That's it!

I've said for quite a while now that I want to go to photography school and be a professional photographer. Going to school right now is out of the question for two reasons, there's no school here on Guam and with Dave going to school and working to be a diving instructor there just isn't time right now. But, that doesn't mean I can't get a few books and really start practicing in the mean time. There are hundreds of photo opportunities here just waiting for me, so I'm going to take them. I plan to spend one morning a week just on photography. Wish me luck!

No water?

We were supposed to have no water this weekend, and it's now Sunday and we haven't lost it. Definitely no complaints here, I'm just very surprised. Whether or not we lost our water depended if everyone followed the conservation standards set or not. I've seen them be totally ignored in the past, so I expected to lose water by yesterday afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised to wake up and find we still had water this morning. Even if we lose it now it won't last long.

On meeting Akela

Sorry about cutting off the last line of journaling, I was so excited about the scanner working on the first try I didn't even notice. These colors are definitely not the norm for me, but they're the Tiger Cub colors, and it helps that they go together so well. Elijah worked really hard learning the Cub Scout Promise and other things to earn this patch, we're soooo proud of him!

Tiger Cub Hike

This is the first of many layouts I'll be doing about our hike at Ratidian on January 20th.

I really liked this KI memories paper, and we never really have a fall here, so I thought it would work for our hike in the woods. The layout isn't really all crooked like it looks, but my scanner has been tempermental and I finally got it to work after fighting with it for 2 days, I wasn't going to chance trying to get another scan.

learning to skate

I'm not happy with this one at all. I didn't want it to look like all the other skating ones I've been doing so I decided to try using 2 4x6s instead, but it's just blah to me. No focal point, blah blah. What's the saying, if it aint broke don't fix it? I should've stuck with the one large one small photo.

Rollerskate Diva

I'm noticing that I'm using less and less "stuff" on my layouts. Not sure why, just another phase I'm in I guess. I really thought with these bold papers it didn't need anything else.

By the Lanterns Glow

Sk8r Boy

It's fun to stay at the YMCA

I don't know what I thought of the YMCA's but this one here in Hong Kong is awesome. I'm sure they're not all this nice, but this one rocks! Are the rooms as nice as some of the more expensive places we could've stayed? No, but for the price it's much more than I expected. We have a view of Victoria Harbor, pool, two restaurants, a small shop and we're only 2 blocks from the Star Ferry. I would definitely recommend it to anyone traveling to Hong Kong.

Wow is all I can say about the shopping here! Every brand name you've ever heard of and thousands more can be found. Last evening we went to Harbor City and it was gigantic. It covered a few city blocks with over 700 stores. Of course the kids favorite store was Toys R Us, and they were spoiled with toys to bring back to the room to play with. Dave bought a gorgeous purple Chinese style jacket, I can't wait to get home and take photos of him in it.

Yesterday afternoon we walked through the antiques district where there were hardly any tourists. It was really nice to get out of the touristy district and see authentic Hong Kong, to see where the residents shop and how they live. While there I bought some tea (can't wait to share it with you Kerrie!) and Dave bought me a tea set like they use here., complete with slop bowl. We also found a beautiful mini screen with hand embroidered flowers and mini vases with scenes painted on them. I have o idea where these are going to go in the house, but I see hanging shelves in Dave's future.

Another great find was new glasses for Hannah & Elijah. We decided to go into the optical shop on a whim, just to see how long it would take them to get glasses for the twins. We ordered them yesterday and they'll be done this afternoon, and they cost less than $150 a pair. In Guam we pay at least $200 a pair and have to wait 6-8 weeks for the lenses to arrive on island. Plus they're getting better lenses this time, they're getting the light plastic ones that are scratch resistant, this is great because right now Elijah's lenses are about as thick as coke bottles and they're so heavy that no matter how we adjust his glasses they constantly slide down his face.

Well, looks like everyone's just about dressed and ready to start the day. Time for a good breakfast so we have energy to do some more shopping today. Today is electronics shopping, I'm looking for a pink ipod and a remote for my camera.

WOW Disney Rocks!!!!!!!!

Ok, we're a part of the Disney Vacation Club, which is basically a timeshare. We pay a certain amount every month and receive points to use for nights at disney hotels. It's always been cool, member receive discounts at parks stateside and on admission. Well here at Disney Hong Kong they took it to a whole new level! When we went to check in the woman at the front desk told us that she thought our reservation included our tickets. It was 1am when we got here, 3am Guam time, so we were a bit out of it, told her we didn't think so and she said she'd check into it. Come to findout yesterday Disney Vacation Club gave us 2 days of free tickets when we used our points to reserve a room. How cool is that? On top of that people staying at the Disney hotels here get a free days ticket for everyone that they buy, so for 4 days at the parks we only had to buy one day's tickets. And the tickets for the park here are much cheaper than stateside. We paid $1200 HK for the 5 of us which is about $150 , w usually pay at least that a day for 1 adult ticket. Off to breakfast and another day at the park!

Outside time today

We finally got a chance to replace Elijah's broken skateboard so I took the kids out for their first time with the skates and skateboard. When we got through all the tears of not being professionals right away they had fun. We made it down the path from our house to Kerrie's and back, and that was about all they could handle. Poor Hannah is going to have a bruised up tush because she kept falling on it. Caitlynn tended to fall more on her hands then anywhere else. Elijah didn't fall but once and even if he did I don't think he'd feel it, between the knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards he was pretty well covered.

Not sure what we'll do with the rest of out Saturday, maybe lunch and a movie and just a lazy day, who knows.

All or nothing

I went from not scrapping at all for months to completing 3 projects in 2 days. This one's by no means a masterpiece, but I love the paper salon paper and think I'll be doing more brown/green combos.

Here's another layout

I absolutely LOVE this photo of my mom! While she was here I took her on a tour of the south side of the island, which to me is the most beautiful part of the whole island because it is much less developed. This photo is from Inarajan pool, you can't relly tell cause it's so small here, but she looks so happy and carefree.

Feels good to scrap again

It felt so nice to actually sit down and scrap for the first time since before Thanksgiving. I've had this little file folder book sitting in my stash for over 2 years, probably over 3, so it was nice to pull something old and make something I love out of it.

Getting there

It's by no means perfect or spotless, but at least I can work in there now. The next issue is to decide what to scrap first, Christmas? The HUGE catterpillar I saw yesterday? Pictures I still haven't touched from Tokyo? Easter pictures I came across in my cleaning effort? The kids singing on Christmas Eve? Man the options are virtually endless.

Can't put it off any longer!

Now that Christmas is past I no longer have any excuse for not being able to scrap, or more to the point not even being able to walk into my scrap room. So since Dave's got a dive class tonight I'm working on organizing it all. Can you tell how into it I am, as I sit at the computer taking a break? lol. Here's a photo of the hallway with my organizing in progress, hopefully I'll have a done photo to post tonight also. Wish me luck, if no one hears from me in a week send help I was attacked by scrap supplies!

MMmmmm...

Dinner was super yummy! We didn't do much since it was only the 5 of us, but it was still delicious. We had a spiral ham, garlic smashed potatoes, corn and broccoli with cheese. The only thing left is a cheesecake when we're ready for dessert. What a wonderful day. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Last but not least, the presents

Children's Choir

The children's choir was so sweet. The sang Go Tell It On The Mountain and they did very well.

More Photos

Adult Choir Men's Choir