Running in the Rain...just another day on Guam!

Growing up in SoCal spoiled me so much I viewed the slightest drizzle as a "storm". San Diego news stations will broadcast "Storm Watch 2009"  that results in 1/4 of an inch of rain. Rain is a BIG DEAL for us San Diegans. But Guam? Not so much. Flooded streets are the norm here and to go out for a run and get soaked is actually a luxury, because you keep cool! Running in puddles, hearing your shoes squish as you plod through the streets, wiping water not sweat, off your face, all very normal on this island.

So it's no surprise Cheddar and I got up to attack the streets of Tumon at 5am this morning for the Jingle Bell 5K run! Along with 1,000 of our newest friends we jogged the streets, met new dogs and even made a potty stop (Cheddar, not me). Cheddar decided she was about done at 2.5 miles so I dragged her the rest of the way, when she heard the Christmas music playing at the finish line she picked up her step, that's my girl!

We stuck around with some friends for the usual awards ceremony and raffle. Being on a (VERY) tiny island plane tickets are a commodity around here. So it was no surprise they were giving away a few round trip tickets to Manila and Fiji. Guam really knows how to drag these things out, they always last at least an hour sometimes more. Little prizes usually include umbrellas and foldable chairs, I've yet to go to a race that did not award those. After all you need an umbrella to keep you dry while you sit back and relax during a family fiesta on the beach! The umbrellas would have been helpful when a lovely storm chasing Typhoon Nida moved in and soaked us. We stood in the pouring rain and wind that only graces the presence of Southeast Asia for 25 minutes waiting out the awards and plane ticket raffle. My friend Julie placed 1st in the female open division, as usual. Seriously, that girl is fast! So she accepted her medal as the rain poured off her face. In the end like usual, none of us found out we were traveling to any exotic destinations for free but were relieved to be able to head home to a hot shower. I can say this, this morning was THE FIRST time I used the heater in my car. No joke. I've never used the heater before because this place is hot and humid all the time! But standing in the rain for that long will put a chill on your body so Katie and I enjoyed a warm cozy car the whole drive home, 15 mph through flooded streets and all! I love this place.

Tommy, Cheddar & I waiting to win a prize!

Yeah she didn't like it either.

The crew, braving the storm for a chance to escape the island!

The effects of Typhoon Nida blowing by.

My Man!

I just wanted to show off my handsome husband. I am so thankful for the wonderful guy God put in my life! It's Thanksgiving which means we're about half way through our seven month deployment. With our 1st anniversary coming up (can you believe it??) I get more and more excited about spending the rest of my life with him. I love you babe!

Aiming for the "Hostess with the Mostess" award.

I thought I'd make a quick post, it's been almost a month since I last wrote! I guess that means I've been BUSY! Believe me, that makes things go so much faster! Last week I hosted a Home Show Extravaganza. Think Tupperware on crack. I have five different vendors inside my house at once...with about 50 women...drinking sangria. It was a hoot! Seriously I think the base should have a contest to see how many people they can fit into one bunker---er um, house. I think I would have a shot at winning, seriously!

We had drawings, prizes, demos it was fantastic. I got to meet some new ladies in my neighborhood which is a huge plus and I think everyone had a genuine good time! Cleanup was another story but had to be done because I had another gathering at the house Monday evening. Together with Jolene, Abby, Bea, Juliett and Stephanie we wrapped & ribboned 125 toys for the Children's Christmas Party on Dec 5th. That's not the crazy part. The crazy part is storing 125 wrapped and ribboned toys in my guest room. My house basically resembles Santa's workshop on December 26th. But of course I was up until 12:30am last night cleaning so I can host Bunco tonight! I love Bunco, so much fun and I have some great prizes to give away, yay! It should be a great time!

Dancing "Thriller" at 6am!

What can I say, halloween was a roaring success here on the fabulous island of Guam. We may not have fall leaves, cool weather and the smell of logs on the fireplace but we do have fallen coconuts, warm island breezes and a faint smell of salty sea air!

