A girly night out

Friday night was girls night. I went out with Amy, one of Greg's fellow pediatricians to the world famous Cocko's nail salon. My adorable tootsies are pictured above. This is the first time I've had my nails done here in Okinawa, and it's going to become a regular occurrence.  Next time I go I'm going to take Gabriella. I'm getting ahead of myself. We arrive at Cocko's, have a seat in their waiting area and peruse the bowl of candy they have sitting there. A few minutes later we are shown to our comfy leather chairs. There are no vibrating chairs here, but the chairs are comfy and they recline. They also give you a blanket to cover your legs in case you get chilly. The window was open and we had a beautiful view of the crashing waves and the sea wall. As soon as you sit down you must begin your perusal of "The Notebook". The notebook is a binder full of all the designs you can have done on your fingernails and toes. There are hundreds of them, possibly a thousand. They are more intricate than anything I've ever seen in the states.  Again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Once they have you all tucked into your seat, they start by taking off your old nail polish.  They also give you complimentary tea, it's iced and sweetened and delicious, I drank two glasses while we were there. They also have a full bar if you are in the mood for something a little stronger. We thought about getting wine, but they were already out.  The next step in the pampering is the warm water that your feet slip into. It felt heavenly.  They ask you to choose an essential oil, the choices were Green Tea, Lavender, and two other's I can't recall. They dry your feet off, scape the bottoms and then start on the most heavenly pressure point massage using the essential oil of your choosing, I got lavender. It was so nice, if I had been there by myself I could have easily fallen asleep. Just thinking about it makes me sigh in delight.  Then the mastery starts, you point to the design you've chosen and tell them if you want the same colors or if you want to change the base color under the design. They go over to the turn table of nail polish and pick the colors needed to create your design. They also have regular poster paint and glitter. My design started with a base coat of metallic gold, then, some blue, some pink, then the cherries were painted on, then the stems, then the glitter and rhinestones.  It took a while, but it was so worth it. I feel like I'm wearing a beautiful piece of art. The total for the pedicure was 3950 Yen, about $45, it was so worth it. Next time I'm going to take Gabriella, they have a large set of children's designs, I wonder what she will choose. 

After the pampering, we had a delicious dinner and a night on the town. We went to a few bars, even played a crazy roulette shot game which I had the unfortunate luck of drinking a siracha flavored shot, yuck.  It was a fantastic night. I can't wait to do it again but next time I'll take Greg with me. It's always more fun when we go out together. 

Ballet Day

Today is Gabriella's ballet class. I uploaded a video of her dancing across the floor. Please ignore the sound in the background. We record from outside the classroom at the teacher's request. She believes that the children pay attention better if she's the only adult in the room, I completely agree. Greg came with us today, he really enjoyed watching Gabi dance. She follows directions so well and is able to move with amazing grace and poise. She's becoming such a little lady. We are so proud of her. 

Tuesday Mournings

So today is Tuesday which means it's preschool day for Gabriella. Today is also Therese's first day of workout while Gabriella is at preschool.  It's an idea I've had since moving here, the gym is conveniently right next to her preschool, so I pass it every time I take her to school. I drop her off at 9 am and usually walk right past it, but not today.  Today I went inside and found a few people working out, I imagine they were mostly spouses since it was 9:05 am and most active duty people are working. I hopped on an elliptical machine and started my ipod and off I went. I ellipticized for 30 minutes, long enough to go 2.5 miles.  For most of the 2.5 miles I was counting the seconds until I was done. I hate working out. I don't find it fun or exhilarating, it doesn't give me more energy or help me sleep better. Well it might help me sleep better just for the pure fact that I'm exhausted after doing it. But I do it. Why?  I'm not really sure. I don't really care that I'm fat, I eat what I like, I live my life under my own control.  But a few things embarrass me, barely being able to put on a airplane seatbelt or having problems fitting in between tables at restaurants.  I think the most important reason is Gabriella. I AM NOT about to get sappy about living a full life and seeing her get married, blah blah blah.  What I am talking about is playgrounds. If I lost some weight I'd be able to go on rollerslides with her, or jump in bounce houses.  So, I'm going to the gym while she's at school.  While she is building skills I'm attempting to loose some pounds. How am I doing so far?  I don't know, I don't own a scale. I hope I can keep it up, it doesn't seem too hard, but a lot of things that seem easy are usually hard at some point. Some people at home will read this and imagine that I'm going to come back as a skinny girl, don't fool yourself. There are too many good things to eat over here and I want to try them all. But perhaps by the time I get back you won't be worried about structural integrity when I follow Gabriella onto your trampoline or into a bouncy house at a birthday party.    

