We stayed 3 nights (and our close friends, the Kemps, who have 4 kids like us, stayed 5 nights) in Guam at the Hilton Guam. We booked 2 rooms under my dad's Hilton Hhonors account for about $165/night, and, due to his Hilton Diamond status, both rooms were upgraded to suites and all of us had free breakfast everyday as well as lounge access that included free soft drinks all day long and daily appetizers from 5-7pm. We actually got upgraded to the top floor (13th floor) of the hotel and had the best 2 rooms in the hotel. The rooms had wrap around balconies with panoramic views of Tumon Bay and were great, spacious rooms.
Ryder and Levi, toasting to their Thai Airways business class experience.
Sawyer and Paige, enjoying business class on Thai Airways.
All 8 of the kids in the Thai Airways Lounge.
We arrived early in the morning (5:30am) on Sunday and slept through breakfast. When we woke up, we grabbed some taxis and headed to 1:00pm church on the other side of the island. We got back to the hotel, had a late lunch, and when we made it back to our rooms, to our surprise, the easter bunny had visited and left gifts, treats and hidden eggs all around the rooms.
The next day, we went zip lining near the hotel. There was a zip line course with 6 separate zip lines set up, some over lush jungle and others with great views of Tumon Bay. It was a great thing to do and everyone did it, even Zander (3), and his friend Addy (4). They were both pretty scared on the first zip line, but by the 6th one they were loving it.
Sawyer and Paige, all ready for the zip lines.
Ryder and Levi, ready to go.
Nash, excited to get to the zip lines.
Nash and Zander, ready to go.
Zander, on his first zip line.
Ryder, enjoying his first ride.
Ryder, later on in the course.
Nash, zip lining with views of Tumon Bay in the background.
Sawyer, ziplining over Tumon Bay.
After zip lining, we played by the pool and Cody and Rick went snorkeling around the corner from Tumon Bay. There was a lot of colorful fish, bright blue starfish, and pretty good coral. We then went on a long walk along the beach to the other side of Tumon Bay and made our way to some of the shops. The girls bought a few things and we caught a cab back to the hotel at the end of the night. The cab driver insisted he could fit all 12 of us in his minivan, so we packed in like a car full of circus clowns.
Sawyer and Paige, playing on the slides at the hotel.
The next day we rented a car and drove out to the south side of the island. We stopped at some natural pools and the kids went snorkeling and we all played in the water, then we headed to a small local cultural center where we learned about all the things you can do with coconuts. They did some crafts with the kids from palm leaves, made coconut candy, let us all try to open coconuts and grind them down, and let us drink the milk. It lasted a couple hours and was a good experience for the kids.
Ryder, snorkeling in the natural pools.
Sawyer, snorkeling in the natural pools.
Ryder and Levi, in the natural pools.
All of the kids (Paige, Sawyer, Harvey, Ryder, Levi, and Nash) snorkeling together.
Daddy, with Zander, swimming in the tide pools.
A great, secluded spot to snorkel, right near the ocean, but completely protected from the waves.
Cody, breaking open a coconut.
Ryder, grinding the coconut.
The kids, watching the coconut be cooked for a a sweet treat.
Our coconut candy that we made.
The kids, learning of the many uses of the coconut.
Sawyer's coconut hat.
Nash's coconut hat.
We stayed up late and hung out with our friends, but parted ways the next morning for the 2nd half of our trip (onward to New Zealand with stops in Taipei, Taiwan and Bangkok, Thailand along the way).