The day began at 430am, I got up in costume (80's style) for a Halloween 5K with my running group, complete with a warmup to "Thriller" at 6am. We may not have been the fastest group but we sure were the most entertaining. While many runners were sprinting to the finish line to claim a coveted t-shirt (which are never guaranteed to every participant!) we danced, pranced, leaped, jumped and twirled our way through the course. Julie and our coach Noemie would simulate Michael Jackson's "Thriller" while jumping over cones, and would run up the stairs of the courthouse to the tune  of "Rocky" while bemused runners carried on. I became quite proficient at traffic cone leaps. I got a cheer every time I hurtled one. How's that for encouragement?

So it was a fun, relaxed race and after checking out the costumes (President and Mrs Obama, a marine dressed as a Hooters waitress (complete with a sock), the cast of Pacman, and three teenage guys (who we are guessing want to be the famed Jonas brothers) wearing speedos and signs over them that said "Censored". So fun!

Later on I put on my costume and Cheddar put on hers. Or rather I painted hers, Smurfstyle.

So what do you think?

My little Smurfette had a grand time. We joined our neighbor Stephanie to hand out candy to trick-o-treaters. She lives on Rota Drive, which is THE happenin' place for Halloween. Also known as the Big Wig street, most of the base's top ranking brass live there so of course, would you expect anything less than supremo candy bars? It was like a tsunami of children, six o' clock hit and bam! Kids were coming in droves. Stephanie and I couldn't even sit down, we were too busy handing out candy to children by the dozen. Cheddar kept busy by "inspecting" everyone's candy bucket.

Once all the kids retreated home into sugar comas I finished my costume and headed downtown to a halloween party with some of my buds from the squadron. I dressed as "Miss March", a proud member of the Calendar Girls this year. Each of us dressed as a month, it was hilarious. I dressed in a green swimsuit with a white skirt, green top and boots. Then I pinned a couple dozen shamrock cutouts to my outfit! I don't have pictures yet but will post them as soon as they become available. But I will say that it was a pretty interesting time. There is no lack of creativity with these people, we had Waldo, Flash the Superhero, Chick Magnet, a beer drinking chicken and Mr Guam, my friend Chris dressed in a cardboard cutout of the island where everyone wrote a memory of theirs on the board. To put it kindly, it was a colorful plethora of "memories".

By midnight I was sacked. No late night for me, I was up early this morning baking for a church luncheon and BBQ with my running girls later.

No rest for the weary!

I apologize for the crooked pictures, Iphoto isn't working with me today. :)

Martha Stewart strikes again...

I think I have hit a new low. I know I'm pretty crafty but I'm pretty sure I could have found something else to do with my abundance of time out here. I received a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter in my "Boo Got You!" present a couple weeks back. Wondering what I should do with it I thought it might be fun to make dog biscuits. Cool? I think so. But after taking a good look at my dog, it is pretty clear the pooper is getting starting to look a little round, I attribute that to a few too many pig ears. Not wanting the biscuits to go to waste I figured I would just give them away to the neighbor dogs. 


So I finish making these biscuits. Cheddar's pudgy mouth was drooling with anticipation as I scooped, poured and stirred together oats, cornmeal, milk and peanut butter. When the adorable little gourds were done my mind decided to get creative (sometimes I can't help it!). I bagged a couple at a time and tied them with an orange ribbon. And here's where it goes over the edge. I printed out little tags that say "Happy Halloween! Love, Cheddar" and then made Cheddar "sign" them with her inked paw. She was a tad unhappy about that. :)


So when all was said and done I bagged them up and sent them off to the neighbors. One can only wonder what silly thing I come up with next? :0)

