Banana Boat Rides

Banana Boat Rides
We experienced these for the first time Memorial Day Weekend in 2004. We had joined a bunch of our friends to camp at Okuma for this holiday weekend. Everyone kept telling us we had to ride the banana boats, sooooo, we did! There was an age requirement, so Ty & Ry had to stay on shore. It was great ‘cause we just tag teamed with friends watching each others little rug rats while we took turns riding these boats. A banana boat is just like a long cylinder raft. You straddle it and hang on to the rope and another faster boat takes you out in the ocean. Oh, you are also required to wear a life jacket and a helmet! Now, this is what happens. The driver of the boat takes you out to the ocean and than goes really fast and creates all kinds of waves. Your job is to hang on to your rope so you are NOT thrown off! The driver of the boat is determined to have all the screaming occupants on his banana boat OFF! I was doing really good until Ed leaned over and started tickling me. JERK!!! Of course, I let go and went flying, literally FLYING! I now understood why you had to wear a helmet! Vicki was in the air right after me. We were laughing soo hard while waiting for the driver to come back around and let us climb back on our banana boat. It was totally fun, however, I didn’t like that feeling of treading water deep in the ocean and not knowing what might be below me! LOL!

Hiji Falls

Hiji Falls
Hiji Falls is located just a few miles from Okuma where we have camped several times. We hiked this for the first time in October 2004. It wasn’t too bad of a hike, just hot, muggy, and as always, BUGGY!!! We were with a big group of friends. The YW were having a camping/hiking expedition and somehow Ed had been roped into helping with setting up tents, fires for cooking, and going on the hike the following day…..so, we all went to Okuma as a family. Ty was 4 and Ryan was 3 and they actually hiked the whole thing by themselves! I was impressed but not surprised. When we got to the water fall most of the group got in the water and had some fun. There was a nice big slippery rock that Ty and Ry had fun sliding down into the water. It felt great to relax in the shade and cool down before we hiked back. A few years later, AFN, Armed Forces Networking, starting showing TV commercials about not getting into the water at Hiji Falls and all the yucky parasites and such that would attack your bodies. UUHHG! I guess we were pretty lucky or there just wasn’t a problem with contamination back in 2004…..

Ryan Is Tall Enough....

Okinawa does not have any REAL roller coasters. We have to settle for the 3-D one at Dragon Palace in Mihama. They change the rides pretty frequently and it actually is really fun. We’ve been waiting to go as a family for 5 years now since there is a height requirement! We’ve been watching Ryan grow and figured he was probably finally tall enough to ride it! Ed told Ryan to put on his hike boots, as those would make him taller than the flip flops he always wears and we headed out to Dragon Palace. This isn’t very far from our house, pretty much across the street from Camp Lester where Vicki takes the bus to her Middle School. Ryan ran up to the red line marker and sure enough, he was tall enough, actually a little taller!!! He always seems so little to us, so it was amazing to see that he has actually been growing!!! We pulled out our yen and paid for our tickets and than waited for our turn. Ty was a little apprehensive. We have tried to take him on this before since he was tall enough, but he always said no. Ryan was thrilled that he was finally tall enough and was just a swinging those boots while he sat on the bench waiting. We had the video briefs first and Ryan asked why it was in Japanese. Ha! He also kept asking me what they were saying and than asking me how I knew what they were saying since it wasn’t in English. He is just too funny! We were given our 3-D glasses and the doors opened. It was finally time to go into the theatre and buckle up. We saw Escape From Dino Mountain. The interesting part about this is that this was the first 3-D movie thing I had taken Jorden to in the States back in the late 1990’s, maybe 1998. We had gone to Marine World/6Flags by G&G Miks house with the Haws & Mikolajcik crews as well as Grandma. We had had to wait in a long line to see this! So it was rather funny that our oldest and youngest both saw this same one as their first experience with 3-D movies! They completely loved it and they were entertaining to watch, especially as they got wet from the water sprayed out at them, we hadn’t told them about that, so they hadn’t seen that coming! Afterwards Ty informed us that it wasn’t scary and he didn’t even blink and Ryan asked if we could ride it again! The cost for our family to ride that 5 minute attraction is almost $50, so we told him, not today….but another day…………..

Ryan Takes It Like A Man!

The weather has been getting cold, we are in the 70’s now so it is time to break out the hot chocolate! Ty and Ry were each drinking from there mugs when Ryan informed me that he takes his hot cocoa like a man ‘cause he puts his lips to the mug while Ty drinks his like a sissy since he uses his spoon. I found that really funny!

More Movies To Come!

Okay....looks like it is official!!! Summit Entertainment has aquired the rights to the next three Twilight Books! Wow! There will be more movies from the Twilight Series to come! Yippee!!!

