Dragon Boat Races

Golden Week is a big holiday in Japan. It's the celebration of children, and specifically of boys. Okinawans hang fish flags from their houses and other buildings. The culmination of the celebration is on May 5th. In Okinawa, they celebrate with Dragon Boat Races. Teams are sponsored by businesses and groups. Each of the U.S. Military Branches has a men's and women's team competing at the Dragon Boat Races. In the picture above, you can see three boats lined up to start. The same three boats were used in each heat, but the rowers changed.

And they're off! In this heat, the green boat pulled away quickly. The rowers row down the harbor and turn around a flag and row back.

Obviously the teams that synchronize their rowing do the best. At the front of the boat is a drummer, who drums the beat to keep everyone together. There are also coaches in the middle who help to keep everyone on the same rhythm by crying out the beat. This team was really together.

Everyone watching the races.

The kids got bored quickly. I wanted to stay to watch one of my friends who was rowing for the Air Force Women's team. (They didn't do so well.) So, Jason took them off to find some cotton candy. They got a green, pink, and brown mix. It was lime, bubble-gum, and chocolate.

Jessica squishing the brown cotton candy.

After the women rowed, we wandered off to see some of the other parts of the festival. The kids wanted to jump in the jumpy house. It was 300 yen per child for four minutes. That comes to about $1.25 per minute at the current yen rate. I hope the enjoyed it.

This is my friend Tammy and I waiting for the kids to finish jumping. Notice how we end up carrying everything that the children collected at the festival?








The vendors along the street at the festival. They had a lot of the normal festival fare-

yakisobe, yaki-tori, fried rice, corn dogs, etc. Carston loved the yaki-tori. It was fun, but the weather, as you can see, was awful. Whenever it started raining, we'd all dawn our rain jackets, but then we were really warm, and they would stick to us. We probably would have wandered around a little more, but we were ready to get dry. Next year, I think I will try again, but this time, leave the kids at school and take my good camera.

Stinky Legs?

Do you suffer from stinky legs? Well, Carston has a solution for you. That's right folks, turn your sister's deodorant into a lotion paste, and just rub it into your legs. Nothing could be easier, and you will be smelling oh, so fresh, in no time. Just remember to be prepared for your sister's wrath if you are discovered.

Ahh, my boy, what am I going to do with you? We are not prepared for such a busy child.

Honor Roll- 3rd Quarter

Cassie made Honor Roll again third quarter. She worked really hard- Mom did too. She received four A-'s and just one B+. Cassie's teacher is tough, so we are very proud of her accomplishment. Jason was able to leave work this time to come to the awards ceremony.

Incidentally, this is what Jason and Carston did while waiting for the ceremony to start. This is a sticker Jason has stuck under Carston's nose. They are such goofballs.

Easter 2011

Easter morning the girls woke up very early (6 A.M.) to find that the Easter Bunny had been very naughty. He took some yarn that I hadn't put away, and strung it from the kids' bed posts to their Easter baskets, which were each hidden in a different location. Each of the kids had a different color, and they had to each follow the string, winding it up as they went, to locate their basket. The girls got started right away, and Jason and I heard them in the hallway.
This is what the stairs looked like.

And the downstairs hallway.

And the living room.

Here they are working on their strings.

Cassie found hers in a cupboard.

Jessica found hers in the dryer.

Carston did not wake up so early, and though the girls wanted to wake him up so he could find his basket, we made them let him sleep.

Carston following his string with Jessica's help. I didn't get his picture, but eventually, his was found in another cupboard.

The other reason the girls were anxious to wake Carston up, is that the Easter Bunny also hid chocolate eggs around the living room, and they weren't allowed to touch them until Carston could participate. So, as soon as Carston found his basket, the hunt began.

This year in their Easter Baskets, the kids got books and Lego sets. They've been very interested in building Legos, lately. Of course, this is one of Jason's favorite things to do. So, while the kids looked for chocolate eggs, Jason built Legos. After, the egg hunt, Carston started stuffing chocolate in his mouth about as fast as he could. We had to make him stop to eat some breakfast. Now, he associates the word eggs with those little chocolates, and when he hears Jason and I talk about making some eggs for breakfast, he gets all excited. The rest of the day was spent pretty much like any Sunday- we hung out for a while, got ready and went to church, then we had ham and yummy potatoes for dinner. It was a nice day.

Island Newcomers

Meet the Pittmans: Michelle, Jaime, and Wesley, who is in Cassie's 5th grade class. Also, Felicity, who is in 4th grade, and who was immediately beloved by my girls. They also have another daughter, Sara, who is four, and who Carston adores. I forgot to get her in a picture.

One of the men in the Civil Engineering group that Jason dives with, was sponsoring this family onto the island in April. He asked Jason if he would help him pick them and their luggage up at the airport. Since this co worker's children are all grown, we thought that we might be of more assistance to them in getting settled than he would, and asked how we could help. One of the things we wanted to do was take them to Kitakaisen. It's our favorite restaurant. Our friends brought us here our first week on the island. It's a family style restaurant- so you order a variety of things, and everyone can share. The menu has pictures and English translations, which is wonderful. The prices are great- much less than we pay at most other restaurants for our entire family- and best of all, everyone in our family can find something delicious to eat.