Lunch and Park

Yesterday was Sunday and as luck would have Greg had the day off. We went to lunch at the Blueberry Cafe. The Cafe is on the 7th floor, it provides a wonderful 360 degree view of our section of Okinawa. Greg was able to take a picture of his hospital from the restaurant. They had a tasty buffet and we enjoyed it immensely.  After lunch we went to explore a new park. This one was nice and close. The park features a baseball field, a huge wooden playground, a rollerslide, and a few tombs.  The tombs are a pretty standard feature at most parks. They are stone and usually visited by relatives on special holidays. We admire them from a far because it feels disrespectful to get too close.  Gabriella had a great time exploring and climbing the wooden playground. She also had fun going down the rollerslide with her dad.  Another great weekend is in the books. 

Sam's by the Sea

Last night we went to dinner to celebrate Greg's recent accomplishments. We went to a cute little kitschy restaurant called Sam's by the sea. Sam is quite a restauranteur here in Okinawa, he owns no less that 13 places.  Some are tepanyaki, some are hawaiian themed (like the one we went to) others are cafes.  At Sam's by the sea, you of course have a view of the ocean, through porthole like windows, all the servers are wearing sailor suits. Our server was named Mikiyo and she was probably at least 70. She looked adorable in her sailor suit, Greg wanted me to take a picture with her but I was too embarrassed.  The place has wonderfully fresh seafood. Greg got filet mignon with indonesian prawns, which came with the heads on and were probably at least 6 inches long. I got crab legs and prime rib, and Gabriella got golden fried shrimp. Gabriella and I also got drinks in hilarious cups as pictured above. I got to keep my cup, but Gabriella did not. She did spend most of the meal playing with the swords the cherries were attached to and at the end of the meal she finished off her skull and the checked the back to make sure it was empty.  You have to check out our photo share site to see all the other pictures, including our smoking shrimp cocktail and Gabriella eating the eyeball off of the prawn head. It was a great place for dinner, we will go again for our next celebration. 

Zooropa

It's Saturday, which means that it's Okinawa adventure day. Today we went to the Okinawa Zoo. While the zoo itself is not as large as the San Diego Zoo, it was filled with a rather impressive array of animals. Gabriella and Greg even got to feed the elephants.  They had some native Okinawan animals, bats, huge snakes, and some birds. But they also had a Tiger, elephants, giraffes, raccoon dogs, and kangaroos and koalas. Gabriella got to hold a snake in the petting zoo. They also have paddle boats to ride around on and a very cool ride area, where you could ride a small toy train, drive a hello kitty car around a track, ride the merry go round or take a pony ride through the ride area. Yep, ride a horse, with a helmet on while being let around by a guide. We didn't do that, but perhaps we will next time. At a few of the animal pens you could pay extra to feed the animals with the trainers. The elephant feeding was 200 yen ($2 US) and well worth it. We didn't eat at the zoo, but they seem to have snack places located around every corner and of course there were vending machines. We had a fun day and a cute little zoo. Although it was like every single other zoo I've ever been to in that it had a couple of huge hills. No need for the gym tonight, I walked the zoo. 

