Good and Gone

D-day (That would be Deployment Day) is now Good and Gone and so is my husband.  Many of you may not know this but because of Operational Security we (spouses and family members) are not allowed to post details regarding deployments or exercises on the internet - i.e. when they are leaving, where they are going, etc.  So I will kindly just direct your attention to Facebook where you can "like" the 31st MEU or HMM 265 and they will give you all the details themselves.  I must admit it annoys me that we are not allowed to post details but the units can.  I just don't get it.  What is the difference?  I have no idea.  If someone could explain it to me, I would be appreciative.  But, I digress.  Back to D-Day.

We had a tropical storm over the weekend which worked in our favor and gave me a few more days to enjoy my husband.  This was awesome because Olivia is teething and I think I might have gone insane were it not for the hubs being here. Sooooo nice!

I am actually relieved to begin the actual deployment cycle.  All this "preparing" for him leaving left me a bit emotionally exhausted.  Wills, powers of attorney, Family care plans, blah blah blah....  I am happy to just get on with it and look forward to him coming back.  My first born is having some serious issues dealing with this deployment, though.  I won't go into detail but it is enough to break this momma's heart.  Never fear, I have an action plan and am working on the coping mechanisms for him, but there is not much I can do or say to help him at certain times.  It is hard to know that you can't make it all better for them.

We are having a great summer so far and are really enjoying the island.  Wyatt finishes up an "around the world" camp next week and then we start swimming lessons.  And, my sister-in-law is visiting us at the end of July for 2 weeks!  I am really excited.  I know Tommy is sad that he won't be here to see her, but I personally am looking forward to showing her Okinawa and having a little bit of help with the kiddos this summer.  It will be a welcome relief!  Now, who wants to sign up for a visit in October/November to help me through the Fall season?!? :)

Fire Department Tour

Now that it is summer and preschool is out, we have a playgroup for the kids in Wyatt's class.  Each parent hosts a week and is in charge of setting up whatever we do that day.  So far we have done parks/playgrounds and had a water fun day.  Yesterday one of the moms set up a tour of the Fire Department on Kadena Air Base and the kids had a great time!

 The Airmen showed them the ambulance and explained the different features and equipment and then the kids got to walk through it.  Then they did the same for the fire trucks - they showed them the jaws of life, the hoses, and other stuff that I have now forgotten :)  Then the kids got to walk through the mid-section of the fire truck where the bench was.  Wyatt asked several times why they didn't get to sit in the FRONT of the fire truck so they could drive it... I didn't have a good answer for him on that one!

All the kids got red fire hats and a bag full of goodies, including a KFD water bottle, caribeeners, pencils, fire pamphlets and information, and a gold firemen's badge.  They had a great time!

Our little lady looking very "fiery" red! :)

Another Okinawan Friend

I have started to make a few Japanese friends here.  This, however, is not one of them!!!!

We were outside last night playing basketball, and lo and behold look who showed up to play with us?!?!  Spiders do not scare me, as a general rule.  But this... this thing made the hair on my arms stand on edge.  I mean seriously... absolutely, positively DISGUSTING.  He is ENORMOUS (see pen comparison), hairy, and has fangs.  Go ahead and double click on that picture and check him out.  He is over half the length of the pen!!!I was convinced that if we got bit we would immediately be headed to the emergency room, so half a can of Raid later our friend was shriveling up and dying.

After looking it up on Google it appears that he is actually 'harmless.'  He is an Okinawan brown spider and not venemous, even though the size of his fangs measure approximately 1/2 centimeter.  I know, because I measured them.  When he was dead, of course.

GRODY!

Snorkeling in the Keramas!

