Island Nanny Visits

My mom (Island Nanny) arrived for a 16-day visit last Wednesday. The entire Island Family is thrilled to have her here! The Island Kids (especially Island Boy) love having her to play with, I love having another adult to talk to all day, and getting a bit of a break is nice, too! Island Dad and I have a couple of date nights in the works.

This morning, Island Dad actually watched both kids, while Island Nanny and I went with the Base's Outdoor Recreation Center on a hike, known around these parts as a Boonie Stomp. We went down island to a place called Tarzan Falls. It was rated as a moderate hike, although it was probably about as difficult as either she or I would care to tackle again. We started off on relatively flat, grassy, highlands. This quickly turned into a sticky, muddy, downhill trail occasionally spotted with some rock underneath. We both slipped and fell flat on our backsides at least once. We even found ourselves at times crab-walking (me) and crawling on our hands and knees (her, on the way back, up a very steep, muddy hill). But the view at the bottom was so, SO worth it!

Our first stop was at the top of the falls.

We took a few pictures, then moved on down the trail to the bottom of the falls. We were hot and sticky (not to mention very, very muddy) by the time we got to the bottom. However, the mist and the breeze created by the falling water, combined with sticking our feet into the chilly pool at the bottom of the falls was exactly the perfect way to cool off!

It was a wonderful mother-daughter bonding experience!

Pancake Sunday

It has been ridiculously dreary here on the Island today! Rain, rain, rain, and not a speck of blue sky in sight (which is amazing, because usually, the rain blows over pretty quickly).

Island Dad had to work this afternoon, and so the Island Kids and I went up to base, got some lunch, did some shopping, and hit the grocery store, as well. By the time we got back, though, it was so late in the afternoon that instead of an actual nap time, I let Island Boy have "quiet time" watching Finding Nemo. He sat pretty well for most of it, and does enjoy the movie, so it went reasonably well! He recognizes most of the characters, and when he spots a clown fish in real life, he calls it a "Nemo." For the joint 1st and 3rd birthday party I am looking at this year, I think we are going to go with a Nemo theme. He likes it, it's gender neutral, and, hey! We live on an island with lots of ocean and coral reef around, so it's perfect!

On to the pancakes!

This week, we had strawberry banana pancakes with chocolate chips. They were amazing! Island Boy downed four or five of them in as much time as it took me to eat six. The child loves his pancakes!!

Strawberry Banana Pancakes with Chocolate Chips 


Ingredients


1 c. all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 c. milk
2 Tbsp. mashed banana
2 c. chopped frozen strawberries (I chopped them in the food processor)
mini chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Stir in egg, milk, and mashed banana.

Fold in the chopped strawberries.

On a heated griddle (with the frozen strawberries, you want to use the highest setting, to ensure that they thaw while the pancake cooks), pour the batter by 1/4 cupfuls. Sprinkle chocolate chips on the up-side before flipping.

Cook until sides start to look dry and bubbles start to form in the top (with the strawberry chunks, this may take longer than normal, and if they do not flip easily at first, give them a bit longer, then try again). Cook another 1-2 minutes until done.

Enjoy!

Five Things

The Island Kids and I drove down the Island today to do some shopping at the Naval base. It's a fairly long drive, for an island (30-40 minutes). On the ride back, Island Girl was sleeping and Island Boy was fairly quiet, which gave me some time to think.

We have been here for a little over two months now, which is incredibly hard to believe in some ways. There are things that I love, or am learning to love, about living here. Here's a list of my "Top Five," in no particular order.

1. Riding down Marine Corps Drive. Starting from our place and heading south, you see lots of strip malls and plazas to start with. This has given me a great start on a list of places I'd love to check out on the off chance that I actually get a morning out without the Island Kids. Right. Once you get south of that, though, you get this gorgeous drive along Tumon Bay, practically on the beach. On the other side of the road is mountains. Tall, verdant, mountains.

2. The weather. It's a given. You really can't beat it! I keep thinking that summer is almost over, and that fall, and soon winter, will be here. And while, yes, Christmas will be upon us before I'm ready, the snow will never arrive. And, I suppose, if it does, we're all in pretty big trouble, haha.