Truly Terrible Tarague Hill

I love weekends! Not as much as I did when I was working but still, they rock! It began Friday...at 430am. I wouldn't say this was fun but boy am I glad it's done! I drove down to Tarague beach for running camp. Not having much of a clue as to what was on tap for that day I was pretty relaxed. So like every day we start running down the road that parallels the beach. Not bad, it's pitch black of course so we've got flashlights and reflective gear. We get to the famous Sanders Slope. I say famous because this narrow little road goes from sea level to 600 feet, the highest part of the island in about 1/2 mile. I have never seen such a steep grade before, Colin's car can't even climb it! So we start climbing and about 1/3 of the way into it, I call back to Noemie, our coach in a meek little voice "uh Noemie? "Yes?" "So uh, how far are we going to go this morning?" "All the way Caitleeen (she's french)" "No (pant pant) really, (pant) how far?" "To the top! Keep running!" "(pant)Whaaat??" I yell. "YOU CANNOT STOP KEEP RUNNING!!!!!" (for such a cute little woman, she can scare the pants off you). Seriously there was probably about three inches between my steps as I climbed. Good thing it was dark, I looked PATHETIC! Combine that with cars speeding down the road, I was a mess. Somehow we made it to the top, we all survived it. I only managed to step on one slimy creature (I'm thinking a frog), not bad. The run back down was glorious. I felt like a speed racer, it was fantastic! Somehow the two miles back was nothing compared to that monster hill, amazing how your perspective changes sometimes!

So after I recovered from my torturous run we all went to the Osterhaus's house for Make-Your-Own Calzone night. Wow, Mike could seriously put my Nana to the test. They were fantastic! We played Balderdash afterwards, this is definitely a game you need to play with guys, there is no shortage of creativity in those heads of theirs, reminds me of those times in college when we would put off studying for as long as possible. [Sigh] Those were the days!

Today we all gathered in the "Quad" for football. The quad is the stretch of grass that lies behind our house. Several of our neighbors are from the squadron so naturally, we clearly feel it's our property! Today all the dogs showed up. We had Skipper, Cash, Oscar, Cheddar and Dawson (note, all 60lbs and up) all milling (er, sprinting madly) about the field. The game was more entertaining than College Game day, imagine trying to run down the field for a block as three dogs jump, spin and bounce...right in front of you. Oscar, a tank of a black lab decided to play linebacker and blitzed the QB every time. Poor Levi ran for a catch...straight into Oscar, both executed some Olympic quality somersaults leaving Levi sprawled on the ground and Oscar bounding back up to get the ball. The dog is pure rubber.

My team won of course (why wouldn't we?) and we polished off the evening with brats, burgers and chips. YUM! What is even better is that the ocean breeze swept in and kicked the pants off the humidity, praise the Lord!! The dogs of course were still panting and drooling, but this time by the grill. Relentless I say!

Now it is off to bed, I must rise and shine at 4:30am for my last week of running camp!

Adios!
Caitlyn

Displaying my vote in a rousing game of Balderdash!

Some of us gals after some fabulous calzones!!

Fall? Where's Fall?

So it's been awhile. I guess I haven't been in much of a "blogging" mood so here's a recap on a typical October in Guam:

• I've woken up at 4:30AM EVERY Monday, Wednesday & Friday for running camp since September 8th, as hard as it still is to get up, I find myself wide awake at 5am on the other days. :) But it has been an excellent form of discipline for my procrastinating self!
  
• Watched the first air show Guam has had in six years. AAFB treated 10,000 locals to some spectacular flying on behalf of the Navy and Air Force. The Thunderbirds made a gracious appearance and rocked the socks off the island. I was humored to read an article in the paper three days later, I swear this the type of stuff that humors us on a regular basis.
  
• Trained for the Ko'Ko's Half Marathon (today) of which I was able to do 8 miles of. My knees haven't been too kind to me however it is still better than the six I thought I'd do. I was up at 3:30AM to run that puppy (even in October it is HHOOTTTT), it has become very clear that I must become a morning person to thrive on this island.
  
• Last Thursday I ran into the Under Secretary of the Navy & the "Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps", General Amos. This four star sportin' Marine came right up to my friends at I as we were leaving Top of the Rock to talk to us! He discovered we were Navy (he was very excited about that) and he talked about his experience as a pilot  flying both fighters & helos! He wanted to make sure the AF was treating us Navy folk well and announced he was escorting the SEC around Guam that day.
  
