Road Side Vendors

I think this will be my last stop to buy fruits and such from the local vendors on the side of the road. This guy has been here as long as I have been driving this road. I picked up a bag of plums for 1000 yen, just over $10, a watermelon for 1500 yen, about $15.60 and then he gave me some free peanuts and some lemons. He always throws in a few items with my purchase. But, than i got home and realized i had no knife to cut the watermelon. Glad i got neighbors! Thanks Jenni!!! I hope fruit is cheaper in North Carolina!

Too Many Tearful Goodbyes!

It always breaks my heart when I have watched my kids say heart wrenching goodbyes. We’ve said a lot of tearful goodbyes over the years living the military lifestyle. Miramar was probably the hardest. Not so much for me, as Ed was already in Okinawa, I was excited to move to Okinawa, many of my friends had already moved, but it was how we had to leave and what I had to watch as I drove away. I had checked out of our government quarters and all of Vicki’s friends were on the sidewalk in front of our house giving Vicki, Ty, and Ryan last hugs goodbye. She had a TON of friends! The entire neighborhood kid population was there, those of you that know enlisted military housing, that can be a LOT of kids!!! I loaded all three kids into the jeep. (Jorden was visiting his Dad) Vicki was bawling her little eyeballs out as I was buckling Thing One & Thing Two into their car seats, they were all in car seats back than! As I started to pull away from the house that had been home for the last three years, all the kids in the neighborhood began following us, running alongside and behind the jeep waving and crying. We were all in tears as we drove away, heading off to visit family in New Mexico and Kelli in Texas. My eyes still tear up when I remember that day as we very slowly drove down Bellatrix Dr with a ton of military brats running alongside us waving and crying. It’s a visual that will never leave me. But I wouldn’t trade any of it for nothing! The tearful goodbyes only mean there are incredible memories shared with the most amazing of people! I actually feel blessed that I have had these tearful goodbyes, otherwise I would have no worthwhile memories to look back on!

I Won't Be Able To Write On Them Anymore!

I will really miss my oki kitchen! It’s been fun to be ghetto these last 6 years. The cabinets are made of some sort of indestructible surface that you can do ANYTHING to. I’ve loved that they have served as my own personal “(non white) white boards”. You can write on them and it comes off super quick with the magic erasers! As Kelli says, “they really are magic”! I have phone numbers written on one cabinet, another one is used for me to write what time things needs to come out of the oven and other cabinets have just been whatever I feel like putting on them, usually the kids artwork and I glue gunned MY star wars action dudes and some of my other favorite things to other cabinets. Now we are moving into a new house, a real house with real cabinets, cabinets I still have to pick out! I’ve been putting it off….i must choose soon and I’m sooo sad that I’m not gonna be able to write on them anymore.

North Carolina Facts

Ed has been telling me all kinds of interesting facts about North Carolina....he is just sure that i am in for a huge culture shock and that i will be foaming at the mouth and twitching...he thinks of me as just a Southern California girl. We are pretty much living in the hicks where we are going to be living. He has informed me he will kill me if he comes home and finds me in overalls! I had a pair once during our marriage that mysteriously disappeared....i will admit i wore them far too often, but i could live in overalls, so i am thinking it won't be too bad in North Carolina. Ed tells me my pig tails, and my bare feet will be just fine where we are going. So, again, i'm wondering why he thinks i won't survive the southern east coast life... I think there are about 1000 people in the town we are building our home in. The average age is 41 and wouldn't you know it? I will be 41 when we move into our house! It is just sounding better all the time! There are also 78 women for every man, so Ed informed me he had 21 other women available for him. AAAhahahahahahaha!!!

Love Story Meets Viva La Vida

I stole this from my friend Melanie, 'cause like she always has the coolest stuff!!! Thanks Mel! You are the best!!!

See It Today

If you have not seen this movie yet, see it today! Taking Chance.

Aren't We In America?

I thought i would share this story since it is Memorial Day weekend....i told this story a few weeks ago when i had to speak and someone told me i needed to blog this anyways....it's from my journal summer of 2007

Some things are just plain hard to explain to your children! This was one of those times! Ty and Ryan have basically been brought up on an island of no worries and strong patriotism. They hear the national anthem every morning when the base raises the flag, they also hear the Japanese national anthem as that flag goes right up alongside Old Glory. Every evening at sunset they stop their play when they hear colors and pause what they are doing while the stars and stripes are lowered. They stand before every movie at the theatre for the national anthem and practice flag protocol with numerous other events they attend. The last time we were all in America on vacation was summer of 2007. We went to our first movie stateside in a long time! The movie began and Ryan, who was almost 6, gets up and walks over to me and says, in his deep authoritive voice, “Mom, (but he says it Mome) they forgot our flag” I almost cried when I had to tell him that they do not do that here. He was visibly upset and his little lip quivered and his voice shook when he asked this simple sentence that broke my heart, “Aren’t we IN America?”