Stop Singing!

This is what happens when Ed says stop......and ya don't.....

Vicki and I were in the kitchen singing and dancing. Ed was getting annoyed, easily done, and we weren’t a stopping! Soooo, Vicki took the brunt of it as I was still in a Japanese dress I had had made for me. So Ed didn’t dare get me! Hee Hee! Thanks for taking the hit Vicki!! What should we sing next?

Kimono to the Ball

It has been fun attending the Marine Corps Balls here on Okinawa. I had barely been on island when my new friends gave me the phone number of their tailor. They let me know that he would custom make my ball gown! I was excited and quickly gave him a call. He came over a few days later, took my measurements and we picked out my fabrics. Next I gave him pictures of how I wanted my gown to look, a picture of a bow from one dress, waistline from another, sleeves, neckline, etc. At our first Ball on Camp Kinser I was fascinated by the kimonos worn by the Okinawan dates of some of the Marines. I told Ed I wanted to wear one at our last Ball. Ed was in Iraq for our last Ball, so I didn’t end up wearing a kimono. Thank goodness we had the fantastic opportunity to do another tour here on Oki! I had decided I was going to wear a Japanese style dress for our Ball in 2007 and a kimono for our last Ball, 2008. The date quickly approached and I was in somewhat of a panic as I had been pricing kimonos for a few years, very expensive! I finally asked one of my Okinawan friends if she knew of someone I could pay to borrow their kimono as well as pay them to get me dressed. It is quite a complicated process as there are many layers, ties, and padding! I had also learned in dressing Vicki in one that you need to make sure you have it wrapped left side over right, as the other way around is for the burial of the dead! Well, my dear friend Zuzumi gave me the phone number to this little hole in the wall place out in town that would take care of everything for me. I called and after a few questions I was actually able to speak to someone in English! She explained to me that I would need to come down ahead of time and choose my kimono, obi, etc so it would be ready for me on the day I came in to be dressed. It turned out to be the same place I had had the kid’s kimono pictures done! Awesome, I knew right where this little itty bitty place was! Ed went with me and we looked at several kimonos. I told the fabulous little Okinawan lady that I wanted a red kimono in the style that matched my age and status. There are different kimonos for different occasions and status, married, single, age, etc. I wanted to wear a kimono that reflected who I am and where I am in life right now, as well as the event I was attending. She helped me pick everything out to match the look I was going for. Here is just a little about the kimono and everything I would be wearing a few days later……The kimono is the national costume of Japan. I love seeing the Okinawan and Japanese people wear these! I saw this style of dress more often while in Tokyo than I see here on our little island. They always look beautiful, very unique and different. It isn’t often you will see someone wearing matching kimonos. Originally the word “kimono” literally meant – thing to wear, ki, meaning wearing and mono, meaning thing. Now it is basically just a specific kind of a traditional full-length garment. Kimono’s today are primarily worn by women and on special occasions. Some older people still wear a kimono daily. Most often though you will see people dressed in kimono for weddings, tea ceremonies, and other formal and special occasions. Professional sumo wrestlers are often seen in Kimono because they are required to wear traditional Japanese dress whenever appearing in public.
I made my appointment for 5 pm the evening of our Ball. I was also having them do my hair and make-up. She did my make up first, and nooooo, I did not go with the white face! I did color my hair beforehand as I thought my natural darker color would look more authentic than my summer blonde shade. ;) Next, I was able to look thru several hair style books and I chose how I wanted her to do my hair. She didn’t put the Kanzahi, hair ornaments, in until after I was completely dressed. The dressing is what took the longest. One hour to get all wrapped up! A typical woman’s kimono consists of 12 or more separate pieces! What I found interesting was that many Japanese women do not have the skill to put on a kimono by themselves and hire a professional kimono dresser. I wasn’t feeling so lame after all! Especially since I had put Vicki in one all by myself and following the directions in Kongi! (I did have a Mamasan check Vicki before I let anyone else see her to make sure I had everything going the right direction!) So, I had 2 wonderful Okinawan ladies dress me. I began with putting on a hadajuban, it was like a thin undershirt, and this was followed by the susoyoke, which was kinda like a petticoat. You do not wear a bra under your kimono. I was wrapped rather tightly with strips of cloth that I would use as mummy wrappings for Halloween. Following this I had all kinds of other padding put over me and around me. I found this part rather funny. I did not really feel that I needed extra padding as I am round enough, but she said I was going traditionally dressed, soooo, I became rounder. It was also kinda like the Verizon commercial where he keeps asking “Can you hear me now?” Except these two cute little ladies kept asking if I could breathe? They continued to wrap and pull until it was time to put on the hiyoku. This was a full kimono, rather thick with a white collar and small dainty pink flowers. It even had the full floor length sleeves. Next they put on my actual kimono that had the added collar, a eri sugata, you can see the gold layer. The summers are very hot here, so this collar is just that, a collar with the appearance of another layer of a kimono. They tucked in my sleeves from the other kimono into this kimono and pinned them so they would stay in place. It is important to see the layers of kimonos worn, but they must always stay in place. Now it was time for the obi, this is the sash worn across your middle. It is very long and a very thick material. It is the length of my stair case. As they wrapped the obi around me they also inserted a obi-ita which is a thin board placed in the obi to keep its shape. Next came the datejime, it is a thin sash worn around the obi, for formal occasions. I had many koshi himo’s which are this sashes that keep all your pieces place while getting dressed! Now it was time to put on my tabi, the white ankle high divided toe socks. I have bought lots of these socks here in all colors and styles! They are great to wear with flip flops on cooler evenings or hot muggy nights outside when you do not want bug bites on your toes! My shoes were extremely comfortable, even while dancing! Once I was completely dressed my kimono dressers helped me pick out a purse and than they finished up my hair with my kanzashi. I was dressed and completely ready one hour and forty minutes after arriving. Ed came and picked me up and took me home so he could finish getting ready. When I went inside, Jorden reminded me that Halloween had been on Friday, it was now Monday and Ty and Ryan asked if I wanted to borrow any of their swords and Ryan offered to hide weapons in my hair. Vicki did the typical “why mom why?” and our dog went crazy smelling me! My new friends had taught me how to use the restroom in all my many layers, so I went before we left. I was very relieved that I didn’t manage to flush one of my sleeves down the toilet! I rode in the back seat of our van when it came time to leave. Ed got a crash course in hooking up my tabi’s, socks, as the hooks had come undone on the car ride over and it was quite difficult to bend once fully dressed! I was the only American in a kimono and received a ton of compliments on my ball gown! I think every Okinawan there came over and talked to me and had the nicest things to say about me wearing their traditional formal dress to the Marine Corps Ball. I was actually very comfortable and for once was not cold! I also had perfect posture for the night as it was impossible to slouch with how tightly wrapped up I was! When we got home that night, it took Ed quite awhile to get me all unwrapped! I could never have gotten outta that thing by myself! The next day Ed came home and said I was the talk of the Academy where he works. He said everyone kept saying how cool it was that Gunny K’s wife had worn a kimono. That was also the most expensive I have ever been dressed! Tallying up everything I was wearing would have come to approximately $20,000 if I were to buy everything! Wow!

