The Howes Family in San Antonio

2011-06-12T10:46:00.002+09:00

Since I have proven that I am the worst blogger on the planet I have decided to start fresh. The military is helping me out with that and moving us to......
SAN ANTONIO!!!
We are really excited and fly in two weeks. This is where we are headed..

Pretty huh..

Lots of interesting things to see.

I am going to miss Okinawa so much. We loved this island and will forever talk about coming back to visit. I am going to be putting up picks from last year because I am going to have this blog printed for an Okinawa scrapbook.
You can follow our new adventures at our new page. thehowesfamilyadventures.wordpress.com
The new United States adventure begins!

Catching up

2011-03-07T15:07:00.000+09:00

I guess I better get to posting on this blog I sent my grandma the link to check it out and realized there was nothing new for her to see. Geez.
The newest thing is we are getting ready to move back to the states. We will be getting back this summer sometime to an undisclosed destination. Well we know where it is but we are not saying yet where. It leaves a little mystery don't you think. Also the military is famous for changing plans at the last minute.
The kids are all doing well. Pictures of that later.
Most exciting thing to happen lately is my friend Diane had a giveaway on her blog and I won. I am not posting on my blog but I still read others.
So check out what I won from Germany then subscribe to the Isla fam bam blog and when she has another give away, pray you win.

Smurf Soup... Yummy? I guess we will see.

Nutella to go. They freaked out when they saw this.

One egg didn't make it.

So she decided not to wait for the others to get home from school.

Well that is the excitement today. Now I am off to make dinner and get three kids ready for soccer. The other is at track. Whew. Busy times.

Veterans Day 2010

2010-11-12T14:14:00.003+09:00

If you know us at all you know my husband is in the Army. I am extremly proud of him and his service. He is a cool guy. (-:

(This is not my husband)

What you may not know is my dad (see pic above)is a three time war veteran. He was in Vietnam, then when I was in high school he went to Desert Storm, and one last tour to Iraq in 2002 for this war. I find that both amazing and scary.

Going to Iraq the first time

My mom was a great support to me when my husband was in Iraq. She had been there and knew how I felt, but to send your husband again to a completely different war had to be hard. I wonder how my Nana (grandma) handled the thought that her child was going again a third time to war. How often does that happen?
I don't think I tell my dad enough how proud I am of him. I have no idea the kind of things he saw, or how being in war affected him. It probably changed him more than I can imagine. So on this Veterans day I want to let you know dad, I love you I am proud of the man you are and how you served our country. You are an amazing Father in Law, Tata, and dad.

I just threw this pic in for fun. He is the dark haired player on the far left.

I think the fourth war of raising two teenagers that are 39 days apart held the most chance for PTSD.
We look cute here but my brother and I were a force to be reckoned with.

We love you!

Jiu-jitsu

2010-07-02T14:05:00.004+09:00

The two little ones joined Ju-jitsu. The two older girls are in girl defense class. They have only been twice but they already love it. Getting pics of the older ones is going to be harder since I am going to be in the class with them!
First I have to show you J's new hair cut. She found a picture that she wanted she knows exactly what she wanted. Now maybe you will recognize her in the fighting pics!

Already the kids are throwing people around. Ahh good times.
All of them practicing some moves.

Getting in there to fix his position.

After J tossed this kid over her back. Her first major flip.

E nd his partner. They were evenly matched and went round and round.

J throwing one of E's friend. He was not excepting that. His dad was yelling, "are you going to get beat by a girl." In the end neither of them tapped out.

I have another post up for later of our recap of the months before this. I just had to get this on because as I was taking pics E asked, "mom, will you put me on the blog?" He was so excited.

My mom made said that she likes that girls learn to defend themselves but we try and teach boys not to hit girls then we have them choking them out in class. What do you think about that?
Hmm. Hope E doesn't tackle a girl bully on the playground and make her tap out. He will just have to get his sister to take care of her I guess.

The Clay's come to visit

2010-03-29T19:00:00.006+09:00

When you move overseas EVERYONE says ohh I am going to come visit!
After three overseas moves, that almost never happens. Now my mom, she shows up everywhere, because she is awesome.
This time we had our very first visitors, and it wasn't my mom.
It was The Clay's!
We like to think of them as family and I am still in shock that they came all the way here.
The first day I was still in Hawaii and they went to the sea wall and Ton ton's, Dino's favorite ramen place. I wasn't there so not sure if there are pictures of that!
Monday we took them to Cape Zampa to see the Giant Shisa.
Had to get Keith with the lighthouse. The light was so harsh but there is no waiting when your visitors have 6 days.

Had a homeless guy take our picture, we then bought some sugar cane off him.

She loved the guy in the background with the hat.

We went to Maeda point and flats after. Great views from there.

We decided to take some silly ones.

Keith made a friend!

Cindy loved the hot canned coffee that came out of the vending machine.

The last day was rainy and very windy, we thought Keith was going to blow away.

The rain would not stop her from finding shells. She was determined!

I have TONS more but need to get this up.

There was one last picture Dino had for a friend in LA.... gotta eat those oranges David, they keep you healthy!

Thanks for coming we had so much fun. We can't wait to see you again!

Flaking out

2010-03-29T18:57:00.002+09:00

I have been horrible about posting here and I vow to do better. I will catch up on all the months that have passed but I will start with current things since they are fresh in my mind.
Up first will be a trip our friends took out here, then the trip I took to Hawaii by MYSELF! From then we will back track till whenever it was I left off.
Hang on here we go...

Exploring the south. Again

2009-12-30T17:14:00.007+09:00

We went back to the Gushikawa Castle, then we went down the hill and exploring. We came across a lot of cool stuff.

We turned off on some road near there and came across a little garden deal and an old guy. We went to see if we could get to the water from there and when we came back to the car he had dragon fruit for all of us.

He stayed clean while eating...

THIS. His sisters did not.

We then went back to the Peace Memorial park. We haven't actually seen any of the memorial but we have played on the playground there twice!

We always have a great time on our adventures. Come visit and you can explore with us.

Channel Crevices

2009-12-30T13:36:00.005+09:00

One of our favorite spots when it is warm here is down south at the Channel Crevices.
It is an awesome dive spot but I just love to take the kids to snorkel. It is such a cool area, there aren't many Americans and the kids have a blast.
Here are the pictures in no particular order and on two different trips. One without swimsuits and one with.

This Japanese family had this whole set up right on the edge of the water. It was a great idea they were having a lovely picnic.
The next time we went though it was high tide and that part was completely submerged. We may have to try that this spring.

If you are here let me know and we will take a trip down there when it warms up.

Okinawa Zoo Light show

2009-12-27T14:13:00.003+09:00

Hello Kitty seems to think she can stop Christmas. Well not for us because we are winners! I know you all already think that, but officially we are winners. I called into the radio station and won tickets to the zoo's light show. They also boast about having snow. Ahh nothing like snow on a sub tropical island!!
We went on the 26th. It rained all day on Christmas so it was very muddy, but surprisingly festive. Lots and lots of people, and lots of different things to keep you busy.
The Plaza of snow. It was more of a walk way of ice but loads of fun!

They had igloo's.

Snow/ice ball fights.

Giant snow balls!

Interesting laser light shows.

Then the performances.
This is a dance group that we have seen pretty often they are at all the major festivals. That night it was a Michael Jackson tribute. HILARIOUS!

Next up
There were Eisa dancers. They are my absolute favorites and then the giant Lion/Shisa's came out. They dance and act crazy then come to the people and "eat" them. I found out today it is lucky. This shot is horrible due to my laughing and the girls in my lap trying to get away from them but that one has my sons head in his mouth. He just sat there enjoying it all, while my youngest girl was screaming like crazy. I could not stop laughing.

What is so great about awesome traditional dancers and a giant lion/shisa eating my child for luck when I can see a bunch of dancing girls grab their crotches to MJ's songs. The funniest part about that was every time they grabbed, my son would look at me and snicker. He thought it was hilarious those girls were doing that.

Before we left we checked out the path with all the lights and food.
There was Flannel cake (funnel cake) and Blead Ball (bread Ball)I wanted to take a picture but I couldn't do it. I felt bad. So I just took pictures of this.
Nothing says Christmas spirit like a horror house.

We had a pretty fun time. I appreciate my kids being older, it makes life easier at places like this. Oh but then again we lost E for a bit. Then we found him, guess that Shisa was lucky after all.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T13:00:00.003+09:00

We had a great Christmas. I hope you all did too.
I would take the time to write a long sappy post about missing the family but I am so far behind in blogging I must get right to the pics.
I did not want a long post of present pictures, so here is a collage (loving those lately)
Then a few extras.
Notice if you can, the kids playing band hero. There is an extra guitar so they can rock out together.

A new Golf bag for the big kid to match his taylor made clubs he got.

They all stopped for a min for a pic. Christmas eve.

All she wanted for Christmas was fondant. She whipped up a four layer cake and decorated it. After she said "it looks like a babyshower cake" She now wants to master her icing flowers and other such baking things that I can not teach her. Thank goodness for TLC and all the cake shows.

He received lots o bakugan toys. They are super cool and he is having lots of fun playing with those.

The big girls are scarce lately when I pull out the camera. I will do better hunting them down.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.
You all were in our thoughts and prayers.

My kids a poser

2009-12-01T13:47:00.003+09:00

Not the kind you are thinking of. The strike a pose kind.
Our big girls were at youth group Sunday evening so we took the little ones fishing for an hour. I took the camera because I love to get pictures of my kids and if I am holding the camera I don't have to bait the hook.
She was the only one who caught anything, notice the cool aquarium looking fish she is posing with. That is no catfish, which we were used to catching before coming here. Almost every picture was her with this smile. Which is not real I might add. The real smile is oh so lovely. It can be found second row first picture. She was thrilled to catch the only fish that day.

She is a sweeetie. Next up, the rest of the kids.

Thanksgiving round 2

2009-11-29T11:10:00.005+09:00

This is our second Thanksgiving here on Okinawa. I am usually a very optimistic person and I love it here but Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that I miss my family. Mostly at Thanksgiving and not Christmas. Isn't that odd.
SO this Thanksgiving we just did a family one with just the six of us.
It was very relaxed and fun. The best part was that my husband took care of the Turkey. That was awesome.
Here is J my eight year old trying to get some cool shots. On her back in the kitchen floor. I love that her knees are in this one. She had better but the legs are the best.

We had a great time.

Here is E's favorite craft he made in class.

I hope you all had a great holiday. We are now off to put up the tree.

Free books

2009-11-20T15:16:00.003+09:00

There is nothing better to me than books and all things free. So if you mix the two together I am the happiest girl on the planet.
That is what a sister of a friend is doing on her blog.
She reviews books then gives them away. WOOHOO
I personally have won two, and read another that was awesome. I do take the risk of opening this up to so many people that I never again win a book, but I am willing to do it for you. Now you have the chance to win a free book. Right now there are only two of us even trying to win them so the odds are awesome. Get over there fast and check it out.

End of the story is her blog. She does love her some Jesus, so if that will pose a problem for you feel free to skip her blog. If you link from my blog I want you to use your manners and be friendly.
(-:

Good luck!

THE BLOOK BLOG LINK in case you didn't notice I linked it above.

2009 Special Olympics

2009-11-16T07:33:00.006+09:00

This is the second year we have been able to volunteer at the Special Olympics. Once again it was amazing. We ran the Soccer event and had a great time cheering for the athletes. Here are a few of the pics I got that day.
This guy loved taking pictures with his mom's camera. He has a picture of me now too. We took turns posing with our peace signs.

