A summer day

We had a really fun morning last Saturday. For a while we had been hearing "park" "look out point" "memorial" from different friends in town but had never explored what was out on "that mountain." Finally we had a free morning (too cool to swim!) and decided to go exploring.

What a fun place! We drove up to the army base and they let us on - which was an experience in itself, but one I probably shouldn't blog about. :) We just kept driving up and up and up and ended at the top of this hill on the edge of town with a beautiful view of the town and valley below. Where we had ended up was a memorial park to General Douglas MacArthur - it had been the site of the Allied headquarters during WWII and some years since the national army here had taken over the base, but erected a monument to the American forces.

The weather was beautiful. We just sat and had a picnic and watched the airplanes take off and land at the airport below. Caleb collected pine cones (yes, were high enough up that there were pine trees!) and walked around and took pictures.

Elijah loved using the binoculars.


He is growing up so fast!


This is a view of the town below - from the east... over those mountains starts the jungle - we're literally on the edge of nowhere-ness. :) One of the tribes we serve is right over that range of mountains behind the lake.


The central view of town - we have the "big" airport for our island as it's the only flat spot for miles....

The main part of town (slightly west of the airport) Town literally is one long main street.

"Airplane, Mom, more airplane"


I loved the monument. It kinda reminded me of growing up as a kid and Dad having to stop to read EVERY sign and plaque on the side of the road. They don't really have many of these here - commemorating the past is a luxury you are afforded when you're not scraping to survive day to day. It seemed very "American" to be having a picnic at a park on a summer day and making my kids sit next to the big monument to get a picture! :)


Here's a close up, so you can read it, Dad. :) (Click on the picture to make it bigger.)


This area is filled with tons of WWII relics, wrecks, etc. Some of it's still usable stuff (we have friends living in a Quonset hut that was built during the war!) some is filled with history (one of my students last year found dog tags at a WWII plane wreck in the mountains) and some is just left to rot.... we passed this hut on our way back down the mountain.


So thankful for a fun day with my men!