Thank You Mrs. Sayama

School officially broke for summer on May 28. This also ended Maysa's kindergarten year. Maysa started out the year a little shaky. She had good skills but they weren't where I would have liked them to be. However, she started of well considering she didn't have any preschooling. Maysa made significant progress as the school year went on. I worked with her at home and Mrs. Sayama did the rest at school. The school year was a success for her. She took first place at her school's science fair and won numerous awards for reading. Her work was entered in Island Wide events. Her shyness was replaced with confidence in herself and her school work. It was a blessing to have Mrs. Sayama as Maysa's kinder teacher. Maysa loves her and she is going to miss her in the first grade.

Food Trucks

Food trucks are rapidly becoming a trendy choice for diners all over the states. Food trucks are high tech food carts that rove all over busy metropolis'. In the West, especially in LA its always been popular. I've always associated food trucks with Mexican food. Just recently I was tellling my husband about an article that I had read about food trucks using twitter to alert their customers of their whereabouts. He says "You know we invented that food truck business and now everyone else is trying to bite it off us." Im just thinking...ok, whatever. Then he says "Somebody better give us our props"! So Im going to give him/them whoever he was refering to their props. I mean I feel bad that Mexican's have been getting bad publicity over the whole Swine Flu thing so I thought I'd give my husband one. Mexican's may not have thought up the idea of a food truck but they certainly had a hand in making it popular. Or at least the owners of the food trucks who were selling Mexican food. Bottom line...shout to the Mexicans y Viva La Raza!!

Its the 6 yr. olds turn

Q: Whats your name?
A: Maysa
Q: How old are you?
A: 6
Q: Whats your favorite color?
A: Pink
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A Teacher
Q: Why do you want to be a teacher?
A: I want to be a teacher because you get to be smart.
Q: Who is your dad?
A: Agustine
Q: Do you like him?
A: Yes
Q: What do you like the most about him?
A: When he gets me what I want
Q: Who is your mom?
A: Line
Q: Is she nice?
A: Yes
Q: What do you like most about her?
A: She spends time with me
Q: What do you like about Eva?
A: What do I like about Eva, well, she is kind to me
Q: Is she always nice to you?
A: Yes
Q: What do you like about Kaylena
A: I like playing with her and she likes to play with me
Q: What is your favorite thing to do?
A: Play with my sisters
Q: If you had a million dollars how would spend it?
A: I would buy a hot pool (jacuzzi)
Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Makaila Madsen
Q: What do you want to do right now?
A: Get wet
Q: How do you know your parents love you?
A: Because they say that they love me

Interview with the 4 yr. old

Q: Whats your name?
A: Eva
Q: How old are you?
A: Um, 3
Q: Are you sure, your 3?
A: Yeah
Q: But you just had a birthday.
A: Mommy, 3 starts with birthday, so um, um, 7. Mom does 7 start with birthday? Ok, Im not gonna answer
Q: Whats your mom's name?
A: Um, Line
Q: Whats your dad's name?
A: Um, Naks
Q: What is Naks?
A: My dad, duh
Q: Do you have brothers and sisters?
A: Um, I don't a brother only 1 sister
Q: What's her name?
A: Ysa
Q: What about Kaylena?
A: Oh and Kayrena
Q: Does your mom love you?
A: Yes.
Q: Who do you miss?
A: Grandma and Papa.
Q: What is your favorite TV show?
A: Charlie and Lola
Q: What is your favorite thing to do?
A: Um, watch TV
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Egg on the top (eggs over easy).
Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Purple
Q: Who is your favorite person?
A: Um, daddy
Q: Why?
A: Because I love him
Q: What is something do you not like to do?
A: Um, say that louder, mama, I don't like going to the bathroom

ONE

We moved to Guam when Kaylena was four months old. She in now is 1 years old! Kaylena is definately the baby of the bunch. She screams and I give her what she wants. She crys and her sisters do whatever it takes to make her happy. She claps her hands and smiles when daddy comes home and he wants to give her the world! Kaylena is named after my first cousin Kaufoou and Agustine's sister Elena. I think that she is more Kaufoou than Elena. Kaufoou is hard on the outside but super mushy on the inside. She has a big heart. My Kaylena is the same. A couple nights ago, Eva fell and hurt her head. As Agustine was holding Eva and comforting her, Kaylena crawled over and hugged Agustine. He looked over at me and said "Kay is crying". There were no sounds just big tears rolling down her face and quivering lips. She picked her head up and laid it next to Eva. Eva of course is screaming and crying like she just got run over by a car but poor Kaylena just hugs her and silently crys for her. Kaylena is a joy and we are grateful that she is ours!