Here he is so proud of his medal. Look at those faces. I swear I could do this all day. It is the BEST!

This guy had so much joy. You could not help but smile when he was around.

He struck this pose right when I pulled out the camera. Had to love that.

An action shot, they were serious about these games.

This lady was so cool. She wasn't signed up for the soccer event but came by saying she would like to try. She got out there with her Friend and kicked them all in. She didn't miss one. The best part was her figuring out how to get her friend to swing the chair out for a better angle. She was awesome and got the gold. After, we were laughing that her friend was going to be sore tomorrow. They joked that she needed a medal too for all her work.
.
There were all ages participating.

Once again if you ever get the chance, get out and support your Special Olympics. Just click on the link and see where your games will be held.
Get out and make a difference. You will not regret it.
I am so proud of my kids, they are always excited to get out and support the athletes as well.
When I asked my kids why people should support the Special Olympics they said.
M- said "it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. teehee There is no fighting and everyone is happy."
I- said "the athletes are nice, enthusiastic and easy to talk to."
J- said it made us feel good becasue we are supporting other people who need help and your doing something good for the world. Some poeple never get the chance to go help at the Special Olympics casue they are scared. But the Special Olympics people are not scary they are so nice!
E- Said "It's not just helping them play soccer, it's helping them learn more things. If your still a kid you can still help. It made me feel good, because it feels good to help other people and it's fun to help. Other people might think it's not fun but it is fun, real fun.
As I was reading through this they started yelling and fighting about some strange thing. I mean YELLING. So I had to send them upstairs.
From we love the Special Olympics one minute to a knock down drag out fight with each other the next. Where is the love?

School dance

2009-10-23T13:33:00.003+09:00

It was the first dance of the school year and the first dance for my 6th grader. She was excited to go and my oldest was going to take pictures for the yearbook.
I had to bust out the camera for that one.
Had to show this one because she had me curl her hair.

The girls with the neighbor who was also going.

They came home with lots of stories. They danced and had a great time.
I guess M took lots of pictures and is enjoying her new job.
I was just reading a friends blog who posted about her daughters first homecoming.
Let me just say I am so not ready for that.

Hello there...

2009-10-14T09:18:00.001+09:00

I was just informed my mom sent this blog address out to all her friends on facebook.
Can you hold on a sec while I throw the laundry on the couch into my bedroom.
whew ok..
Hello, come on in... how are you all? Nice to meet you. Look around, leave some comments. It is great to have you.
Special shout out to my mom's new friend Tracy. (hope I spelled that right)
Isn't my mom the most fun ever. I mean besides me. (-: ha

Have a great day, I am now going to work on a real post about our last month or so.
It has been busy though by the looks of the ole' blog you wouldn't think so.
So come on back later and there should be a new post or three up.
You know after I fold the laundry.

Boys day out

2009-09-27T10:39:00.004+09:00

They have been hanging out together at Cub Scout meetings, but yesterday they went on a boys day. They were nice enough to invite us but the girls had to pass on fishing. We know from experience that they stay out way to long.
"E" was so excited to "go fishing with daddy!"

I left to a coffee before they got home but I got to hear about the "super happy" time they had. Plus they did catch fish. Then I saw the proof.
It is roughly the size of the skateboard on his shirt.

Look at that form! I mean I think it's good form. The only problem is, I am not really sure what good form is.

They stayed late and came home having had the best time.

I love that he is barefoot on the beach with "a grown up fishing pole" having a great time catching tiny fish with his dad. I hope he remembers that stuff forever.
Although when he retells the story I am sure the fish will be gigantic!

Updates on our goings on

2009-09-15T20:39:00.004+09:00

Our family did another 5k last weekend. It raised money for the Special Olympics. If you don't know we are HUGE fans of the Special Olympics. So much so that my kids will wake up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday and run around 3 miles.
So my youngest girl wasn't feeling well, and wanted to walk it. I being the wonderful mother I am offered to walk it with her instead of running. I know your thinking "WOW, you sacrifice so much for your kids." Oh yes all the things we give up as mothers. ha!
We did walk it and we ran some (down hill) we made it in at 44 min. Respectable for a sick kid and an out of shape me.
My oldest ran it in 30 the other walked and ran it in 40 min. I think. My six year old ran almost the whole time but they have little legs so that is a lot of running. It was fun, and they raised a lot of money.
Dino is training for a marathon. He was off running earlier that morning. He ran and met us on Kadena to do the fun run. Then we dropped him off on Torii and he ran home. He ran 16 miles that day. Geez. Makes my 44 min 5k sort of embarrassing.
This is where I stop way ahead and when he caught up we make sure he is alive.

My oldest is in 8th grade and loving it. One of the great things about her school is the music. She is in strings and learning to play the violin! Isn't that the coolest. I tortured my parents with the clarinet back in the day. I remember wanting the flute so bad.
So she is now torturing us with the violin. I love it! I hope to recognize a song sometime soon. We will post a video one of these days and torture you too.

The other kids are enjoying school and I will send updates on them.
We are having a great year so far! How are all of you doing?

What do you do all day?

2009-09-14T15:20:00.003+09:00

I get that question a lot when people find out I don't work. PLUS my kids are all in school. So just because I thought it was funny this is what i did today.
6 ish- woke up/ showered/ coffee
7:30 walked kids to school it takes 2 min.
7:30-10:00- made copies and laminated for 1st grade class. LOTS OF COPIES
10:30-1:00- Went scuba diving off sea wall with husband who is off today.
1:20- showered
1:40- picked up kids, finish cutting laminated stuff in class.
2:00-4:00- homework help and email checking
4:00-5:00- Dinner, then open house for my two middle school girls. (that is next)

So what do I do all day. hmm what ever I want! (-: Till you know it's 1:40 then it is all about the kids.
It is a deal I cannot keep forever but for now I am loving it.
I mean come on I went diving while they were in school and helped in his class. Good times.
So pack your bags and come to Okinawa. You know you want to....

No picture today. We didn't take the camera and just enjoyed the dive.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

2009-08-31T05:33:00.004+09:00

"M" here
I am giving you people a first day of school update
I will show you my familys first day of school outfits!!
Me and "B" are going to middle school so looks are everything.. right?

"J" and "E" are going to elementary but "J" dresses like it's a fashon show. haha

Tara here.
They had a great first day. They are getting so big. All with new haircuts, except the boy. He is growing his long like a surfer. M cut it all off. That girl has some nerve. I love experimenting with hair, seems she does too.
Now that they are in school I will have time to update this blog with our summer adventures.
Look for that.

IT"S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

2009-08-08T19:33:00.004+09:00

bonjoir
it's me "M"
guess what everyone..I turn fourteen today woohoo!!!!
I had my party at a place called round 1. It's like a big arcade/playground/sports center/karaoke place it is really awesome.
a few friends and I got too hang out best thing ever!!!
Dance dance revolution

Karaoke

The next day on my real birthday

The cake my sisters and brother decorated. Really sweet

Castle Ruins and a Haunted Hotel

2009-07-31T22:03:00.006+09:00

I had heard about the haunted hotel and since I am not a ghost chaser I wasn't really interested. Then I went out shooting with my neighbor we were in the area. I mentioned I thought it was right by the castle ruins and we were determined to find it.

Doorways to the next level.

This was very cool, I took some fun shots being cute on these stairs.

One of the things the Okinawan's do not like about us being here is the airplanes flying over making all kinds of noise.

We came out of one area and there in the distance was the hotel!! BINGO

The first building was the "Royal road pub". Who in the heck went drinking there I wonder.

Hallways that led to who knows where. They were a little creepy.

This is the look I choose when being out in the Okinawa sun. Bandana, no makeup, and sleeveless to get a tan. Plus you always have to have your flip flops.

View from the top. The guy building the hotel didn't have blueprints. He just built things all over. So wierd.

One of the walkways we didn't try to go check out. There weer spiderwebs everywhere.

We were a little nervous of running into these guys. Bannana spiders get HUGE! This isn't even a big one.

Finding a Buddhist Shrine

2009-07-25T01:00:00.005+09:00

A neighbor of mine is moving, one of these days. To distract the poor thing from her MIA orders we went on a photo trip. We wanted to get some cool pictures from around here and I wanted an hour or so without kids fighting with each other.
We had a sweaty blast.
We only ventured outside one of our gates here and found fabulous things.
While driving around looking for something cool, we saw the red roof of a building and decided to check it out.
BONUS It was a Shrine
THE "OMIKUJI" FORTUNE. Most shrines sell fortunes called Omikuji おみくじ. Just look for a small rounded container filled with bamboo sticks at the shrine kiosk. Pay the attendant (typically 100 yen), pick up the container, give it a shake, and a long stick will pop out of a small hole at the top. The stick will have a number, which corresponds to a fortune. Based on your number, the attendant gives you a tiny slip/roll of paper on which is written your fortune. If you draw a good fortune, keep it, take it home with you. But if it's bad, leave it at the shrine, don't take it home. Just look around, and you'll find a small stand with many strips of white paper tied on. These are bad fortunes and you should tie yours here too. The concept is "leave the bad luck at the shrine, where the divine spirit can exorcise it.
I had to do a little homework on that one.

There are explanations for all the goodies the visitor here tie on the fence and trees. I just cannot remember what it is. Loving the mini backpacks.

You have to wash your hands get cleansed before entering the temple. Cleanliness is next to buddaness. I personally did not want to use this one with the many many children. Out of the picture there are a few more kid statues standing around her.

I opted for scary looking dude. As did Diane.

Back up the stairs. When we first arrived we accidentally came around the back way. When I saw we were about to go in we rushed down the stairs to wash our hands and mouth. We decided NOT to wash our mouths.
Once inside we were taking it all in. Not taking pictures but just checking it out. I find out later the lady working there said no pictures. Good thing I didn't know.
I never put the camera to my eye but I held it at my waist and clicked away. No flash.
The reason for this was while we stood there the men outside came in and three Monks came in and started a ceremony. It was amazing, the chanting, the drums, it was very cool.
As I have my back turned Diane kneels down on the floor. I felt like I was intruding just standing there. Kneeling just worked.

We left after he flung the rag mop looking deal around their heads. Our knees were hurting.
Down the hill was this fierce looking Shisa.

I don't care how holy you are. Sometimes you just have to hit the vending machine. Now my girl Aviva would get the shot of the monks going to the vending machine. But she has some ninja skills we cannot discuss here.

This is a replica of the mop deal. This was set up down the hill. Like a mini shrine.

Please remember while reading this post I have no idea what I am talking about and do not mean to offend any of my Buddhist readers.
arigato gozaimasu

next up, castle ruins and haunted hotels OH MY

Eclipse in Okinawa

2009-07-22T17:50:00.005+09:00

I saw my first Eclipse and I can still see. Whew. I was a little worried about it.
We were doing a fundraiser today for our Army peeps and thank goodness some of them were prepared so we could see it.
Here it is without the special glasses. Not much to look at.

Ahh this is what it is supposed to look like.

Very cool..

Click on this to see how cool it is.

Cropped to see it closer.

This was just funny, everywhere I looked were people looking up at the eclipse.

Just one more reason Okinawa is the place to be!!

I copied this off my friend Joelle's blog. A little info for you.