Purple Potato Eater

As many of you know I love to cook. Slipping vegetables into children's unsuspecting mouths is also a passion of mine. Tonight was a rare achievement, not only was I able to get some delicious veggies into Gabriella, but I did it with amazing success.  Okinawa is famous for their purple sweet potatoes. They are delicious and nutritious. Tonight I made mashed potatoes with them, it was a huge success.  The vibrant purple color was surprising and Gabriella really loved them. When I announced purple potatoes for dinner she came zooming down the stairs and immediately began to dig in.  I've taken a picture of her with her plate. I suppose I could have taken an after shot, but basically it was empty.  Now the real test will be when Greg gets home. I wonder how he will like purple mashed potatoes?

Working my way down

In the spirit of the new year I've started working out. I know it's ridiculously cliche.  This is the first time I've ever really given it a real try.  It's hard and annoying and I hate it, and yet I still do it. I'm surprised with myself.  I managed to go 2 miles on the elliptical machine. I know for those who go all the time it's nothing, but for me it's a huge accomplishment. I hope I will continue to be motivated. I don't go everyday, but I do manage to make it at least 3 to 4 times a week. I've tried using the weight machines, they make me sore, but in a good way.  Anyway it's something I'm proud of doing and I wanted to tell the world. 

Mu-chi Festival

Today we got immersed in a little Okinawan Culture. Gabriella's school had an event with another school IAC celebrating Mu-chi. Mu-Chi is a sweet rice dough steamed in leaves. The dough is made from sugar, mochi rice powder and water. Then you knead the dough until it is as soft as your ear lobes. Then you place your dough on the leaf and tie it with a stem into a little tamale like shape. Mu-chi is eaten for good luck and as a prayer for health and longevity. Along with the making of Mu-chi the kids got to play a few japanese children's games. Gabriella even got to be the monster in one similar to red light green light.  The picture above is a game similar to red rover. Greg was able to join us for a while and enjoyed watching Gabriella interact with the other children.  The IAC school also had some delicious Yakitori and soup which we all enjoyed. On the walk home Gabriella and I stopped at Jusco, one of our favorite places and bought a few things from the Hello Kitty store. I'll have to upload a picture of her in her new Hello Kitty pajamas. 

Variations on a day

I have so many things to blog about today. I suppose I will start with Greg's eternal quest to find good beer here. I picked up a few cans yesterday at the San-A store, he tried 2 last night and both were not up to par. I feel so bad for him, he is in desperate need of a delicious beer. So far we've only found one place that has it and they don't bottle it.  

Today was my big day to pick up the gift I got for Greg's promotion.  I picked it up gave it a cursory look and brought it home with some balloons for a birthday party. I'll admit I was a little frazzled, lots going on in a short period of time. To make a long story short (too late) they spelt his last name MONTAYA. I didn't even notice it, Greg opened it up and said "they spelt it wrong". Honestly, I thought he was kidding. Unfortunately he was not. So I suppose another 4 trips back and forth to this place will be on my weekly agenda.  Oh well, at least he liked it, despite the name being misspelled.  

Last but not least we had a birthday party to attend this evening. It was at Mona Kids, which I've already blogged about, a great 2 hours was had by all. A few rough moments for Gabriella, but she sallied forth. I realized that it's hard for her here, she rarely has to share the attention of her friends whereas at home we had bigger play groups.  I suppose I will have another thing on my agenda, to find another play group here, so she gets use to not always being the boss. One more thing. 

Tonight is the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. There are only a few episodes left, Greg is so excited. We were driving home from the party and right as we were turning into our gate he gets a call from the hospital. He had to go in, he just left a few minutes ago and I'm sad to report that he will probably miss the show tonight. I feel so bad for him, he rarely has television shows that he's interested in and then fate won't even let him watch those. It looks like there is a encore of the episode tomorrow at 6am. I hope he will get to see it then. It's just his luck. 

Well that's our day in a nutshell. Do you hear it screaming "Help! I'm stuck in a nutshell"?