Leaving My Mark!

Ed is finally pretty much done with work...soooo, the last night i was up at Camp Hansen i clobbered his white board with my art work of some of our memories. I hope the helo schedules and other such stuff i erased weren't that important....jk!!! I just erased these little 3 letter thingys that made no sense.....love ya babe!!!

Lookin' Ghetto These Days!

From blogger photos

I have been completly ghetto these days. After i swim at lunch i don't bother to do my hair or anything and just let my pony dry as is. I've got crunchy messy hair these days and it doesn't matter here, but can i get away with this look in NC? I know there is NO way i would have left my house in Cali looking like this! LOL

Taking Up The Bed

Yes, our dog sleeps with us and yes, i am the one on the edge of the bed, but he is just soo sweet, it's okay...

From blogger photos

Wrapped In Love!

From blogger photos

I just love this picture of Vicki and Jasper!

How Do You Move This?

This is one of the hardest parts about moving! How do you move these kinda things?!

From blogger photos

ER Two Nights In A Row

We were in the ER two nights in a row. Thursday night Jasper accidently got Ed in the eye with his nail. We spent about 5 hours in the ER. Friday Ed was still in a lot of pain and by the late afternoon he was in severe pain and his eye was swollen shut. We thought we had best head over right then as it was a Friday night, which is always busy and being the 15th, well there will be many service members in their as the night progresses. So I took him back to the ER around 7:30 pm. It was night but Ed was still wearing sunglasses as any kind of light just sends him almost into spasms with the pain. We get to the ER and this part really cracked me up, Ed was not amused and the Nurse almost had to pick up a pile Chiclets from her own mouth. She had him walk down the bright hall, stand on the line and read the letters from the wall. His eye is swollen shut and due to the spasms he can barely even have the other eye open, let alone in the bright light!!! UHG! Hello?! It was determined he could not see the letters and she took him to a room and as we walked in she turns on the BRIGHT light for us to sit and wait for the Doctor. She had been told countless times that Ed’s eye was VERY sensitive to light. So, I turn off the light as she is walking out. I came up with a song that I sang to Ed while we waited for the Doc. It is with the tune to “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night” here is goes: “I wear my sunglasses at night, ‘cause I got in a fight with a dog who has a lethal paw!” I don’t think Ed was very amused, but he is now asleep with the help of some vicadin and we’ve got some drops for his eyes that will help with the whole light thing. He actually has Iritis and a Corneal Abrasion, so I know he is in some pain. No pictures with this one as I might have lost some Chiclets if I had attempted to take some. Ha!

The Slide

From blogger photos

I bought this slide for Jorden on his first birthday! All four of our kids and countless friends and cousins have played on this indestructible slide! It is now used more for a giant stepping stool to climb the favorite tree by our house. But now it is packed in a crate heading to not sure what number house this will be. I think this is the 11th address it will now reside at. I hope that it lasts for my someday grandkids to play on!

8 Hours Packing = 8 Crates

Wow, 8 hours later our house has been packed away into 8 crates and loaded onto two trucks! The weather ended up holding out for us! There was a typhoon heading towards us. It had already killed 10 people in the Philippines and was cruising up to Okinawa. Was sooo happy to see it continue to lose its gusto as it got closer to our island. We had some rain, but not like what I have seen some people pack out in!!! The Okinawan guys that packed up our house were simply extraordinary!! I swear the guy upstairs had to somehow be related to Samantha! I kept trying to see if he had the magic twitch of the nose! There was a team of about 7 that were in and out of our house after the lone guy upstairs pretty much did half the upstairs! Amazingly enough, so far nothing important was packed away into the crates! I have our passports, my laptop, and the can opener!!! Also to my relief, our cat was spotted after the trucks pulled away! Was a little nervous Tank might have traveled by boat to America and been a sad pile of remains at our next house! Always worry about him every time someone in the hood packs out! Ty and Ryan had fun hiding from each other behind all the boxes before they were carried out to the trucks! As the boxes began to dwindle outta the house I ordered a variety of large pizza’s and picked up a few 12 packs of soda for the guys. We have always done pizza when we have moved in or out of a house, so we included them in our tradition. They were really nice and thanked me several times for dinner. Wow, now I have this empty house and it is just like sooo cool, except for the dining room table. I really need to find it! I kept putting things on the table I didn’t want packed, now I have a huge pile of massive disorganization! LOL! I think I might leave everything in boxes at our new house for awhile, especially the toys!!! I love having nothing to put away!!

