(Monday, June 18, 2007; Tumon, Guam) Every year, children wait with anticipation for July, which is marked by one of Guam�s biggest fireworks displays in honor of Liberation Day. While waiting for the sparkle and flash of the sky show, there is plenty of action planned for the summer to keep everyone entertained.

One of the best ways to truly experience Guam is by hiking, or boonie stomping as it is called, to some of the island�s hidden treasures. Every Saturday, there is a guided hike to a special location for the minimal fee of $2.00. A list of boonie stomps can be found on the Guam Visitors Bureau�s website, under Activities, and are a joint effort of the Guam Boonie Stompers and the Department of Parks and Recreation. On June 16th, the boonie stompers will make the difficult trek from Talofofo Bay to Inarajan Bay by hiking along the remote Asiga coastline. The following week, hikers will explore caves on Nimitz Hill, which were used during World War II. The difficulty rating for this hike is medium, although there will be some climbing and crawling through narrow cave passages.

Beginning June 21st, MDA, one of Guam�s leading dive shops, will launch two Kids Camps for youngsters who want to learn more about the deep blue and the creatures who live there. The first is the MDA Kid�s Camp where kids learn about the ocean and our environment through a series of fun activities and snorkeling. The second camp is the Junior Open Water, where older children can learn the �how to�s� of diving and will actually participate in ocean dives. To participate in the Junior Open Water camp, children must be 10 years or older. All children are asked to bring their own mask, snorkel, fins, and booties, regardless of which camp they�re participating in, as well as their snacks and lunch. Kids Gear Camp cards are available at MDA and for more information, please call Dianne Collins at 1-671-472-6321 or by cell at 1-671-686-4669. MDA�s Kids Camps are supported by the Guam Marine Awareness Foundation.

Baseball is one of Guam�s favorite sports and from June 26 through July 1, the island will be in baseball paradise as the Guam Little League hosts the Asia-Pacific Regional Little League Tournament. Winners from the tournament�s three divisions, Junior, Senior, and Big League Division, will have the honor of representing the entire region at the World Series level of play. The Asia-Pacific Regional Little League Tournament will be held at two different fields, the Paseo Stadium in the heart of Hagat�a and at the Jose U. Atoigue Baseball Field in Chalan Pago. Guam will welcome teams from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Jakarta, and the CNMI (Saipan, Tinian, and Rota) who will be traveling to the island for the Asia-Pacific Regional Little League Tournament. For more information, contact Stephen Guerrero at 1-670-888-3887 or by email at katmasste@yahoo.coml This is an excellent time of year for Guam to host children as the highly anticipated Liberation Day Carnival officially opens that weekend on June 29th. The carnival lasts through August 5th and will feature rides, game booths, concession stands, and nightly entertainment. There is no fee to enter and most of the games and rides are minimally priced. Visitors are very welcome to come and enjoy the carnival, which is open every night, and located at the Paseo Stadium parking area near the Chamorro Village in Hagat�a.

On Saturday, June 30th, hikers take to the beach for one of the most beautiful hikes along the coastline below the cliffs of Two Lover�s Point in Tumon. The hike begins at Gun Beach at the northern end of the Tumon Bay Marine Preserve, where machine guns from WWII still stand, and follows the coast north to Tanguisson Beach. Along the way, boonie stompers will see ancient latte stones in their original jungle location and visit a cave. This hike is rated medium but there will be moments when stompers will walk in the water and over rocks, but the beautiful scenery is well worth any discomfort! The excitement continues on the 30th as the Guam Soap Box Derby happens at the Guam International Raceway Park. Guam has fallen in love with soap box racing and the winner of the Guam Soap Box Derby will fly to Akron, Ohio to represent the island in the All American Soap Box Derby on July 21st. Kids have been hard at work putting their soap box racers together and the derby promises to be full of family fun and enthusiasm as Guam finds its champion. For more information, contact Camille Denight at Camille@denight.com

As is always the case with Guam, tiny island � so many activities to choose from and the weekend of June 30th is no exception. From June 30 � July 1, Pa�a Taotao Tano, one of the island�s many talented cultural performance groups, will hold the 5th Annual Dinana Minagof Dance Festival at the Mercy Heights Nursery & Kindergarten School Auditorium in Perezville, Tamuning. The Dinana Minagof Dance Festival showcases Guam and the Mariana�s culture and heritage through dance and is a spectacle of sight, sound, and island pride. Cultural performers from the Northern Mariana Islands will compete along with performers from Guam for Best in Ancient, Best in Spanish, and Best in Contemporary Dance. Of course the audience is the big winner of an outstanding display of artistic talent. The Dance Festival will be from 9 am to 5 pm each day and tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children, and a group of four for only $20. For more information, please contact Theresa Arriola at tcarriola@yahoo.com

The East Asian Football Federation Women�s Qualifier Tournament happens at the Leo Palace Resort in Manenggon Hills, Yona, from July 1 � 6. This is the first time the tournament has been held on Guam and the first time the Guam Women�s National Team has qualified to play. The home team will take on teams from Chinese-Taipei, Korea, and Hong Kong and battle it out on the soccer field to determine who has what it takes. Hosted by the Guam Football Association, who encourage you to visit their website at www.guamfootball.com for all the latest information about the East Asian Football Federation Women�s Qualifier Tournament and all their other athletic events.