Expanding my horizons

Today I took advantage of my first class here on Okinawa. It was a class that basically took you through 2 grocery stores and pointed out the native Okinawan and Japanese ingredients while explaining how they are most often used. We started out our morning at the Commissary at Camp Foster, which is where I do most of my shopping. Mikama was our host and guide on our adventure. We started in the produce section in both grocery stores and learned all about the local produce and which time of year the food is at it's peak. I'm looking forward to summer for some Japanese pears. We went on to my favorite aisle in the commissary, the "exotic" food aisle. There our guide explained all the different sauces, dips and mixes that are available.  Our next stop was Sam A. It's a local store that is similar to a super k mart, only more upscale. The store is 3 stories tall with two additional floors above for parking. There is a 100 yen store, which is their equivalent to our dollar store, toy store, crafting section, makeup section, stationary section, etc. On the ground floor is their grocery store, meat market, sushi, and bakery.  Our guide took us through the entire grocery store and explained most of the more well used products. I learned the differences between seasoned seaweed and plain and how different cultures judge what kind of rice is best to buy. Example, Japanese like young rice, because it's softer whereas in the Thai culture aged rice is considered better. It was a really fascinating trip. I've included a picture of just a few of the things that we picked up during our trip. I can't wait to start cooking!!

Who's the Man??

Greg's the man!! Yesterday was an exciting day for our family. First, we found out that Greg passed his medical boards. He said it was the hardest test he's ever taken and didn't think he passed. It was a huge relief to him to have completed it and passed with a better than average score. Secondly, Greg has been promoted to Lieutenant Commander, so please address him as such from now on. Just kidding. Gabriella and I were on hand to pin on his new rank.  His whole department was there including the XO of the hospital. Our sponsor family was also there as Dr. Matt was also getting his Lieutenant Commander pinned on. I will of course post pictures once I get them from Rachel.  There was pizza and cake for the reception and Gabi loved that the frosting turned her lips blue.  All and all an excellent day both personally and professionally for our own Dr. Greg. 

Music Box Dancer

Today was Gabriella's first ballet class. She loved it. Her friend Mallory is in the class with her, but Mallory is the only returning student. The other 3 girls in the class were new. We arrived, met her teacher, paid our money and all the parents are asked to leave. The kids do better when they are just with the teacher, although the parents can watch through some windows if they choose to.  Of course I watched and took a few pictures. Gabriella was really good at following directions and staying on task.  After the class was over I asked what her favorite part was and she replied, the side skipping. I'll have to take a video of it next time, it's very hard to explain.  She's looking forward to next weeks class. Thank you Grandma Oggie and Papa John for the leotard and Nana Ruth and Tati Cliff for the lessons. 

A Sad Day

I have a playlist on my ipod called Sad Days. It has a collection of my favorite mellow songs. I don't necessarily play it when I'm sad, although I have. I find the music peaceful and uplifting.  I should say that I'm feeling very sad today. My uncle Luis died. He was my grandmother's last living relative. She is now the last of her siblings. I feel a little at a loss of what to write. My uncle was an amazing man, he was a diver, a chiropractor, he raised dogs, but most importantly he was a man that never forgot how to smile.  He came to see my grandmother once a week for a long time, they would sit talking quietly about their lives and loved ones. He cared for her so deeply.  He was a wonderful man who will be terribly missed. I love him very much and hope that he is somewhere with his family and loved ones who have gone before him.  Uncle Luis rest in peace.

A day of pretty views and choo choos

Today wrapped up what I would consider a perfect weekend. Just the right amount of laying around and just the right amount of going out.  If you wondered what we did on Saturday please see the previous post.  Today being Sunday and playoff season, Greg was up at 6:30 am, in order to watch the football game live.  The game finished just in time to make it to 10am mass. On a little side note, I find church to be so comforting, it's exactly the same here as it's always been. I know that my parents and inlaws are hearing the exact same readings, we are saying the exact same prayers, it's comforting in a way I can't describe. Enough of that, on with the day.  After church we went to brunch at a base we hadn't been to before Futenma. It was a delicious brunch and an amazing view, as shown in the picture above.  They also had the game on, so we got to see the Arizona Cardinals win.  After a relaxing afternoon of Gabi napping and Greg watching a Kings game on tv here, we went to a park with the Brooms. 

