The Ruins!

We went to some of the castle ruins in Japan. Here's pictures!

This is the entry way (left), and stairs to get to the castle (right).

This is a picture of the stairs to the castle up close.

This is the stairs from the other side to exit.

This is a picture of the whole castle area.

This is a picture of me and Jessica on top of the wall.

Zakimi Castle Ruins- by Jessica

Cassie & I- I was tired of walking, and Cassie came and sat by me so we could take a picture.


This is where you put your money in for the spirits- a gift.



Here's a picture of me, Carston, and Cassie and it looks like a tunnel.
Before I go, I'd like to say, goodbye.

New Weather Girl

How's the weather? We get that question a lot, and we like it, because weather in Okinawa is so different from the weather that we're used to in Utah. So, to keep everyone up to date on the weather happenings, Jessica will be our new weather girl. She won't be predicting the weather- who can anyway?- she'll be reporting what the weather has been doing. Every day, she takes a look out our 'weather window', or when we are outside, and determines which die cuts she should put on her chart for that day. She's been doing a very thorough job. Here's this week's report:

Facing My Fears

I received an email from my dive instructor on Tuesday this last week, telling me, and others, that he was ready to finish our certification dives on Saturday. This gave me four days to stress about it. Luckily, I'm good at denial, and I waited until Friday to begin panicking.

Great news when I arrived at the marina on Saturday morning- we had the opportunity to dive off a boat at a discounted price. If you read my last blog about the troubles I had getting in and out of the water, you might understand why I practically jumped at the chance to go! Yay! One worry to cross off my list.

I still had problems putting water in my mask. I really think it's worse than actually removing and replacing my mask, but I don't know why. I managed all of my skills, and I am an offical Open Water Certified Diver. I may not have conquered my fears, but I have at least faced them, and not let them stop me from achieving my goal.

Jason asked me to blog about my dive, because "you saw cool things and you got to do a boat dive." He is jealous. I owe him a boat dive. We did go to a really cool place for our two certification dives. It's called the Pinnacles, and there were tons of beautiful fish in so many colors. We also saw a giant clam, which is really about the size of a football, and it was a beautiful color of purple inside, some different choral formations, clown fish guarding their anemones, just tons of life down there. And it was soooo easy getting in and out. My only problem was that for some reason, I started to get really sick between dives. I could tell when I got out of the water that I needed to get some food, because I was really shaky. Then after I got the food in me, I wasn't sure I was going to keep it down. I hadn't had a problem with the rocking of the boat up to that point, so I think the wet suit had me too hot. Once I cooled down, I was fine.

The next bonus of the day was a third trip out for FREE! Who could pass that up? Luckily, my hubby let me go. This was the best dive so far. Why? Because I didn't have to put water in my mask or remove it or anything! By then, I was official, and I could just go on a recreational dive. For that dive we went to Navel Kadena 1 and saw tons of cool little fish. We saw a tiny baby anemone fish inside a hole in the choral. Some of the other sightings that I noted in my log book were an Orangutan Crab that was inside bubble choral (my instructor was interested in the crab, I thought the choral was way cool), Egg Shell Conery (which looked just like black velvet with silver glitter spots), and an Indian Cushion Sea Star (looked like a big rock with colorful moss on the top, but on the bottom it had the lines like a star fish) with a little shrimp darting around it. I had a blast. Man, if I could dive off a boat everytime, I'm sure I could love this sport. Too bad Jason isn't rich, yet.

So, what does this mean for the future? Am I going to be a diver? Well, here's my plan: I'm hoping to have to opportunity to go out on a good day, to see if I still have problems getting in and out of the water. I had a sister in my branch tell me that she, too, struggled at the place that I went to last time, so maybe that just isn't the place for me. Second, in typical Jennifer-fashion, I'm going to sign up for some more classes- actually they call them Adventure Dives. I'm going to do a Peak Bouyancy class and I'm going to do a fish identification course. I think I just need more exposure, and I'm not sure that I feel comfortable doing it without a professional, just yet.

As far as the rest of the family is concerned, this week was a big week for new activities. Jessica started gymnastics on Tuesday, and she had a blast. Cassie and Jason started guitar lessons on Thursday, as well, and Cassie is working on 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. Jason and some coworkers have started their own regular dive night on Wednesday nights, and he had a cool dive at the Junkyard this week. Carston took his first head over heels tumble down our wood stairs on Saturday. I knew it would happen sooner or later. He's fine. It hasn't even made him CAUTIOUS around the stairs. Last night, Jason found a gecko on our house. I don't know how it got in, let alone up the stairs. He caught it, and released it on the front porch. We're hoping it eats spiders and decides to stick around. It's quite a smorgsbord out there. I think that's pretty much it- business as usual. Cassie has two more weeks of school, and then, hopefully, we can find some fun activities for the summer.

Here's a picture of the gecko hanging out on our front porch Monday morning. In the house, it was white, to match the walls.

What Are the Cowleys Up To?