Halloween 2008

It was another fun Halloween here on Okinawa! Ty decided to be a Pirate, Ryan a Ninja, Vicki was a "Gangsta, White Girl Style for one party and than a Cheerleader on Halloween night. Ed and Jorden did not dress up and I was Tracy from Hair Spray. I was actually supposed to be her last year for Halloween, i had ordered the costume in early September and like so many other things ordered in the past, it convienently arrived in November. I had to work VERY hard to NOT loose any weight this whole year so i could wear this costume for this Halloween! LOL! I was successful and it fit perfectly! Ha! We did the traditional Haunted House tour the night before Halloween. The Marines do an awesome job turning a warehouse into a complete Fright Night experiance! It was also the first year i didn't have Thing One and Thing Two clinging to my leg! They were actually brave enough to cling to each other as we went thru the haunted house. I still happened to have a little one gripped to me as i had one of thier friends with me. Ed can't go thru these with me as he can not guarentee that he will not punch someone who happens to jump out at him, so i am always on my own with these things! LOL! The kids had fun trick or treating, Ed took them out and about, but it was kinda sad for me.....there were only 3 of us handing out candy out of our 18 families......made me miss all my friends that have left and remember the fun Halloween's of past when we all sat out together handing out candy and just talking and laughing. But, there was NO RAIN!!! So, that always makes for a great Halloween!

Instructor of the Year

Ed found out that he won for Instructor of the Year for 2008. He won Instructor of the Quarter twice this year, and now took it overall. He'd kill me if he knew i had posted it, but he never reads any of the things i write, so don't congratulate him if you see him!! SSSHHHHHHHH!!!! Mums the word! Ha! ;) I actually don't have a very recent pix of him in uniform...this is from July 2008....maintanence was painting our building in the one where he is standing....he liked having his own pull up bar right out front our door that summer!

Rain Rain Go Away!

I am soooo tired of the rain! We had a perfect day planned for an early morning dive and than off to Forest Adventure Park to fly atop the treetops on zip lines! Instead......the movies! UUHHHGGGG!!!!!!

You Have To Work Hard To Irk Me!