It is lovingly called the Train Slide park, because there is a huge train slide, also pictured above.  Gabriella and Mallory had a great time playing and exploring the park. After the park the Brooms invited us over for dinner, which we graciously accepted. It was a great meal, chili, warm corn bread and pesto chicken pasta.  Yummy!! After dinner we got our digestion going with a little Wii.  I didn't win any of the games, but I had a good time playing.  Then we played some Xbox Karaoke. We sang a lot of songs, some good, some bad.  The night culminated on Material Girl, where Rachel and I, singing in Duet mode got 50,000 points, a perfect score. It was a great way to cap off a great weekend. 

A blustery day leads to a big day of fun

We woke up this morning to the sound of howling wind. It's freezing here today so our original plan to walk around was thwarted by the frosty weather and sprinkles. Instead we hopped in the car and headed out to go bowling. We went to Sea Side Bowl, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from our base. It's cleanliness and bowling shoe vending machine completely floored me, it's possibly the greatest bowling alley ever. Above each lane they have a video screen that had Japanese music videos playing while we bowled. It was Gabriella's first time bowling and she loved it. The first game she got a score of 17 without bumpers, the second game we had them put the bumpers up and she got 59. I was very impressed, especially because the smallest ball they had was 5 Kilos or pounds, we couldn't really tell. As always the vending machines were in full effect, including the cup of noodles machine and the various drink machines. However this bowling alley took it up a notch by having a vending machine for fried foods.  Including but not limited to french fries, onion rings, and some sort of noodle dish. It was very impressive although possibly not as impressive as the beer vending machine. Unfortunately we were planning to go to lunch after so I did not try the fried food vending machine, but mark my words I will. Greg did have a beer out of the vending machine, how could he pass it up. 

After our two rounds of bowling we went to lunch at a much raved about sushi go round. If you are unfamiliar with the term it is a sushi restaurant where a conveyer belt takes various plates of sushi through the restaurant and the patrons simply pick up the plate they want, at the end of your meal the server comes over and counts the plates you have on the table and tallies your bill. The plates color and design designate the price of the item. We had some delicious crab leg sashimi, tempura roll, spicy tuna roll, and Gabi even tried some sweet shrimp sashimi. The best part, we got all that plus soup and edamame for only $17. Truly a delicious way to end our outing. We will definitely be going back to both the bowling alley and the sushi go round. 

The more things change the more they stay the same

Just a short post tonight, because it's already late. Gabriella and I had a busy day running errands. Trips to the uniform store, the travel agent, the exchange (think Sears), the commissary (think grocery store) and signing up Gabriella for ballet. As I was constantly unstrapping and re-strapping Gabi into her car seat I was thinking how similar this day was to a lot of my days in San Diego. I ran all the same errands there that I do here, except here they are closer to each other but I have to show my military ID about 10 times, which is 100% more than I had to in SD. Every single time we enter a base, go into a shop on base, sign up for anything or pay with a check they ask for the military ID.  

Today in Okinawa felt very similar to a day in San Diego. It's nice to see that somethings never change, moms will always be busy and we always have to buy milk. 

Everything is better with Coke

Today it is raining here...again. As such we didn't really go out today, of course Gabriella still went to school and we still stopped by the post office but we didn't do anything really exciting.  Although we did go to a nice dinner at Kadena Marina.

But what I really want to talk about today is my love for all drinks Japanese. I try to stop at a vending machine at least once a week and try something new. However, because Christmas time is the season for gift boxes I found the little gem pictured above. It was a suitcase full of my favorite teas. They are meant to be consumed chilled although they are just as tasty hot.  The vending machines serve hot beverages, fresh from a 200 degree can. When Greg and I got a tea, neither of us could hold the can in our bare hands, it was just too hot.  Basically because of this suitcase of deliciousness I'm now able to consume my apple, garden lemon and straight tea at home.  There were a few other suitcases of drinks by coca cola that I'm dying to try out. Perhaps future posts will include them. I suppose the thing I find most humorous about the vending machines is that most are sponsored by coke and yet coke makes all these wonderful products only for Japan. I think when I move back home I'm really going to miss the variety of vending machines and soda products.  They also have these packets of gelatinous juice, but that is a post for another day.  Cheers!! 