The next event in July needs no introduction and will end with huge display of pomp, circumstance, and a laser light show � the 4th of July is celebrated with a huge all day carnival event at Polaris Point in Piti and the night ends with live music and an outstanding laser light display. Sponsored by the US Navy, Independence Day is a family event with dozens of booths featuring games, food, drinks, and numerous opportunities to win prizes. One favorite event at the 4th of July event is the �Dunking Booth,� where a good throw can dump someone in a barrel full of cold water! This year�s special entertainment includes the American band Survivor, best known for their 80�s hit �Eye of the Tiger.� The 4th of July is a widely anticipated event and the Navy does an excellent job of keeping the fun and excitement going throughout the day and well in to the night! The boonie stomp schedule for July includes visits to many WWII sites as part of the month long Liberation Day celebration. On July 7th, trekkers hike to the ruins of a secret US Navy listening post from the 1930�s called Libugon Radio Station and then to the Fonte Dam, a unique structure built in 1910. After the lengthy hike, boonie stompers can refresh themselves with a dip in to the nearby natural pools. On July 14th, the hike retraces the route the US Third Marine Division took on July 21, 1944, from Asan to the heights above and on to one of Guam�s numerous waterfalls. This is deemed a difficult hike, so novices may want to sit this one out!

July 21st is perhaps the most celebrated day on Guam, in honor of the island�s liberation from occupation during the war. The day begins with an easy boonie stomp to some historic sites from the Liberation of Guam. Unlike other hikes, trampers will meet at the War in the Pacific National Historical Park Visitor Center in Piti, just before the main gate to Naval Station. Don�t forget to check out www.visitguam.org and click on Activities for a full list of what to expect and bring with you for your boonie stomping excursion.

In addition to the carnival, which will have been opened for a few weeks by now, Liberation Day also marks the most public display of camping as local residents put up tents and canopies all along Marine Corps Drive to stake out their spot from which to watch the Annual Liberation Day Parade. Full of colorful floats, cultural performances, marching bands, representatives from various civic organizations, and more, the Liberation Day Parade quickly becomes a giant street party as families will have had the barbeque going since dawn knowing that friends and relatives will be stopping by. The wonderful smells of BBQ and island cuisine fill the air in Hagat�a for the remainder of the day and as the sun sets, people who have not staked out a camp site will begin making their way towards the carnival, if they�re not already there, for the grandest fireworks display that Guam offers! The Annual Liberation Day Fireworks Display is a brilliant spectacle of color, sparkle, twinkles, and flashes! The dazzling display captivates the child in all of us and lasts for nearly a full half hour! This year Liberation Day fall on a Saturday, which means the entire weekend will be full of parties, fiestas, and fun. Look out for tremendous sales at Guam�s shopping malls and boutiques. Guam doesn�t need much reason to throw a barbeque but this weekend there will be plenty of reasons, so be prepared to eat, eat, eat and then eat some more!

You can take off some of those Liberation Day pounds by joining Guam Boonie Stompers for the last trek of the month, this time to Tinta, Faha, and the Priest�s Pools. This is an easy hike, although it can be a bit muddy. These boonie stomps take trampers to the site of one of the saddest events Guam experienced during WWII, the Merizo Massacre. The site is beautiful, but the events that occurred there were not and should be remembered to make sure they are never repeated. The Priest�s Pools, natural freshwater pools in the Pigua River, will wash away the grit of the hike and refresh your spirits.

That evening, July 28th, is the Guam Oyaji Band contest at Ypao Beach Park in Tumon. This amateur band competition features senior citizens from Guam and Japan. The contest will be judged by Japan�s Akira Terao, a popular actor/singer and winner of the 2007 Guahan Award. Oyaji, which is Japanese for �old man,� is an increasingly popular event in Japan and event sponsor, GVB, hopes it will be as successful on Guam. The Guam Oyaji Band contest is part of the GVB festivities commemorating Guam�s forty years in tourism.

The final event of July is MDA�s Scuba Week, the second session in the dive shop�s summer camps for kids. Scuba Week, which begins on July 30th and lasts through the 2nd, actually runs Monday - Thursday and features activities like the IMAX Deep Sea, photography, fish identification, peak performance buoyancy, beach clean ups, underwater clean ups, science experiments, art projects like tie-dye t-shirts, and a whole lot more. There is even a field trip to the largest tunnel aquarium in the world, Guam�s own Underwater World. The program is open to children ages 10 � 16 and if kids plan on participating in the daily dives, they must have Junior or Open Water certification. Children planning to snorkel only need no certifications. If you�re traveling to Guam this summer and would like to enroll you child in MDA�s Scuba Week, contact Dianne Collins at 565-3396 or 472-6324 and by email at: dcollins101@hotmail.com or marketing@mdaguam.com

There is always something happening on Guam, from weekly boonie stomps to exciting annual events like the Liberation Day celebration. For more information on what to do while here, log on to www.visitguam.org and click on Activities!