Morgan's 11th Birthday Party at Hangin' High

Morgan enjoyed celebrating his 11th birthday at Hangin' High with his family & friends. I love that in the few short months that we've been here on Guam - he's made some REALLY good friends. The four from his class that came are all on the HONOR ROLL and in the top of their 5th grade class...

CLASSMATES L to R: Alina, Serena, Camarin, MORGAN & Noah

"Auntie Boni" gives the kids instructions before climbing...

my little hangin' high monkey's... MO & RYAN

Noah . Serena . Matthew climbing

"Auntie Boni" owns and created Hangin' High - We are so glad that we met her at Morgan's orthodontist office! Morgan calls her place, "his 2nd home"

Alina & her mom, Leilani I met Leilani at the commissary when we first arrived on island. Mia was waving to her from the grocery cart and blowing her kisses. As we stood in line to check out we struck up a conversation and discovered that our kids were in the same 5th grade class. Since then we've only seen each other in passing and waved hi & bye to each other from the school car pick up line. Well, I'm so glad that she decided to stay and hang out during Morgan's birthday party because we finally got to talk & get to know each other... and when Dale sat down and talked to her, within the first 10 minutes of their conversation they narrowed it down to the fact that she's related to good friends of his THE ACOB's from San Diego. Seriously, what a small world!!!

Leilani & Dale

Camarin & Alina came to the party together... they kinda look like twins standing there waiting... both are such sweet girls!!! All the kids were! It was such a great mix of kids!

CAMARIN

Camarin climbing, Morgan belaying & Serena cheering her on, "GO CAMARIN, GO!!!"

SERENA

Serena is 1 of 5 kids in her family - and believe it or not - this was her very FIRST Birthday party to attend. Ironically, her mom is cousins with Boni (Hangin' High owner). We were honored to be the party that she came to for her first birthday party!!! Serena's little brother was zonked out on the nap couch with Mia... ha ha!

Mia took a 1 hour nap in the middle of the party... EVEN Daddy DALE snoozed for a bit! (see collage pics below)

Serena was a great first time climber... Morgan was so happy to belay his friends and introduce them to his favorite sport - ROCK CLIMBING!

Noah with his mom & siblings...

Noah is one of Morgan's best friends at school - and I'm so glad that they were able to just hang out for the afternoon and have fun!

Pastor Nanbu with his boys - Matthew & Michael

Pastor Nanbu is the pastor at the Ypao-Ordot Seventh-Day Adventist Church... and the boys always have a GREAT time whenever they're together! We're so glad that they were able to come and "HANG HIGH" with us!

L to R: MORGAN, Michael, Ryan & Matthew

the McMONIGLE family...

L to R: Tracey, Justin, Cynthia & Alexi

Justin & Lexi join us on Wednesdays & Fridays for KIDZ CLUB at Hangin' High... so it was so nice to have them help belay some of the other kids at the party, too! Our kids call each other "cousins" and have chosen to be "related" - since we're like family. We share our duplex house with them so I guess you can technically say - we live under one roof! They are leaving this summer and I know it will be a sad sad day for our kids when they have to say goodbye!!!

Group photo of the kids right before digging into PIZZA for lunch!

COOKIE CAKE TIME

* we were happy to have Logan join the party...

Chris, Ryland & Amy We're so glad that the Morrison boys (and their fearless leader - AMY) came to celebrate with us... the countdown has already begun and they will be leaving Guam in less than 30 days. We have been so incredibly blessed to have their friendship! It will definitely be a SAD SAD day when we all have to say goodbye to them!!! But only until next time... because this is truly one of those lifelong friendships made!!!

RYLAND & MIA harnessed and ready to go

As you can see Mia just LOVES her guy - RY (she asks to see him EVERY DAY!)

... below is just a little collage of Mia at the party... she comes to Hangin' High with us 2 - 3 times a week and is always so patient to watch and cheer everyone on! At the party she actually got a chance to get harnessed and fly up and down the zipline... see the video below (thanks AMY for taking it!)