"The solar eclipse of July 22, 2009, is the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting at most 6 minutes, 39 seconds.... It will be visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives, northern Pakistan and northern India, eastern Nepal, northernBangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.... This solar eclipse will be the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the 21st century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The uninhabited North Iwo Jima island is the landmass with totality time closest to maximum, while the closest inhabited point is Akusekijima, where the eclipse will last 6 minutes and 26 seconds

Okinawa Aquariaum.....again

2009-07-21T10:30:00.007+09:00

When we arrived on this island one year ago we bought season passes to the aquarium. They are a good deal and we have more than paid for them. Well we realized last weekend that the 12th was when they expired.
We jumped in the car and went to go check it out for free one last time.
Outside on the upper level. We love that the ocean is right there.

Had to pose in the dated picture place. To prove what day we were there.

When you first come in there is a place to touch starfish.

We tend to spend a lot of time there.

Great place to pose for pictures.

Then you have to wash your hands. Not to be confused with the mouth wash station.

I have no idea what this is. But I loved him. He has a sweet face.

These things are some of our favorites to watch. They were trying to bite one another but they can only come out so far.

The big room is really cool.

The best part is this room, we can sit and stare at giant fish. It is good times in here.

We are not going to be going here again until we have visitors. If you feel bad that my kids cannot go back to the aquarium then I suggest you get on a flight and come visit. (-:
I should add that seeing all those animals and water made me want to dive. I may be turning into a scuba diver after all.

Kokeshi Dolls

2009-07-17T09:41:00.004+09:00

One of our friends Angel is moving. She planned a last get together where we made our own Kokeshi doll.
This is what we started with.

We had to sketch the face and hair.

I went with the traditional purple hair. Oh wait that isn't right.

I added pig tails and did her kimono. We were supposed to use washi paper and modpodge it on there but I couldn't decide on a paper and I wanted a more subtle Kimono since her hair was purple. Then I added a little flower.

All of our dolls.

I added her to my Kokeshi collection. I have 11 now! I love Kokeshi dolls but I think I will stick to buying them and not making them.
Thanks Angel, I had a blast!
I will miss you!

Dino is on the Bucs website

2009-07-11T09:30:00.006+09:00

There is a slide show on the bucs website telling all the things they did while in Okinawa. So what do you know, there is his picture with one of the players. Very cool. So go check it out. After seeing the picture E said "yeah, um where is my picture?" He is shocked his isn't on there.

That is all I have for you right now. I guess since I am here I will post some more stuff. visit http://www.buccaneers.com/news/newsdetail.aspx?newsid=7167

Hello my friends, and or blog peeps.

2009-07-07T17:32:00.006+09:00

Summer so far.
Swim lessons. The two little ones have been in swim lessons for two sessions so that equals four weeks. We are all done with swim lessons. Except for tomorrow, it's the last day.

I have gone diving with my husband and two of my friends. We lost each other. Dino and I had a blast though.

We are going on a boat dive to the Keramas next weekend. Check these out.

Can you believe we LIVE HERE. We are so blessed. Next we are planning a trip with our whole family. This trip is just a dive trip.
Here is some info off the Internet. The Kerama Islands are a chain of subtropical islands that lie 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Okinawa Island. Although the Keramas are easily accessible by sea or air, they remain an idyllic paradise largely undiscovered. Only four of the Kerama's 22 islands are inhabited: Aka, Geruma, Tokashiki and Zamami. WOOHOO!

M has been babysitting. She has been making bucks!
I, has been chilling which is her favorite thing to do.
We are going to be hitting a lot more places in the next couple of weeks so check back. I will actually post them!

Bucaneer cheerleaders in Okinawa

2009-06-21T16:44:00.004+09:00

Living overseas some great benefits. One of the favorites around these parts is when NFL cheerleaders come to visit. We have never actually gone to see any of the ones that have come here. They weren't our teams. Till TODAY.
The Buc's sent their cheerleaders and two players. We hustled down to the P.X. to see them. How awesome is this!
Michael Clayton was cool, he went to LSU so we threw in our we came here from Louisiana. Worked like a charm. HA no he was a nice man.

This was the first picture. How happy does my husband look? He got decked out in some Bucs gear for the occasion.

Will Allen was super friendly, he was picking E up. Threw him in the air. It was hilarious. Later he called him over again for more pictures. He may be my new favorite player. He is definitely E's favorite. Check out the girls, they were so nice.

Before they left everyone got a group shot. They were all very cool.

It was my husbands birthday, don't you love how they came in just for that. So nice.
Just one more reason we love the BUCS.
I still say it is great they never play the Cardinals. What would I do then?

Summer break

2009-06-16T19:53:00.004+09:00

We are in the beginning of summer break. It has consisted of rain, rain and more rain. The downfall of tropical living. The plus side to all the rain is I get to wear my rain boots. I love them! This is one of two pairs I have. The cool thing with my daughters feet being almost my size. We share boots.
There are still swim lessons. It seems to stop right when my kids are to get in the pool. Gotta love that. The two little ones are in swim lessons. They love their teachers.

I started my gym routine. I also bought that insert deal that goes in my Nike's. I added a new widget on the right. Now you all will see if I actually do get off my tush.
My oldest is babysitting for a really cool family we met during soccer. She is very funny and very fit. So I drop off my kid to babysit and go to the gym with her. She full on runs and I don't. (-: I will get there though.
Also we won tickets to go to a Taiko concert(the Japanese drums, we love them).

We will be going tomorrow night to that.
THEN I just got a call about winning a boat diving trip Saturday. WOOHOO I am feeling lucky! I have a cold right now so my husband says "oh if your not better I will take a friend." WHAT THE HECK? I better not be sick.
The kids are not thrilled with the rain but we have some cool plans this week.
I will keep you posted.

MY!! update

2009-06-16T14:26:00.000+09:00

apparently mom is calling me "M" now so I am "M" for now on!!!(I have to make it official)

so I plan on giving you my update so sit and read. My mom might have told you that I made it into the swim team? If she has then there is a update on that.. well when I went for my first practice and guess wat?? (I mean "what" text talk kinda sticks after a while)I was the oldest there and I sucked, I was the worst. Your thinking oh that's OK, and guess what again a guy I sort of thought was cute is on the swim team but much higher level is practicing too and every time he gets to the end and taking a breath he is looking over at me!!! Ii will never go back!!! Sorry about the stupid info but it is what it is. right? Another thing is that I was in the Asian/pacific islanders month.. My mom got amnesia and forgot to download every thing soo you can see the stuff later. anyway school is over and...!!!
I have to go do....stuff
bye people!!!!!!!

Scuba Diving

2009-06-09T13:39:00.005+09:00

It is official, I am a certified Scuba diver.
I spent all of last week either in water or learning what to do when in water. We had quizzes and then a final. A scuba final! Who knew.
Saturday was a really busy day, I had my first open water dive,
Sunday I had my 3rd and 4th dive. It was a boat dive and we went out up past Onna.
It was AMAZING! The visibility was 70-80 feet, I saw the coolest fish, the ones in the front saw a six foot Barracuda. I missed it, and I wasn't really sad to miss that giant thing. A bat fish
came right up to me then followed us all around.
There were a few of them just hanging around us. I also got to see a
sea snake.
It wasn't as big as that, but cool just the same.
I had a blast on those boat dives, we went on a boat with Capt. Dave. He can be found at okidiving.com
A very cool guy. If you are looking to fish or dive check him out. Tell him I sent you. (-:
We are going to go diving next weekend.
It is going to be a fun summer.

Update

2009-05-31T22:07:00.004+09:00

I named this blog entry "update" for a couple of reasons.
1. I couldn't think of anything fun to name it.
and B. I will attempt to update you on our where abouts.

I have had some complaints that I haven't been posting here. That alone cracks me up. They are my fans though and you have to satisfy the fans. So Mom, Renee. This is for you.

Let me think, what have we been doing? I told you about soccer, and running, ohhhh
ok so my oldest daughter made the swim team. The youngest is trying out on the 15th.
That should be fun.
I am getting dive certified. It is going well. I did have the assumption the wet suit was going to be like spanx. ahh no such luck. I think the best motivator for anyone to eat right and exercise is to take all their clothes and make them wear a wet suit. EVERYDAY!

I also took an AFTB instructor training course. Then I taught a class. It was fun and a super small class so I wasn't even scared. It may surprise some people to know i do not like to speak in front of crowds. I am a mess when I have to. I figure practice has to help. We will see.
I have some cool info on my girls but i will do their own post. With pictures yeah
Have a great day!

Run Forrest RUN

2009-05-05T15:15:00.009+09:00

I was blog surfing yesterday. One of my favorite things to do. I love to check out all the goings on of my friends, then it turns into what my friends, friends are doing and on and on. A time waster for sure.
On one of the blogs I was checking out she would post one picture then the link to her flickr account. Ah the genius. The worst part of blogging is the waiting for the pictures to upload. Plus I always have to many to put on here.
Sooooooooo
I am going to try the post one pic and link you to my flickr account. Does that sound good? I thought so too.
So here we go.

We did a fun run 5k as a family last weekend. It was not the best idea when I woke up at 6:00. It was to raise money for OAARS. A animal rescue place.
So we take off and M just starts running. Fast. I was like well whatever she will get tired. I was with the two little ones. Well guess what? She came in third.
I couldn't believe it. My girl can run.
She looked cool doing it too.

Fun run
Click on the link to take you to the victory pics. ahh forget it I can't get it to work right now and I have a pizza party to get to.

I am so proud of this girl. She also just made the swim team here. I love it. She is pushing her limits and finding out she can do all sorts of cool things.
I wonder what else she will decide to do...

Ballet Recital

2009-04-28T23:23:00.001+09:00

The recital was awesome. We had a great time watching the girls do their thing. I cannot believe how much they have grown since they each started ballet at three.
check them out. It was all about fairy tales. M is a witch, I was a fox and the rabbit from Alicein wonderland, J was a mouse and a fairy.

This is after dress rehearsal, we rock the rain boots here.

Who wants to snorkel?

2009-04-13T07:00:00.006+09:00

The weather was so pretty, we thought we would snorkel.
We got all the stuff we need which here means a yellow floating vest deal.
Yes, that is the technical name.
So we rented those and were off.
We went to Maeda Flats one of our favorite places, and got in. HOLY COW, it was cold.
There were tons of people there in wet suits, and there we were in swimsuits. brrrrr
It was really cool though we saw some great fish.
M and Dino were out snorkeling much longer than the rest of us. Then even when he came in that girl was still out there. She loves the water. She is looking forward to getting dive certified this summer.

The tide was starting to come in when we were done. So the kids played in the tide pools. They had some sort of Sea cucumber nursery going. It was so funny to listen to them.
Here is one squirting that "water" out of it.

Playing with sea creatures.

Jazz hands

They were over there forever just watching this ugly fish go in and out of a hole.

They didn't even realize I was that close.

She came out of the water with two star fish. They were awesome.

Then you know because he is always up for fun he lets us put it on his head.

This kid is a ham. He cracks us up.

Here are some up close shots of them. So pretty.

My feet are excited

2009-04-12T08:39:00.000+09:00

We had a birthday party at the beach yesterday. J had been there all day but we were picking her up at the end of the day. I know enough to bring the kids swimsuits when we will be anywhere near the ocean. On the way there E said "oh my feet are excited! They haven't been in the ocean in forever."

We weren't there for 5 minutes when they were all in the chilly water. M is always looking for something cool and she just kept jumping off that floating pier thing.

Ahh can you see the blow fish. The girls chased it up to the beach so we could take some pics. So fun.

Pointing to the fish.

My fish finders.

Had to get a shot of her right before we left.

