Surprise!

I got Happy Mail! A box from my partner in crime in Germany. It contained some stamping supplies that I had ordered, tons of expired coupons (still good here!), and YUMMY YUMMY snacks from Real (her favorite store). I ate the little wafer cookie thing first. It was much like the "chocolate covered packing peanut log" I had sent her, but with much more chocolate. The Germans know how to do chocolate!

The kids enjoyed the Kinder Eggs (okay we ALL enjoyed the kinder eggs.) We played with the little toys that were hidden inside. Somehow, I got a spy toy, a morse code clicker, while everyone else got cute little, bright colored bunnies. Lyle took my clicker to work so he can keep everyone in line! We haven't tried the peanut flippies or the Ketchup flavored teddy snacks yet, and the German coffee is waiting for a morning that I can actually savor the flavor, rather than slurping it down on the way out the door.

I spent a couple hours looking through all the coupons and pulling out the ones I could use. I have already been to the store once and got Chicken fries for the boy, 89 cents, Rice a roni, 40 cents, and snacks for Haru, 68 cents. I love those $1 off coupons!

And since my creative cling showed up I was able to mount some stamps that have been sitting for months and do some stamping. I didn't take any pictures of my handiwork, so you will just have to imagine :)

My other surprise this week was my anniversary present to Lyle. I had been secretly working on a cross stitch project to help cover our bare walls. I finished it last week and took it in to get it framed. The skills center assured me it would be done before Wednesday. Wednesday morning they still hadn't called so I stopped in and it was "almost" ready, just needed to be assembled, sealed and hung. They said it would be done in 45 minutes. So I ran and got my groceries, then came back. I glanced at it, quickly because I needed to get the groceries home before having to pick Lyle up for lunch. It looked fine (really nice in fact), so I resealed the brown paper cover and took it home. At lunch I gave Lyle his gift. He was surprised and really liked it, went to hang it on the wall. Apparently the skills center hurried through to get it done for me and didn't pay attention to which direction it needed to hang:

I am taking it back in this weekend to be rehung!

Today is the Day

That I fell in love. Twenty-One years ago (OMG 21 years!) I started seeing this guy from work, little did I know we would be together forever! Happy Anniversary hon, I love you!

For my Baby Brother

Happy Birthday to my brother Rick. I could have put more embarassing photos up, but it is his birthday, and I didn't get him a gift :) Love you Rick

Saturday....

Otherwise known as Spring outing day :) We decided to head for the islands on the Western side of Okinawa.

We drove over a couple really cool bridges and through some concrete tunnels to get to Ikei Island. On the way we stopped at a beach to watch people surf using Parachutes and Sails. We decided we are going to have to try this someday (not today!)

We found a nice spot for a family photo. Now that we have the whole Self-Timer thing on the camera figured out, we will be doing these alot more often!

We got back into the car and drove to the end of the road at Big Time Resort. The beach wasn't a good swimming beach because of Riptides, but we had a good time walking it. Chris found a bunch of sea floats (no glass floats tho) and a plastic container to haul them in:

Stephanie opted for something smaller:

These are broken pieces of glass that have been rubbed completely smooth by the water and the sand. The are known as Sea Glass. This is a much easier collection to haul around :)

After a couple hours in the sun we were ready to go home, but we had to stop for our favorite treat, Blue Seal ice cream. Today's flavors were Coconut, Sugar Cane, Cookies and Cream and Mint Chocolate Chip. YUM!

Friday

I meant to update this news right away, but I got lazy. Anyhoo. Chris started his day looking like this:

But ended his day looking like this:

The Air Force decided to allow his braces, and since we are overseas, they pay for them too! That saves us over $2000 that the guy in Grand Forks was going to charge us! If we can get Stephanie into braces before we PCS back to the states.....

On a side note(literally). The sign of the week was found in the bathroom of the hospital. My question, what else.... other than toilet paper.... would someone WANT to put on a TP dispenser?

Member's Night

Last night Lyle and I went to check out the NCO club- Rockers. It was Member's Night, which advertised free dinner buffet from 5-7,then games and prizes from 7-9. It was advertised as Adult's only so we went on a date.

We have visited Member's Night at our last three bases. Sheppard AFB it was a family night, with games and prizes for the kids as well as adults. There were always 2 buffets, one with kid friendly food and one for adults. It was always a good time. Then we moved to Grand Forks. Those of you that have been to a member's night in the Forks knows what I mean when I say it was always a let down. Spaghetti with meat sauce and "garlic bread" made from yesterdays hamburger and hotdog buns and cheap silly prizes. But it was free and friends always made it a nice night away from the kitchen.