 
Snorkeling in the Keramas has been on my Okinawa bucket list since we moved to our little island paradise!  I was so excited that we were finally able to go here.  There is something about being on a remote island that I just love.  (Okinawa is not exactly remote.  It's pretty big for an island, and vastly populated.  But the outer islands around here are just amazing to me.)  The Keramas are a chain made up of about half uninhabited and half inhabited that offer some of the best snorkeling in the WORLD.  Seriously amazing stuff.  We have been to some of the other outer islands and I just love the feeling of being AWAY from the hoards of other people.  No one else around, just us, the sand and the waves and a couple of grass huts to eat a good meal in.
 
Our journey started by taking a 70-minute ferry ride to our island of choice:  Tokashiki Island.  I'm not going to lie... we chose this island because it is the closest of the Keramas and I get very, very sea sick!  But I popped my dramamine and off we went.  I did feel pretty queasy but there was no barfing.  So the trip was off to a great start.



We found our hotel and it was so quaint, we just loved it.  This is the view from our room!  We were traveling with some friends, Brad and Robyn and their little girl Kaitlin who is Wyatt's age.  They are in the same preschool class so they were excited to be on "vacation" together! The hotel was run by a Japanese family and had about 5-6 rooms.  In traditional Japanese fashion, they cooked meals for us - dinner and breakfast.  We dropped our stuff off and went in search of lunch.  We ended up eating at this little Japanese shack that made us the best bowls of Soba noodles we'd ever eaten.  YUMMY!
 
Next up was the beach...our own private one, above!  The water is so clear you can't even tell where the sand stops and the water starts.  it was over 90 degrees and sunny and very, very humid.  Definitely a TROPICAL paradise!  The water felt amazing!!  It was so great to jump in and cool off.   We had to reapply sunscreen about 39 times but it was a great afternoon.  We took turns watching the kiddos and snorkeling.  Tommy and I didn't see anything completely amazing, but there were tons and tons of fish.  Everywhere there were fish!  Every color, shape, size, and pattern you could imagine.  Black and white polka dot fish.  The most beautiful rainbow fish I have ever seen. Huge schools of fish. A sea snake. A fish who BIT me when I pointed to it to show Tommy.  And two sweet angelfish who followed us on our entire snorkeling adventure from start to finish!  The coral was beautiful!


After a full day of traveling and fun in the sun, our little Olivia was finally wiped out.  She fell asleep on the beach!  This is amazing because our kids NEVER fall asleep in random places - I mean seriously, never! 

We cleaned up and had dinner at our hotel.  They made us a delicious dinner and the kids played with the owner's children.  Apparently a good game of Mario Kart is universal and breaks all language barriers!  The kids decided to join us for ice cream down the street!  Here they are at the ice cream stand!  We finally called it a night, exhausted from the day.... and lack of air conditioning... :) 

The next morning, Robyn's family went to the other side of the island to the other beach, but we opted for a self-guided tour of the island via our car (we brought it over on the ferry with us).  We found two World War II memorials, one of which was a memorial at the location of the mass suicide of the Japanese Army. 




We also found a neat park with a HUGE roller slide!  And warnings about the Habu snakes.  Tommy thinks it is funny that they can manage to spell Infestation correctly but not Habu. :)  The kiddos played there for about 30 minutes and made friends with some other little Japanese kids who followed Olivia around as if she were totally amazing.  They gave Wyatt a Pokeman card and picked flowers for Olivia.  So sweet!

Tokashiki is very mountainous, and we stopped at tons (and I do mean TONS!) of look-out points to take pictures of the surrounding islands and aqua blue water.  I have never in my life seen water this color and sand this soft - soft as silk!  It was amazing.  Okinawa has amazing beaches and views, but hands down Tokashiki Island trumps it any day of the week!


Here is our happy little girl on the ferry ride back.  She was ALL over that boat giving Tommy a workout on Father's Day!  The ferry ride back was ok for me, but Wyatt did end up puking (and NOT over the side of the boat!!).  Always an adventure with those kids, I tell ya! :)  All in all, a great little mini vacation before "GO" time.

