Pup

 Oh my gosh I really miss my puppy.  Sam's in the states right now staying with my parents until we pick her up this summer.  The airlines won't fly pets from Saipan after May 15 because of the heat, so we had to send her early.  We've been able to see her a lot on skype, but can't wait to have her back home with us!  Thanks Mom and Dad so much for taking care of her!!!

Puppy at the beach

 Our friend Liz gave her the name "Sammie Sad Eyes"

Miss you pup pup!

yum yum

 Sam's favorite snack lately:  coconut.  Lately she's been gobbling them up during walks.  What??  I've never heard of a coconut-eating dog... but okay, Sam!

beach love

 Few things are better than this!

     “Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”

             -Anonymous

Our Navy Hill Compound

Brian and I love the compound that we live on in Saipan.  It is a big compound located on top of Navy Hill and we have lots of shade trees to keep us cool from the year-round Saipan heat.  There are about 7 or 8 other houses on our compound and we have American, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and local neighbors.  It's pretty unique and has been really cool getting to know our neighbors.

This is the view from a field near our house.  It looks out over Garapan, Saipan's tourist district, and onto the ocean.

Living up on a hill equals an ocean breeze, and lately we have been sleeping with our windows open and our air condition off.  It feels a little humid that way, but saves us a lot on our electricity bill (Saipan's electricity costs about twice as much as electricity in the states... we try to leave our air condition off as much as we can.)

Sam loves the land around our house where she can run around.  We have a few other dogs that roam around on the compound that she tries to play with, but they are usually "too cool" for her, and nip at her when she tries to play with them :)  Guess she'll just have to stick with her dog park buddies!

Smooshed Doggie Face

These pictures just make me crack up every time I look at them. Poor Sam!

It's a rainy day on Saipan today. 

Which is actually such a nice break from the heat.  Since Saipan basically only has one season (summer!)  rainy days are kind of like our fall-  I love them.

We've been experimenting with our new refurbished camera and trying to learn how to use it. Brian took this one of some of the beautiful tropical flowers outside our house.  

Lately, we've been having SO many car problems.  Thank goodness we still have our little blue scooter (that only goes 32 miles per hour max) to get around on because our car has been constantly in and our of the shop the last 3 weeks.  5 times to be exact.

So. Expensive!

The car is 21 years old and 200,000+ miles, so it is kind of to be expected, but we're just not sure how much more money we should put into it.

Brian starts back to work at Hopwood Middle School next Monday, and I will be working full-time at ALAI (my tutoring company) this school year.  I'm so proud of our company and of how well it has been doing lately.  Summer camp at ALAI was super busy, but really fun- I was sad to see the last of our kids visiting from Korea go this Friday.

This puppy will be traveling to America sometime soon.  She is going to be so cute when she feels cold weather or sees snow for the first time.  So far, she's only been a tropical dog!

 Tony Roma's restaurant for our friend Becky's birthday.  Grant, Will, and Brian here, Allison, Kara, and I below.

i love Brian and i love Sam

 Here's my family on a walk in our compound last week.  This is the lot directly across from our house and we really love the sunset view.  It's so nice to let the busyness or stress of the day melt away while we sit on our porch and look at the view.  

Brian always reminds me to pause during the day and to soak in the beauty of the ocean.  When you live on a small island, it's easy to take the beauty of an ocean view for granted because you see the ocean literally all the time.  I like it how Brian reminds me that we will not always live near the sea and to enjoy it each day we're here.

love this beach

Samantha

i love this puppy face.

We've moved into our new little rental house up on Navy Hill. It's two small (very small) bedrooms, and is located on a compound that we share with about 6 other houses up on the hill. I love how shady the area is, allowing us to use less air conditioning! That is so important because electricity is much more expensive here in Saipan than what we are used to in the US or Taiwan.

My very favorite part of our new rental house is the view of the ocean from the porch. Our neighbors just recently cleared a lot of trees which was blocking most of the ocean view... now we can see the sea from our bedroom window!

Brian and I are both busy with all day summer camps right now, and getting the new house all organized. There were a lot of unfinished projects when we first moved in (no air-conditioning, leaking toilet and shower, broken water heater), but our landlady is finally ironing all of those out. Pictures to come soon.

Weekends on Island

Beautiful Hyatt Beach. We packed up little Sam in our blue Toyota and headed to the shore.

Brian and his friend Jake trying to coax Sam into the water. She's recently developed a small fear of the ocean, after being a true water doggie the first few weeks we had her. The dog books say that she's in the "fearful" puppy stage and will outgrow it, so we're just letting her chill and get in to swim when she wants to.

Naughty digging dog... trying to bury my flip flops

me and my best puppy ever

I love Hyatt beach because it's so relaxing and the water is super clear. It's located right behind Hyatt hotel, but is still open to the public, as all beaches are in Saipan. Many people bring their dogs or rent paddle boards on this beach. I love how clean the sand is- some beaches here are filled with gross sea cucumbers and seaweed, making it hard to wade in your bare feet.

A tropical storm was sweeping through the area north of us this week, and our little island felt the effects of it. Here is the big storm I saw outside my work window on Friday afternoon. The palm trees were swaying like crazy.

tired puppy

Weekends lately

 Our weekends lately have been spent taking our dowgie to the park...

 Enjoying American Memorial Park

 We're house sitting for another couple here on the island for a few weeks, and their house is way up on Mt. Topochau.  We've been enjoying the wonderful breeze they have up here- you really don't need air conditioning at all.  On Saturday, we had some friends up to enjoy some good old cable... something that none of us have had all year!   MTV, TLC, VH1... I really missed you guys.

Little Sammie dog

 Cable watching party :)  Sitting by Brian is Chief, the best dog in the world!!  We are watching her too while her family is away, and she really is the most well-behaved, sweet dog I've ever known.  Her and Sam love to play together, even though Sam really annoys her at times.

Brian chillin with Chief.

End of the Year Pool Par-tay

It's a true fact that our friends Laura and Josiah host great parties.  Last weekend, they had a bunch of us over for delish deli sandwiches and then a pool party.  Here's some pics that us girls took...

Me, Amy, and my Bubba!  

All of us girls