A Mountain Of Money!

If you are ever thinking you are poor, just start packing up your house! I kept finding money throughout the house and just kept dropping the coins in my pocket and whenever I was downstairs I just kept putting in my jar. My Girls Night Out jar begin rapidly filling up as I was going thru drawers and stuff. Pretty soon it was overflowing and before long there was a mountain of money on the microwave!

Shake Your Shoes

This is why we have taught our kids to shake their shoes before they put them on! This nice little centipede was in Ty’s shoe! Hate these frickin’ things! Especially the really big ones I find climbing up my stairs! They come in during really rainy, windy days. I used to never know how they got in the house, but then, one time, at band camp, just kidding, really, I was by one of our windows and the wind was howling and it was raining really hard and I watched as this huge centipede came under the window and in the window sill. I watched as the water would swish under the window and then get sucked back out. The centipede would be almost in and then get sucked back out and then almost in, just back and forth. I was too intrigued to do anything but watch! During typhoons I usually put towels in all the window sills to stop the water and so I realized how I got these critters in the washing machine! UHG! They totally creep me out and like you can stomp on them a bunch of times and they just keep wiggling!!! And never stomp on them with flip flops, they don’t die and they just flip over onto your foot! Oh, and they also survive the wash cycle! Try getting one of those outta the washing machine! It sucks and requires lots of screaming and cursing. LOL! I use the Chinese chopsticks, since they are longer than Japanese chopsticks, and it is quite the challenge. Probably humorous to watch as I scream and curse the wiggly creature! Sooo, don’t forget to shake your shoes before you put them back on at my house!

Going...Going...GAAAWWWNNN!

We have sold the jeep! I think it was a steal at $200.00, although others who have ridden with me in it might think otherwise! There was no AC; it was a windows down hair blow in the wind kinda mobile! I named her Christine as she was possessed and those of you who have taken a spin in her will back me up on this! LOL! She was the coolest thing on wheels and we would have taken her back to the States in a heartbeat if we could!! She randomly locked you in the vehicle. As you drove you would hear your locks falling and rising, sometimes it was even to the beat of the tunes i was jamming to! The inside lights didn't work so you never really knew how fast you were going. Unfortunately this was a downfall for Jorden. He snuck out one night and took the jeep to the shoppette to buy a Monster. Why you buy a Monster at 130 am i'll never know other than it is just one of those dumb teenage things...but anyways, Jorden was driving and turning the lights on and off as he didn't know the inside lights didn't work. This caught the attention of the MP's. They pulled him over. He tried to open the door, but the locks kept going up and down. The MP's were not amused and did not know Jorden had no control over this. Jorden eventually was able to get out of the vehicle. The MP didn't know how to read the paperwork in the glove box right and thought the JCI was expired. He didn't know how to read the window sticker either. Ed was off island so when i got the call to go down to the shack i had to wake up the kids and bring them with me since Vicki wasn't 12 yet. They had thought Jorden was drunk because of the whole lock thing but he wasn't and than i confirmed the lock and light thingy. The back door also has a trick for getting it closed. I never did figure it out. Thank goodness Leilani was with me the only time it was opened under my watch! Leilani opened it as i was hollering "DON'T OPEN THE BACK!!" You could park her anywhere, which is a huge plus on the streets of Okinawa! She is four wheel drive which came in handy on getting to some of our dive spots. My favorite part was the little gadget on the dash that told me my position to let me know if i was about to flip over. I loved taking turns and driving on slants to see how far i could get the jeep to tip. The vehicles here are basically indestructible and the jeep is light enough that I knew if I ever did tip it Ed would be able to come tip me back over. Well he would have probably laughed at me for a very long time first.... i never did get her to tip over. So, now i no longer have my fun mobile to zip around in. Just my dependable Silver Bullet!

Never Again

I have decided I am NOT a fan of high kitchen cabinets! That is where stuff just gets shoved back into and forgotten….well, forgotten until it is time to PCS! I remember last house finding shampoo and conditioner way up in the very top kitchen cupboards. Obviously Ed must have helped me put groceries away that day…sooo, I am finding just all these VERY expired cans of food! I do vaguely remember buying the sour krout back in 2004 thinking I would make some Krout meals since we are all German….yeah, that didn’t happen, it’s now 2009 and the sour krout was never made with any other German dishes, well I’m sure I have made German Chocolate cake over the last 6 years! Anyways, I’m ending up with a kitchen trash bag full of dead food and my “save the earth” voice is screaming in my head that I need to empty these cans out for recycling. It is mandatory over here, but I did this back in the States when I didn’t have to, it’s just my whole trying to NOT feel responsible when people are claiming our earth is running out of room for trash and stuff. Sooo, I figure I better empty the smelly stuff into the garbage disposal first, yes, the sour kroute was first. It smelled terrible. I just kept opening can after can. Starting with the smelliest and working my way to the fruits and last the pumpkin pie fillings which were only like a month past expiration and smelled great! Or maybe it was only because my smeller had been traumatized with food from 2004!!! I have decided I will NOT EVER put food in my top shelves EVER again!!

