam. Their adventurous experiences on the island led our family to discover a part of the world we probably would never had thought of visiting if it weren't for them. In fact, before we left for our vacation, several of us truly were not sure where Guam REALLY was!!
Thanks to a few geography books, and an airplane pilot who knew where he was going, we all found our way to Guam, and our adventures began........

Our friends and neighbors here in Shanghai, the MacDonalds, accompanied our family to Guam. Their son Garrett and Bracken are classmates, as well as Paige and Parker. The foursome get along wonderfully, and have a great time together.

"Uncle Jeff" (the boys referred him as), is a family physician on base. Since Jeff was to be our tour guide, he wanted us to stay close to his home so he found all of us "visitor housing" conveniently located on base. We had never actually been on a military base before, so we looked forward to a week of living in this "mysterious world" that we civilians hear about, but never have the chance to experience. The base was its own little world, with a post office, grocery store, movie theatre, bowling alley, gas station and even a McDonalds!! All this, and NO TRAFFIC!! What more could anyone want?

We decided, if we were going to stay on the military base, we would do our best to play the part. The boys looked great in their new uniforms.....

Maybe after boot camp these boys would be whipped into shape!!

Just outside the base, we were able to visit the navy museum. It taught us so much about the history of Guam, and its involvement in World War II.

Fortunately, with Jeff's conections, we were able to take a tour with a Navy officer on one of the navy ships that had recently returned from sea. This particular ship is responsible for repairing the US submarines in many waters of the world. It can be out to sea for several months at a time. It was amazing to explore the ship, and learn how many services it can provide for not only servicing naval submarines, but also life on board. It also made us realize that so many people spend a huge part of their lives sacrificing for our country sometimes leaving their families for long amounts of time.

Tyson and David Copeland with one of the US submarines behind.
Tyson---looking good in the navigation chair!

So, maybe the boys are not ready for uniforms or boot camp, but they definitely did prove ready for Jeff's "military" schedule of events. Jeff has always been a person with a high amount of energy. We believe it is now ten-fold! His rigorous schedule included waking us up at the crack of dawn to full course breakfasts (cooked daily by Jeff and his wife, LaNita), packing in a full day of fun, and heading to bed very late. We loved every minute of it, even though we were exhausted!

Before we left for Guam, we finished several hours of our PADI scuba certification, and looked forward to our open water dives. However, unfortunately Alison caught a bad cold just a few days before, making it impossible for her to scuba dive!! John's cold quickly followed. Luckily the boys went cold free, and loved their two days of scuba diving adventure.

Tyson is not yet old enough to scuba dive, but had a few good attempts of snorkeling.

Thanks again to Jeff and his knowledge of the island, we were able to enjoy several great hikes through Guam's jungles. Just the thought of hiking through a jungle was adventurous enough for Alison. We believe Jeff left out the "repelling down cliffs" part for her sake when he brought up the idea for the hike.

Needless to say, after watching her take a nasty slide down one face of the mountain, and then waiting for way too long for Alison to finally get the courage to repel herself down another mountain, the boys decided she would be their LAST choice for "Amazing Race" or "Survivor!"

And this is what they mean when they say you can always find gold at the end of the rainbow---because after a long hike we came to "Tarzan Waterhole" complete with the most beautiful waterholes and cliffs for those brave enough to jump. Bracken was one of those brave souls...

After "Tarzan Waterhole", the hike the next day to the falls seemed like a breeze. There was a small rain the day before making parts very muddy and slippery. By the end of the hike, our shoes were not pretty, but the falls sure were!



Alison and Tyson with Jeff and his 12-year old twin boys David and Jacob.

We celebrated Christmas Eve "Chomorro" style. The Chomorro's are the natives on Guam. We loved seeing their village, eating their local cuisine, and enjoying the festivities.

After a couple days of golfing at some of the "most beautiful golf courses ever played" (quoted by John and the boys), some great Christmas shopping, and several nights at the movies, we were all ready for our final hike to "Tarzan Springs." The boys loved that the cliffs got higher and more daring, however nothing could convince their mother to jump from either the cliffs nor the ropeswing. Parker was ready for anything...

Parker gets an eight here from the judges.....

The perfect day was complete when the boys spotted "SAS" etched out in the rocks on one of the cliffs. To someone it might signify their initials, but to the Shanghai hikers it only could stand for "Shanghai American School!!"

We were sad to see our vacation in Guam come to an end. It was an absolute wonderful time, and we are so thankful for Jeff who made it so memorable for all of us. We wish he and his family the best of luck, and will pray for his safety as he will be deployed to Iraq on Saturday. Lots of love Jeff, and thanks LaNita, David, and Jacob for being such great hosts, and allowing us to share Christmas with you!