We're Guamanians Now!

We made it! Crystal and I are finally in Guam! The flight over here was REALLY long, but it's been worth it so far. We got in around 7:00pm local time (3:00am back home) and were welcomed by my sponsor's wife, Hollie, and some other squadronmates. Hollie took us (and our carload of luggage) to the hotel that had been booked for us. She made sure that Crystal and I were settled in, chatted with us about Guam, gave us directions to a few places, and even brought some groceries up to our room! Everyone I've ever talked to that came from this squadron told me that the people there really take care of each other. So far that has definitely been the case!

After we got situated in the hotel Crystal and I both crashed pretty hard. The flight from Houston to Honolulu took about 8.5 hours, then we had a brief layover in Honolulu where we barely had enough time to grab lunch. Then we got back on the same plane and made the remaining 7 hour leg to Guam. We didn't sleep much in Houston the night before we left, so the first leg from Houston to Honolulu went by fairly quickly... we were both asleep before the safety demonstration from the flight attendants was over. Anyway, all said and done, the flight was long and cramped and we're glad it's over. Hopefully by the time we can visit the states we'll be homesick enough that the horribly long flight home won't seem so bad.

Today, the first day on the island, we woke up early (thanks to the jet lag) and headed over to base. It's by far the nicest military base I have ever seen and we're both excited to be living there. We met up with Hollie and Aaron (my sponsor) who gave us a tour of base. We drove all around and got familiar with the general layout. Right after we left Aaron and Hollie's place we saw this huge komodo dragon sitting on a tree by the side of the road. This lizard was enormous! Aaron got a couple of pictures and I'll try to get one from him to post here.

We checked out the base beaches, which are NICE, and saw my squadron hangar, the comissary/exchange complex, and checked out housing. The housing units here look like bomb shelters on the outside because of the typhoons that hit here. The inside is great, though, and we're excited about getting moved in. We found an open unit that's a stand alone house (as opposed to a duplex) that we're hoping to get into. It's on a special street here that I'll post more about later, and it's got a fantastic view! If we get to move in I'll post a picture of the view out the back yard. All of you will want to come visit, I promise! Speaking of visiting, it looks like we'll be able to set up a nursery in the "office" and still have a spare bedroom for guests. So start saving up for airfare!

The dogs had to stay in Honolulu overnight last night and they were flown to Guam today. Actually, they landed about 2.5 hours ago and should be at the quarantine facility on base by now. Crystal and I miss them (well, really we miss Bently the most) and are happy to get to see them soon. The quarantine facility allows visits every day and I expect the workers there to get to know us well. Hopefully we can get set up in a house soon and bring the dogs home early next week.

Ok... that's it for now. I'll make a more thorough and less disjointed post later on. To summarize: We didn't crash, we made it to Guam even though the flight sucked, and we absolutely love it here. We're looking forward to getting into housing and getting the dogs back. Base is great and once you see pictures you'll all want to come here. Really, it's that great. I'm out.