The Dog Ate My Homework, I Mean Shoe!

Okay, I have fallen to an all time low in my ghettoness….Thursday morning Ryan was looking everywhere for his other shoe and could not find it anywhere! Our house is empty, we are all packed out, there isn’t really any place for things to be lost AND our house is tiny!!! I HAD to get to work, Ed was gone as he was giving Braun and her kids a ride to the airport, so I told Ryan he had to miss school since he isn’t allowed to go in slip slops and that is all he has for extra shoes. (I wasn’t going to make him wear his church shoes with his shorts) So, I left for work, Ty left without his little brother and Ryan got to stay home because he had no shoes to wear to school! Thursday evening Ed is at the PX getting ready to buy Ryan some shoes. An hour earlier Ed had been scratched in the eye by our dog Jasper. (total accident, they were just playing) Sooo, anyways, all of a sudden Ed is in massive pain and can’t see and Vicki almost ends up having to drive him home. He couldn’t call me to come get him as we only have one car now. I take Ed to the ER, we get home waaaay after the PX has closes, they close at 9 pm. So, now it is Friday morning and Ryan has no shoes, AGAIN! I am off to work, I tell him to check with Dad at 845 to see if he can take him to the PX to get shoes and take him to school. PX opens at 9 am. Ed is knocked out on Tylenol 3. After work I swing by Ryan’s school to get the last of photos for yearbook as I am taking it to be printed. My friend Tiffany is there. She is subbing Ryan’s class this week as his teacher is in China. She is laughing and asks me if it is true that Ryan has been missing school because the dog ate his shoe. I have to confirm that this is indeed true and he will have closed toe shoes by Monday! Yes, I have officially sunk to an all time low in my motherhood skills and can hold my head high as queen of the Kishaba Trailer Park!!!

Kodomo-no-Hi Children's Day

Kodomo-no-Hi is a holiday celebrated each year on the 5th day of the 5th month. In English it is called Children's Day. The Japanese have several holidays that revolve around children as the people of Okinawa just love their kids! During this time you will see carp streamers flying everywhere! Even at Ty and Ryan's school. A typical koinobori (streamer) will have a multicolored streamer called a fukinagashi on the top this is to represent the rough waters of the Yellow River. Next will be a large black carp called a magoi which represents the Father followed by a red carp, higoi, which is for the Mother, next will be smaller carp of other colors for each child in the family. We have our own that we fly at this time each year. they are very colorful and the wind blows them so they appear to be swimming. The Japanese want their children to grow up to be like carp which have virtuous qualities of perseverance and strength. We asked Ty and Ryan what they wanted to do on this day, Vicki was babysitting. They wanted McDonald's for dinner and to go swim and play at Araha Beach, Pirate Ship Beach, their favorite. We went out in town and ordered dinner at the drive thru and ended up eating it in the car as we drove to the beach. Traffic is always horrendous during this time. The Okinawan's basically celebrate for an entire week, it is called Golden Week. All families are out celebrating their children, so everywhere is crowded, but fun as it is all families basically celebrating life! We had a great time, wonderful way to spend our last Kodomo-no-Hi on Okinawa! There are more pictures under albums with the same blog title in our www.easysite.com/okicrew6 That is the fmaily blog, there will eventually be pixs in my picasa albums. Anyways, go give your kids a giant hug, loud smooch, and share some giggles!

Is Santa Real?

So, we are out in the back yard tonight, it is a perfect night, just cool enough to enjoy hot chocolate, but warm enough to be in shorts and a sweatshirt. We have the fire going, playing one of our favorite “out back having a fire game” Sequence and right as I am taking a picture of Ty he asks, “is Santa real or do you get up early and put everything under the tree?” UHG! He’s 9 Ryan is almost 8, I want to hang in to Santa a little bit longer and so I say “……well I still believe in Santa…” Ty drinks his hot chocolate and continues playing and the conversation is no longer about Christmas, that was close! Just not ready to have all my kids officially outta the Santa phase!