Congrats Sis for making the 2009 Eagles All Star Cheer Squad!

Marissa tried out today, after late notice, for the 2009 Eagle's All Star Cheer Team, a competitive cheer squad here in Oki and made it! After quite a bit of coxing to sign-up for the Okinawa Youth Football League Cheer Team she surprisingly LOVED it and was more than excited to give this a try as well!
Congratulations little one! Don't let anybody ever tell you that you can not do something you set you mind to. Look at today, you worked hard and had a goal and now you are going to have many more great memories of our time here in Okinawa.

Go Eagles 2009!

Up to this point.

We have been crazy busy showing my Mom and dad the island and it has been so much fun! It is already sad to think that they will be leaving in about a month and I already feel a bit anxious that we will not have time to see it all. I can only imagine how things are going to pan out once they leave- I know I am going to stumble across another part of the hidden endless beauty of this island and be upset that I did not get share some part of it with them. How blessed I am to have the opportunity to share this experience with them as well as that my children will have these great memories of Nana and Papa in Okinawa.

A few things we have done up to this point
* Ikei Island
* Ikei Beach
* Big Time Resort
* Moon Beach - snorkel side (still get to explore the resort side!)
* Okuma
* Cape Hedo
* Main City Mall
* Yomitan Village
* Kokusai Street
* Yomitan Pottery
* Peace Prayer Park
* Marino's Italiano - Mom was so happy to find a place she could enjoy :)
* 100 Yen Sushi Bar
* Goen - still have to take Dad, he hung out at the house that day.
* The village open market

There is still so much to do! I am not sure why I am sitting here?

This boy needs a haircut.

Javan calls this his "surfer hair" and says he has to keep his curls "for the ladies". Sounds like he has been hangin' out with his Dad to me :)

Sunset at Cape Zanpa

Mmmmmm....so pretty.

CW02 Rick Richardson KIA 10JUN2009 - RIP

,
I was called to work Thursday morning, the last day of school, to fill in for a co-worker whom I later found out that she had received news of her husbands death earlier that morning.

I have to say I currently live in a place where "deployments" and "war" are everyday terms and I believe you eventually form a buffer to the stark reality of it all. I may sit with you for coffee at Starbuck's and you may tell me your husband left 2 months ago for Afghanistan and the response is "Oh, let me know if you need anything". As in this case, I looked at The Richardson's ball pictures on her desk at work prior to his death and thought "What a cute couple, they look so happy". The thought never crossed my mind of "I wonder if he will ever make it home to share in the Marine Corps traditions and once again take another "cute" picture with his wife or even tuck his son into bed?"

I should be ashamed for not looking at every moment and realizing that it is a gift. The Marine Corps worked so quickly to get Jenny and her son home that I never had a chance to express our sorrow and to say simple words that mean so little during such painful times. Lord be with them when there are no other words of comfort. CW02 Rick Richardson, Godspeed...

"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want
in...And how many want out. Only two defining forces have ever offered
to die for you: Jesus Christ and the American Soldier..One died for our
soul, the other for our freedom."

We look into the eyes of history on this island.

I accompanied Marissa on her filed trip to 3 "War Memorial" sites with her Social Studies class and although I still feel VERY overwhelmed by all the information, painful stories, pictures and tears- I wanted to share our experience with you.

Our trip was so fast so we were very rushed through the sites. There was not really enough time to take it all in. This is a trip that will have to be re-visited with more time and Kleenexes. I guess I never realized how the Okinawan's were so scared of us due to lies told about the Americans, they were scared for there lives and families. The fear of watching us abuse and mutilate their children and family caused many of them to murder their children and elderly. Standing at the cliffside where mothers threw there children off into the sea took my breath away trying to imagine the emotions that must have encompassed her.

Okinawa was a land set apart from Japan that had to suffer the consequences of evil rule and war that was necessary for all of us to live freely today. Many Americans, Okinawans and Civilians lost their lives on these grounds. I am humbled by them all.

Peace Prayer Park

Summer 09' is upon us.

I can not believe we have already spent 1 year here as of tomorrow! That is absolutely crazy. We have met so many awesome people and have seen so many things that we could not even have imagined was out there, we are so blessed to have this opportunity and to share it with you all.

Steve and I were just talking about how we wonder if the random, odd, strange sights that we see here will still amuse us as much when we leave in two years as they do now? You never know when you might stumble upon a little old Japanese Grandma scootin' past you at a stop light on her scooter with her leather jacket on or a bull meandering up the road on your way to the grocery store. Gotta' be ready for anything over here!

11 more days and the kids are out of school for the summer. I am so excited to have them home so we can explore this awesome island without concern of homework, bedtimes, and restrictions. Who knows what we will be able to get into...

We spent Memorial Day weekend at White Beach and then kept the kids home Tuesday for our long awaited family deep sea fishing trip. We drug ourselves out of bed at 0145 to meet up and leave from Naha port by 0400. I have never been deep sea fishing before so I was so completely distraught over having motion sickness that I think I was making myself sick before we even got on board the boat. I drugged EVERYONE up with Dramamine and apparently knocked them all out so we ALL slept for 3 hours while we trolled out to the "location" which was not much of a "location" after all.

Minimal fish and nasty weather coming in made for one VERY expensive private charter to sleep on! We fished for 2 hours then had to head back due to weather. I caught one Yellow fin Tuna and the kids did great catching some Rainbow Runners and Skip Jack. I had placed my order with Captain Billy as we pulled out for Shark, Swordfish and Mahi Mahi and even planned on sacrificing my HUGE storage bags to ice down my catch in but it did not work out so well for me, they just barely got away ;) I did have an awesome time but I think we will have to go again next year since this trip was cut short, I really don;t think I will have ANY problem talking Steve into it!