Spring break take ll

2009-04-10T00:07:00.004+09:00

Ice skating!!
One of our kids turned 12 this week and she wanted to go ice skating. She had gone with her class so she liked being able to show us how to do everything from paying to skating.
It may seem odd to go ice skating on a sub tropical island during spring break. You know I think we are a little odd so it worked for us.
I couldn't believe how well the kids did, it was great. I also could not believe how tired we were after three hours.
You could rent these ice chairs. We got one half way through for fun. It was a blast. I liked it when they pushed me around. They also had little tyke cars on rails. Some Americans had their little boy in one of those.
When we got there we had the ice to ourselves. By the time we left it was getting packed.
They had helmets for the kids. My oldest has very few pictures since we made her wear one. After a couple hours and her not falling we let her take it off. Then I could get a picture!

They played American music and the girls danced around the ice.

We had a great time.

Spring Break 2009

2009-04-09T23:30:00.000+09:00

The kids are off this week and The husband took leave so he is home all week.
We have been trying to see some sights and do cool things, then get back home in time for extra ballet practice and soccer practice.

Here are some pictures of the places we went this week. First up.
Fukushu-en Chinese Gardens
This is a beautiful garden right in the middle of Naha. We spent about two hours just walking around feeding the fish, turtles and pigeons. (I have pictures of that nastiness too)
It reminded me of a garden I went to in Korea with my mom when she came to visit us there.

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They played with turtles and fed fish then fed pigeons, they thought that was so fun. I guess they don't know they are nasty birds. blech.

An earthquake

2009-03-27T13:20:00.002+09:00

I finally felt my first earthquake. I woke up in the early morning to my husband yelling "earthquake!" the windows shaking he said that was what woke him up. I woke up because of the yell not the shaking. It seemed pretty long but not very violent.
I wish I was more alert since I cannot really remember how it felt. It was just really odd. It was so upsetting I went back to sleep for a few more hours. I did one of these. "Oh wow it is an earthquake, haha crazy, zzzzzzzz."
We looked it up and it wasn't to strong in our neck of the woods. I missed the last one somehow while in the commissary.
So that is all the news today.
I do have a crazy dog story, but that will be for another time.

First Games

2009-03-22T08:02:00.007+09:00

Yesterday we had the first soccer games of the season. We had one at 9:00 one at 10:30 and one at 1:30. Ahh good times.
It was a blast though. Here are some pics to make you feel as though you were there.

Game #1 The Freedom Fighters.
J is on that team. She has never played before and so we were wondering how she would do. She isn't scared of anything out there. She laid out boys who were much taller than her. She stayed after that ball and did an awesome job. I am really proud of her.
She started out with cute pigtails. She is on the right.

When she was getting in there the hair came out.

Snack, the best part of a game!

The guys watching her play.

Game #2 the VIPERS
E played this one. He was so excited. He was Goal keeper first. See the team lined up and he is at the very end in red. Telling the team bring it on!
They get to have a parent get their attention when the ball is coming.
And he gets it! He is not afraid either.

Taking it down the field. He scored a goal. Then after that play he yells "mom, I am going to need candy!" Ahh the skittle bribe is coming back to bite me.

Who knew running through parents arms was so fun!

Game #3 The SPARTANS.
I, plays this one. (It isn't my grammar her name starts with I.)These are the older kids and it is Really exciting.
She has never played before and we just didn't know what to expect. I don't think she did either. She got in there and stayed with that ball. I was really proud of how she played. towards the end of the game. She SCORED! We jumped up screaming it was very fun! She had a great time and really that is all that matters. Though you wouldn't know it from the yelling in the stands. Holy cow.

It is harder to get close ups when you can't get right on the field. Plus your lens stinks. (-:

The kids are pretty cool on her team.

They have the biggest uniforms EVER! She had fun obviously, and felt great about that goal. We went to cinnibon to celebrate.

Soccer season

2009-03-15T15:10:00.004+09:00

It is that time of year again. Time for me to run around like a crazy person dropping kids off, picking them up and sitting and talking to relative strangers about the weather and where to buy glasses while my children run around a field chasing a ball. Good times.

I have three in soccer. The oldest decided not to play. She has to pick a sport to try though. I think she is going to swim.
So far I have gotten pictures of the youngest two playing. The oldest girl is on a team that runs around like crazy doing speed drills and other such horrificness. I realize that is not a term but her coaches are four single marines. Let me tell you, it looks like horrificness.

The first practice anyone had was in the rain. They had the eight yr olds out there running around getting soaked. It was pretty crazy but I grabbed a plastic grocery bag, used a hair band and took the camera out to get some pictures. Not being able to see through the view finder was something I hadn't considered. She had the best time.

Next up was the boy child. He was dreading soccer, until he went to practice and now he loves it. Yesterday was his second practice and let me tell you I am impressed with him. He got in the car and said "mom, I was aggressive out there!"

I have made a strange deal with my kids.
Every time they are aggressive and go after the ball especially if someone else is after it. They get a skittle. They don't have to steal it, just stay after it. So he decided yesterday he was aggressive six times and so he got six skittles. I started this strange rule after the first practice when another player would come running up, my daughter would immediately back off. She isn't known to back off much in life so why on the field? Bribes help. She is getting in there now.

My older one is enjoying the running. She likes her team and the kids on it. I will get pictures of her on Tuesday.
OH the names of the teams are ...

My sons team is the VIPERS. they are the 4-6 year olds
next the FREEDOM FIGHTERS. They are 7-8 I think.
They oldest are the SPARTANS. My kid voted for the killer Pandas. She was out voted.

I will get a pic of them in uniform as soon as we get them back with names on it.

Horrible blogger

2009-03-12T14:39:00.005+09:00

So sorry I have been neglecting you. I have been busy. Doing what you ask.
Let me think.... Ok So in the month of Feb. I had an AFAP conference that I volunteered at. That was a long week. I would leave here at say 7:30 and get home between 5-5:30. I had a blast though and the people we worked with were awesome.
Also in Feb. I helped plan a chili cook off for our battalion. It went well, I actually didn't even eat any of the chili. I may go poach some pictures of my neighbors blog. She was at both of those events.

My favorite thing we did this month is bike ride. We took the kids and their bikes to Comprehensive park. This huge park here. We then rented bikes for the two of us. They cost 300 yen a piece So about $6.00. We then rode all around that park for a couple of hours. We would stop and feed the fish and turtles. Get some drinks from the vending machines. Elijah is now riding without training wheels so that was interesting watching him try to weave between people.
I can't think of anything else exciting.
OHHHH
The elementary school had a dance so we all went. I actually do have pictures of that.

I found pictures of something else exciting.
My oldest is on the Honor roll. ye haw. I went to her awards ceremony.

I told she should have really smiled. Check out that sucka. High honors and Highest honors. Nice! I will add that now she has a C in math. Good thing they don't make you take off the bumper sticker when your kid gets more involved in being social and less in algebra.

Next post. Soccer. Oh yes we have three kids playing. Plus all the girls are still in Ballet. I do a lot of driving around.
Have a blessed day.

Okinawa Marathon 2009

2009-02-23T00:12:00.003+09:00

Today I watched the marathon. I checked the map to see if they would be running past our housing area. They were we waited around till they made it to our neck of the woods and went to see if I could spot someone I knew.
Something interesting about Okinawa they have them run in one lane and the lane next to them is open for traffic. It is the strangest thing.
ALSO I was standing outside of Post by the gate and they were actually stopping the runners to let people in and out of the gate. It was insane.
These are a few pics of the colorful characters out running today. I will get on tomorrow and post the rest plus the crazy traffic stops.

I can promise you that if i eer run a marathon. I won't wear a crazy outfit. Though the cow guy had a bell and maybe the ringing helped pace him.

Learning to ride

2009-02-08T23:58:00.004+09:00

For some reason today seemed to be the day to teach my son to ride a bike. My husband took off the training wheels bought and attached a kick stand and away they went. They started around 2 with the bike upgrades.
He wanted me to stand out there watching but I figured this would take a few days of practice and I left to pick up my Girl Scout from thinking day.
I hit the grocery store and got home three hours later. When I arrived home my husband was sweaty and E, my son, was excited.
We ran outside for him to show me what he could do I was amazed to find he is riding. Really well actually. Doing turns at the end of our parking lot. It was awesome.
I was video taping and as he rides by he says "mom, are you recording?" I say yeah and he starts smiling. Such a ham.
Here is the proof.
He is very excited for his Tata and Grammy to see these pictures on our blog.

Now in this picture my husband has some crazy face but I still like it.

If only I could learn awesome new skills in three hours. Oh, also when he was getting started one time he tried to put his foot on the pegs and do a trick. What is it about boys. They crack me up!

Have a blessed day!

Smores

2009-02-07T23:46:00.005+09:00

Today was a very nice day. I got a lot done in the house today, the weather was beautiful here. We went to a fun BBQ. I will link from a friends blog with the pics when she gets them up.
Then I came home and had to make smores for Girl Scout thinking day. I still am not sure what that means but I am helping make the smores to give out.
I made them in my oven and in four minutes.
Oh yes 4 minutes and I did not have to sit on a rock or sharpen a stick or twist apart a clothes hanger. My hair doesn't even smell like camp fire!!
I am feeling very much like Martha Stewart though she would have made her own marsh for the marshmallows. By the way why do I call them marshmEllows?
OK I just looked at the bag and saw that there is a recipe for indoor smores right on the bag. Geez I thought I was cool looking that stuff up online.
I will add my twist was the chocolate chips.
I can't take credit for that either really. Since her GS leader just dropped off the supplies.
oh well they still were pretty cool. If your out and about tomorrow and live on Okinawa. Swing by the gym on Foster and see this thinking day deal and go get a smore.

Don't they look tasty. The chips did actually melt.
Have a blessed day!

Arizona Cardinals

2009-02-02T12:16:00.005+09:00

I still love you!
I will wear my Arizona sweatshirt all day. I don't care, well I do care and I was sick to my stomach there at the end.
You rock though, you made it to the Super Bowl and that is awesome.

Plus that was a really good game. You have to love an exciting Super Bowl.

Something you may not know.
We watch the super bowl at 8 am on Monday. We get it live too. Our super bowl parties would consist of breakfast foods. Or as one lady told me about at a basketball, game beer pancakes. yuck.
Also a little tidbit. We do not get any commercials. So we didn't see any of the cool ones during the game.
Hmmm what else....
OH my husband was off work for the game. The military is always good about letting the guys off for the Super Bowl. Gotta love that. Plus he was going for the Cards and that is very important.

Now in other time zones the game is played live as well but they have to watch it at 2 o'clock in the morning, or some craziness. They then get the next day off.
Gotta love AFN getting us live coverage of the Super Bowl. Actually of all NFL games.
AFN stands for Armed Forces Network. In case you are wondering.
So my dear Cardinals. Don't feel to bad, you made it all the way didn't you?
I have to say if the Buccaneers and the Cardinals could play in the Super Bowl it would be an interesting day at my house. Good thing they are in the same conference.

Hey dad and Daniel. We will win it next year.
Love you guys!

Cherry Blossoms and the family

2009-01-31T12:14:00.006+09:00

When I was adding all of those pictures I forgot to add the pictures of us.
Silly me.
As much as my family likes to see the places we go I think pictures of the grandkids trumps flowers.

Had to get yen for the giant bag of cotton candy!

Cherry Blossoms

2009-01-30T11:02:00.001+09:00

I believe Elizabeth Barrettt Browning must have been talking about Cherry blossoms when she wrote this poem.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's I am gonna cut it there to save space. Plus she gets goes a little overboard. Forget her courtship with Robert Browning. Nah it was cherry blossoms I tell ya.