Most of the time I am just a kick back girl with no real cares in the world. I feel it is a waste of my time to let someone annoy me. But, every once in awhile, someone can just set me off, and all hell breaks loose! While staying in Bangkok I decided that the hotel I was staying in must be advertised heavily in India to tourists as it seemed almost all the guests were Indian. I think Ashley and I were the only Americans and it was a HUGE hotel! We were definatly the only female blondes as I never saw any others! We would get to the elevator and push the button to go up or down. The door would open and it wouldn’t matter that we were there first, the male Indian’s would just shove us out of the way, get in elevator and push button to close door so Ashley and I wouldn’t be in THEIR elevator. The first time we just stood there, probably with our jaws on the floor as that had never happened to either of us before. People are usually nice to us, we just have that dumb helpless look about us I think. Then we started laughing and were just like, what the hell just happened here? The next time this occured, we just pushed the up/down button, and before THEIR elevator had left the floor, the door would re- open and we stepped into THEIR elevator. We looked up at them and their giant turbans and gave them the biggest grins and proceeded to talk extra valley and shrilly with lots of laughing. I did actually wonder if they were tempted to kill us on the spot and leave our dead bodies on the floor of the elevator or if they had cool knives in their turbans and oozies in their robes. But, I didn’t ask. And, we obviously survived our many elevator trips! 

Marines Magazine

Ed doing what he does best..... Drill! LOL! I think this is in the year in review 2008....or maybe one of the drill mags, not sure, forgot to look but friends keep telling us they saw Ed and than someone sent this to us....guess we are kinda isolated here on the rock and don't get much news, ha! Click on the In Search of Todays Drill or something like that....

Marines Magazine

Twilight

Looking Back on 9/11

Looking Back
Today is Jorden’s 17th birthday…………we were looking at his baby book/scrapbook and found a paper he had written about his birthday, September 11th, 2001. I remember the day clearly….i climbed up on Jorden’s top bunk to wake him up and began singing “Happy Birthday to you…., not too far into it the sirens began going off. I guess I should explain where we lived….Ed was a Drill Instructor for the Marine Corps and was training recruits at MCRD San Diego, Boot Camp and we lived on the Marine Air Station, USMCAS Miramar. This little base houses many of the best fighter planes the world has to offer. The sirens meant nothing to me as they regularly practiced drills of Marines getting to the flight lines, however, the words over the loud speakers said, “This is not a drill, all personal report immediately to work in battle gear.” We had one of the speakers right outside our house. I quickly went downstairs and turned on the TV. I was shocked by what I was witnessing in New York. Vehicles began coming down our street informing us that our base was on lock down and nobody would be able to leave or enter the base. All of the Dad’s were dressed and loading their packs in thier vehicles and children and wives were hugging them good bye. Ed was at work. MCRD runs parallel with the San Diego airport flight lines. My stomach felt like lead as I prayed that none of the planes in the air would be crash landing into all of our Barracks of Recruits and Marines. Our skies were deafening as all of our planes began taking off and scrambling along their various missions. I explained to Vicki and Jorden why they would not be going to school. Ty was 1 and Ryan was 1 ½ months old, far too young to know anything was happening. Ed called to say they were all okay and that they just held their breaths each time a plane came in for the forced landing. He said he had recruits from New York and he would be working on finding out how their families had faired in the attack and would be home whenever the bases reopened………….Jorden wrote a paper on his birthday, I found it in his scrapbook and thought I would type it out……he had turned 10 that day….
Sept 11, 2001
On Sept 11th it was my birthday and my mom said you might be late for school and after a few minutes my mom said you’re not going to school today and I asked why and my mom said to watch the news so I did and what I found out was that some terrorists hijacked two planes and ran both of them into the world trade centers and they both collapsed. 500 firemen died and I think 26 policemen and over one thousand civilians on Sept 11th. The reason that I could not go to school was because we could not go out or in the gates and I will always remember this birthday of all the people that died.
On Sept 11 I felt sad for all the people that died and a little scared because what if they start to bomb San Diego. I even felt a little mad of what the terrorists have done and I know we are going to pay them back
When we went off base and on base there were a lot of Marines there and they had on helmets, bullet proof vests, pistols, M-16’s, and a lot of other battle gear.
At school our teacher let us watch the news of what happened and I hope that we can get these people back and catch the person that did this to us and he is wanted dead or alive.
One day at school all the schools in America did the pledge of alliegance at 11:00 to show that our country is the best country and the strongest country ever and that we will not let them do that ever again because we will stop them before they can hurt us again.
One day after school we went to a restaurant called Oliver Grove because the money that we give them they put 10% of the money to New York of what happened so that is why we went out to eat at Olive Grove.