FIESTA

One of my favorite things about living on Guam is the many fiestas that happen island wide all year long. Everyone knows what a fiesta is but just in case a fiesta is a party. Polynesians know how to throw a party and they are serious when it comes to food but the Chamorro people are the best hosts! We've been to a couple of fiestas since moving here but the last one we attended last weekend was something else. My Samoan friend, Rachel is married to a Chamorro. His family hosted the fiesta down in Merizo. There was plenty of food and even with the number of people in attendance there was still food left over. This is also after everyone packed food to take home! Merizo is located in the Southern side of the island. It's quiet and exactly how I imagined Guam. I love all the Southern villages! We got to the fiesta late but nothing to worry about because there was lots of food. Mostly local food. Local food is breadfruit, taro, fish, roasted pig, chicken kalaguen and all the other yummy stuff. I was in food heaven!

This fiesta was different from the others we have attended because there was plenty to do besides eat, talk story and listen to music. After lunch, the local men got the roosters out and had a cock fight. No lie! No worries, no need to call PETA because cock fighting is legal in Guam. Im not down for that kind of stuff but my girls were front row for the event. I made them sit with me when the fight started! Then there was the carabao or water buffalo. The girls, especially Eva, had a blast riding it! Thank you Champaco family and Rachel and Albert for your hospitality.

Spring Break Madness

Spring Break is over and Maysa is back in school. First day back at school was so tough for her. Mostly because we had so much fun during spring break that she didn't want to go back to school. I was really dreading spring break and having all the kids home plus one more (we are watching Rachel) for an entire week but it turned out to be a fun time. Im still recovering from our non stop week but it was so worth it!

We started the break with Eva's birthday on the 3rd. We celebrated with a Mexican style BBQ and cupcakes. Chris Montanano and his family came to celebrate Eva's day. Eva sang happy birthday to herself all day long. She was totally festive and so happy to have her friends and family celebrating HER! Rachel asked her "Are you happy that your friends are here for your birthday" Eva said "Yeah, but just my Grandma and Papa are not here because they are far away." Maybe on her next birthday her Grandma and Papa will be here.

Saturday the girls had soccer but we missed the game because they changed the time. No problem! We just drove over to Mt. Lam Lam and had some shave iced and frosty freezes. Next we went home and got ready to attended a birthday party in the afternoon, followed by a fiesta and baptism in the evening!! We started the next week with swimming at the Hilton Pool on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we rode the Easter train at Micronesia Mall, then had dinner at Chamorro Village. Thursday we celebrated Maysa's birthday. She wanted to go out to dinner. We headed to CPK in Tumon and partied with our friends the Montananos. Maysa loves to dress up and go out.

Friday we took all the girls including Rachel and Paige to watch Hannah Montana the Movie. Then that evening we went out to dinner to celebrate another birthday. It was Aaron's 23 rd birthday and we celebrated at Tony Romas in Tumon.
Saturday was soccer but we still squeeze in a visit with our friends Chris and Joleen and managed to finish up Maysa's Science Fair project before having dinner at the Hopoates. Elder Hopoate prepared an umu for his daughter, Keauhea, who is visiting from Utah with her 5 children. We had so much fun at the Hopoate's home. The food was so yummy. All traditional Tongan food. I L.O.V.E. 'd it!!



Easter Sunday was spent watching Conference. Conference messages are always so timely! Easter lunch was in Latte Heights with our friends. The girls even got into a tug of war match against the boys and they won!! The boys better watch out. My girls got muscles...LOL And because we had promised to have dinner with Rachel's family, we headed to Barrigada for Easter dinner with the Warner kids. We seriously had been eating the whole week and just could not eat another morsel. It was fun to hang out with Rachel's siblings and the McKenzie family from our branch.

As if the past week wasn't enough, on Monday when school resumed, we headed to Rittidan Point after Maysa got out of school and played at the beach. The kids were reminded of Alexander and Eva, since we always use to only go with them to Rittidan. I love how close the beaches are and being able to run out for a couple of hours to play on the sand, swim, snorkle or just sit.

In all this madness, the best part was getting birthday presents in the mail from Grandma and Papa. The girls loved their presents and missed their grandparents all the more.