Typhoon Kompasu

August 31, 2010

In the two years we have now been on Okinawa, we have yet to experience a Typhoon.  There have been many which have skirted the island, but we have been denied the "main event".

From the looks of things, that is about to change!  Of course, Mike is missing all the fun...he is currently in DC for a Brain Trauma Conference (and I'm hoping he leaves before Hurricane Earl cause problems!)

We went to TCCOR 1 at about 0030 Tuesday morning.  That meant no school for the boys....they were SOOOoooo disappointed to not have school the second day of the school year (Not!).

TCCOR 1 is: Destructive winds of 50 knots or greater are anticipated within 12 hours. No school for DoDDS students. Staff and teachers will work normal hours, unless changed by DoDDS superintendent. Fill any containers you can use for water storage. If you live in low lying quarters, make arrangements to stay with a friend. Make final check of food and other supplies.

June 30, 2010

Torii Beach with the Amelia's

For our June out with the Amelia's (a Spouse's Travel Group), we had an outing to Torii Beach.  The weather was great- meaning not unbearably hot and muggy!  We did a potluck lunch which worked out well-  BBQ hot dogs, fresh sushi, delicious brownies (thanks Margy!) as well as other goodies.  This outing was for the family (since the the kids are on summer break) and we were encouraged to bring along friends as well.  Louise, Steve and kids attended, with Steve manning the grill (thank you Steve!)

David at lunch in the water after playing water football with Steve.

Louise and Emmy cooling off at water's edge. 

Margy, Queen of the Amelias, just floating around!

We tried to do some snorkeling, but there was not much to see.  I stayed our for a bit and did find a few fun things.....

This looked like a baby sea snake...not sure if it was since the sea snake are black and white as adults.  He was only about 10 inches long...just a little guy!

This thing (hint: looking in the middle, going down and to the right) looked like a cross between a sea horse (especially the head) and a fish.  

From what I looked up, this is a Synaptid Sea Cucumber.  The lumps on it are called "bobbles".  It looked like a chenille bedspread to me!  When I went to lightly touch it, it shrunk down to just a few inches long in a split second.

July 4, 2010

4th of July, Neighborhood Style!
We celebrated the 4th of July with our Friends and Neighbors this year. We had the BBQ's going and lots of fantastic food brought out to share...ice cream cake, fruit pizza, Apple pie (can you tell I like desserts??)...not to mention awesome salads and sides. Yumm! Even better than the food was the company. No better way to send the evening celebrating while our Country's Independence.

Here is some of the crowd gathered around...through a fogged camera lens which refused to clear!

Ty was right in the middle of things, but Steve and Arnel didn't seem to mind.

Emmy and Lydia getting ready for the evening's festivities...they were just too cute to watch!

Lydia moved on to Dad...I love her pose here! She is getting so grown up!

Hummm...looks like someone got a bit of sun! We had gone over to Kadena Air Base for a couple hours, and I think Mike went a little light on the sun block!

The kids all had some sparkling fun.

Random posts from the past...

January 2010- David's Cell Project

David made a Animal Cell project in Science. We thought it turned out pretty Cool. He made the body of it out of homemade play dough and the parts out of various candies. The nucleus was a golf ball- and that was a lot tougher to cut then we anticipated. Our neighbor Steve came over to help David- for which I will be eternally thankful! Great Job David.

June 27, 2010

Forest Friends

While we were out on the Battle of Okinawa Tour, we encountered a few "friends" along the way.
For those of you not in Okinawa, spiders here can grow to epic proportions. Fortunately, we saw these before going face first into their webs (always a heart stopping moment while you dance around making sure it is just the web stuck in your hair and not the web's inhabitant too).
This Black Beauty was stretched across a gully...and this thing was HUGE!! It was easy to miss since it was all black (without the yellow markings which the others I have seen have). This one dwarfed the others surrounding it...no mean feat!

A note regarding the picture at the top...
I had asked David to put his hand up and he flatly refused (rotten kid!) A very nice lady on the tour with us volunteered to help...since I had just done the same for her photo. Nice to have some point of reference so you can see just how large these little Forest Friends are (and the hand is pretty dang close to the web- the spiders are just that big!)

Even the Candy Machines are Fun!

Rock, Paper, Scissors!