Dinner Table Conversations

Dinner time at our house is crazy most nights, but the the few evenings we are ALL actually at the table provide great entertainment! I figured i would use this blog to randomly post thoughts, one liners, arguments, etc. on here for our family journal, so it will occasionally be updated whenever one of our fire team has something worth remembering and of course if i have time to write it! How people have time to keep thier sites updated, i will never know! Maybe when i have outgrown my desire to be outside playing this sitting at a computer will be more enticing....but for now, i will post when i have time....

Sept. 4, 2008, Okinawa, Japan
We were sitting at the dinner table tonight talking about all kinds of the normal sit around the dinner table conversations and Vicki and i are talking back & forth and Ed turns to us and says "what are you guys saying"? Ryan, while slurping his milk shake thru his straw, nonchalantly says, "you don't speak girl Dad, but Mom does". This just cracked up Ed and i.

April 6, 2008
Ty informed us tonight that he knows why Okinawa is so hot! He said it was because they burn their trash! Wow, the insites of an 8 year old never cease to amaze me!

March 17, 2008
Ryan informed us tonight that when he grows up he wants to be one of santa's elves because he just loves him so much and wants to build toys for him. I laughed and said he had plenty of time to thnk about it, but he definately had the ears for the job of an elf!

Looking Back With Giggles

Memories That Make Me Laugh & Ed Go AAARRRGGGHHH!

Ed just re enlisted for probably the last time! This one was for 5 years and should take him to the 20 year mark. The USMC would have to offer him something REALLY good for him to stay any longer in this gun club! Soo, we think this was the last one! We were laughing when we remembered the first time he re enlisted.....i went and picked him up at work and he throws this poloroid picture at me and says he is done with the Marine Corps and that he had just got out. I had a momentary blast of panic as i frantically figured out how much time we would have to get out of base houseing, where we were going to go, what we were going to do, how much in savings, all kinds of stuff in that moment and than he laughed and threw another pix at me and said he is back in the good ole USMC for 4 more years. That was the first and now we just had our last. Always a scary moment when the hand goes up and the oath is repeated....he's been kept safe and hopefully the next deployments will continue to keep him safe and that was the last time i will have that scary uncertain feeling in my stomache! We were talking about all the crazy things we have gone thru on this journey we have chosen and were just laughing at all the memories. These are two of my favorites, not Ed's favorites, but mine.....i still laugh when we remember these times and Ed still says he is going to kill me someday....there are probably endless stories to tell tucked away in my journal, but i'll share these two since they are short and always make me giggle!

The Smiley Face
One time Ed came home at lunch time. He took off his cover (hat) and was sitting at the kitchen table eating. I picked up a marker and went behind him and drew a happy face-and yes it was the classic Julia Happy Face with the big ole tongue sticking out- right there on the back of his head. As I was drawing, he of course said “you better not be writing on my head!” I giggled and said “of course not baby, the lid is on”. And then I even showed him the marker that now had a lid on it. After he finished lunch he headed back to work. He put his cover back on and my smiley face was right where I wanted it! It was just under his tan line, right there where anyone behind him would see it! Yes, mission accomplished!!! I laughed sooo hard after he drove away knowing full well he was going to kill me when he got home! Later that night when he got home from work he let me know that he hadn’t found my artwork as amusing as I had. He said he kept hearing “Cpl Kretschmer, why do you have a smiley face on your head?” I still laugh when I remember that day and he still says he is going to kill me someday for it!

Socks
Soooo, one day I thought I would decorate a pair of Ed’s white socks with some cool paints that I had. I covered them up with hearts and kisses and I love you’s and all kinds of girlie stuff. Sooo, later on down the road……..on an early morning before the sun had risen Ed is grabbing a pair of socks out of his drawer in the dark and heads off to work. Camp Pendleton is 80 miles from our house. He gets to work and quickly changes into his PT gear and is not so happy to discover the socks he grabbed were the beautiful ones I had decorated for him! Yea, he got lots of comments on his cool socks! I wonder if he was wearing a pair of the boxers I had decorated for him as well….? Another memory where I laugh and Ed goes AAARRRGGGHHH!

I'm Confused

Sooo, i'm talking to Ed yesterday in Japanese and than i ended my thoughts in Spanish and didn't realize i had even switched languages until he just shook his head and said "confused is the word for you my dear". Yes, Ed refuses to speak anything other than English, so i do randomly talk to him in those 2 languages, but i had never switched languages before.....i guess i am one confused chicki!

