Happy Birthday!

The girls of the Brown family would like to wish our daddy (the only boy in the Brown family) a very happy, super, spectacular birthday!! We love you!!!

Caitlin dives

Here's a pic of Caitlin diving. All can be seen on our picasa web album.

Gone Diving

Diving, it's one of Caitlin's favorite pastimes. Today she got the chance to do her first wreck dive. There is a popular dive sight here called American Tanker where a huge tanker sank many years ago. You can get to the top of the wreck at about 60 feet down. Caitlin and Jeremy went inside it and explored a little. Caitlin said she was a bit nervous at first to go in and when she got inside it made her feel weird to be right side up inside something that was sitting sideways. I'm so glad I do not know these details before the dive!! I'm already a bundle of nerves every time she goes out. John and Jeremy are both expert divers and they claim that Caitlin is a natural and that there is nothing to fear about her skill level. Plus they take good care and are very cautious when she dives with them, but I'm a mom and worry I will. Caitlin reported the visibility to be awesome today, they saw tons of fish and sea life and found an old Coca-Cola bottle with crustaceans growing all over it. The coolest thing she said they saw was an air pocket inside the ship with lots of really neat plants growing in it. Lee asked her if she felt like Nemo in the Fish Are Friends Sharks Meeting while she was inside the ship? Her reply: "I'm havin' fish tonight!"

Lets eat!

First off let me just say that Guam has NOT been good for my waistline. There is so much good food here, IF you are willing to be a bit adventurous and step out of your comfort zone food wise. I just wish that it would not have taken our family so long to do just that. Only in the past year or so have we been trying new things. Our food horizons have been SO expanded!! My new personal favorite is Indian Chicken Tikka Masala and at a close second is Thai Red Chicken Curry. In the words of Rachel Ray "Yum-o!" The island of Guam has a plethora of Asian style cuisine to pick from as well as its own unique choices. Lets just say that the Brown fam will never again be without finnedene sauce in the fridge thanks to Guam. And did you know that the rest of the world eats their rice sticky? We didn't but we sure do prefer it that way now. I have been experimenting with ethnic recipes at home, trying to copy all the new foods that we have come to love. So far my efforts have been so-so but I have managed to score on one or two items. I'm no quitter though. I cannot wait to go to Bali where I'm told you can easily buy spices for all these lovely foods at a very low price. Plus we are going to attend a day long cooking class there. The above picture is us eating Sukiyaki for the first time while in Tokyo. This is now the girls favorite way to eat Japanese food. Although, Gracie loves her sushi.

Snow in April?

The word is that many of you got a little snow and or very chilly temps there in the US over the Easter weekend. Wow, what weird weather! Here on Guam the forecast reads the same every single day of the year. "Times of sun, times of rain. avg. temp 86 degrees." Some days they predict more rain than others but the temp rarely ever drops below 80 and is almost always somewhere in the low 90's. Our family has acclimated to the heat so well that it has to be REALLY hot for us to even notice it anymore. On the other hand we get the chills when we go into a restaurant or building where the aircon is turned down low. We do not even own winter clothing anymore! I have a feeling we are going to be in shock around October or so in Virginia. It will be our first fall and winter in over three years. As soon as we return we will be hitting the sales racks in search of fall/winter wear for the 6 of us. Me thinks the budget is going to take a big hit! I suppose this is the price one pays for the luxury of three years of summer on a tropical island. You all try to stay warm over there, hopefully a full fledged Spring will be upon you soon and a warm, sunny Summer will follow.

House hunting blues

Man o man o man o man. We are bogged down deep in the midst of trying to find a place to live in Virginia. We are looking to rent because Lee's orders are only for 2 years in Norfolk. I cannot even fathom trying (like our neighbors) to do this if buying a house. House hunting from half a world away is just daunting!!! Thankfully there is a great website out now called rentclicks that has tons of listings and usually lots of great pictures. We have really liked two houses we have found there but lost them both due to distance. While we were in process of faxing apps and paying app fees someone else would come in person ready to sign a lease. Bummer. The pictures and information they give on each house is great but there is no way to know for sure about a neighborhood without actually being there or having a representative you trust there for you. It's all just a big headache. Anyway I thought I would send along two links for the two houses we are the most interested in now. The first link is our first choice. Enjoy looking and don't be afraid to write back with honest opinions. I need some objective help here!!!! http://320315.rentclicks.com
http://182383.rentclicks.com

Happy Resurrection Day!!!

We hope that each of you will have a very blessed Easter today. We sure did! Our day started out at Sunrise service overlooking the beautiful ocean. Lee was asked to be the preacher for this service and he did a fine job. He challenged us all to "look" into the empty tomb and believe that we serve a risen Saviour. We followed the morning up by having breakfast there after the service with those who attended. A few hours later we were off to our regular chapel services. Gracie and Abbie participated in a presentation by the children of the chapel and again Lee preached another great sermon about what Christ's resurrection means to us today. After chapel we again fellowshipped and ate with folks who attended. This afternoon we held the 2nd annual Easter ball hunt in our yard. Yep you read that right. Not an egg hunt but a ball hunt. Not that we are against hunting eggs but last year we waited too long to buy eggs and none were to be had on Guam. Lee cleverly came up with an alternative. We bought a bag of 100 balls like you would put in a kids ball pit. They came in all different colors. We hid them all over the yard and the girls hunted. After the hunt they could exchange the colored balls for prizes. Like each red ball would be worth 2 bite size Milky Ways and each green ball would be worth one dollar etc... Of course we did not tell them that to begin with or they would have fought for the green ones! In the end they each got a pile of candy that they traded with each other until each had their favorites. Caitlin LOVES Peeps! This evening Lee drove out to the prison and participated with the inmates at their chapel in their Easter service and once again preached about the resurrected Jesus. I was not there but I know he did a great job. So that was our day. You can see all the pics from today on our picasa web album. It will be labeled Easter 2007. Enjoy! He is risen indeed!!!