The local Ostriches

Every now and then a caravan of Americans must stop at random ostrich farms and mingle with the locals.

And to think...we all were in one little SUV. Can't say we have not learned to be compact!

The little thank yous

I received these beautiful flowers from a little boy who experienced an extreme fracture to his right arm while I was working at the school as their nurse. After calling EMS and arranging for parents to meet at the hospital and all that other good stuff I began to think how ineffective I felt at helping the little guy out who was in understandably excruciating pain. My perfect ideal complete fractured patient is one brought into me on a stretcher or stumbling through the door that I immediately place IV's, give drugs and off to X-ray. No more pain just a simple sleeping, relaxed, sedated patient. Perfect.

That does not happen so much at an elementary school - It was more like a whaling and screaming for "Mommy"; I found myself tearing up a few times because all I could think is as a mother I could not imagine not being there to ease my babies fears.

I have received many "Thank yous" throughout the years. Some come in the form of a thumbs up as they are wheeled out the helicopter for transport to the next hospital, some in the form of a high fives, some by a simple hug or a note from family. They all are worth the time and energy and care involved with each individual patient but this one really touched me because I really felt like I didn't do anything for the little guy.

Just think how big that bouquet would have been if I could have pushed him a bit of Morphine...

So I lied.

The weather is horrible out today. We are going nowhere.

It's a beach day!

Spring Break- The small gift given to mothers' around the world from the local school systems to enjoy a break from the mundane school routine and to allow you time to enjoy the fun things in life.

Marissa has had other ideas for us this year. We have spent the last 4 day trampling back and forth from ER to clinics dealing with her severe allergic reaction to ummmm....Idunno? The child is a mess and after 3 days of oral steroids and 1 mega dose of Solu-medrol in the buttocks I think we are headed on the downhill slide. Sooooo...for one of our nice weather days AND I don't have to worry that I may have to resuscitate her at any minute we are packing her up, wrapping a blanket around her head to keep the sun away, carting her to the beach and gently placing her under our huge umbrella today.

Sorry your Spring Break was a bust baby, our summer will make up for it!

I would post pics but I have to tell you I have no possible way right now. Just wait though, I will have plenty when the laptop is up and going again!!!

My kitty's been to Cocoks

OK, not really but that is what we told the kids.

You can not get your cat de-clawed on base here in Okinawa and it is seen as inhumane here on the island out in town so de-clawing your sweet little Freddy Kruger kitty can be quite tricky around here.

These are her new stylin' Soft-Paws and she is currently in a "trial period" to see if they are going to work for us.These little vinyl tips cover her existing claw and it allows her to continue using her scratchers but she is clueless that it is not tearing up my furniture, the kids faces, the curtains, my clothes,the comforter - you get it. Steve and I wrangled her up and glued her pretty pink little paws on last Tuesday and currently they are all still attached! My kitty is sooooo fashionable. Maybe we will go for zebra stripes next time!

Ikei Island hopping

Soooo....I have ALL sorts of excuses as to why I have been so bad at keeping this thing up. First one is:Steve has diligently been working on moving all the pics off of my laptop and placing them onto our external memory. If I recall he said something like "Cindi, STOP placing photos onto the laptop that I have to keep moving over to external because blah, blah blah, something, blah and whatever" BUT that has been forever and I feel like I am so behind in telling you guys all the fun stuff we have seen and done that I can not wait any longer. Plus, thanks to Terri and Larissa I think I am just going to start over fresh and act as if we have lived a total life of solitude and boredom and try not to get crazy catching you guys up otherwise I think I might get overwhelmed and say -F.O.R.G.E.T it.

(Here comes a total lie) We have not done anything since the beginning of the year until TODAY and I thought I would run right in and tell you all about it!!! Lucky you!!!

I have been looking for a place to camp for Steve's B-day and so I thought that we would venture out to look at a little beach on Ikei Island just about 25 kilometers from our house(ummmm...I only say this because that is what the sign says) They have camping and other fun stuff on this beach and it was ever so pretty but it seems that they will yen and dime you to death while you are enjoying your stay with them. The little fella' explained (in pretty good engrish I might add) that you can not even bring your own grill, you have to rent one from them for 3,000 yen (appx. $30.00) They do have a place where you can set up some small tents but he wanted to charge me 200 yen just to go look to see if we thought this sight would work. Crazy, I know but I was persistent is asking him more and more questions until he finally said "Come with me!" and he took me (for free I might add) to see the facilities. Playing the "dumb" American has its privileges! Long story short, I don't really see us camping with a large group out there due to fees but I do think it would be a great place for a day out with the fam or a one nighter.

After leaving Ikei Beach we went to a resort right down the road called Big Time Resort and although I have seen and been to much nicer resorts here on the island this one looks like it would be a nice day adventure to lounge by the pool and have a few drinks! Ahhh, summer can not come soon enough.

Of course the day is not complete without stopping by some random cafe and trying the Okinawa fare and we located this fun little place on the hillside overlooking the ocean. It reminded me of sitting in some little cabana on a remote island. HA! I guess that is exactly what it was! I'm not the kinda girl to fool you with words...




We had an awesome day and I am going to go ahead and upload pics and wait for my consequences, it will not be pretty but I will take one for the blog. Pray for mercy.

I missed me

Wow, I have been gone for quite awhile. I can not say that I have not thought that I should "log in" and catch everyone up BUT then I talk myself out of it. I think back to how long it has been and how much I need to say to catch everyone up and it exhausts me, I'm getting tired even thinking about it now. I think I will go to bed.

I must say though, this was fun.