We took a little trip to Mt. Yaedake this weekend. I had to make sure to see them. I have mentioned in earlier posts that I am obsessed. I wasn't joking around about that. The proof my friends is in the amount of pictures I am going to post here.
Brace yourselves.

OH you think it is over but nooooo I am just waiting for the other photos to load on here. While I wait I will compose a poem of my own about cherry blossoms....

On the way up there were orange trees. Or maybe tangerine trees.

There were people selling oranges or whatever they were all over. I liked that this guy was wearing a uniform. Kinda strange.

The kids poked their heads out to see the trees. There was so much traffic we were going really slow.

We had a good time and I would have written my poem but I was on itunes watching LOST.

On the road again Part III

2009-01-27T15:13:00.008+09:00

HEDO POINT
We finished off our busy weekend with a trip up North to Hedo point.
We have now been to the most northern and southern tips of Okinawa. It is really beautiful up there. The contrast of colors was amazing. I kept telling my husband it looks like someone photoshoppped the whole area. It was pretty Hazy up there too, but we climbed around and had a good time.
This is on the way up.

Gotta love it when things are in English. Oh and Spanish!

They always have to climb to the most dangerous part!

Almost there.

She gets there first every time. She now Loves to hike.

Having fun at the top.

This is what they were on.

Here are more than a few from hanging around up there.

She will pose on a cliff all day.

And the close ups begin. Notice down a few the girlscout cookies. She is a nut!

Some jumping shots for fun.

She loves to jump.

She is my photographer and also my jumping coach.

The little ones with daddy.

We bought some food and ate a bit before the trip home.

We had a good time and it wasn't that long to get up there.
I am going to enjoy checking out other areas up there. It is beautiful!!

On the road again Part II

2009-01-23T13:20:00.004+09:00

Ikei Island

While at the top of the castle site we saw the bridge going out to this island. We decided to check it out. PS I did not photo shop these pics. You will notice they should be later but look at this WATER!!

See that fisherman? I swear my husband stood out there enjoying the beautiful view but in his heart he wanted to be that guy!

This is a beach at the Big Time Resort. They named it that I am sure when it was a Big Time Resort. Now it seems to be an Old and Dated time resort.
We parked and went out to the beach there. we stayed a bit. It was pretty. One thing I love about this island. When we start heading down a path I am still overwhelmed with how beautiful the ocean is when we come out.

I realized when I saw this one that I need to wash my van.

If you ever go to this island and you get to this point. Do not I repeat DO NOT take a left here. Seriously. You just drive around and around in sugar cane fields and go in circles. If you decide to explore you may be like us, seriously wondering if we were ever going to find a paved road again. I still have stalks of sugar cane stuck under my van. It was fun though sorta four wheeling in sugar cane fields.

On the road again part I

2009-01-20T21:58:00.004+09:00

(Katsuren Castle Site)
We are back in exploring mode.
We tried to find the Zoo/bakery that was in the newspaper here. Yes, I said a zoo slash bakery. When you live on this island you don't ask questions. You say "A zoo AND a bakery? AWESOME" then you go about trying to find it with whacked out directions. It's fun. Really. I am not being sarcastic. It is fun. Come visit and you'll see.
Anyway,
We didn't find it. We will find it later though do not worry.
While we were driving around lost which we like to tell the kids is the short cut. I saw THIS out my window ...

Well not from that vantage point but you know a rock wall that looked interesting. We turned around. My husband is always up for an adventure. We parked and found the visitors info wall thing.
The name.

Info.

Cool picture of what it might have looked like.

Hanging around on the wall.

View of the lower levels.

Down the hill to the bottom.

We had a good time, it was a great stop on our trip yesterday.
We saw a bridge leading to an island in the not so far off distance.
We decided we needed an extra stop on our day trip.
Next up Ikei Island.

Cape Zampa

2009-01-18T21:03:00.010+09:00

We took a little trip today. We headed up a little north to Cape Zampa. I am not sure why we didn't go there before but we love it. Really just a lot of fun climbing on all the coral and exploring.
I will lighten/darken some of the over exposed photos later and get them up.
Here are a few.
The lighthouse. You can pay 200 yen to get in. They didn't charge for kids.

These two went up with me. E wanted to come too but we didn't hear him so he missed it. Next time he can go up. It was very bright up there, tried to get them in the shade for a pic but just not a good one.

We walked down the coral to check things out. The kids had so much fun.
She found a cool brittle star. Well more like 40 but only picked up one.

She had a good time climbing all over.

It was so crazy just climbing around.

At the park there is a 30 foot Shisa dog.(read about the height online) They had to climb all over that.

We stopped on the way home at this beach. We had to because of the sign.

Cool hotel, if you look closely you can see two of the kids on the rocks.

A pic of me with the only kid who hung out by us.

If she can't get in the water she would rather read I guess.

Here we are, we have to have the kids take our picture.

He followed his sister everywhere, but got hurt during the the last 10 min we were out.

Finally she finished her exploring and we could get a close up.

I know that seems like more than a few, but I really have SOO many more.
We had a good time, and tomorrow we are going further up north. Should be fun, now I am going to bed. We did a lot of climbing and I am tired.
Have a blessed Day.

Okinawa Cherry Blossoms

2009-01-18T12:01:00.005+09:00

Here on Okinawa it is almost Cherry Blossom time. I am VERY anxious about this. I don't want to be like our friends who missed it by a week. Can you imagine driving up north to see the trees and there are no more blossoms? That would stink!

We are going to try up north tomorrow since the kids are out of school. Then try again next weekend as well. If we miss it we will go again. I really want to see these. If you are wondering about my obsession check out these pictures.
This is a close up. ahh so pretty.

I cannot wait to drive down this road. I am so excited.

For some more info and pictures check out my girl Aviva's blog.
I cannot wait to have my own pictures up of the Cherry Blossoms!
Soon I hope.

I realize many of you are knee deep in snow, or at least really cold with spring not in sight. The pluses to that weather obviously are the cute coats and boots. We don't get so much of that. Though a bagger at the commissary told me February is going to be colder.
Maybe you should plan a trip out of your winter wonderland and onto my island paradise? Jen? Grab those flip flops, and hop a flight!

cold in Okinawa

2009-01-10T19:24:00.000+09:00

I just want to put out there. That this post in no way a measure of how cold you may be. Adrienne, Jean, Renee. I know you guys are super chilly. Tina, just don't even read this since Alaska is my idea of hell, freezing over.
Okinawa is COLD!
I mean real shoes, a JACKET kind of cold. I really thought I would be able to skate through this three years in flip flops. 365 days a year. I admit today I did wear jeans, a coat, a hat and flip flops but that is just out of rebellion.
Let me check the temperature so most of you who read my blog can laugh at me.
Alright the new name of this post is...

WOW, it is REALLY windy out there!
So the Internet says it is 55 degrees right now. The wind out there is super crazy windy. The ole weather channel dot com say wind from 20 to 30 mph. So let me tell you that is some cold wind. I would post a pic of the wind. But it is to cold to get a pic of the tree outside.
Word on the street when we were coming here is that it never gets very cold and you just need a sweater. HA
I checked the 10 day and it will be 69 next week. Whew. That is what I am talking about. Winter weather in the 60's is right up my alley.
I apologize for the original title. Just because I think it is FREEZING, the weather.com does not lie much and if it says 55. Then I will suck it up and not complain.

Girl Scout Cookies.

2009-01-07T13:37:00.000+09:00

No sooner had I gotten my snacking under control do I get the dreaded "cookie time is here." Announcement.
Ahh lovely.
I picked up my cookies. They do things differently here. We get a certain number and we sell them. Nice thing about is they are supposed to go fast.
I am not a big fan of the knocking on the door thing and lucky me they are not allowed to do that here. We have to hit up all our friends and co workers I guess. They also said something about hitting up the people who read your blog. Weird huh?

These are the boxes in my house. Not even clse to the picture I have at the distibution site. Can't get that one to upload.
I will not even talk about the calories in these cookies. Needless to say I am not eating any. Now that i just put that out in the blog I really have to stick to it.

Our last days of freedom...

2009-01-05T14:51:00.000+09:00

Here are the pics of the last two days before school started today.
Who ever said fish don't have lips.

SHe has this fun hair cut. Plus she throws a mean football.

see how it is cut shorter in the back, it is really cute.

She plays with her hair in between.

This one also got a hair cut. This is the after.

This is the last day of a ponytail.

The boys together!!

We played football. Those kids can run!

She read that book in one day. They may not look like me but they read like me!

She read in the car, that I cannot do. Unless I want to vomit.

My and my new toy. LOVE the itouch.

Someone has been doing taebo!! In PE maybe?

there you go, my post for the weekend. I have been horrible about doing this all the time. Then again pics of us sitting around doing homework is just not to much fun to post!

The vacation is almost over

2009-01-03T01:51:00.000+09:00

Tomorrow is Saturday, two days and the kids go back to school.
It has been such a relaxing vacation. My oldest is ready for school to start, she misses her friends.
I have enjoyed the sleeping in! Good times.
I am like so many of you and on the weight loss bandwagon. I started mine after I saw the pictures we took on Christmas eve. When did that happen? While I do not want to make this blog all about my workouts, I hope to be held accountable a liitle by it. If I tell you all I am trying to get in shape then I better not drop the ball. Blog posts with pics don't lie!

So good luck with your resolutions, say hi if I walk into one of your yoga classes, or in the gym.
If you see me walking on Foster tell me you have a venti nonfat mocha with an extra shot. Then drive away slowly, see if that doesn't get me to run!!

Messing with the blog

2009-01-02T12:19:00.000+09:00

If you check back often enough it will continue to be different until I find one I really like.

I love my husband

2009-01-02T11:18:00.001+09:00

So much that I let our first new layout be the Bucs.
Yes, I know they lost. They are like children to us, we may not be happy with their behavior but that does not mean we love them any less.

I should now say that I do in fact love my husband but I couldn't find a layout I really like yet. So the Bucs background is sorta a fill in.

Our new Years was a fun movie filled night. We had a lot of fun just hanging out.
Earlier that day we went to lunch at this new Thai place. If you know me you know I LOVE Thai food. Across the street there was some sort of festival.

We talked to the People at the Thai restaurant and they told us that that is the site to go to if you want to get pregnant. It is one of many holy places. You go pray there and you will get pregnant. I decided that was a no go for us. We are cool with our four. I am coming back and going to the teak store over there though!

We went to dinner at a friends house and had black eyed peas with a ham hock, corn bread, and chicken. It was YUMMY. Plus we got in the whole black eyed pea thing that wouldn't have happened over here.
V. and I went for a walk and the rest all played the Wii, it was good times.
Today my husband is making gumbo, SHOUT OUT TO MY Louisiana CREW! We miss you guys.
We will eat that for lunch then freeze it.
Tonight he is making adobo. We are having friends over and eating some Filipino food.
He doesn't cook this often in real life but when he is off, he likes to cook.

I hope everyone had a great New Years.
2009 is going to be fun fun fun

Finally the Christmas post.

2008-12-29T11:11:00.000+09:00

OK sorry for the delay. I would like to add it IS still December. So I get a pass. I pass I made on Word and printed out on my computer, but a pass. (If you to are in need of a pass, let me know I have been known to give out passes, for various things.)