This is Carston's yakitori- pan fried chicken with a teriyaki sauce on a shishkabob stick. The girls always order the beef version of the same thing. Also, you can see the sweet potato tenpura and the salmon sushi rolls that Jason and I shared. I love these sushi rolls. They have some cream cheese in them, and are so creamy and delicious. Plus, we always have to get a couple of orders of edamame- soy beans. The kids love them. Actually, we all love them. I love having an excuse to go to Kitakaisen.

Beach Day- Spring Break 2011

We were lucky enough to have a few nice days during the week of spring break this year. We made sure to take a trip to the beach.

There was some playing in the sand.

And a little splashing in the water. (Although, the water was a bit cold- just below 70 degrees.) It feels a bit cool at first, and then you get used to it, and then a while later, you are cold again. This is Kadena Marina beach. It has a really nice flat area that gives the kids quite a bit of room to play, especially when it's low tide like it was that day. I like that they rope off a section, as well, to keep some of the more dangerous sea life and the seaweed and what-not out. This beach is a little softer than some of the other beaches, since it's in a protected cove and doesn't get as much choral washed up the beach.

We were able to stay for about four hours before those clouds you see forming in the first picture began to gather and begin to storm. Ahhh, spring in Okinawa. At least it didn't rain the entire break.

Scuba Carston

I just had to share this picture of Carston. We asked Cassie to babysit for us one day. This was going to be the longest time babysitting she had ever done, AND if Carston had a poopy diaper, this time, she was going to have to take care of it. She agreed on the condition that she could wear her snorkel mask to get the job done. Jason brought it inside for her. Well, the need did not arise, but her mask sat on the bench by the door for a while. One day, I came around the corner, and Carston had it on. He's such a goofball.

Teppenyaki

Teppenyaki is just one of those things here that is really expensive for dinner and half the price for lunch. For that reason, Jason has gone with work a few times, but the kids and I hadn't been, yet. So one day in April, on one of their many early-out days, we picked them up at school and headed for Four Seasons.

Tammy and Natalya came with us, too.

Yummy soup.

Here, teppenyaki is not quite the show that it is at Teppenyaki Restaurant or Benihana in Utah. No, onion volcano or trying to catch the shrimp in your mouth. Maybe that's just a dinner thing. Maybe that's why dinner is twice the price. But, they do cook delicious food right there at your table.

Noodles- yakisobe.

Preparing the chicken. It was really good. I ordered it for Carston, but I had to eat some of it. The steak is cooking there in the corner, too. It was also tasty.

And of course, the shrimp. Mmmmm. Oishii- delicious.

15 Year Anniversary

March 30, 2011 was our 15th anniversary. I've been stumped on this post for a while. Fifteen years seems significant. But I didn't bring our wedding pictures (no digital copies), and there wasn't much to take pictures of during the day.

We weren't able to do much on our anniversary as it fell on a Wednesday. Jessica woke up in the night ill. She wasn't asleep in the morning, so we were unable to take our morning run. I had visiting teaching appointments during the day, and Jason stayed home with Jess and Carston, so lunch was out. After a quick dinner, Cassie had Activity Day Recognition Night, so we snuck in some brownie sundaes at the end of the night.

We were able to go out on Saturday, though. We went to Seaside Ristorante and I had some delicious, freshly caught mahi mahi and Jason had some scrumptious crab legs. After dinner, we did a little bowling.

For our anniversary, we bought each other this cool running watch. I can hear my brother's commentary on this gift from here. "My sister is becoming obsessed with running." But you don't have to be running for very long before you start to wonder how far and how fast you're going. Plus, how does it compare to your last few runs, not to mention the training benefits this watch offers. Are we obsessed with running? Well, I'd like to say I love it, but I don't. However, a couple of weeks after our anniversary, I came down with bronchitis for four weeks and was unable to run. After about three weeks, I started noticing I was missing it, so maybe I am becoming a little obsessed. The really enjoyable thing is that running has become something Jason and I are doing together. We don't talk much, especially early in the morning, but we motivate each other to get out of bed, and we try to help each other with our individual fitness and weight loss goals.

Also for our anniversary, Jason bought me a bowling set.I have been inviting myself to bowl with Jason and his coworkers at lunch on Thursdays. The house balls are awful. This ball is a hook, so I'm not doing that well with it, but I'm still having fun.

This picture was taken last October. Usually one of us is behind the camera, so there aren't a lot of shots of us together. You know when people say, "Fifteen years ago, I married my best friend..."? Well, looking back on it, he was no where near as good of a friend then as he is now. In fifteen years, we've accomplished quite a lot- three degrees, a career with the Air Force, three wonderful children, a house, a temporary relocation to the other side of the world. I am so glad that I have him to go through these adventures with. Just like best friends, we go through our good times and bad times, but overall, our marriage has been a happy one. Overall, I have been happy to be married to my best friend, whom I love more than I did that day fifteen years ago.