Happy Anniversary!

So yesterday the 29th of June, for those stateside TODAY... was/is our anniversary. We decided instead of getting the babysitter we would all go eat and hang out. I drug the camera around with me since I seem to be missing so much.

Here is our day in pictures. Except church because, I thought taking pics at a church we are visiting might seem odd.

Brace yourselves as this day was a typical Japanese day and you may not be familiar with the places we went.

Oh I have to tell you this. We were on the AFB near us and walking around the BX when I heard my name called. To most of you this might not be odd but only 2 women know my name on this island. So I whip around to see a couple we were friends with in Florida six years ago. It was great to see them.

now here are the pics.

We went out to dinner, oh silly me this isn't Japanese at all. But it is yummy. Funny thing, we never went to Chili's where we lived before. It was to far to go for dinner. It was good but not something we will make a habit of.

Then some dessert, oh once again.. not Japanese. But who doesn't love TCBY? .

After eating our frozen yogurt outside. The kids ran around in the skate park. She is catching air.. Not posed. Just good timing.
We did these on purpose cause my kids are good sports and love an excuse to jump off things. If I had my real computer with photoshop he would look so awesome. one more month!!!

These little ones know how to pose, even mid air!

The oldest just jumping off things. I need some cropping but then I would never post these so this is how you get them.

We then walked around on the sea wall. Or sat around the sea wall. This is my crew watching surfers, enjoying our life here that is a three year vacation.

Checking out the water, why is it we let them down there...

For pictures!

I am still working on my settings. Going without the flash...

Oh thats right their dad let them down there. I mean he had to, there were crab and these really odd fish things that would jump over the holes. Gotta figure out what those are!

It was a great day.

I wonder how long till they hate that I take a million pics..... So our day was not very Japanese after all, but we had a blast.

Fishing Trip

Fish in the cooler too, plus the few he had on the grill already.

This is the first fishing trip he had taken here. He loves to fish, I mean LOVES TO FISH. It's unnatural. (-;

He left at 4:00 a.m. insanity.

We met him where the boat came in and got to see all the fish they caught, the guy fillet them and threw some on the grill right there. It was a nice time. I went at 2:30 and realized a few minutes ago I got some serious sun.

Exciting things on this trip, seems everyone needed the Japanese equivalent of Dramamine (supposed to be better than regular Dramamine) You should have seen us buying that at some Japanese Walgreen's, I am doing boat and airplane motions, I was hoping I didn't have to motion vomit. She got it though and was so kind.

A whale shark swam right up to the boat for a bit. That had to be cool. Then the mass amount of fish they caught.

A big Mahi Mahi, it was 13 kilos so that is 28.6 lbs. I did the math in my head in case you were wondering. haha

How pretty is that thing.

Another mahi mahi, We ate some of that one and have some in our freezer. yummy

He is cleaning the fish while my children look at jelly fish in the background. This guy is so great.

Fun times.

Are you Typhoon ready??

That is the question everyone seems to have for us lately. Every time I am asked that question I reply with "is there one coming?" I really want an answer to that but they tell me oh no, but there will be.

I have been picking up stuff here and there. Stocking one of my many empty cabinets in the kitchen. We do not have all of our stuff yet so we have all kinds of space.

So I thought I would share what I find essential in a typhoon/hurricane. Or really what I have gotten so far.

Oh wait no no no this is what I find important in a Typhoon...

(-:

Please do not worry we have lots more water than that. It's just still in the trunk of Dino's car. I was tired when I brought the rest of the groceries in. I will get that later and put it... in the closet I guess. So what are we really going to need?

When we lost power for 8 days, was it 8? maybe 6 it felt like 10 days. Anyways during hurricane Rita. We grilled out every night with the neighbors.

I don't know my neighbors here and do not have a grill, so it looks like spaghetti o's, tuna, and Nutella. YUMMY

Any advice would be appreciated.

So obviously if you do not know me the above pictures are a joke for my mom. We have an interesting sense of humor. We love the Lord, but is it my fault he made me so odd. No, it is probably my moms fault. She is hilarious. Any of you who know her, know that is the truth. I have the tendency to take my God/mother given sense of humor to a different level.

