We are back!

We have made it back to the states. It was a long trip with a couple of ups and downs. Alex and Rex went on the AMC flight from Kadena while ESPN and I had to go commercial out of Naha. But come to find out while waiting for my ride to Naha that ESPN and I were both scheduled to be on the AMC flight. We all made it to Seattle at the same time so we made our connection to Phoenix.

We got off the plane in Phoenix and were met by my parents, Shelly, Paula and a giant welcome home sign. Alex and I just had to laugh.

Going Away Dinner

This evening we went to my farewell dinner with my SHES co-workers. We went to Jack's Place, oh how I love some tempa-yaki. It was great to have a fun evening with friends.

Typhoon Kompasu

Alex and I have survived our first typhoon since coming to Okinawa. We went 2 years without a typhoon hitting the island. There were 2 that came close but we were on vacation both times. It rained for 2 days straight and I had lake front property. No real damage down here but Okuma got hit pretty hard. Trees uprooted and mudslides but nothing too bad.

Alex is home

Alex finally made it home. This was one long and very annoying deployment. He had been delayed 7 times in the past 3 weeks.

I had one of the spouses from the squadron come a take pictures of the homecoming. So a big thank you to Susan Fink for the pictures.

Tea Ceremony

Michaela set up a girls night. We went on the tea ceremony tour through ITT. It was pretty similar to the one up in Kyoto that Liz and I went to over spring break. This time it was in a room with lights instead of a room at night with one candle. Liz also would of liked not having to crawl through a little door to into the room. Instead of block of sweet bean paste they gave us a ball of sweet bean paste covered in mashed rice. You eat this before the tea since traditional green tea is not sweetened. I'm still not liking the texture.

Happy Birthday Alex !!!

Happy Birthday!!! We will go out when you get back and get that lobster.

The 4th of July

I was invited to a BBQ at Torii Beach. I spent all day at the beach eating good food and getting a tan or slightly burnt. Got to watch out for that Okinawan sun. The ribs were excellent, thanks Matt. When the sun started to go down so I headed home to watch the firework from my yard. Since Kadena was shooting the fireworks off across the street from the house. I like not having to worry about parking or the traffic leaving.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

I started off the day at Cocok's getting my nails done with Raquel and Liz. Then we headed to lunch at the Rocker since neither of us eat breakfast. Later that night we headed out to dinner at Captain's Inn. It was nice having friends celebrate with since Alex was not able to be there with me. After dinner we headed to to club for a few drinks and cake. I have such great friends that they got the club reserved just for me(Saturday no one goes to the club). I did get to talk to to Alex before I went to bed.

New Adventure

We have been waiting for this day to come. Alex and I are heading back to the states to Creech AFB, Indian Springs, Nevada. Creech is about an hour drive northwest of Las Vegas. Almost everyone assigned to Creech lives in Las Vegas. Alex will be changing air frames. He will no longer be a tanker pilot but a UAV pilot.

Alex and I are very excited to start this new chapter of our lives. This means both of us are going back to school. I'm applying to an Occupational Therapy program while Alex is going for his MBA.

We are also planning on buying our first house. This is another milestone we had to put off for 3 years while we live here in Japan. I have already started looking for houses and we will have a extra room for guests.

Army Ball

Since Alex says he will never go to an Air Force Ball, I decided to go to the Army Ball with my friend Liz. It was a fun getting all dress up and having our hair and make-up. It was an enjoyable evening with friends and learning about the Army.

SHES 2009-2010

Today was the last day of school for 09-10 year. It has been an interesting year with its up and downs. I moved into a new position, PSCD Aide. Special needs preschoolers, enough said. I'm happy and sad to see some of them go off to kindergarten next year. But I will get to see them again when I take my kids out to the playground.

We have alot of teachers and aides that are leaving or have left the school. SHES will not be the same without you.

Alex's "vacation"

Alex left for an all expenses paid by the air force "vacation" so it's just me and the cats this summer. Alex has just been upgraded to AC. He is now the most experienced person on the plane and is calling the shots. This is a good time for him to go since we are leaving Okinawa by the end of the year and the extra money will help with the down payment on a house. He will be gone for a few months nothing compared to a year long deployment.

909th Dining Out

Alex took me to the 909th Dinning Out, it might of been by threat. We got all dressed up to have an evening of laughter and drinking from the grog bowl. Alex did not have to visit the grog so he was on his best behavior. After the dinning out we headed to the club and Alex let his hair down. He was the dancing king of the floor.

Dragon Boat 2010

I did dragon boat again this year. It will be my last year since we are to be leaving Okinawa before the end of the year. I again rowed for the Army team since Liz and Raquel were on the team. We practiced 3 days a week for about 10 weeks in both the ocean and pool as well as two boat practices down in Naha. This year we again rowed against Navy and Marines. The Air Force team rowed in a separate race. Overall we came in third of the services.

Kyoto

The last city we visited was Kyoto. We went to 3 World Heritage Sites. Golden Pavilion, Kiyomizu Temple which over looks Kyoto, and Nijo Castle with the nightingale floors. One night we went to Gion which is where the Geshias work. We had a zen-tempura dinner, participated in a tea ceremony and watched 7 traditional Japanese performances. On the last day we headed to a temple that has paths lined with Toriis.

Hiroshima and Miyajima

Days 2 and 3 we were in Hiroshima and Miyajima via bullet train. It rained to whole first day. We went to the A-bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park. The following day we took a day trip to Miyajima and Mt. Misen since our train didn't leave until 5 p.m. We saw the giant Torii out it the water. The island had deer roaming around. We hiked up a mountain and a lot of stairs.

