More 2010

Some of the things we did last year with our family were:

 Sleeping in a tent in the backyard with Grandpa Gary.

Going to Temple Square with the our daughters and grandkids.

Phoenix loved Grandpa Gary's stopwatch.

You never know who you will bump into at Temple Square. Gary's cousin Rosemary and her husband Jerry were there at the same time. It was good to see them.

And having a chance to watch the grandkids at a soccer game is priceless.

Our trip back to the States

Last year, we brought Camden a cowrie shell from the Marshall Islands.

He shared it with Great Grandpa Baker.

And when he saw baby Elijah for the first time, he couldn't wait to hold him.

Time for Catch Up

I used to work in part of the campus that was formerly the men's dorm. Before that, it was part of Majuro hospital.  One day I had a little visitor:

I pulled out my camera to take a picture. He posed well don't you think?

Baseball Fever

As I have mentioned in another post, Bob is a useful fruit around here. 

It is full of vitamin A and king of tastes like pumpkin.  I like pumpkin but I haven't gotten used to is yet.

 You can buy Bob (remember it is pronounced as bub) at the local stores.

 On our way home this day, we saw a group of kids playing baseball.  The pic below is the team in the infield.

 Across the street is the outfield.

 This young man caught a fly ball in his glove.  I love the ingenuity of these kids.  Notice that this is not an ordinary baseball mitt.  It is made by folding cardboard over and then you just stick your hand inside.  Amazing!

This is truly baseball in the streets.

On the road to Laura and Woja

When Sister Teichert and went to the Laura Primary on May 2, 2010,

We stopped to take some pictures of the Elders as they were leaving church.

Elders Ahlstrom and Isom.

 Here are Elders Ahlstrom and Christensen.

 We gave a ride to Elders Enlow and Rareba who lived in this home on the oceanside in Woja. The picture below is of their home's window.  Can you see what is in the window? I took this pic on our way out to Laura Beach the next Saturday.

 

 We stopped and took pictures of the "Coconut Tunnel."

This pic is a little out of order.  These are the Laura Elders walking home from church on a bright sunny Sunday.

Constitution Day 5-1-10

Constitution Day is a big deal around here.  There is a softball tournament here in Majuro where all of the outer islands send in their teams to compete.  As you can see we haven't figured out our new camera.  Our neighbor, Don Hess, invited us to join him on Kenneth Kramer's boat to go an watch the fireworks.  Kenneth Kramer lives 3 doors down from us. The fireworks were lit off of a boat in the lagoon.  Our boat ventured up close - we estimated that we were about 100 yds. away from the fireworks boat.  We did take some video but they transferred over onto the flash drive as still pics.  The last two pics show how close we were to the boat firing off the fireworks.  It wasn't a very long show this year according to all of the people on our boat.

What I remember about the boat ride out to the lagoon was how many stars were visible in the night skyonce when we got away from the shore and out into the lagoon.  There were kids and adults on the boat and none of us had life jackets on.  The boat also didn't have any lights on it.  Kenneth Kramer had a hand held spotlight that he used to help navigate the ship.  Someone else was steering the boat and Kenneth would shine the light out into the water to make sure we didn't hit the reef. 

The Chinese (Tawainese) were in charge of the fireworks last year.  The year before the US Embassy was in charge.  We were told the fireworks the previous year were better than the Chinese. 

 

Around Town

 If you pull in to some of the gas stations around the island, you might see these huge ice chests outside of the little gas station store. Also notice that you can buy Bob (pronounced bub) here too. (The huge green thing on the bottom shelf.)

 Gary wanted to show what you might find inside.  The fresh catch of the day is waiting for you to take home and cook up for dinner or lunch. 

 The first Bob Festival was held last year on April 24, 2010.  Don't mind the date on my photos.  I guess the date/time stamp is set for the wrong time zone.  Gary and I had gone in on a Saturday to make some phone calls on Skype.  As we rode home in a van taxi, the Bob parade came by.  Our taxi driver pulled over on the road and we were able to watch the short parade go by.  The fruit of the Pandanus tree is called Bob.  It was not only a festival of the fruit but of the products that come from the pandanus tree.  The leaves are also used for weaving mats (jaki), thatching huts, and before the Christian missionaries came, the leaves were woven into skirts and clothing. 

I took this picture on one of my food deliveries to the CMI Arrak campus for the ABC Toolbox program.

Leaving on a Jet Plane - Sheng Rang

One of the callings that Gary and I have is Stake YSA advisors.  In March, 2010 we had a Long Island Ward Family Home Evening in our home. 

 Serena  Bellu, Kory Marshall, me, Sheng Rang, Ruson Mewa met with us on this night.  This was Sheng's last FHE before he left for his mission.

On Easter Sunday, we had Sheng, Elder Waqatairewa, and Elder Jaksina over for dinner. Just the week before, Sheng had asked me if I could sew a button on his jacket.  This was the suit jacket that he took to the MTC.  He didn't have a button for me and I wasn't sure if I had one that would work.  Fortunately, I had all of Gary's Grandma Wood's buttons with my sewing supplies and found one button that matched perfectly.  I mailed those buttons off to my daughter Rhiannon before I left Illinois but I put the wrong address on the box.  It was forwarded here to Majuro.  That one button came in handy and I'm thankful that it was put to good use. 

 This pic is a little blurry because of the lighting.  Our last look at Sheng as he is going through security at the Majuro airport.

And off he goes!

Catch Up Time

In my effort to update our blog, I will be posting pics from last year.  First off are the high tides at the end of January, 2010.  These pictures were taken just over the seawall  by the Lojkar apartments which are near we live.

 You can see a storm coming in from the southeast.

When the tide is out, you can see this rocks better. This is looking south.

High Tide in Majuro, Marshall Islands

Check out this video.  Dr. Murry Ford works here at CMI.  He and Gary work in the same office.