Hafa Adai loved ones,
This year has been a
wonderful year for our family, one I hope we never forget! We truly are soaking up the Guam experience,
the pace of island life, and enjoying nature and family time. We have explored Guam’s highest mountains and
the deepest seas and while it isn’t always smiles, we do have a pretty good
time. This year our entire family of
five traveled to Japan (Tokyo Disney and Yokota Air Base) and Hawaii (Oahu and
the Big Island). Mason’s travels took him
(multiple times) to Nevada, North Dakota, South Korea, and Hawaii.
Mason’s position is the
Wing Weapons Officer at Andersen AFB.
His job involves combat plans, so there’s not a lot he gets to talk
about when he comes home. He engulfs
himself in a variety of projects that really interest him since they involve
real world operations, rather than training and exercises. Although he knows he can never get everything
done in a day that he wants to, he still tries and is thankful that his
commanders give him a lot of leeway in how he prioritizes and divides his
time. Despite some long days and calls
in the middle of the night, he makes it home for lunch and dinner most days,
which wasn’t the case in previous assignments.
We both look forward to every weekend so we can go explore Guam and
ocean.
This year I’ve just
really been trying to focus on being present with my kids and Mason. Guam has been such an amazing location to
grow as a family and we’ll miss it greatly.
We have taken the kids on so many hikes and explorations this year. We’ve seen caves, waterfalls, rives, you name
it! We took a submarine ride, had pj
days, are working on becoming better chefs, and are just having a blast in
general (although we have our grumpy days too)!
I enjoy helping out with family socials for our squadron, being on the
board of the Officers’ Spouses’ Club, and attending monthly book club, bunco,
and bible study. One of the most fun
things I was encouraged to do this year was try Scuba Diving, and I love it so
much. It’s so amazing and so fun to do
with my best friend!
Theodore turned six in
September and he is just a hoot. He is
quite the character between being very imaginative and creative but also
serious and literal about many things.
He is enjoying Kindergarten this year, although thinks it may be too
much work for him. At the beginning of
the year he was involved in tumbling class, but this Fall he started Juijistu
classes and for the most part really enjoys those. He earned his Lion Cub Scout Rank in the Spring,
and this year is a Tiger Scout. He
recently went on a camping trip and had a great time. Theo’s into art, legos, reading, jumping on
our trampoline, swimming, and has become very good at snorkeling.
Woodrow turned four in
August and thank goodness we all survived three year old Woodrow. This year Woodrow has really come out of his
shell to more people and he is quite talkative at home. He’s in to superheroes, airplanes, and little
legos. He’s pretty athletic and
outdoorsy as well, and picked up snorkeling in the last few months. Woodrow is in PreK at the same school as Theo
and he just adores going every day. This kid is definitely fearless and is
always up for various adventures!
Maximus has grown quite a
bit this year and turned one in October.
He just wants to keep up with his big brothers so badly. He loves to splash in the water and get
covered in sand at the beach. He’s
started walking recently, knows sign language for several words, and babbles
and says a few words here and there. He’s
super chill as long as he gets a nap and fed as soon as he’s hungry. He often gets toted here and there and he’s
great! Our Guam baby is a little water
baby and he loves the ocean and the bath, wherever there is a puddle he will
find it.
We are thankful every day
for this family of ours and for our assignment to Guam. It’s so beautiful here. We’re still accepting visitors until June
2018 when we will be saying farewell to our island home and PCSing to Chicago
for Mason to complete a one year Fellowship at Argonne National
Laboratory. I try to keep up with our
blog, so you can check out our adventures at
http://ellenmason.blogspot.com. The boys
love to get snail mail and hear from friends.
Happy Holidays with Love,
No comments:
Post a Comment