Christmas was so fun and relaxing. I have really enjoyed this vacation. The sleeping in doesn't hurt either.
Christmas morning they woke us at 7:30. I was so excited about that since they have been known to wake us in the 5's.
They came down to stockings and webkins, they checked those out while we got coffee and then the madness began.
We have this thing where everyone gets a laundry basket to put their stuff into. When you open it and are speechless

scream (He loves his Benten's)

Or hug the heck out of it

You then place it in your basket, then everything is accounted and no one is confused about whose toy is whose. Also they can just take it to their rooms and put it away.
It works for us.
I had a great Christmas. I got the Ipod touch that I love and a Kitchen aid mixer that I also love.
Christmas morning we made 4 dozen cookies and decorated them, we also made a peach cobbler. My favorite we made egg rolls. My youngest the chef, got in on it and learned how. She did a great job.
We then just hung out and enjoyed the day.
It has been a wonderful Christmas break.
OK now I think I am caught up and ready for the new year.
Pictures from the day.

My oldest is not please with her pictures and so we will not post them! (-:

Christmas is over...

2008-12-25T23:27:00.000+09:00

Well for us it is. For most of you it's just getting started.
We had a great time, Christmas eve we went to church at Torii Chapel. We are going back, we really liked it.
We then met up with some peeps from church and went to eat at MOS burger.
Some Japanese fun facts for you, they eat fried chicken on Christmas. Not to be out done by KFC MOS burger was selling Chicken and all you had to do was drive by and pick it up. Two girls in Santa outfits were out selling it. We had to get a pic with them. (-:

They have this glass to watch them cook your food. Well that probably isn't what it is for but that is what the kids did.

We figured why not get a family pic with the Happy X-MOS sign. I actually thought it was misspelled till my smart husband said uh yeah babe we are at the MOS burger, get it X-MOS. Ahhh ok now I see.

We then checked out some Christmas lights and dropped off some gifts at our friends house. When we got home they opened their P.J's and chilled out and watched a movie.

Christmas morning was a BLAST! I made out like a bandit.
I need to take my girl to get donuts for the fam so I will add that post next.

Merry Christmas.

Who is ready for Christmas?

2008-12-18T08:18:00.000+09:00

Any of you? Are all your gifts wrapped? Stocking stuffers bought? Cards sent? Cookies made and given out?
If you answered yes to even three of those, please come over as quickly as possible and help me. (-:
We have gifts in the top of the closet, I have a birthday party on Sunday for my little girl. I haven't even begun baking. I bet if I had a KitchenAid mixer I would be more inclined. hint hint. ahh who am I kidding my seven year old will be the one making the cookies. She loves to bake and will probably get the mixer from us when she turns 10. It is a sad day but I really am just the one one hangs out helping. She does is all. I do pull things out of the oven so no need to call child services.

OK I am off to a field trip, again. Here is a secret, I agree to go on the field trips that are located close to the starbucks here. haha
Oh I am just joking, it is to hang out with my kid. They are cool kids and fun to hang out with. The starbucks doesn't hurt either.
Feel free to come over an wrap gifts and or bake while I am gone. If you know where I live and would like to rob me while I am gone. Please remember we own several large and hungry dogs.
Talk to you all soon, hopefully with some progress made.

O

2008-12-17T18:17:00.001+09:00

I'M ON THE INTERNET!

2008-12-15T15:50:00.000+09:00

Hey this is the oldest girl of the family speaking I thought it would be fun to post some stuff of my own. I'm in the 7th grade with my head in the clouds. I love Okinawa it is the most beautiful place ever! I think the most beautiful thing here are the sunsets.
We have a lot of friends here on oki. Or in the states. I hope to go spend the summer with my grandma and best friend in the states next summer, but it is unlikely. I love shopping off base like any other teenage girl. but there is a secret for all of you women who love to shop for shoes, here it is. you must be careful which shoes you buy off base they will trick you, you can wear them all around the store forever and they will feel fine but when you finally buy them they will torture your feet. I know this from experience. I cant wait till X-mas I want a lot of books. well... I don't know what else to talk about so.
TTYL ;)(oh for all you "older" people that means Talk To You Later)

Getting ready for Christmas

2008-12-09T19:08:00.000+09:00

We got our tree up decorated and though the lawn isn't done we are almost ready for Santa.
I still have to wrap all the presents we have stashed in the closet.
I also have my youngest daughters birthday the 21st. Yikes.
OHH and cookies, lots o cookies.
My kids decorate our tree every year. It looks like an elf vomited all over it. They love it though so what are you gonna do. Our ornaments remind us of past years. That is the fun part. Pulling out the ornaments and talking about who got it and where we lived. Here is our tree. This year they did try and spread the ornaments out more. Usually they are grouped and you can tell who can reach where. Notice the huge plate ornament with my sons face on it. He had to have that right up front.

This is our stocking area. Doubtful the hooks will hold them when they are full but makes a great hanging area for them.
I will fill you all in on my obsession with snowmen next. I love them.

Student of the week

2008-12-05T10:55:00.000+09:00

My kid was the student of the week, cause he's got it like that.
One of the moms in the class made them those little vests. It cracks me up how seriously they take their jobs.
So yeah I have turned into one of those moms. That blog about their student of the week kid and put their honor student bumper sticker on the car. My poor kids though they better be honor students here since when we get to the states I won't put bumper stickers on. Only on my junker van I sport here.
I have like three posts to finish. I am such a slacker.
Let me get to work on that.
Have a great week.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T10:19:00.000+09:00

We had a great day. My seven year old helped me cook, we had a great time. We made pies the night before and had a blast doing that together.
She got the turkey ready, then she dissected the heart and liver and whatever else is in that bag. We examined every piece, then went online to see if they were similar looking to human organs. I have pics of her cutting those things up, I will save those for later!
.
I got the other two involved in peeling potatoes. They were a big help. There is a child missing and i still do not know where she went during the cooking. She's slippery that one.

The next day we had one other couple over and 4 single soldiers. They are such nice people. We have some cool soldiers in our company.
They played Wii while we finished cooking and we ate and ate. They went home and then another family came over for dessert and games. We had the best time. They didn't leave until 11:30 p.m.
We had so much fun though we didn't realize how late it was.
I was going to go shopping today, but I really don't need anything and I like to sleep in. Plus I am the kind of person who doesn't need the crock pot but has it in their cart because it is 50% off. I am ridiculous in those situations. So I stay away from them.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, had a great time with friends and family.
To my family, I miss you and Love you.

Christmas Shopping

2008-11-26T11:55:00.000+09:00

We are supposed to be sharing where our favorite place to shop is here on the island.
I am not sure about off base, but for Christmas decorations, I love love love the marine gift store on Camp Foster. It is awesome. I picked up the cutest ornaments to send back to my family. Coy fish.. Love it.
Sadly I have no pictures of the store but it is festive. If you are not feeling like it is the holidays yet. Head on over. You will start humming "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."
Plus the prices are very reasonable. So if your feeling blah about Christmas make a stop and you'll feel better. I am sure the naval and Kadena gift shops are equally festive. So stop by. You would think I volunteered there. Nah. Just spend money!
I would tell you the hours of operation but then I would have to look that up. *OK here are the hours, I couldn't leave you hanging like that.
Tuesdays and Sat 9:30-3:30 Thursday and Friday 9:30-1:30. Here is a link. http://www.marinegiftshopokinawa.com/storehoursandlocation.htm Here are some pictures I just took of a few of the ornaments I bought.

Happy shopping everyone.

Welcome to the world

2008-11-23T10:39:00.000+09:00

Please welcome my nephew Noah. Isn't he the cutest baby?
He was born early but a great size and very healthy.
I am sad to know I will not see this boy till he is almost three. I am glad they take great pictures, I can keep up with how he grows!

I cannot say enough times how beautiful this boy is. Look at that face. Also do you see how smart he is, holding the pacifier. Oh he is a smart one.
Now I want to fly home and hold him. I don't think I have wanted to hold a baby this much since I gave birth myself.
Congratulations guys. He is the best!

I am in a calendar

2008-11-18T21:06:00.001+09:00

Naked. ohhh hahaha just joking. Scared you for a moment. Our own Okinawa crew here decided to make a calendar, we were supposed to send in our pictures. Pictures of what Okinawa is to us. I talked to a friend and we decided it would be hilarious to send pics of our kids at burger king. That means Japan to me, don't you think so? No. Well whatever they have a playplace.
Come to find out I had no burger king pics on my hard drive. I did find some snail pictures though. I took them when we just got here, we were living in the hotel and took the kids to the park to play. I sent that in. I thought that was hilarious. Like here is Okinawa. snails.
I think I am pretty funny sometimes. It is those times, that backfire on me. Long story a tad bit longer. My snail picture is in the calendar. There are some beautiful shots in this calendar. I am excited to get one. It just makes me laugh that my picture is in the calendar. hahahahahahah that is me laughing.
See how funny I am. I told you.
I will share with you my snails. Hold on I have to find it first.
So here is what I sent.

I guess i should have photoshopped it a bit. OH well
Here is another one I took that day.

Then here he is photoshopped. Or here she is.

See how fancy pants his shell is? Oh the fun things you can do.

Oh the whole point of this post is to say, I got my snails in a calendar. They didn't sign a release though so mums the word if you see them.

email and pea coats

2008-11-17T07:56:00.000+09:00

As I was checking email as I do, maybe 20 times a day. I linked to an interesting article on our new president. He has to stop emailing.
I guess I had never thought about it, but how could our president email. Hackers would be all over that.
How would you feel if you had to stop all Internet communication. Oh plus no cell phone. No blogging. No blackberry. He is a one handed blackberry user, for only a bit longer.

So I guess I had never thought that our president has no email. I am sure he still can google and really that is all that matters. I just googled etiquette in Russia I found out some very interesting things that I am sure Obama might need. I could Fwd it to him, if only he was keeping his email.
I guess if I had no Internet I would get all kinds of things done.
Or maybe not, but I do love the Internet. My favorite, google. I google everything! Recipes, stain remover, directions, homework help, a red pea coat. I NEED a red pea coat.
At least I never have to give up Internet for long.
Keep an eye out for me in a red pea coat.
Google never lets me down.

The Japanese Shoe Shelf

2008-11-09T22:20:00.000+09:00

*I am adding that I bought this shelf at the Todays ok store at the Living Design Square store. Link to Okinawa hai, Direct link to the stores site
They have many different options. Much taller ones and wider ones. I am going next week again if anyone wants to go. *

OH the joys of living overseas. The sightseeing the shopping the putting together things with Japanese instructions. Holy cow. Thank Goodness for pictures that is all I have to say.

This was an additional sheet, telling me who knows what. Be careful though it may fall on your kids.. See pic.

This is my finished shoe shelf. I am super excited to get it by the front door and get the shoes out of my floor. Let me go do that and I will take pics with it filled!

OK shoes shelf is in place and I filled it up.
I have a couple of choices. First I put our fish on it. I think they will get some sun there.
One picture has a basket on top. I put my wallet and keys in it.
Then I thought I would hide it inside. Also put an umbrella in there and a flash light oh and the Yankee candle car freshener. It is a shoe shelf after all, don't want it to get smelly.

The final look. I also added a magazine rack that doesn't fit anywhere for my purse and hoodie. The basket was already there. Our shoe basket. we may keep our slippers/house shoes in that.
I am not sure what I think about how it is looking yet. I do know I like not having shoes in the floor overflowing from the basket.