"Twice-Baked" Baked Goods

THIS is what happens when you have two sick kids who are screaming, fighting, and bored and a mama-san trying to explain to you in half Japanese and half English what kind of mop you should buy because the one you have isn't good enough, and are fitfully trying to get dinner made and in the oven so it can be done before you have to leave for a pre-deployment brief in less than 45 minutes.

Go ahead and double-click on that image to enlarge it and make it REAL BIG.  Note the singed edges of the rope ties and the melted plastic saran wrap on the individually wrapped pumpkin muffins.  Know that in the center of the black plate there is a very large hole where the plastic has melted completely through.  Now imagine the scent of something burning in your pre-heated oven, and me opening the oven to find the baked goods that I had made earlier that morning (which, I may add, were something I had to make to bring to a meeting today and then had to re-make) and stored in the oven so the cat would not get to them, unwrap them, and destroy them.

**Sigh.**

Bridesmaid Bunco!

Alas, June has finally arrived and wedding season is upon us! It was my turn to host Bunco this month so I went with a Bridesmaid Bunco theme.  It was so much fun!  The night actually started off a little rocky though... Tommy's intention was to take the kiddos out of the house for the evening, but ended up taking Wyatt to the emergency room for stomach pain. Livy stayed here with me, though, and as I was desperately rushing around trying to get myself and everything else ready, she also needed to be fed and of course pooped at the most opportune time!  She stayed up and socialized with us for awhile and then once things got underway with the food I put her to bed early, so it worked out just fine.



The ladies all wore their worst bridesmaid dress (although some of them cheated and just went with regular bridesmaid dress...).  Everyone looked great!  I wore this hideous mess of a wedding dress that I found for $10 at the base thrift store.  Joanne was kind enough to bring a hideous bridesmaid bouquet and a few of them wore their long 90's gloves, like the kind we wore to prom :)

Wyatt had helped me put up streamers earlier for decorations and I had doilies and mints for the tables.  I had previously given everyone a "Save the Date" card for Bridesmaid Bunco, and Jenny made a beautiful wedding cake.  The food was delicious and was complimented by the many, many gallons of sangria which flowed nicely from the punch bowl.  Ivette brought a chocolate fountain for fondue dipping and we toasted to the everything crazy going on in our lives with a champagne toast to kick off the night.

A few highlights of the night...


Cutting the cake & serving it to each other...


Antonia had never, ever, in six months of Bunco playing, rolled a Bunco, but that night she finally did!  This is her happy bunco dance!

The ladies found the Hop Hop Pony that Tommy brought back from Thailand for Olivia.  Eventually we decided that whenever you rolled a Bunco that you had to go on a "ride" on Hop Hop.  There may or may not have been some other inappropriate things happening with Hop Hop...  by the end of the night Hop Hop was decorated with a garder, two hair flowers, and my tiara.  When Wyatt woke up the next morning, he said, "Look Dad, Hop Hop is all decorated!  He must have won the game!

Me wearing the garder (because I had Bunco) and stuffed with bills from the dollar dance... (we did the dollar dance because everyone has to pay $5 to play Bunco)

 All in all another super fun night!  Who knew this group would turn out to be so much fun!

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous

(the view from our balcony!)

Last weekend we headed out (a day late from Typhoon Songda) to the Okinawa Marriott Resort and Spa.  A guy that Tommy works with got us some Employee Discount tickets to stay there on the cheap, and we loved every minute of it!

From the minute we arrived, they treated us like royalty.  We got out of the car and never lifted a finger from there on!  They unloaded our baggage, whisked our car away, and had us checked into our room in less than 5 minutes flat!


The day we arrived, the hotel was still cleaning up from the typhoon so their outdoor facilities were closed, but we took advantage of the indoor pool and hot tub.  The kids had a great time in the pool using the floatie boards and floatie rings.  It was beautiful outside, and their pool is somehow covered with a roof, but the glass walls open up to an open air patio so it felt like we were outside.

