Pictures!

Saipan continues to be sunny, beautiful and so relaxing! Yesterday I saw the biggest blow fish I've seen yet! He was about the size of a football. He came lumbering out of the coral, took a lazy look around and after deciding there was nothing worth seeing, floated back into his hole. I also saw another bright blue star fish hugging on for dear life to the top of a spiny orange coral. All five arms were wrapped tightly around it as if the waves were going to sweep him away at any minute. Snorkeling is my favorite part of the vacation thus far! I wish I could take pictures of the things I see underwater. Here are some pictures of everything above the water!

Coral Shark swimming in the pond at the resort

The Palms Resort where we're starying

Palm tree :)

Boonie dogs (wild dogs) live all over the island

Heather and I at Tank Beach

Mom, Heather and I got manicures

The Saipanda! Not sure why the panda has a banana for a nose...

We went to a street market to get yummy island food and buy fun things

There's a lizard in there...

View from my beach chair... this is the life!

Can you believe that I'm at the beach everyday and I'm still this white? Ya, me too.

View of the island from it's highest point, Mt. Topachau

Heather, me and Aaron on Mt. Topachau

Sorry the pictures are small and kind of fuzzy... I couldn't get it to work right... I'll try to fix it.

I'm here!!

I finally made it to Saipan! Getting on the dang plane was a mess - but I managed (with the help of a feisty older sister with a baby) to get my ticket switched and I have been here now for a few days! For a brief recap of what happened at the airport: Got to the bag check-in 1 1/2 hours before scheduled flight, waited in line for a looong time (as airline was waayy understaffed), talked with bag check-in lady who didn't know what to do with my Northwest international flight due to recent merge with Delta, waited some more until she finally re-directed us back to the kiosk, got to the kiosk to scan ticket - was 2 minutes late and the system wouldn't check me in, talk to lady-who-knew-nothing again, redirected to first class where we were told "someone" could get me through, waited more, talked to super defensive ornery old guy, redirected again, missed my flight, rebooked with nice tongan lady (finally someone helpful!), got new tickets for the next day, cost me an extra $250. Whew...sorry that was probably a pain to read - but I didn't feel like rehashing the whole story. It was a blessing I had my big sister with me to help fight with the staff and get me where I needed to go! I couldn't believe how unhelpful everyone was. I only missed the check in by 2 minutes and wouldn't have missed it had the first lady known what she was doing. I guess what matters now is that I am here in Saipan safe and sound.

I don't have my camera to post pictures yet, but I will have some up soon. This place is beautiful! We are at The Palms Resort which has a botanical garden/jungle, tons of fish in a stream surrounding the resort, hibiscus/plumeria/fire tree flowers galore, and a big smimming pool all resting on the edge of the ocean shore. It could not get more perfect than this! I went snorkeling for the first time yesterday and saw soo many mutli-colored fish! There are also an abundance of sea slugs - my goal is to not step on one while I'm here. So far, so good! Today while snorkling my favorite was a whole school of tiny vibrant blue fish that floated out and in from the coral like a synchronized swimming act. Soo neat! There are also as many hermit crabs as there are grains of sand. Every shell I pick up to add to my collection must first be examined - 80% of the time there is a tiny crab still living inside.

We have mainly stayed at the resort so far - but soon we will go to other beaches and check out more of the island. Next time I will post pictures - promise!