New hair, clean teeth

Today was a big day for little Gabriella, she had her first full service haircut. Meaning, hair washed, cut and blown dry. Actually we skipped the hair washing, when she sat in the chair her head didn't even reach the bowl. I've included her before and after pictures.  She was really well behaved, sat very still and thanked the lady who cut her hair after she was done.

She proclaimed that she loved her Ariel haircut to everyone we met on the walk out to the car. 

As if one activity wasn't enough for one day Gabriella also had her teeth cleaned.  We had her dental exam yesterday, no cavities, good spacing, great brushing!! Today was the cleaning. Gabriella had been to the dentist 3 times before we moved here. She's old hat at it, although she did seem to point out a lot of differences between the dental offices here and the one we went to in California. First and foremost, they didn't have pictures in their waiting room. Secondly, the dentist was different. Thirdly and most important there was no tv for her to watch while she got her teeth cleaned. Lucky for me the hygienist was Japanese and probably didn't understand the muttering of my three year old, if she had I may have been embarrassed. This is one of the little gems that came out of her mouth, "they could put the tv there" while pointing to the corner of the room.  She did get 2 stickers and a ring with an angel on it. No free toothbrush though, which is fine, we have plenty from our dentist at home.  I suppose no free toothbrushes is the military's way of cutting back on expenses. I hope all you tax payers appreciate our sacrifice. 

Mexican Food in Japan

Greg, Gabi and I went out to dinner after picking up the Dingo. It needed 2 coils replaced, whatever that means. It's running like a dream... an old dream that tends to turn into a nightmare towards the end of it. I digress. On the way home we decided to check out the "best mexican food on the island". It's called Obligatto's.  It looked just like a mexican restaurant in the states, mariachi music playing, plastic table cloths, even the obligatory neon Corona sign in the window. All in all everything was good, we got some tacos, enchiladas, carnitas and of course chips and salsa. It was a little taste of El Torrito in Japan. Greg and I agreed it's the fullest we've been after going out to dinner in Japan. 

My Dingo is sick

Today had all the makings of a great day. However one little light ruined it. What kind of light could have possibly done that....a check engine light. Our car is a Mitsubishi Dingo.  Sadly today the Dingo is not doing so well, it's sick. So instead of venturing out for some vacation information and lunch at a sushi go round restaurant we ventured into the outskirts of Okinawa to a mechanic. We got there after making a least 5 u-turns, went on a test drive and were told that it would take a couple days to fix.  Alas once again thwarted by bad luck, but hey at least no one got hurt today. 

I'm taking the car in tomorrow while Gabi's at school. I suppose the next few days we will be staying close to home. Except for Wednesday, because Gabi has a haircut appointment on another base, so we will be discovering the joys of taking the bus. I'm sure that will be an adventure worth writing about. 

Chinese Gardens!? I thought this was Japan

Today was Sunday, so after barely making it to 8 am mass we headed out to run some errands and of course go see a sight. Today's sight the Fukushu-en Chinese Gardens.  Situated in the middle of an urban sprawl in the middle of Naha (Okinawa's largest city) it is a beautiful and peaceful garden. When I say in the middle I mean it, as you walk around the gardens you can see peoples laundry hanging on the balconies of their houses.  They had a lot of Koi fish to feed and some beautiful architecture. It was peaceful and lovely until I went ass over tea kettle walking down a tiny incline while watching Greg and Gabi scale down some rocks.  I'm pleased to report that nothing was seriously injured other than my ego and a turned ankle. Which at the promise of a stop at a tea house I ignored. However, I never got to the tea house for a few reasons, first we don't read kanji so we probably passed 10 tea houses but couldn't tell what the sign said. Second, it's the New Year here in Japan and they are worshiping at their shrines, so there was a huge shrine that we went by and decided to check it out, after the huge number of stairs I was ready to hobble to the car and head home.  I did get to stop at a vending machine for a very refreshing Mitsuya Cider, it tasted like carbonated candy to me. 