Shark Cage Dive

While in Hawaii i was able to do one of the things on my Wish List! A Shark Cage Dive! It was the coolest! Jorden did it with me! We took a boat out about 3 miles off the coast of Ohau's North Shore and than got in a shark cage in about 400+ feet of water! They threw bait in the water and whala, the sharks appeared! They were between 13 and 15 of them and the avergage size was about 10 to 15 feet long. Yes, i was scared, i kept wondering if there was anyway that the cage could somehow not work properly, like come off from the boat and us sink to the bottom and have to swim out and surface without the cage to the boat. I watched how it worked very closely and than just went for it! The scary part was getting into the cage, i hoped i would not fall over the side into the water or that a shark wouldn't bite my foot as I was climbing down the bars into the cage. It was a scary sensation when they let the ropes go and we floated out away from the boat and the sharks began circiling us! Once inside the cage, i quickly realized that between the waves and the sharks bumping the cage that my limbs were continually outside the bars of the cage! That freaked me out cause like i didn't want a shark chomping into my leg or arm! But with being somewhat scared but having the time of my life i did manage to get some pretty cool pictures. Jorden took some too and he loved it as much as i did!

Dive Meida Point

Meida Point is my favorite place to dive on Okinawa! It is truly a beautiful dive spot! There are always an abundance of fish to watch and follow and we usually see eels, octopus, rays, and even a shark here! The visibility is almost always fantastic! This is the place i saw my first shark out in the open water! Very scary and i almost swallowed my reg, but an amazing experiance all the same! There are also caves here to explore that are like totally fun to swim into! I also completly love that there are always a lot of people here diving! My imagination doesn't get the best of me as long as there are plenty of divers around down under and snorkelers above me! ha! To get down to the water, you have to walk a lot of stairs and it seems like more stairs when it is time to go up! Someday i am going to count these stairs! It probably really isn't that bad, but on a hot day with full sun and all that gear on, you really do sweat alot by the time you get to the water and going up the stairs, especially after a rough dive, it can be quite exhausting climing up. Ed will usually carry my weights on those days! This dive spot also has a nice chain that you can grab on to and pull yourself back to shore when the water condition has changed by the time you surface. I've been slammed into the cliffs of Meida on more than one occasion! Ed says i look like a rag doll bouncing off the rocks. Soo fun! But it is my favorite place to dive and take pictures!

Two Scoops Please?

Okay, so I am in line with some friends to order an ice cream cone. I asked if I could have a double scoop and the lady tells me no, that I can only have a single scoop. I asked, "Really?" and she said, "Just one scoop." Sooo, I asked my friends if they think this is part of that new food philosophy of the vendors taking more responsibility in keeping their clients healthy? We laughed and thought about sending up a skinny person to ask for a double scoop of ice cream so we could see if it was because I was too fat or if they just do not sell you more than one scoop. But the only tiny people around were Okinawan and didn't speak English, so I am left to wonder….. Only in Okinawa………..

Broke Down In Guam

The kids and i have flown thru Guam many times catching military hops to Travis AFB, California. We have never broken down in Guam going Stateside, but manage to breakdown almost every time coming home! So far, from only my experience, this is the worst place for your aircraft to break! We have always broken while flying the C-5's there. Unfortunately, there are no C-5 mechanical crews on Guam, so when you break, these guys have to be flown in from Kadena AFB, Okinawa. So, yes, you are going to be there a few days. Guam is also in the heart of typhoon country, so if there is something churning between Guam and Okinawa, well it will just be that much longer before the crew gets there to fix your plane. And yes, we have been stuck there when typoons have approached. The longest we have been stuck there was 5 days! NO FUN!!! It is hotter than anywhere i have ever lived, muggier than anywhere i have ever been, and the bugs make our Oki jungle crawlers look miniature size. But there are rental cars and we have toured the itty bitty island. You just go out the gate, turn left on Highway 1 and head out and around. There are several resorts with the nicest of beaches where we have hung out and killed time. It is almost like a little Hawaii, even with the ABC Stores. There used to be lockers where you could lock up your suitcases, but due to the increase in terror levels, those have been removed and so you just make new friends very quickly, share a rental car and take turns watching each others luggage. Billetting is almost always not available, but the terminal is open 24 hours and the PX and Commissarry is accross the street as well as the Movie Theatre, Gym, and swimming pool. The best time was when we were stuck there with 5 other families from our neighborhood! We had been traveling together since Hawaii. We got billetting and had almost the whole wing. It was hilarious! As always for Guam, you have to go into your room first and kill everything alive, and those bugs are no joke! Of course it is always moms travleing w the kids, so we are on our own to kill the besats! Jorden won't even go after them for me. Than you have to keep everything zipped up while in there or you will have scary things crawl outta your suitcase when you get home! It's happened to me, but only once! I learned that lesson fast! Nixon saved us one time when our plane had been broke for 5 days! Ed was talking on the phone with Nixon and asked him where he was, he said he was in Guam. Ed said my wife and kids are stuck there. He showed up the next morning at the termnal with 4 Marine C-130's for us and all the rest of the Kadena bound stragglers! It's a bummer because only the Air Force flights are listed at the terminals, they won't put up the marine flights. UUUHHGG!! But the Marines saved us that day! And it wasn't the last time they have brought me home from some distant country!

