Wing Beach

Yesterday we signed up for cell phone service. We went with the most basic plan, but somehow it took us about 2 hours in the store. When Gryphon and Alice were fed up, we took a photo excursion outside.



Today the children got lotioned up and we made a trip up to Wing Beach in the north. Here (in the distance) you can see the waves breaking on the reef that forms a lagoon along the west coast.

We had the whole beach to ourselves.
Probably because it was so hot.

Gryphon's only happy being held up in the water, so I spent awhile balancing them both in the waves to cool off. I'll probably save the beach trips for the evenings.

Gualo Rai Children's Park

Up the hill from our apartment in Gualo Rai lies what Gryphon refers to as "Seahorse Park" after one of the toys there.

We made a stop there yesterday before the heat drove us back indoors.

First day at work

We dropped Cheri at the hospital yesterday for her first day of orientation, which ended up being a lot of reading with interspersed downtime.

Meanwhile, I signed us up for a mailbox:
PMB 304 P.O. Box 10001
Saipan, MP 96950.

I sold my smartphone on eBay. Afterall, I won't really need the weather forecast app:

We took a quick trip north to the lookout at the Grotto, which used to be an underwater cave until the roof collapsed.

On the way home we picked up a coconut on the side of the road to do some tests.

The tests worked.

Yesterday evening Nikki came to take us out for Japanese food.


We met her husband, Lee, who had spent the afternoon surfing.

There was lots of good food, but the children were not in the mood for a peaceful dinner.

Gryphon had a coconut-carrot-brocolli-orange juice-banana-yogurt smoothie for dinner when we got home.

Ladder Beach

Yesterday afternoon we made it down to Ladder Beach at the south end of the island. The sun had gone behind the hill and the temperature was quite nice. Gryphon and I waded in the warm waves while Cheri looked for "beautifuls" on the coral-covered beach.

We made quick use of the beach shelter Cheri received from my parents on her birthday. Gryphon was a little frightened by the waves that tried to knock him down as he walked toward shore, so he relaxed on a towel.

Alice tasted the coral and played happily, a welcome change from her afternoon cranking (she and Cheri have had colds lately).





The beach even had a bonus cave.

Necessities

We picked up some essentials at the hardware store yesterday, then checked out (and dismissed) a couple of housing options. The humidity makes carpet and couches suspicious, and electricity bills can get big fast. Cheri's midwife friend Sarah and her daughter Violet came with us, and afterward joined us at Taste of India, the only Indian restaurant on Saipan. It was tasty, but not once-a-week tasty.




Today we looked at a promising apartment and did some grocery shopping. Most packaged food is more expensive here in the middle of the ocean for some reason. Cheri threw a box of muesli with no price label in the cart - it was $11.

Banzai Cliff

Last night we cooked up some delicious Saipan tofu. The children didn't sleep well, so Gryphon and I left early for a walk around American Memorial Park.


We drove up to Banzai Cliff, named during the horrific Battle of Saipan in 1944.

We are thankful for peace.



After lunch we all headed after a garage sale Cheri found advertised online. We had a map this time, but as is custom, the ad referred to landmarks (such as "Lucky De's") rather than street names. When we arrived everything had been sold, but the drive was fun.

The vines are going crazy. Cheri summed it up: "Welcome to Jurassic Park".

This excavator couldn't escape.

The mini-bananas are a hit.

First exploration

After a short night, we rented and car and started driving. We didn't think it would be too hard to circumnavigate the island by naptime, but we managed to get lost. We did find some veggies for dinner tonight.



And we made a stop at Tank Beach to share a coconut.


We were the only ones there.