Once again another wonderful day of exploring, with only minor injuries.

It's a Jungle in Here

Today we went to Mona Kid's Jungle. It's an indoor play area where you pay to play, 900 yen for 2 hours. There are a lot of hamster-type tubes to play in a couple of ball pits, some slides and a nice place for parents to sit and contemplate life while their kids run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

We went with the Broom family. Gabriella, Mallory and Zach all had a great time, Rachel and I are considering putting it in regular rotation in our activities around the island. Gabi and Mallory even found some kids to play with while we were there. Two hours was the perfect amount of time, it tired all the kids out and if it were longer I think some may have fallen asleep in the ball pit.  

The kids had a great time, the parents had a little bit of leisure time. In fact they provide magazines for the parents to read, although we didn't partake because they were in Japanese.  The whole set up was great, all the activities are in one area, you can watch the kids from anywhere in the seating area and of course it's fun. Gabriella was able to go on everything by herself, even the zip line. They had a great roller slide (which is pictured above) and a lot of little towers to climb on. They also have a ton of vending machines, one which served cup of noodles. I had a cafe au lait and got Gabi a Miso cup of noodles that she ate when we got back home. I didn't want to waste any of her playtime eating lunch. 

The place was great, we will go back again soon. 

Comprehensive Park

I suppose this should technically be posted before the previous post because it happened yesterday. However since I didn't have a blog yesterday I'm putting it in today. 

We went to the Comprehensive Park yesterday. It was freezing, which we didn't really expect. Although everyone was in warm clothes we would have been better with gloves, scarves and perhaps a parka.  We went with our sponsors and friends the Brooms. Gabriella and their daughter are best friends. The park is huge, it even boasts it's own water park, which we will be going back to once it warms up.

The pictures above are Gabi on a roller slide and her and Greg in a park toy. The roller slides are everywhere and very fun, Greg especially loves riding them with her. Some go really fast, this one not so much.  The other picture is Greg and Gabi in what we referred to as the blueberry. 

A great day was had by all until Gabi slipped climbing out a tree and cut her lip and loosened a tooth. It was the worst accident she's had to date. She's fine now, although she does have a fat lip and we will be only serving soft food until her dentist appointment on Tuesday.  

After our fun and painful day at the park we went to Chili's for dinner. I don't have any photographic evidence of that so you will just have to trust me. It was very tasty. 

A New Year

A very good friend suggested I start a blog so my family and friends and complete strangers surfing the internet can see what we are up to over here in Okinawa.  I suppose I should give some brief background for some of those internet strangers. 

We, my husband, my daughter and myself and currently living in Okinawa Japan while my husband is here working as a pediatrician at the Naval Hospital.  We will be here for 2 years. 

So far I've been kind of depressed about living here, I found that I miss home and friends far more than I ever realized. I've found adjusting to life on a military base to be difficult and getting use to living in a new country and overcoming a language barrier daunting. 

But in the spirit of change I decided that if I continue on the path I've been on since arrival I will be counting down the days until I get to go home instead of relishing the opportunity for adventure. So in that vein, I started this blog to document my adventures. 

All my time has not been horrible, I haven't spent every day crying myself to sleep on my huge pillow. So I will revisit some of my favorite things so far. 

1. Vending Machines, from the moment we got off the airplane I've seen hundreds of them, in alleys and on streets where there isn't a building to be found. They contain everything from sodas, to hot drinks, to cigarettes to my personal favorite Gelato.  I try to have at least one delicious vending machine treat every time we go out.

2. Their stores, they have huge department stores, so far my favorite is Jusco. It's across the street from the base I live on, I can walk to it, and I'm starting to learn where everything is. They have a huge play area for kids and for 300 yen your child can play for 20 minutes in a mini version of Chucky Cheese, ball pit included. 

Those so far are my favorites. I'm sure I'll add more as this blogging process goes forward.

Well lets start with our first activity.