Sushi Anyone?

I came home one night and noticed that my fish were kinda not swimming right, most nose diving and surfacing....as i got closer to the tank, i put my hands on the glass and realized it was hot! My heater thing had broken and my fish were boiling! I started putting ice cubes in the tank and sent the kids off to neighbors for more ice. We weren't fast enough and all died but Elecra and Little Blue. One of my neighbors found humor in our sadness and asked us if we were having everyone over for sushi. Love my friends! They can always bring a smile to my face!

Typhoon Swimming

One typhoon Leilani and i were a little bored during lockdown. Anyways, we thought it would be fun to climb the wall around the pool at the high school. It is right accross the street from our house. We climbed it and had fun taking pictures of each other jumping off of the diving boards as we flew in the wind! It was late at night and we realized that the flash from my camera might catch some peoples attention, so we took the rest of our pictures underwater! Gotta love my friends!!! Leilani, you are sooo much fun!!! Yep, both our husbands were off island somewhere else in the world, otherwise, i don't know if we could have pulled that one off!

Flour With Your Eggs?

One morning Ed and i woke up as mischievious as ever....Ed saw Jorden and Cody asleep outside on the trampoline. He ran downstairs and brought back up a whole bunch of eggs. We opened our window and began egging Jorden and Cody in thier sleep. We told them we were giving them breakfast in bed....meanwhile one window over....Cody's mom, Kat, hears all this noise and is getting mad that there is all this comotion going on soooo early on a Saturday and looks out her window. After realizing the situation, she goes downstairs in her house and comes back up and opens her window and sweetly calls out my name....of course, i'm all smiles and giggles and hang out my window to say "Good Morning" and she hollers out..."Want some flour with your eggs?" and proceeds to throw a huge amount of flour all over me and thru my window. It was hilarious! The memories....the stories....the laughter that will never be forgotten!

Immunizations!

The Immunizations Office has never been fun to take the kids to, humorous at times but never FUN! All 4 of the kids needed shots for this upcoming school year. I think this is the first time they have all gone in to get shots together since they got their overseas shots to come over here to Okinawa. Ty and Ryan both freaked out and screamed their bloody heads off! Jorden and I had to actually pin them down so they could get their pokes and bubble, all needed the TB test. This reminded me of a very funny time when I had taken Thing One & Thing Two in for shots. They were 2 and 3 at the time. Ty was the oldest so he went first. I held him on my lap and he cried crocodile tears as he had his shots. Ryan watched this and was quite appalled that he was going to have to do the same thing. I am not exactly sure how it happened, it was so fast, but Ty and Ry exchanged some sort of communication and WOW! Ryan flew outta the room and Ty was yelling after him “Run for you life, Ryan, RUUUUUNNNN!!!” I took off after Ryan. Ty was running behind me yelling the whole time for Ryan to “Run for his life!” Now, let me tell you about where we were…..this was back when the kids could get their shots done at sick call where the active duty Marines went, so this place was packed in cammies, there were atleast 100 or more Marines getting their Small Pox shot. This was a building with winding hallways that were packed with Marines. I was the only adult there NOT in cammies! Ryan was running full speed and was dodging around cammies, between legs and I was doing my best to figure out which way he was running. It wasn’t too hard to notice the uniforms swaying from side to side dodging the missile flying thru the hallways! I said plenty of excuse me’s as I ran after Ryan and heard all the chuckling and even heard Marines cheering him on! Next thing I see Ryan in the air! A Doc was walking down the hallway and scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder and hollered out to see who Ryan belonged to. Ty was still yelling to fight and run when we caught up with the Doc. I quickly explained we had run from Immunization and so the kind Doc carried Ryan over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes while Ryan punched his tiny fists into his back and Ty yelled to keep fighting. As we rounded the corner back to Immunization, a huge roar of applause broke out for Ryan and all the hundreds of Marines packed in their gave him High 5’s and told him to be brave and that they were getting shots to and they wished they could run! Ryan bit down on his lip and Ty held his hand while I wrapped my arms around him and he had his little booster shots. He was given another thunderous round of applause as we made our way thru the sea of cammies out the door to my car.