Special Olympics

2008-11-08T20:44:00.000+09:00

Today was the Special Olympics here on Okinawa. Our family worked with our Battalion and we ran the Soccer competition. It was so much fun. The amount of people participating was amazing. We had mostly Japanese people but there were some Americans there participating as well.
All my kids were out there getting involved. Helping here and there. When we were walking back my son said "mom I don't even care that I am hot and itchy because I am happy." (he had been complaining of being both earlier) I am going to find more ways to get my kids involved with helping others. I think it is so important. If you know anywhere for us to do that here let me know!
I have no pictures as we were working the whole time but I do have the sun burns if you would like to see that.
I want to encourage you to get involved in your area with the Special Olympics. I have not worked with them before but I will work with them every year and everywhere we go. You do not have to have experience just get out there and be willing to help.
I want to give a shout out to my cousin Dustin who is special needs. I cannot wait for the day we get to see him participate in the Special Olympics.
It was an AMAZING day. One I will never forget.

slide addicts

2008-11-06T11:54:00.000+09:00

So we found another slide park. We always have cardboard in our trunk now. Just in case!

I should probably quit posting pics of them on slides but I do have another park.
It is so close that we are going to be walking to it.

Playing catch up or is it ketchup?

2008-10-31T14:39:00.000+09:00

I need to get on this thing and post. I cannot remember all the things I have not posted about so in no particular order Here are the pictures.

Aquarium, they are playing kung fu panda. Or something like that.

This cool park we went to after school. We had the best time.

This one is for all my friends living in cold climates. This is Today. As in Oct 31.
Who wants to visit???

They gave her boobs. What is wrong with my kids. holy cow. Notice sand on her goggles. The sun was in her eyes.

she asked them to do this. Gets you out of any work I guess.

There are many many more but I got sidetracked and will do them later.
Have a great weekend.

You say it's your birthday....

2008-10-29T18:06:00.000+09:00

Today is the birthday of a new friend. She is just a cool mix of personality you can't always find. I thought to honor her I would put Madonna on here. When it's your birthday it should be a holiday! Plus I could see her dressing like Madoona back in the day.

Get out of those computer chairs and dance, you know you want to....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY J.

check out the dancing in that video. That is good stuff right there.

what a weekend

2008-10-28T03:04:00.000+09:00

We had a busy week and then a busy weekend.
I will get more on tomorrow in between laundry but for now my kids, at least they are all looking at the camera.

That boy always trying to be funny. The little girl wanted to have them sit like we did in some pictures when the girls were little.

We had fall festival at the little kids school then a Luau with the girl scouts. That was Sat.
Sunday we went back up to the aquarium, it was so crowded but we still had fun.
Here are our favorites. The manatee.

They learned to hula those pics are next.

Lets go fly a kite

2008-10-21T14:57:00.000+09:00

We live across the street from a base ball field. A great place to fly our kites. We were out there this weekend and it was sort of fun. The wind would really pick up then die down. The wind was coming between those huge buildings in the background.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
You can barely see him holding on to that kite.

What we saw every few minutes. A nose dive.

The above is why she is trying to take cover.

She caught air in this one trying to get the kite up, now this is nothing compared to Aviva's picture of her people in the air but maybe I am just a sucker for jumping shots.

Next post will be all about jumping, you would be surprised how many things I have them jumping off of. Plus the two youngest really just like jumping.

This is my son mad about the wind messing up his kite and giving me a dirty look for taking pictures when he is mad.

Then he comes out of it pretty quickly.

Notice how the husband is flying the cute penguin kite. He needs a manly kite.

My mom is a nut

2008-10-15T22:42:00.001+09:00

This is the latest in my dog pictures. I would like to point out how well he is taking this. He is so easy going.

How cute is that dog? I swear he is the cutest dog EVER. I was on the phone when they were taking them. My dad had the phone and was cracking up.
Guess they are trick or treating. NO kids home anymore, no grand kids, so they take the dogs. Just drive to the store and get some candy for goodness sake.
Kiss followee for me. I miss him.
I fear a pink tutu is next.

ipod, ihome

2008-10-14T06:53:00.000+09:00

When we first moved here my husband bought me an ipod player for the house. I love that thing it is the best. While unpacking I was dragging it upstairs then down so I always have music.
So while doing the unpacking I find that our alarm clock is broken. So we picked up an ihome Saturday. An alarm clock, ipod player and all around fun new toy. Here it is in black. I got mine in white.

You can make a morning play list and it will wake you with that, or the radio or an alarm. good times. I also love how stinking loud this thing is. HOLY COW. I had it blasting when I was rearranging the kids rooms yesterday. It was super loud. Oh and a cord to plug in your non ipod mp3 players.
The point of this post is to tell you I woke to, Take on me, by Aha. The high note in that song will have you awake faster than anything I have encountered.
Now I can sleep through most anything. Really it is ridiculous. But the high note in this song. No way. I tried. For the first verse I was cool. If you have forgotten your Aha songs, which I am disappointed in check out the video here.

I'm AWAKE! geez. Plus I am feeling a little peppy.
Tomorrow a little Midnight Oil. I bet those guys will wake me up. I need a play list that could wake the dead. Send me your choices. Or if you run into me in the streets tell me a song you KNOW would wake you up. I can always use the help in the waking up department.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER!!!!

If you are not Heather, feel free not to watch this video.

Shout outs

2008-10-12T09:59:00.000+09:00

The thing about the military is, we live in interesting places make the coolest friends ever. Then the down side. We move. I actually do not mind the moving. I cry just like everyone else when I am leaving my friends but I am geared up for new places and new friends. We have a lot of great friends in Louisiana. One family that we were really close with reads this blog all the time and just sent my husband a picture. I love watching him when he gets pics from these guys. He just sits in front of the screen smiling! This guy is his best friend. They are our family.
I wanted to put this picture up since he is obviously trying to make my husband cry that he can't get on the lake. I do have the pics of my husband going deep sea fishing. He says it just isn't as fun. I really just thought one type of fishing is as boring, I mean fun as the next.

Don't let his gruff exterior fool you, he is the sweetest man. The very best guy for anyone to call a best friend. His wife is mine, (feel better, we are praying for you!)
When we moved to LA, I really thought we would never ever go back there. Not even to visit. Then we got entangled in the lives of so many there. Our church, our friends. Now we will making many, many trips back. Sometimes when you meet people they are just friends. Other times they become part of you extended family.
Thank goodness I don't have to send Christmas presents to all the people I consider family.
WE MISS YOU!!!

Catching up

2008-10-10T18:44:00.000+09:00

I have random things to blurt out here.
She flew her kite at the baseball field across the street. It was to fun. She made her kite at Japanese culture class, it was awesome.

Check these two out putting our tarp up so we have shade in our porch. Good guys.

We have some yard help now too. Gotta love having help.

She comes way cheaper then the yard ninjas you can hire here.

Haircuts. The two little girls got haircuts. I didn't take pictures till yesterday.

woohoo

2008-10-04T23:44:00.000+09:00

I unpacked all the clothes boxes that were in my closet. There were six filled with clothes and one of shoes. Why did I not bring all my shoes? I can't remember why. Great reason to keep buying shoes.
Not really blog worthy, the unpacking of boxes but you know a happy day for ME!
Now I will move to the kids closets. Seemed like a great place to put boxes when I was setting up their rooms. Not so much anymore.
I will leave you with a picture. Not of boxes or clothes, but a picture of my honey.
Followee. My mom sent this to me. He hurt his foot so my mom got him an umbrella stroller to go for walks. He loves a stroller, it is all the strolling my girls used to do to him when he was young. He loves it, he'll actually growl if you try to get him out and he's not ready. He's the best. Now if she could get a picture of my brothers strolling him around the yard and culdesac. I have awesome brothers too.

Don't Vote

2008-10-03T11:02:00.000+09:00

Don't watch with your two year old that may copy everything they hear. There is cussing.

Do you know in 1920 women finally had the right to vote throughout the nation. That was 88 years ago. 88 years. That is not that long ago. Our great grandmothers, our grandmothers, some of your mothers fought for our rights. Now it is our turn to exercise our right to vote. It is a privilege. One I feel like we take to lightly. I don't really care who you vote for. Just vote because the women who came before us, would be super mad if they went through all that drama for us not to go online and request an absentee ballot. I mean we just sit on our butts, do a little clicking around. Boom they will mail you a ballot.
NOW if you live in the states and get to vote. Yeah for you. Get in that booth, take your daughters/sons. Show them how it is done.
GOOD TIMES!

Oh dang I just fell off my soapbox and hurt my knee.

Stolen from Joelle

2008-09-28T18:36:00.000+09:00

I stole this off of Joelle's blog.

We were cracking up.

Have a great day.

Meet my dog

2008-09-25T19:09:00.000+09:00

I realized I haven't introduced you to my dog.

My mom just sent me this picture of my baby. His name is Followee. He is the black/gray one. Not that crazy furry one. Well mine was a crazy furry one, then my mom got a hold of him with clippers. That is another long story for different day.
We have had Followee for 8 years. We love him to pieces but I didn't want to put my old man on a plane all the way here. Not when he can get spoiled by the grandparents. He also lived with my parents when we went to Korea. He was my moms company when my dad was deployed.

I had to edit this when I realized two things. #1 I didn't tell you my moms dogs name. He is Simba. He is a sweet dog as well. Really pretty.
#2 you notice how that pic really is all about Simba. What's up with that? I wrote the following BEFORE I realized my mom took a pic of her dog. My dog just happened to be in the shot. That's what I think. Of course I am joking. Sort of. (now I had to go fix my spelling of course,geez)

Have I mentioned at all through this blog how awesome my parents are. They are the most awesomest. You read that right. Who else takes your dog for years at a time and will fly to random countries to visit you. Oh your parents do that too, oh and you over there in the computer chair, yours too. Well what ever mine are still the most awesomest. so there.
Back to my dog, geez. Trips to the lake are always fun. We had a boat so he had to have a life vest too.

Playing with the kids. Oh he is sweet.

He is the best dog EVER!

Have a great day. I promise soon to actually leave my house and get some pictures of Okinawa again. I did go to the Garlic house, took my camera and totally forgot to take pics. More soon.

We've got spirit yes we do

2008-09-21T17:38:00.000+09:00

We've got spirit, how bout you?
Hello, hello, well whatever, My girls have spirit and yours can too for 30 dollars and 4 hours.
Cheer camp ladies and gentlemen, my girls went to cheer camp. (Heather, stop laughing.(-:) So I take my 7 year old at 8 am. to the highschool across the street and drop her off. 8am on a Saturday. The earlybird learns the cheer I guess. When I returned at 11:30 to pick her up we got a treat, showing us what they learned.
She takes routines very seriously,

She was not about to mess that up. I just asked her what she thought about cheer camp, she says "it was good, it helps you with jumps, it's really really fun."

Then at 1:00 the big girls got to go. We went to watch them perform at 4:30. She has a look on her face that cracked me up.

She participated, did all the things they learned. Her sister came home telling me that when they were practicing their yelling, the cheerleader said "let me hear you yell" and she screamed "APPLESAUCE!" I was cracking up. When I just had her tell me again what the word was since I couldn't remember. She said well next I could have yelled "CREAMCHEESE!" and she yelled it like a cheerleader. She is so funny.
I wonder what she is yelling in this picture? I asked her what she thought of cheerleading. She said "suckish", ahh good to know.

Who's happy about cheer camp, SHE IS!!

That looks very cheerleadery to me.

All that smiling and chearleadery poses won her the spirit stick. WOWZERS. I may have created a monster.

