Christmas in Saipan

Heather, Rich and Max spent Christmas in Saipan, part of the Northern Marianas chain of islands.  Our trip would combine some good old-fashioned R&R and a dose of history with intentions to visit the World War II memorials commemorating the Battle of Saipan. For more on the battle, visit http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1770.html

It took about 3 and a half hours to fly from Tokyo to Guam. When our plane was ready, we exited the terminal into 80 degree weather and sunshine, schlepped across the tarmac and boarded a small turboprop airplane en route to Saipan.   

Luckily we had a smooth half hour flight and touched down at Saipan "International" Airport intact.  There were about a dozen people on the flight and the tiny airport was empty when we arrived so we quickly passed through customs and got a cab outside and headed to our hotel.

Well, things took a downturn when Max came down with a fever on the 24th.  Some children's Motrin brought it down but it spiked after dinner at (103.4) and he grew listless and began breathing rapidly so we took a taxi to the hospital.  Luckily the hospital was just a few minutes away and we were seen quickly.  The diagnosis was an ear infection so Max was given a dose of antibiotics and we were given a prescription to fill on Christmas morning. 

Spending Christmas Eve in the ER was depressing enough, but we were in and out fairly quickly.  We passed a difficult night with Max up on the hour.  But we made the best of things and Max had a Christmas stocking the next morning and managed to get through the remaining days fairly well doped up on alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin and the amoxicillin.

Throughout the remainder of the week, we did the best we could to keep Max comfortable, enjoy the beach and the pool and take a tour of some of the WWII historical sights.  We visited the Last Command Post which was an eerie place with plants and trees growing through an abandoned tank and various very large guns.  We saw Banzai Cliff and Suicide Cliff, where Japanese families and soldiers jumped to their death rather than surrender to the Americans. It was certainly a haunting and melancholy experience.  

On a happier note, we took a boat ride out to Managaha Island for snorkeling, played a lot by the pool and saw some nice sunsets.   

If you check the right side of this blog, you'll see a photostream available on Flickr.  Just click through the picture to reach a series of albums about our trip.  

Cookie Decorating

Max chooses the Gingerbread man

Kate decorates while Max eats

Some of the creations.

Max's detritus.  A bite out of each cookie.

Max Meets Santa

Max's annual Holiday Pageant happened during Carrie's visit so she was privy to his first on-stage performance.  I was very nervous for him since his Halloween sing-along was a disaster.  He typically does not follow along with songs or group activities are hit or miss.  He doesn't like costumes, especially wearing things on his head. Plus, I thought he might have a meltdown.  

But surprise surprise, he was fantastic.  He stood attentively, wore his bear costume and even got some of the movements down. (Teddy bear, tedd

y bear turn around...touch the ground...)

Afterwards, he wanted to go back on the stage.

At the close of the event, Santa came parading down through the audience and each kid got to go on stage to receive a colossal present(s) from Santa.  Here is Max approaching Mr. C.

And here's me and Max with his presents.

Cookie Monster

Max has distinguished himself as a true Puglisi descendant. We made cookies this week and he, in the Puglisi tradition, could not stop eating the cookie dough.  This is cheering news, given his penchant for picky eating.

Thanks for the recipe, Mom.  It was for Dee's Spice Cookies, a favorite since the 70's.  

Subsequently, and since it's Christmas time, I made gingerbread and cut-out sugar cookies.  Max seemed to prefer the gingerbread ones.  We had two of his little friends over today to decorate the cookies and Max spent most of his time eating the sprinkles.  

Blast you, Facebook

The whole Facebook thing has really been detrimental to my blog.  And I apologize to anyone who has visited lately to find no updates.  So much has happened in the past month.  We took a trip to Kyoto; My sister came to visit for a week; Max had his end-of-school-year Christmas Pageant; we celebrated Thanksgiving with a potluck party with some of Rich's colleagues.  It's now December 5th.  It was Max's last day of school today so he is on "vacation" now for a whole month.  

We've begun Christmas shopping and sent a few gifts back with Carrie for the family.  I bought a large (artificial) Christmas tree and once we get the thing together, I'll post some pictures.  

We've been watching Max really blossom with his speech. He's speaking in sentences most of the time now - not always grammatically perfect, but he loves to talk and loves to find out what things are called.  He recognizes almost all his letters and points to letters on signs, the TV and the computer screen and keyboard. 

Next up, I'm planning to try to make Christmas cookies and invite some of Max's little friends over to decorate.  That should be interesting.  

We leave for Saipan on December 23rd so will have a quiet Christmas at the beach.  While I'm excited about the vacation, I'd much rather be huddling with family in the cold of the Northeast US.  

Max Portraits

November 8, 2008

Night shots

Just a quick entry here to show some photos Rich took of the neighborhood.  One side of our apartment looks out onto a tree-lined street with each tree strung with blue and white lights. It's really magical.  He tried a few shots with the upshot being that we must buy a tripod to get better pictures.  

On our way to an Indian restaurant that we go to occasionally, he took some evening shots of Roppongi.