Forest Adventure Park

Ed and i went to this really cool park that just opened here on Okinawa. It is called Forest Adventures Park. It is a European Park they brought here. I know you guys in the states have all kinds of cool things like this, but for us, this was just an amazing day! I think it is the best surprise date i have taken Ed on, aside from Catalina Island. That will always be our favorite and needs it's own blog! Anyways, this obsatacle course took us thru a jungle. We were harnessed in really good w a safety chord as well. The zip lines were 120 feet up and we raced along the tree tops! It was exhilerating being up so high and looking down on the jungle and at the same time to see the beautiful blue ocean on the side of us! It was soooo fun i didn't even notice ONE bug!!! I could hear them, you can ALWAYS hear them, but didn't notice a one of 'em! It was a very hot, humid, black flag day, but it was sooo much fun we didn't notice until we were done that we were drenched in sweat! It took us 2 1/2 hours to complete and was just simply incredible!!! The last part was the most challenging! The Tarazan Swing, or as i called it The Spider Web, was the scariest part for me and i almost got down. Just couldn't bring myself to make that drop before you were thrown out to this net you needed to grab on to! But, i did it and found it to be the most fun of all!!! wanted to do it over and over again!!! Ed and i are buying year passes so we can come all the time. It is right by where we dive at Meida. Jorden wants to bring friends here for his birthday. If you ever come visit us, this will be one of our places to take you!!!

Sometimes....

Sometimes life deals the cards just right and you are lucky enough to be in the right place at the precise moment in time and have the most amazing opportunity to share this fantastic thing called life with the bestest of people! We have had that here on Okinawa! Kat and Matt next door and Leilani and Angus across the way have been our neighbors since we moved into this little concrete house on Camp Foster on the itty bitty island of Okinawa! I still remember Kat coming over on our very first day and giving us a plate of brownies and introducing all the kids on the street. My munchkins immediately scattered with the neighborhood children that were their age and I went back inside to finish unpacking. Not having the slightest idea that Kat was going to become a friend that will always be held dear to my heart. Vicki instantly began playing with her daughter Alex and Jorden hit it off with Cody. Ty and Ryan, 2 and 3, began to play with the giant group of little boys and a few little girls their age. Later that day I came home and found a note taped to my door that the neighborhood was going to be grilling together for Labor Day and to join them for some fun. My only thought at that moment was that these people were frickin insane! It was like a few hundred degrees outside with humidity that saturated you in a heartbeat! Why would you grill when you could just throw your meat out on the pavement and watch it cook? But, needless to say, we went out in the heat and sat drenched in our sweat and the friendships were formed that would never unravel, no matter where our future duty stations would send us! That has been the last 5 years of our life on this island! Spending it with the most incredible of people. Our kids have grown up together, potty trained together and began school together. Our husbands have deployed together, gone to war together, and thru it all we have been one big family. Ohana it is! Always there for each other, thru the good and the bad. Laughing when we have wanted to cry and crying because we have laughed so hard! Securing our houses when the typhoons have approached, the Dad’s on island making sure the houses with deployed Dad’s were set and ready. Hanging out during lockdowns and playing games till we could not keep our eyes open. Santa’s visits on Christmas Eve, Thanksgivings, trick or treating, roasting marshmallows and sitting by a fire, even if it meant with umbrellas! Angus practicing his aim with his paint ball guns at our front door, bringing out the left over’s and having a buffet so nobody had to cook that night……….the list goes on of all the fun times shared! We have lived in the kind of neighborhood where you can take your trash out in the morning and 5 hours later realize you need to go inside and figure out what to make for dinner. There is always someone sitting outside and a chair waiting for you to join them. Every year we have endured the sadness of the moving trucks pulling in to pack out our dear neighbors as they head out to new horizons. Now, the last two families from our original group are leaving and I am so very grateful for the treasured memories and saddened by the thought of not seeing you each day! Kat, I couldn’t have asked for a better family to share walls with! You were my very first friend on Oki! You are the wise one and I will miss all of our chats in your front yard and watching the clouds on your trampoline to the tunes of my iPod! Tank has made us forever family! Leilani, you have been the twin I never had! Thanks for being the brave one and enduring my screams during the late night scary movies and letting me grab your arm and making you tell me when I could open my eyes! It was the best swimming laps everyday while we traded watching each other’s kids! I think we are the only ones to sneak into the pool during lockdown in a typhoon and take pictures of each other jumping off the diving boards as we flew in the wind! I can’t imagine going to the beach this summer without you and the rest of your crew! I’ll miss not seeing you plopped on my couch or vice versa hanging out on yours! Who is going to help me move my furniture around?! I know this is not good bye; it is just merely a switch in our locations. With tears running down my face and a shaky smile I bid you all farewell and know that our paths will cross again. We have truly been blessed to live among you all!!! And as the song goes…. “I will remember you……” Now, I guess I will just catch up on everything that I have put off over the last 5 years!!!