Spanish Steps

Melissa & I at the top on the way back to the car.

The view from the top.


William getting ready to make the climb back to the top.

The limestone islands

more limestone islands

My new favorite place in Guam: Spanish Steps. It's located on Big Navy. It's about a mile from the parking area to the water....with a drop of 160 feet straight down.

The hike is not for the faint of heart....several places along the trial its a straight drop down. But so worth the hike. There's ropes and even old stairs at places to help you make the climb. While the beach is total coral - no sand in sight - the snorkeling is probably the best I have seen on Guam. At no other place on the island have I seen so many different kids of fish....even got to see a few Nemos! Cute little things!! One purple fish stared at me for the longest time....I guess he was trying to figure out what type of fish I was.

While I didn't have an underwater camera, I did take several pictures of the limestone island (which reminded me of Palau - lot of limestone islands there).

Speech

One of the cute funny things about Benjamin has been the way he talks. It's like he's from Boston. So cute. Just apart of Ben being Ben.

While I knew that at times, I had to translate what he said to others or I had to ask him repeat himself, I never really thought it was a problem. But early in second grade last year, his teacher recommended him for speech therapy. After talking to her and the school's speech therapist, I began to see that it was a problem.

Some of the speech sounds do come later in life - like the "L" sound typically doesn't present itself until around the four or five years of life. Ben's issues were the "th", "L", and "r" sounds. He began to go to speech two times a week for thirty minutes each time.

In the year since he has done remarkable. He has mastered the "th" and the "L" sounds. The only thing that is left if the "r" sound. He has trouble especially with the blends - "er", "ir", "ar" etc.

Last Friday I helped in Ben's classroom as they had a celebration of learning their multiplication tables. Towards the end of the celebration (yes, celebration because you can't have a party in the school...yeah....I know) it was time for him to leave for his time with Mrs. Davis.

After walking him over, I asked her if I could stay. After all that I have done in the school, I have never been apart of the speech therapy and wanted to see how she worked with Ben and the other students. I was very glad when she had no problem letting me sit in on the session.

Benjamin first listened to a computer program where it modeled words with the "r" blends. He hates to do this. He claims that it's boring. He just sits there. But deep in his brain - it's working. Then he was able to play Go Fish with the other students all of which had the same speech issues. Now this was different kind of Go Fish.

The deck of cards they used had pictures of words with the "r" blend such as flower, bird, sister. I hope whomever came up with this idea is making some money - what a brilliant idea! They students couldn't just show the picture. They had to say "Do you have a flower?" What made it ever better was one of the students name is Cameron - there's that "r" blend! So, Mrs. Davis had them say his name a lot. Also, if they were the second to answer then they had to say "I don't have a flower, either."

It was fun seeing Mrs. Davis working not only with Benjamin, but also the other students. One of the students there I had known since my early subbing days. I was amazed at how much he has grown in the two years.

Ben is doing great. No one is asking him to repeat himself anymore - that has lowered his frustration level greatly. Mrs. Davis thinks he'll master this "r" sound by the end of the year - as she says -"he'll graduate".

Valentine's Day Early

Tonight Drew and I will go out to celebrate Valentine's Day - yes, a week early. Most nice restaurants double their prices for Valentine's weekend. So...we're being cheap and going out tonight. It's sunny outside, so I'm hoping it say that way and we'll end our date with a walk on the beach.

Wednesday

Today was such a beautiful day. Lots of blue sky and sunshine. And the tradewinds have clamed a bit, so it wasn't nearly as windy as it has been.

Great day to sit outside with the kids while they do thier homework.

Need to enjoy it now....in a few months we'll be all packed up and back in the States. This time next year, it probably won't be as nice to sit out side.....cold times are a'comin'.

The Rest of the Week

I worked Tuesday as well as Monday - I was in 4th grade. Because of the bomb drill none of the students were allowed to bring their backpacks home. It was a little odd on Tuesday to see no backpacks and most of the students carrying their lunches in brown or plastic bags. All in all, Tuesday was a good day of subbing. Wednesday was my normal Bible study and errands. Thursday consisted of my continuing Thursday first grade job.

Friday was a day off from the school by being a teacher work day. I took the kids to the beach. I was hoping some friends could join us, but most everyone had dentist appointments or other errands to be completed.

Friday night and Saturday we had good family time by just hanging out and playing cards with the kids.

Of course, it helped that I won both rounds of "Shanghai"....that's always a good thing! (Shanghai is a version of rummy that we have been playing since our first base....so. much. fun!! And we are thrilled that all the kids can play and are actually good at it!)

Saturday was a good day to stay in and play cards since it rained on and off, but we did go out for a family dinner.

Today was a gorgeous day in Paradise...but....sad to say, Drew worked. In fact its after 8:30 pm and he is still working. Not a great day for him.

The boys played together all day, Melissa was with friends, and I watched several good movies.

Not a bad day...just wished Drew had been able to be with us.

It looks like a good week for the first week of February. I am working two days...but not tomorrow....tomorrow is going to be filled with a few things around the house.

Bomb Drill

Today our base school did a bomb drill. Like a fire drill everyone is required to leave the building. But unlike a fire drill, we don't just get to stay in the parking lot until the "all clear" sign. Oh, no. We get to take the students to a "safe haven".

A safe haven - that's about a twenty minute walk away from the school.

But today was a beautiful day in paradise for a walk. A perfect day for a walk, in fact!

The first grade class I had did a great job. They kept walking and didn't complain too much.

After we arrived at the safe haven (a conference center on base), we sat and waited for parents to arrive to pick up the children (buses still went as well as the CDC was still open).

This has been an interesting event for us here in Guam. Every year the school here is required to practice either the bomb threat or an intruder drill. The intruder drill involves a "lock down" - everyone has to hide and lock the door - which they did last year.

All trying to prevent another "Columbine" - now this we did do at our previous school.

But at our past schools if there was a bomb drill, they did not evacuate and move over 1,400 students to a new location. (1,400 - that's the elementary and the next door middle school)

Quite ambition if you think about it. Of course, not every school will have a "safe haven" that will hold all the students and is in walking distance. And I'm still not sure of the safety of walking that many children through base housing. I mean - if there's a bomb at an on-base school, then were are in serious trouble....so do we want all our children out in public like that??


I'm glad it's over. No more speculation.

Of course, if the powers that be really want to test the schools readiness - they would do the drill again next week- this time with NO ONE knowing in-advance!

"Lovely Bones"...Not So Lovely

A friend offered to switch books with me. She borrowed my "Blind Side" while I got her "Lovely Bones". I had briefly seen the trailors for the movie and thought it would be good to read the book then see the movie.

So glad I borrowed the book and had yet put any money down on the movie.

What a depressing book.

Yes, I knew in the story a young girl was raped and murdered. But from the movie trailor I though the story was of how she as a ghost helped her family find her killer.

No. Not at all. It's basically about this girl being a ghost in a heaven that's no where near what I believe heaven to be.

You have been warned. Stay away. Far away.