But I mean well.

Right now you are probably saying "Bless her heart, she is crazy as a loon."

I just might be....

Have a great day.

I miss you mom, see you soon.

Summer vacation??

How is it that it is June and I am buying school supplies. It just seems so wrong. But that is living overseas, or being paranoid. One of the two. We filled a cart with all the various things I never had to bring to school. I mean FILLED!
So all four of my kids are ready. And I have a 32 gallon Rubbermaid filled with supplies. NOW check this out the list I got at one base, does not seem to match the list from this one. What the heck. I now have a new list, I also have a feeling that first day of school there will be more.

OHHHH next is school clothes. They have worn uniforms since they started school. The excitement here about no uniforms is ridiculous. I am not so excited. School clothes, online ordering. I am guessing I need to start that soon too. What to do if things don't fit. umm I guess wait for the next one to grow into it.

To make us all feel that this is summer vacation, we are hitting a beach tomorrow morning. My friend from when we were in Seoul lives here. She is taking us to Araha beach, no clue if that is spelled right. I am taking the camera and it is on manual. I will try new things with my exposure. We will see. I swear the sunlight here is like nothing I have seen, so bright!

I am off to bed, one 8 am orthodontist appointment then beach time!
Should I take a pic of all the school supplies? I really don't want to scare all the Pre K moms. (-;
goodnight all.

ROAD TRIP

Today is my husbands birthday, so to celebrate we took a road trip! We had no destination in mind just the bottom of Okinawa. So we took off and found the most amazing places. We would see interesting signs and take off that direction. We are those kind of travelers. It can be a fun way to travel, or if your like my dad it horrifies you! Let me send a late shout out to my dad for fathers day.
Dad, I love you, I hope you had a great fathers day. Next year I will not be so distracted and you will get a suitable fathers day card/gift. (-: Plus when you come visit, I will will make suitable travel plans will scheduled stops on the itinerary. I will also make sure to have gas, all fluids and the right amount of air in the tires. You taught me well, I know how to travel safely.
HAPPY LATE FATHERS DAY, your the best.

Back to our trip, I would love to tell you all the places we stopped but honestly I am not sure of the names. Some places I do know.
OKINAWA OUTLET MALL- I know, I know but it was on the map, so we checked it out. Got some icecream, looked at Rino beetles for sale. Used the very cool bathroom. The kids would not stop talking about the toilets!
CAPE KYAN- cool place. One of the guys there selling stuff took our picture. He just walked up and offered. He was practicing his English and i was practicing my Japanese.
GUSHIKAWA CASTLE RUINS- very awesome, that is where my oldest found a purple crab.

The most fun was through the windy small roads we took we took some small road and parked near other cars,. We walked down steps made out of the cliff (using a rope) and got down to where we could look for shells and wade in the water. We found some really nice shells there.

We did finally make it to the Peace Memorial. It was already kind if late and we just drove around and let the kids play at the play ground. It was a blast. We will go back and hang out there another day. I want to climb these steps that go up the mountain. Wonder what is at the top of those?!!

Finish the night off with dinner at the family mart. (like 7-11) Japanese convenience store food is the best.
I am determined to learn this language. I really need to learn to read it well. So I will be looking into that soon.
P.S. I had heard (okinawahai) that the maps here are a guideline. Oh how true that is. I could not believe how the map just did not line up right with the roads. It was a pretty interesting. We did arrive home though. All in one piece with some cool memories.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY.. I love you.
lots of our pics on on our flickr account. So check them out. More to put on but my battery is charging.

Home sweet home

It has been two weeks since we arrived on this island. We are finally in our house, which is bigger than we thought it would be. Well minus the bedrooms, they are as small as I thought they would be. Overall it is a nice house. My kitchen is much bigger than our previous house and they can walk to school, without crossing a road! My seven yr old prayed for that before we even moved. That she would be able to walk to school. She is thrilled.


The movers came today, they dropped off our unaccompanied/express/fast shipment depending on what you call it. I had three of the biggest boxes they make I think. One the seal was broken and one was just smashed in. I busted out the camera and took pictures since I like evidence. No major damage though, a dish and the most horrible, a littlest pet shop house.


