Weekend In Tinian!

We spent a fabulous 3 day weekend in Tinian with our good friends Gina and Ricardo and their three children, Alisa Mia, Alina (Ling Ling) and Alex. Nate had been working in Tinian during the week, so he flew home on Friday afternoon, picked up our three and headed to Tinian on the 5:00 ferry. I had a futsal (indoor soccer) game on Sat. morning... It was the first of our season and I had somehow been nominated to be Captain, so I played my morning game and then flew over to Tinian at lunch time. The kids were already at Gina's as Nate was working in the field, so Gina picked me up. After not seeing the Rankin's (except for some brief visits) for almost 6 years, it was wonderful to spend the weekend catching up. When we weren't at the beach or pool, Gina and I spent much of our time just sitting at her kitchen table talking and laughing - getting a good dose of 'soul food'! Gina and I used to hang out together in Saipan with Tayah and Alisa who were just one and two at the time. When they moved to Palau Jan. 2003, we were able to visit them in March 03. After that they moved to Rota and now, Tinian.
We feel so blessed to have been able to spend the whole weekend with them on such a beatiful and peaceful island.
Here are the kids playing at one of our favorite Tinian beaches...
Alisa Mia and Tayah (8 years old) - together again.

Weekend In Tinian!

Tayah relaxing after a hard morning of sand castle building...

One of Max's many, Many, MANY jumps.
What a perfect way for a 6 year old boy to spend his Sat. afternoon...
let's just say that he slept well that night.
Sera Ann spends much of her beach time on Nate's back

Weekend In Tinian!

Alex, Sera Ann and Max - all fully clothed and lovin' every minute of it!
An evening walk on the beach turned into a wild waterlogged night!
Tayah and Max getting ready for their first jump of this trip. Tayah prefers the lower jump - Max always chooses the high jump.
And he is off...























We spent the day doing just this...laying around on the perfect beach, floating in the crystal clear, cool water.
Even though we are anticipating a move back to the States to be closer to family, it is days like this...and beaches like this, that help us to remember to appreciate this incredible Island chain in which we have called home for over 7 years now.

Weekend in Tinian!

Sera Ann with Alex...
Alex, their youngest, is just two months older than Sera Ann.
The two of them had a great time on the beach our first evening together. They started out playing with the hermit crabs, then quickly headed for the water!
Who is going to get the wettest???
Tayah, growing taller by the minute, looking at one of her precious seashells...
Beautiful Alina (Ling Ling) with her broken arm. She is their middle and is 6 months younger than Max. Alina had broken her arm two days before our weekend together. She was such a trooper - trying not to be too disappointed that she couldn't swim or play at the beach.