We get home it was a fun day, I was thinking ok I could used to the idea. Though I always thought we would be watching them play the sports, not cheering for the sports. hmmm
Then I am watching a little T.V. (taking a break from unpacking) the show that was on it THS investigates. The topic, CHEERLEADING. I popped some popcorn and settled in to see what they discovered. HOLY COW. They had girls on there who were paralyzed from being dropped, who had died. It was nuts.
Not to mention the outfits they wear now. What the heck? So ridiculously short. The makeup was horrific. Here are a few scary pics.
These are highschool girls, seriously. I just couldn't let my kid go out the door like that.
After that show I watched I only see traumatic brain injury when I see this.

plus look at the makeup they have to wear to competitions. YIKES double YIKES!

I think we're going to take them to tennis lessons next, the outfits are just as short I guess but the brain injuries are less likely. It also may be less suckish. In closing I would like to start this again..

We've got spirit yes we do, We've got spirit how bout YOU??

moving in

2008-09-20T12:01:00.000+09:00

It might seem strange that the title of this is moving in. We have been here since June 5th. We moved into housing a couple of weeks later and NOW we have our stuff.
The packers were friendly, super fast, and sweating like crazy. It was a humid day.
I have gotten a lot of things unpacked but to document for my husband how horrible it was I took some pictures.
Here is my heaven (my stuff is here) and my Hell(I have to unpack it all my self)
oh my gosh the living room. So scary.

boxes of toys and clothes. lots of toys.

clothes. Seriously and shoes. one box had lamps.
They wrapped each pair individually. That box is still in the closet. I went this long with out strappy heels. I will be fine.

Geez, that is sort of embarrasing. A whole box of purses.

those clothes boxes don't include the boxes that had our clothes that were already on hangers!

I am still wondering how I got away with only a few Kitchen boxes.
>
It is so compforting to know everything was packaged with such care the dust wasn't even disturbed. Oh except the T.V. is broken. Good thing we were going to get a new one.

One of the kids rooms. lots of things to go through.

This is 7,000 of stuff. Mostly clothes. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You should see my moms closet. (-: hi mom

Comment Spam

2008-09-14T10:28:00.000+09:00

This morning I found I have had my first comment spam incident. I had 17 comments from Penny stocks, some myspace layout place, and some investment thing. The comments were pretty funny. Like "I like it" and "glad to know you get a lot of hits" umm thanks.
I never had the word verification thing on here to help out a few of my relatives who have a hard time reading the words. You know who you are!! (-:
It is back on. What the heck, I hate those things. Oh well and why me? For a minute I thought I was getting some love from my blogger peeps. NOOOOOOOOOOOO I was not getting any love. I was getting spam. Not the tasty spam they serve here on Okinawa.

Like this deliciousness.
Oh well.

have a great day.

our week well sort of

2008-09-13T21:56:00.000+09:00

Typhoon??? I think if I wanted a storm I should have stayed in Louisiana. They have been hit to much this season. Hey ya'll, I miss you. Your are in our thoughts! (the ya'll is only for those in LA, and other related southern states.)

Today was the day we were supposed to originally get hit. No dice.

Instead I talked to my husband who is in the states right now. He has been eating out at some cool places and shopping at some even better places. Then we met up to see a friends little boy compete in a Lego competition. He is one of those kids that can build anything, just from his imagination. Gotta love that. We had an hour before judging so my kids whipped up some Lego vehicle. The boxes have instructions.
Why does that Lego guy look mad. Weird.

This last week the elementary school had a walk in honor of Sept 11th. It was so great to see the participation.
The pledge, the kindergarten classes did not do the 1/2 a mile walk but came out in support. See him on the far right.

She is always looking her best with matching bucs hat and her water being carried in her spike and ella purse. They are just waiting to get started.

The walk, and more walking.

So I am going to bed now. Hopefully some info on the typhoon passing by us this week.
Have a great day.

typhoon tease

2008-09-11T20:28:00.000+09:00

We were going to get a HUGE typhoon but seems it has turned and is missing us. I stole/borrowed this picture from Aviva
Thanks girl your pictures even off the Internet are better! what is the deal with that. We are the Naha we are just north of that city. I know some of my friends in the states still have no idea where we are located.

Just for you to see how tiny we really are. I know you like my crazy ghetto writing. If you can't see it well click on the picture and it will get bigger.
This was us a day or so ago. Now we are just gonna get some rain nothing major.

OH good news, our household goods are finally on island. YEAH we get them delivered next week. YAHOO.
Nice how the husband is in the states when our shipment comes. Suspicious..... (-;
Just joking babe!!
Miss you.

Have a great weekend and I will keep you posted right off Aviva' blog!
Have a good night/day

The last few days

2008-09-07T17:43:00.000+09:00

What a week, the boybarian went to his first two days of kindergarten. You've seen the pictures. While he was there on Friday I went to Zumba at the gym. It is a mixture of latin and hip hop dancing. So much fun and a serious workout. The instructor is hilarious and beautiful. I am not just saying that because she is filipina. Really I'm not. Ok well I am partial to the Filipinos but what ever. Still she is adorable and can dance like no bodies business.
On the way home from Zumba I stopped at the Navy base and went to look at their gift shops. They are really nice. Check them out if you live here. This is what I bought.

So far, the last two days they are geared up to get that thing filled up. I need to come up with something for the older two.
So Friday night we walked to McDonald's. It is out one of our gates. The kids got ice cream and since I had been to Zumba, I got a coke zero. I need some pictures to go along with this. let me see what I can rustle up.
This isn't our McDonalds but I like how the words Food and drinks are in English and nothing else. At our McD's they have a laminated menu one side is Japanese one side English!! A little pointing and you are good to go.

SATURDAY
we hung out at the house most of the day, then we went to comprehensive park. To clarify this is not an American park. It is right down the road from our base. It is HUGE. Oh I already told you about the park a few posts down. well we like it a lot.
Oh this is funny there are tombs all over. When we would be walking by the boybarian said "there are tombs, DON'T POINT!" I think he said that 20 times. Let me ask him Why he said that. Ok I just got the craziest explanation. Involving it being bad and ghostis. (that is the plural of ghost in case your wondering)

We picked up some burger king and had a picnic dinner out there. Fed the turtles with our leftover fries and played till it was dark. We LOVE that park. On the way home we stopped at the Living Square Design stores OH how I love thee.
I am going back so more on that later.
We are having fun hanging out. Checking out the town.
I hope you all had a great weekend.

After school

2008-09-05T13:21:00.001+09:00

After school, this kid walks out. Oh that boy is sweetie.

His First day of School

2008-09-04T07:40:00.001+09:00

He was sorta geared up for school. When I woke him up he said "I never even said I wanted to go to school." He is morning person like his mama.
The other girls were already gone but this one stayed to take pics with him. Seems she is going to wear that shirt on every ones first day.

He wouldn't let me take him to get his hair cut. If it was cut, he couldn't spike it. So true. Anyhoo, how cute is this boy... not quite sure.

Is this better, so cute right? Still not sure...

See I told you he was adorable. Gotta love the fake smile. I trained him well. haha

This is his nervous face. Note the biting of the cheek. His class is awesome his teacher is amazing. It is going to be a great year.

His teacher. Mrs. Russel. She is adorable.

I did not cry. Though he went to preschool last year so he knows all about going to school. I cried last year though like a baby.
OH man I forgot to get a pic of his Ben 10 back pack. Sheez. I will get one after school.
What is that noise I hear in the background...
Silence.
It sounds beautiful.

Shout out

2008-09-03T22:15:00.001+09:00

I would like to give a shout out to my husband. He travels the world checks our blog and makes it look like we have people all over reading this thing. OK he checked in Denver. Not all over the world. But he still checks it, and that's devotion right there.
He may be a guest blogger here in a few days. You'll like him. I do. Plus you'll like the places he is going to show you!!

Hey check out tomorrow's post for those of you who love my son as much as I do. It is his first day of school and it should be a good one. I mean anything with pictures of my kids are awesome right? right? right.
It will also be my first day at the gym. I will not be taking the camera to the gym. OR maybe I will.... hmmmm
I will have to sleep on that.

I think this post needs a picture. Let me find a good one....

My girl Aviva took this at swim lessons. Check out her site. We will have family pictures taken by her, my mom is planning on having her take some pics of them when they come next year. (Oh yeah Aviva, my mom wants you to take pics of them too.)
If you are not sure what you think check these out. her photo blog I think you will agree that you want some of those pics hanging on your walls. Well minus that couple, you know cause that would just be weird.

Sarah Palin

2008-09-03T21:50:00.000+09:00

SO just like you I was like who the heck is this chick. Then I see her on CNN 24/7. I have made my mind up of a few things. The most important being. I am going to the optomitrist and getting new glasses. I hate my contacts. If Sarah Palin can look hot in glasses. I am getting mine too! She is a great role model for all women who want to look cute and be able to see.

SO thank you Sarah Palin, my eyes thank you, and other drivers on the road THANK YOU.

She is so cute, I just want to put her in my pocket.
Check out The country doctors wife. Her post with those pics are what really sealed the deal for me. Yahoo new glasses.
I found the ones I want

How sexy are those! (-:

Comprehensive park part 2

2008-08-31T13:27:00.001+09:00

Those stairs (above) led to these stairs below. That is not sweat, they got their hair wet in the bathroom.

This was at the top of the staris. Paths to the left and right then up ahead see the blue in the distance. The ocean. This place is so awesome. Now we went straight and there are playgrounds up there. Those pics are next.

PLaygrounds. Yahoo. The girls played with a japanese girl on that thing. They had a great time.

We found this apple thing and decided that it would be agreat ball to play catch with. First my husband and I played, then the boys played.

Man these kids are climbers! We had so much fun.

Comprehensive park part I

2008-08-30T23:41:00.000+09:00

Today we went down the road to Comprehensive park. It is this very large place with everything you could want to do. It is late here and my brain just isn't working as it should.
So we had a blast. Here are some pictures of feeding coy fish, playing on the parks. Another really pretty pond, turtles and fireworks. I have some more cool pics of my kids but I will add those tomorrow under part 2. goodnight all.

Oh check out the little girl in the right bottom corner.

Not my husband in the background but another Filipino guy with a green and white striped shirt khakis and tennis shoes. haha I just realized that while looking at pics. They were such nice people. New to Okinawa, really sweet.

When we got home there were fireworks in the backyard. Well out one of the gates but WE were in the backyard.

Then we came in popped some popcorn and watched Camp Rock. I like that soundtrack. I may have Stockholm syndrome since I sing along and have favorites. I need help. (-:
How was your week. Please be safe this weekend and enjoy the time off.
More pics tomorrow.

Vegetable delivery??

2008-08-28T21:28:00.001+09:00

I had been reading on Okinawahai about the wonderful vegetables that I can have delivered from freshinoki
I got online, did my ordering and this is what was delivered by a very nice woman. I ordered the large veg and and the large fruit. Yummy.
We had the best time trying to figure out what some of those things were. It was great though. My kids tried everything. Here are a few things we got in our cool bags o vegetables.

.

Yummy.yum. yum. yum.
I know I have been slacking on the whole blog. I will get back on the wagon. Not the drinking wagon, geez the blogging wagon. But I should be falling off the blogging wagon. Maybe I have been sitting on the wagon. Oh forget it I don't know. I am going to wikipedia to find out, it only has the truth on that sucka.
ALSO please note the links located in the top off this post. That is my first attempt at links IN the blog. I have to say after seeing my own name linked in Aviva's Blog I have thought oh my heck I have to learn that fantastic trick. I admit I can be a little slow, shush it.
Keep an eye out for links to YOUR blogs!! ohhh yeah I am on a roll.