Osaka

For spring break I headed to mainland with Liz. Our first stop was in Osaka. We dropped off our bag at the hotel and headed out to explore the city. We visited the floating garden observatory at Umeda Sky Building. Then we headed to the hotel bar for a nightcap. We had to get up early the following day since we were taking the bullet train to Hiroshima.

Shisa Dogs

I signed up to make my very own Shisa. It was surprisingly not as stressful as I thought since most of you know about my artistic abilities. I'm happy with the Shisa and can't wait for them the dry so I can display them proudly. Another only in Japan experience.
Shisa is a traditional Ryukyuan decoration, often found in pairs, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog, from Okinawa mythology. Many people put a pair of shisa on their rooftops or flanking the gates to their houses. Shisa are wards, believed to protect from various evils. When found in pairs, the shisa on the left traditionally has a closed mouth, and the one on the right an open mouth.

Higashi Azalea Festival

I went to the Azalea Festival in the Higashi Village. The flowers were pretty. We walked around the grounds for a few hours. Another thing to see on Okinawa before we leave in Nov.

Battle of Okinawa

This morning Liz and I went on the ITT tour Battle of Okinawa. The tour guide is a lady who survived the battle. She gave alot of insight and information about the Okinawan people during the battle. She has been battling the Japanese Government over the details of the war on Okinawa. We first went to a cave where her family hid during the war. After her family left the cave became a death trap. Mothers were killing their child since the Japanese told the Okinawan people that the Americans were going to kill or enslave them. Next stop on the tour we headed to one of the hills near Naha, where some of the heaviest fighting took place. The next stop was the Underground Naval Headquarters. Finally we ended our tour at the Peace Prayer Park.

Taste of Asia

Alex and I went to a dinner show at the Butler O'Club called the Taste of Asia. The food was all kinds of Asian dishes so Alex was not too happy with the food selection but the open bar made up for the food. The entertainment was a local group. We enjoyed the dancing and drumming.

Sapporo Snow Festival

Alex and I along with our friend Liz went to the 61st Sapporo Snow Festival. The first night in Sapporo we headed out to an all you can get shrimp and crab restaurant. We had a great time feast on king crab legs and shrimp tempura. We didn't care for the egg seaweed custard. After dinner we went on the ferris wheel that was on top of a seven story building. We decided to walk back to the hotel and got a little lost and little cold. We finally made it back to the hotel and headed up to the lounge on the 26 floor. We had a great view of the city.
The second day we had a full day of fun. We ate breakfast at the hotel, it was a Japanese American buffet. Some interesting thing on the menu. I had soup, salad and a baked potato. We went to Otaru for some sightseeing. We walked around the canal and stream clock. We ate lunch at a ramen house but was actually a covered alley between two restaurants . After a few hours in Otura we headed to the Chocolate Factory. We watched them make cookies. We had a snack at the end of the tour. Then we went to dinner at the Sapporo Beer Factory, all you can eat and drink for 90 mins. Alex made sure not to waste a minute of all you can drink. We got back to the hotel and hit up the lounge again for a Violet Fizz and Alex found a new drink Charlie Chaplin.
Day three was the start of the festival . We headed to Tsu-Dome site via subway and bus. Alex called it a snow and ice park. We rode on raft being dragged by a snowmobile then waited in line for 45 mins to slide down the snow slide. While we were standing in line it started to snow and got very cold!!! So Liz and I did the Cupid Shuffle to stay warm. After the slide we went to Odori Park to see the snow sculptures. Some of the sculptures were huge. We walked the 12 blocks. We took the subway to Susukino site which has the ice sculptures. Before we left the station we stopped in Starbucks for a hot cup of coffee. We walked the three blocks of ice sculptures and then headed back to the hotel to warm up and eat dinner. We decided to splurge for dinner so we ate at the teppan-yaki restaurant. We had our own personal chef to make a 6 course meal. The meal was amazing.
We had a great time with a great friend.

Nirai and Niche

Angeline is PCSing later this week and she wanted to hit up a couple of places before she leaves. We all decided to go to Nirai for the bruschetta and violet fizz (new favorite drink). After a few drinks we headed over to Niche, which is a martini bar. We all know how I love a martini. I had a pink flirtini, which was outstanding. It was a nice night just hanging out with friends.

Pizza in the Sky

It was a long Sunday. I tagged along with the Cisneros, Liz and Angeline as they went to Pizza in the Sky (Alex left earlier in the week and got delayed). We have been trying to plan a trip up there since New Years. We left to meet Angeline up in Nago at 12. Three hours later, two anxiety attacks, one bout of motion sickness, three calls to the Schilling and two calls to Veronica, we finally made it to Pizza in the Sky. It was really busy so we had to wait 45 mins but it was worth the wait. I ordered a salad, 7 inch pizza and acerola juice. I was being daring and tried the juice without knowing what it was and I was pleasantly surprised. The salad is huge and dressing is awesome. They only have one kind of pizza Japanese pepperoni, ham, green pepper, and corn. The main reason everyone wants to go the Pizza in the Sky is for the view. The restaurant is on top of a mountain with a great view.

New Years Eve

New Year's Eve Alex and I started out the night at the Cisneros house baptizing the bar. Lonnie used his bartending skills to work. Then we headed to the O'club to celebrate with a bunch of friends. We had about 20 people in our party. It was a lot of fun. The club served heavy appitizers for about two hours and breakfast after midnight. The DJ in the ballroom kind of sucked so before midnight we headed over to the lounge for the countdown.