MIA ZIPPING on the ZIPLINE - and LOVES LOVES LOVES it!

Mia loved ziplining so much... she asked to go again! Amy called her, "Little Miss Fearless" - hmmm, I'll have to agree on that! I have to admit... I did get a little nervous watching my baby girl fly so high up in the air!!!

the Grog & the Carabao @ the Dining Out

We attended a DINING OUT for the Naval Hospital last night... a formal event with a lot of silliness and "roasting" within the hospital. It's an event to bring everyone together in a formal setting (in what you wear) but in a very silly and fun way. Dale was actually selected to be Mister Vice, which was basically the emcee for the night. As you can imagine, he was in his element! At one point he even broke out in song... a twist of the song, "Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music. Now that we've been on island for more than 8 months - we've met some incredibly GREAT people, which made for a more enjoyable event


Arriving early... hmmm... imagine that! This is one event you do not want to be late - since it would mean being sent to the GROG or to be "charged" a fine!


If anyone wanted to speak... they needed to ask permission from Mister Vice BEFORE addressing Mister President.


Parading of the BEEF... is one of the crazy traditions during a DINING OUT. You can only imagine the laughter and the noise when out walked a real Carabao (LUCY - apparently, a local & favorite Carabao) was greeted with a loud applause... which of course caused this to happen....

From a distance all I saw was the tail go up... and I knew what was to follow (Poor Lucy!) So glad I wasn't sitting at that table... although it didn't matter because the foul aroma oozed on over to our table!


Once OUT - the two guys in suits did "rock, paper sissors" to see who had to clean up the mess! What a crappy job! Literally!!!!


...the reaction of everyone was too funny!


THE GROG - a concoction of anything and everything mixed together to create a ALCOHOLIC & a non-Alcoholic drink... and since this is the Naval Hospital Dining Out... they created the GROG with things you'd find in a hospital!!!! *Are you getting the idea that this is a fun event?!*


getting ready to drink THE GROG!


TOASTING...








Between the three of us... we have 12 kids. On Memorial Weekend - the RaMcCanson Family of 18 will be hangin' in Saipan for some R&R and a little "get-away".


... a little dancing to burn off those extra calories!

A great night with friends!!!

flashback friday

I'm going to try something new and make my friday's a FLASHBACK! As you know there are a ton of photos in my files... here's a few snapped of my then 2 year old (Daniella), our 3 year old (Ryan) and 5 year old (Morgan) - right before we went to see MomMom & PopPop in their motorhome...

ANIMATED AS ALWAYS...


** as you can see the kids were thrown in the car w/out carseats... YIKES!!** we were bringing MomMom & PopPop's car to them...


The kids didn't know that my parents were coming up for a visit... and so they were thrilled to see their motorhome parked near our old house in Chesapeake.

My Mo

I still remember when he was little... no glasses, no braces, with velcro shoes. My sweet boy - our first born... leading the way in a quiet manner. It's the night before his birthday - in a few hours he will be ELEVEN years old. I've stopped squishing him at night, pretending as if it would keep him from growing... obviously it didn't work! His foot is bigger than me, he's wearing daddy dale's t'shirts, and although they're a bit roomy - he still wears them... I know soon I'll be looking up at him, reminding him that I'm still his mommy!

Hmmm... as you can imagine - I'm having a mommy moment shaking my head and wondering - seriously... when did my little boy grow up so fast? Why do they grow up so fast? I still remember the day I dropped him off to school for the first time - he reached for my hand saying, "c'mon mommy, let's go to school" he cried when I walked out the door... I cried when I got in my car... it was all new to him, this whole growing up thing... it was all new to me - every milestone is!

I love that he still asks me to scratch his back when he's sleepy... I love when I get hugs. I love when he asks for my opinion. I love my son! Being a mommy is the most rewarding job I've ever had. I'm so blessed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON! Mommy & Daddy love you very very much! We are proud of you!!!