Finally.... Some Pictures

On the right is a picture of my home on Okinawa. We are an end unit which comes with it's pros (only 1 neighbor to share a wall with being #1) and its cons (more yard to mow and the trash bins are on our end). The kids have the windows there on the top front. The lower window is where my kitchen is. The back side is the HUGE living dining room area (larger than my crop room in ND) and above that is the Master Bedroom. Our furniture was delivered last week and for free goverment stuff it isn't bad. The couch and chairs look brand new then only downside is the dark wine color, but who am I to complain?

This is the view from my kitchen window (and front yard). We overlook the golf course and can see the ocean. Today, due to some weather moving in, we can see whitecaps on the water. There is an island off the the left a bit. Not sure yet what it's name is, but we are going to try to find out. Lyle said he has already heard about the golf course (one of the two on base). There is such a demand for tee times that you have to enter your name in a lottery to be drawn to get a tee time, much less the time you want. But he isn't worried yet, since his golf stuff is still in transit.

This is our car/van. It is a Toyota Ipsum from 1996. It is not quite as big as a mini van but definitely bigger than a car. It has a third row of seats that tuck into the floor. So if any of you come to visit we can fit into one vehicle. Like 99% of the vehicles here the passenger side is the driver side, both Lyle and I have walked to the wrong side many times. Also the blinker, windshield wipers, and shifter are all reverse as well, so we have tried to signal a turn which turns on the wipers and completely frazzles me. The other thing that makes me nervous driving (other than being on the left side of the road) is the stop and yield signs:

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Notice the similarity! Not so bad on base where they have Stop and Yield written in English, but the Japanese weren't so kind for the off base signs. I will be stopping at ALL triangular shaped signs.

And one final picture I had to share. We had the traditional Christmas Lasagne and salad dinner this year in TLF. Because I couldn't cook the family my Never Fail Butterhorn rolls, I asked Lyle to stop at the Commissary and pick out some good rolls. Imagine the look on my face when he brought home rolls that were better than good, they were Excellent!