It's been a couple of weeks since we've posted. I've been a little busy. But here's what's up:

Jason has been in training at work. He finished his scuba certification with his last two open water dives on the 14th. Last Friday, he went to Career Day at Cassie's school, and apparently he was a huge hit.

Cassie has three more weeks left of school. She's had a pretty good load, but it's nothing that she can't handle. She's looking forward to the summer. So is Jessica. She's sad every day when we Cassie gets on the bus. "I just wish I could get on the bus with her." Next year.

We've gone to the beach two times in the last two weeks. We have a play group that goes to different parks or beaches. I took pictures of the kids at Araha Beach on the 13th. This is one of my favorite beaches, because they grade it and clean off the stuff that washes up shore, so you can walk without sandals. Also, they put a net around to keep urchins and stuff out so the kids can play. Jessie wasn't so sure she wanted to go in the water at first, but by the time we left she loved it. Carston likes to play in the sand. I haven't invested in sand toys, yet, but it's on my list for the BX the next time I'm there. We took a road trip a couple of weeks ago to Zanpa Point. There is a big Shisa there. Here's a picture. There was also a Japanese man selling raw sugar cane there. We bought a couple for the kids to try. You have to kind of bite and suck on it to get the flavor out. The kids loved it.

This week, I have been working on my scuba certification. The class was Sunday-Thursday 5:00-9:00. During the day, it seemed that I was just preparing for class, because I needed to get a new swimming suit and rent a wet suit, get stuff together, and I tried to get dinner ready for my family, but I wasn't always successful. Plus, there's the fact that the class wore me out, and I just didn't have the energy. We did class work the first two days, and then we learned and practiced our skills in the pool for the next three days. Some of you know that I'm a little afraid of water, so I had to spend some time getting over this fear. When I have to fill my mask or remove my mask, I get a little panicky. Just swimming in the pool is exhausting. Saturday was my first open water dive. We did two dives. I passed all of my skills- even filling my mask, which I discovered is easier if I open my eyes. The hardest part is getting in and out of the water. It's hard with the waves, and trying to step in the right places and all the weight from the gear. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if it's worth it, but then I've been a little pessimistic about the whole thing from the beginning. There are two more dives to do before I am certified. The rest of my class did them on Sunday, but I will probably do them in two weekends. After that, I don't know. We'll see. I'm a little hesitant to just get out there. Just getting certified is quite an accomplishment for me, but in typical Jennifer fashion, I'd like to be good at it, so we'll see. I don't have any pictures, like Jason did, but there will be other opportunities I think.

Jason and I have been called into the nursery in our ward. We've got a large group of kids. On Mother's Day we had 18. Normally, we have around a dozen. There are quite a few people in our ward leaving this summer, so we'll see what it's like as people leave and others come. It's not my favorite calling, because I feel very isolated. The kids are fine, and they are getting used to us. On the other hand, Carston is getting very used to us always being around, and that's not really good, either. But, it's going okay.

Everyone is doing okay, but we're a little homesick. We miss everyone, and that tends to make us extra emotional. That's pretty much the goings-on around here.

Scuba Certifacation Course

Last week I started my scuba certification course. The course was good, and we practiced a lot of the skills we learned in the pool, as can be seen from the attached pictures. Yesterday we did our first ocean dive. We went to a place called the Sunabe Sea Wall- The Water Treatment Plant. The entrance is really close to the base. We worked on some more skills and then had some time to investigate. We saw various underwater creatures like, Sea Snakes which are a poisonous snake whose venom is as strong as a Cobra. They are harmless as long as you leave them alone and don't impede their path as they go to the surface to breathe as they are air breathers. We saw a puffer fish and the instructor passed it to us so we could feel what it felt like with our gloves on. We saw various sea cucumbers and a lot of different kinds of fish. The best of all was when she took us over a colony of clown fish (Nemos). I'll have to go back there with an underwater camera and take some pictures after I finish my next certifications dive.

Jason

Mail!

So, in addition to adjusting to life in another country, we've been adjusting to life on a military installation. Even if I never left the base, it's a whole different world there. Sometimes I have to pull out my map to figure out where I want to go; and then I often find out I've gone to the wrong place. I pretty much just tell everyone that I have no background information, so they should just explain everything assuming I know nothing, because I don't. :)

One of the places that amazed me was the post office. Here's a picture off my phone from the first time Jason took us there: I know it's not the best picture, I'm sorry. I took it on a Sunday, when it's not very busy. A guy walked in while I took it and looked at me like I was nuts. I know! I blog about the strangest things. Anyway, there are three or four of these rows of boxes, and each box is very small. This is the APO box office. There are other FPO box offices for the Navy and Marines on other bases.

This week we were lucky and got a package (thanks, Mom, we love mail). When you get a package too large to fit in the box, they put a yellow slip in your box like this one: She's excited to get a package, can you tell? Then you take your slip and ID to the desk, and they give you your package. (He looks excited, but he's really looking up in the sky at the F-15 flying by.)

Going to the post office every day to get mail is one of the things that's different for us here. Usually, Jason goes by when he's at work, but if we're on base, Cassie and Jessie love to check it, so we go by. You never know when something exciting will be there!