Then we enjoyed our amazing bathroom and got cleaned up for dinner.  The separate, enormous bathtub and shower easily accommodated our family of four and provided a good hour of entertainment and fun for the little ones!  That night we had a 5-course Japanese dinner and it was so good!  Once our bellies were full we retired to our rooms to rest up for a long day of fun in the sun.

The next day dawned and we stuffed ourselves at an amazing breakfast buffet, then headed off to the pool.  "Pool" is probably the understatement of the year... not really sure what to call it.  Garden poolside paradise?!?  There were at least three pools, two jacuzzis, a sauna, kiddie slides and a lazy, winding river slide.  The jacuzzis were elevated and overlooked an amazing view of the sparkling blue waters of the Bay of Nago/East China Sea and the beach down below.


After swimming, it was naps all around and a good book for me, followed by an afternoon at the beach.  The beach was still a bit torn up from the typhoon, but beautiful nonetheless. 



After we'd had our share of sand and saltwater, we retired for more fun in the water... again in our bathroom!!  The piece de' resistance (ok, I have no idea how to spell that...), however, came at dinnertime.  Again, I am not quite sure how to describe it, other than simply delish!  I had prime rib, lamb, pork, steak, and the most amazing clams I've ever tasted.  And that was just the first plate.  I had a whole other plate of sides, a separate salad plate, and a sampling of at least 3 desserts that were all to die for.  Hands down the best food I've eaten on this island!

Before checking out the next morning, we took advantage of the breakfast buffet and the pool again.  After we checked out, they happily took our picture at three different locations with my camera and brought our car to us, packed it with our bags, and hand washed it with Marriott towels.  Amazing!  I so hope we get to go back to this place again before we leave the island!

Typhoon Songda

The great thing about Typhoons is that you get plenty of warning with them.  We knew several days in advance that Typhoon Songda was headed our way, so plenty of time to prepare!  We went through what has become our ritual of moving all outdoor equipment inside or into our teeny concrete storage shed, securing the grill and patio furniture, and tying up our trash can.  Most of the time these thing prove unnecessary because the storm either peters out in intensity or misses us by the time it gets here, and I am always tempted to just not go through these motions, but this time I was glad we did!

We usually get a lot of wind and rain with typhoons, but this time there was an eerie "calm" before the storm.  We were actually outside at the park with the kids in the late afternoon, trying to fight off their boredom at having been inside all day for what appeared to be no good reason :)  But after we put the kids to bed, the winds picked up and finally around 10 p.m. they hit full force!  Tommy and I watched from our bedroom window as one power surge after another would hit and then knock out a section of power on the major road that runs behind our house.  Our own power went out after the third power surge and then we watched as the rest of the city lights eventually blinked off.

We could already see several larger trees down in the big yard behind our house (there is a tree line that separates us from the highway).  But the palm trees on the highway stood tall and straight and proud, looking like tiny toothpicks in a sea of wind, rain, and debris.  We saw several neighbors outside in the storm trying to secure their belongings, flashlight in hand, braving the 135 mph winds!

Once daylight came we took a look at our backyard... trees down everywhere!  Our neighbors' trampoline mangled, another's vinyl shed scattered in pieces, another's gazebo completely crushed by either wind and/or the tree that fell on it.  Wyatt was amazed... "WOAH!!! Holy cow! Look at all the trees!"  I found three one-week old baby birds laying on the ground without their mother.  Two were alive, struggling to breathe... thankfully, the only casualties of the storm.  We took a stroll through our neighborhood.  More trampolines, gazebos, and trees... the trees were everywhere!

People jumped into action.  By 7:30 a.m., huge piles of trees and tree limbs had been stacked on every square inch of grass along the main neighborhood road.  I wish I had taken more pictures after all the trees were piled up... it was crazy!  People were out picking up debris; bags and bags of debris!  Neighbors helping neighbors.  Teamwork! :)  That's why I love being part of this community.

Thankfully, the power came back on about 11 a.m. and we were able to leave base then.  We were packed up and ready to go, no worse for the wear, and headed to the Marriott for our mini vacation!