3. The variety of food options available. First, of course we don't eat out every night. But Friday night family dinner out has become a bit of a tradition for us. So it's great to have a TON of options. Of course we have our pick  of Asian cuisine. Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Phillipino, Korean, you name it. We also have local fare, which we're just starting to get acquainted with, but love. Beyond that, though, we've found good Mexican, Italian, and even have found an appreciation for the occasional trip to TGIFridays or Chili's (but not too often).

4. The variety of activities available. We go to the beach. We take a walk around the neighborhood (which, try to do that in the northern tier in the middle of January...). We go to the mall. We can take a hike in the jungle. And we can do all of it as a family!

5. The phrase "Only On Guam" or O-O-G. Yes, it gets applied negatively by many people, self included. But I've also used it in reference to our drive back from Talofofo Falls, when we saw two, yes, TWO men walking their carabao (water buffalo) down the road. Separately. And the second one had two small-ish dogs riding on top of the carabao. O-O-G indeed.

There are many many more things I am loving about living here, and a few things I'm not loving quite as much, but am trying to get used to.

Muffin Tin Monday

For lunch yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and decided to try a muffin tin lunch. I've been following the blog for awhile, but haven't had time to try it, especially since we often wind up meeting Island Dad for lunch on base.

His work obligations did not allow that yesterday, so we were home for lunch.

Here is what I came up with!

Island Boy dug in before I could get  good picture of the entire plate (also, for now, I don't have 6-cup muffin tins, so just the cups will have to do!)

Clockwise from Island Boy's hand, we have half a grilled cheese sandwich, rice (which had been wrapped in nori, which he promptly removed and ate), rice still in the nori, the other half of the sandwich, more nori-wrapped rice, and raisins in the center.

Island Boy was a HUGE fan, and I liked the variety it allowed me to provide without it seeming overwhelming to him. We'll definitely be doing more of these in the future!

Island Mom's Night Out

Last night was the annual kick-off social for the officer's spouses club on base. As I am involved with the board, I kind of HAD to be there. Of course, I wanted to go, too. Break from the kids? Yes please! Unfortunately, Island Dad had work obligations that did not allow him to be home in time to watch the kids. So, I opted to take Island Girl with me, as she is pretty easy to please, and, you know, I'm still her main source of food. Island Boy, however, could not go with me. He would not have had much fun, for starters, and keeping him occupied would have distracted me from what I needed to do while there.

So I sucked it up and hired a babysitter. It's not so much that I don't like having babysitters. It's more that I still tend towards shy, and even when speaking to kids who are more than 14 years my junior, I get a bit self-conscious.

At any rate, another one of the club members has a daughter who babysits, and so I gave them a call, and she was willing and available! My only concern at this point was that Island Boy would somehow freak out and scream the whole time she was here. But, I started warming him up to the idea of a sitter when he woke up in the morning, and then all day he was talking about "[Babysitter] is coming to play with [Island Boy]!!" I was feeling pretty good about everything.

The babysitter and her mom arrived, and Island Boy seemed very happy, even when the mom and I left and Island Girl was with us (we carpooled).

When we returned to the house, a couple of hours later, Island Boy still seemed very happy, and the sitter said that aside from 20 minutes of crying for mommy somewhere in the middle, he was a very easy kid to watch (hooray... this means we can hire her again!!!)

Island Dad returned home shortly after, and we put Island Boy to bed together. I was reading him Llama, Llama, Red Pajama, by Anna Dewdney. I was just getting to the part where Llama Llama thinks that his Llama Mama is actually *gone*, when all of a sudden, Island Boys face just completely crumbled and he started sobbing uncontrollably, just so scared! Island Dad and I both tried to calm him down, even showing him the part where Mama Llama comes back, but he would have NONE of it. Island Dad finally had to go get another book to read to poor Island Boy!

We think it was probably a combination of the wide-eyed Llama Llama in the picture on that page, the slightly anxious/scary voice I use on that page, and also the fact that Island Boy's own "mama" had just been gone. But the kid was thoroughly freaked out! I don't think Island Dad and I have ever felt worse about "subjecting" our child to something!!

Needless to say, Llama Llama and his red pajamas will be taking a break on the bookshelf for awhile.