• Blew a tire on my seven month old car...
• Started organizing a big Christmas party for the squadron including food and toys for 100+ kids, crafts, games and of course, Santa's grand entrance in a helicopter! Stay tuned for the madness...
• No scary typhoons this month! Woohoo!

So that's a peek into the last couple of weeks of my life. I talked to Colin a couple of days ago, he is doing very well. Despite the endless routine out there, he loves the flying and people he's with. We're just over two months in, well 63 days to be exact! I'm fortunate to have my favorite holidays on the horizon and I think that will help pass the time more quickly. Before I know it, the love of my life will be home!

Until later...

2009 Air Show

Jolene & I baking in the sun on the tarmac.

Cheddar's two week roommate, Perdita. She and her siblings stayed with some of us on base until their doggy parents (aka Mason, Sarah & Caleb) could get their A/C fixed. As usual Cheddar got over her territorial toy issues and welcomed her new friend in.

I grew weak, I started letting Cheddar hang out on the couch....

A Mother Nature Education

So we managed to escape the brunt of the latest tropical storm "Parma" but it looks like we might get another visit from Mother Nature on Saturday morning. Typhoon Melor is racing towards the Marianas Islands. They think it will pass to the north, sparing us the worst of what she has to offer but these things change their minds every ten minutes, or so it seems. I must say I'm learning a lot about weather out here! Being a native San Diegan I thought I was cool because we could boast having 4 "micro-climates" in one city. I'm learning terms like "tropical disturbance", "super typhoon", "vertical wind shear" and my favorite: "tropical depression" - something we like to think we feel when the cabin fever gets the best of us! I'm also learning that even the best technology cannot accurately predict weather patterns. Yesterday we were supposed to be hit with 45+ mph winds from Parma (the scheduled air show was cancelled), the whole island was on both Tropical Storm alert and a Tsunami alert, from the earthquake near Samoa. As a result, both the weather and the roads  were more calm than my dog during her morning nap. Crazy!

So we'll have to see what Melor is in the mood for. I'm supposed to do the Strides For Life 5K on Saturday morning so I'm bummed I may have to settle for the treadmill, such as life. In the meantime, check out this latest picture below. Does that spell DOOM or what??

It's Typhoon Time!

Okay so it's not a formal typhoon...yet anyway. But we do have a tropical storm headed our way and boy is everyone going crazy! I started gathering items last night, candles, batteries, flashlights, water etc. This morning I went to the Commissary (along with 843 other folks) to grab some more water and food. I am pretty sure I have enough but there is this sort of paniky "but what if I don't have enough??" feeling I got so I decided to go. They ran out of carts! It was crazy. I had to wait in line for one and when I finally wound my way around the store for the essentials I waited behind 30 other people (in the express line no doubt!) to check out. It was the same at the gas station too. I decided to pull the ole' generator out of our storage closet and quickly remembered one very important thing I forgot to ask my loving husband before he left....how the heck do I work this thing??? So I spent much of this morning filling it with gas (and going to the gas station for more...again) and playing with hookups and manuals. I have figured out one thing...I can run the monster but I can't hook it up to our house because we forgot to buy a hose for that!!! Since we expect to lose power by tomorrow I"ll plan to use an extension cord to run basic appliances and fans. Phew!

Along with yours truly, Cheddar is getting her first experience with a Guam storm. We made a valiant attempt at our morning walk with our neighbor Stephanie today until a huge wall of wind and rain came off the golf course and decided to curb that idea. Soaked, we sulked home. While I was bringing patio items into the house Cheddar disappeared. Of course without her collar! So I spent the better part of a half hour searching for her. She eventually reappeared but looked quite spooked from everything going on. So until this puppy passes over the island, she's on a tight leash!

If our phone goes out (likely) I have my cell available: 858.883.5079. I only use it for emergencies so I'll turn it off in a couple of days. But if you need to reach me, there ya go!

A last look at VBS!

Our main character "Gadget" (also known as Doug O'Meara!) composed a video that takes a peek at the three day retreat we organized at church earlier this month. I must admit, craft time was my favorite!!