So I was assuming they would bring in the boxes. Nope, they opened them right at the door and just started taking stuff upstairs. Then they brought the next box in the kitchen and unpacked all my dishes. This all took them about 5 minutes. I signed paper work, and they were gone. It all in all took probably 15-20 min. Talk about fast. Holy cow.


It feels great to be in a house, with some of my stuff. It will be great to have all my things, but I will take this time to enjoy Okinawa and relax. I also cannot hear my children as most of their toys have shown up! Yeah for me. Maybe now they will not fight. Oh shoot now they will fight over toys. It never ends.

So officially my life here begins, people can actually come over for dinner and or coffee.
I am excited about these next few years. I know they will be among the best.

Peace.

My tween girls

Today, I checked on our house to see if they had delivered our furniture. (they had) then we stopped by the youth center here on Foster. It is right up the road from our soon to be house.

We just went for info. when before I know it I am leaving two very thrilled girls. They can go on a guest pass till they are registered. I cannot believe I left them, you can tell we have been in the hotel to long when I find dropping my kids off with people I don't know ok. I have friends kids that go all the time and love it. I just never had the guts. My thinking is if I drop them off, I am admitting they are old enough for that. How can they be old enough when they were just little girls five minutes ago.

They both just came in here asking to go back tomorrow... I have awakened the beast. YIKES.

On a cheerful note, two women were very friendly to me. Shocking I know. One demanded, in a sweet way that I join the Navy women's dragon boat team. she had done it this year and loved it. She left the country today. Then the other was just so nice and was giving me all kinds of info on moving off base once on, and where we could get four bedrooms near the sea wall.
I am now off to http://www.okinawahai.com/ I am going to make lists of places to visit. I will leave this island with no regrets. On that note, anyone know how to get on a dragon boat team?

Licensed to ILL

No I am not part of Beastie Boys, but I am a Licensed driver as of 10 something this morning!
YAHOO.
It was not a hard test, but I did feel sick to my stomach at the thought of failing. My husband was with me which was so nice since I kept thinking I should have studied more. He was very reassuring. He also passed I should mention. I had no doubt he would. Then again he was actually reading the WHOLE study guide. I stopped when I got bogged down by the wording. Plus with 4 yelling kids, concentration was hard to come by.
I did the signs section first since I felt more confident in that area. Then moved on to the scary questions which weren't that scary.
Word on the street is that other branches and I won't say which (they take their test on Kadena) watch a movie get a briefing and then take the test. Oh yes well here on Foster, we just straight take the test. Then we get the movie.
Needless to say the best accessory to go with this license is a vehicle. We will be shopping for that next. I would love a tiny little car that can whip in and out of traffic. Carefully and while looking in my side and rear view mirrors of coarse. But no with my large family, I will have the big dog.
Not a big deal though, gotta love having room to stretch out.

OKINAWA

So we are here, living in the hotel. First thoughts upon arrival...



#1. This place is beautiful...

#2. Driving on the left side of the road is not cool. I could handle Seoul driving but geez it was right side driving.

#3 We are the most blessed people to live here.

#4. Thank God for okinawahai. I do not know what I would have done without those women.

#5. So the housing is ugly, I mean seriously ugly. But hey if ugly=typhoon proof I am cool with it.

#6. this weather is Awesome. I am sure it will get worse but right now I am loving it.

And last but not least.. I can see the ocean form my hotel room window. YAHOO!



We met up with some great friends form Korea and they took us to Comprehensive park. There is a little water park there that we had the best time at.

One side note.

Check this out. there were a large amount of Americans there, all over actually. Here is the odd part. No one spoke. No one said hi, no universal head nod of what's up. Nothing. At one point these two couples were sitting like 3 feet from us. NOTHING. So odd. wondering if this is the norm or what. Oh well not a big deal but I found it strange. OK well this hotel computer loves to loose internet connection in the middle of working and I see it is on now so I am out. Did I mention I love this place.

In case you didn't catch on yet..

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!

adios.

`

Our new baby blog...

Oh look how cute it is... stay tuned to see how she grows...