I have to say, the Japanese know how to make just about anything fun! While checking out at Jusco (our local department store), David and I saw this candy machine next to the register. We couldn't resist! It is always fun trying to figure out the directions (no English).

After putting in our 100 Yen coin the lights started flashing and music and bells going. David pushed the buttons in front deciding whether he wanted to be Rock, Paper or Scissors. The circle on the front of the machine flashed the three choices in rapid succession. As soon as David pushed his choice, the machine locked on to it's choice. The first round was a tie, so they went again. David's Paper lost to the game's Scissors. Is it weird that it was a bit exciting to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with a machine??
We weren't sure if you had to win in order to pick your candy, but David still got to choose his Hai Chews (have no idea how you spell the name of these candies, but we call them Hai Chews)! EIGHT different flavors to choose from including Cola, Sparkling Soda, Grape, Strawberry and Peach. David picked Peach- Yum! Those are the candies stacked up in the machine- they rotate around and you push the button for whatever flavor you want: 1-8. When it gets back around to your choice, it drops it down into the shoot.
Fun! (But next time I get to play!)

My Loyal Subject!

The boys have been resistant to having their photo taken lately, so it has fallen to Ty to be my test subject for my new lens. Thanks Ty!

I love Ty's eyes- it's no wonder he is always successful at begging for treats from me...

April 11, 2011

IT's BEEN AWHILE...

Well, so much for my New Year's Resolution of posting on the blog more often!
Never seems to be enough hours in the day and facebook is SO much faster for me to post...
But I miss posting to the blog so I am renewing my resolution to post more often- to not fuss with picture placement and perfecting things and just get it done!
David and I went to Gate 2 Street the other day. We parked on base and walked down to the music store- David wanted to look at Guitars and tuners.Along the way we stopped at the soda machines (of course!). I had to try something different- so opted for this one since I loved the look of the can! Since most of the names are in Kanji, it is often a mystery as to what you are getting. This one was tea- rather strong tea. Not bad once you got used to the taste- although David took one swig, made a face and gave it to me. He thought it might be beer since it was by ORION (the big beer brewery here) and was disappointed it was just tea.

January 1, 2010

Itoman Peaceful Illumination Festival

Happy New Year One and All!
A new year and a new beginning...and a resolution to try to update this blog on a slightly more regular basis!
(it wasn't until I really looked at this picture that I realized just how SHORT I am becoming! Matt simply towers over me these days.)

On New Year's Day we went to a Shrine then down to Itoman's Peaceful Illumination Festival. The boys were less than thrilled, but humored me with me need to "see some holiday lights" before the holidays drew to a close. Itoman is located in the South part of Okinawa, not an area we have spent much time so getting there in the dark was interesting!

Even the weather cooperated to lend the to the Holiday Spirit- it was FREEZING! (for Okinawa standards anyway!). I had on two jackets and both the boys were glad for their sweatshirts...and Matt was wishing he had heeded my suggestion to bring pants along.

The lights display was beautiful, if small by American standards. We were even treated to the rising full moon to add to the display.

Here is what the website says in regards to this festival-
"This event sends out to the world Okinawan's prayers for peace in the form of 600 thousand miniature light bulbs being lit in Itoman City, where the Battle of Okinawa saw its end. Join the prayers at the "starlight wink" every night at 8 o'clock, where all illumination is turned off once and lit back again. "
We were there when they turned off the lights- I didn't know why until reading this...we just heard lots of Japanese then the countdown. Pretty cool when they turned the lights back on.

This part of the park was the "Under the Sea" part I guess- the blue lights were the top of the water and the sharks and boats where underneath.


The vertical lights were gorgeous- like walking through a jungle of lights!


David and I had fun playing with the timed exposure. Matt just stood around freezing.


Here is David at the end of the tunnel of lights.

There was entertainment too. Fun to watch, but cold just to stand around (yes, we are pansies here in Okinawa- it was probably about 55 degrees and we were chilled to the bone!)



The green houses were open so I made the boy s go through those with me. They were good sports...maybe because it was slightly warmer then outside! The day lilies were beautiful and very fragrant.

Here are the boys with their new friend! Matt found him in the gift shop (while he was trying to stay warm) and we just couldn't resist him!

Matt smiling like the Shisa

David giving the "Shisa smile" a go.

Matt and David are in the middle of this picture- see those dark blobs? That's them. I asked them to strike a pose and this is what I got.