Last night was a definite change for the good! We dined on an endless buffet of Steak, chicken, sausage with peppers and onions, Mashed potatoes, veggies, rice, salad. And so many different desserts we couldn't sample them all (we tried.... Hard!). They had real entertainment in the form of a DJ and a "Jamaican" MC. They were full of jokes and we laughed all night long. There were prize drawings for Club Cash (they gave away over $1000 just in cash)and games for the other prizes, including Ipod shuffles and Dvd players (yes, multiple of each!). Anyone that took part in any of the games got T-shirts and hats. Lyle and I both were called up for the scavenger hunt, which had us running around for change. I was eliminated right away, I wasn't quick enough getting back. Lyle was eliminated soon after for running. It isn't easy trying to find $1.76 when no one here uses pennies (except the Post Office).

It was fun, we ate good food, laughed hard and got away from the kids. And best of all it was FREE!

Happy Birthday To Carol

Today is Carol's Birthday!

For those that haven't met my friend Carol (she is also my step mom!) you are missing out. She is a fun lady. She would fit in with the Forks gang pretty well :)

Happy Birthday Carol, We love you!

Update on the Rosemary Bread

We pulled a loaf of the Frozen Rosemary Garlic bread from last week out of the freezer. It still tasted wonderful with our dinner. But the suprise was the next day. I used this bread to make the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches in the world. It toasted up wonderfully and got nice and crispy on the outside while staying moist on the inside! I have one more loaf in the freezer, but I don't think it is going to last long.

Ryukyu Glass Works (and more)

We had been planning on driving to the southern end of the Island for a couple weeks, but life kept getting in the way. But this Saturday we did our weekend chores quick so we could get on the road. One extra chore was spraying the ants that were walking under my front door in a march to my kitchen. Raid, however, kills more than ants. On our way our the door we found this on our front step:

Just so you can get an idea of this bugs size, the tiles on our front step are almost 6 inches square.

After flinging the dead bug into the grass we climbed into the car are started our journey south. After a couple of unintentional street changes (Lyle says we were NOT lost) we found signs leading us to the Ryukyu Glass Works. On our way to the Glass Works we stopped at a Lacquerware store and took a quick tour of the lacquerware process from start to finish. I didn't get any pictures inside, but they had these cut outs in the front:

A very short drive later we got to the glass works. This place is incredible. The enire building (shops included) are covered in these beautiful glass tiles.

We sat and watched the glass makers work for a while, amazed at how quickly they could work. Then we went into the store to look over their wares. There were plates, bowls, vases, wine glasses and more. The colors were amazing, the store overwhelming. We have a list of things that we would like, we only have to narrow it down. We are planning on coming back on an organized tour so we can create our own glass creation.

After all of the heat from the glass furnace we needed a cool break, so we got Ice Cream. Chris chose Cookies and Cream, Steph got Mint Chocolate chip, Lyle and I shared a new flavor, Pineapple. It was really (REALLY) good.

Since it was starting to rain, we decided to head back towards home. On our way we drove by this car dealership and saw the kids dream car:

The Pikachu car was complete down to a tail on the Bumper. The hubcaps were PokeBalls! Chris wanted to know how much it cost, Steph wanted to know if she bought a car would we help her paint it like this one!

Rosemary Garlic Braid

I made this bread yesterday. It has been in my Try file for quite a while, I wish I would have made it earlier! It was soooooo good! The recipe makes 3 loaves, after slicing the first one I immediately wrapped and froze the other two to keep the family from eating it all! Don't be afraid of the 5 heads of garlic, after baking them they are so mellow and almost nutty tasting. I used fresh rosemary, but scraped it off the garlic after baking to keep it from going into the bread. The flavor was still there, without the hard stems. I didn't have Garlic Salt, so I substuted 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder and 1 teaspoon Onion Salt. There was some butter left over so I brushed it over the loaves again after they finished baking.

Rosemary Garlic Braid

5 Whole Garlic Bulbs

2 teaspoons Olive Oil
¼ Cup Minced Fresh Rosemary or 4 teaspoons Dried Rosemary, crushed
1 Tablespoon Chicken Broth

9 to 9 ½ Cups Bread Flour
½ Cup sugar

3 packages Quick Rise Yeast
3 teaspoons Salt

1 ½ Cups Milk
1 Cup Water

¾ Cup Butter, divided
1 Egg

1 ½ teaspoons Garlic Salt

Remove papery outer skin from garlic (do not peel or separate cloves). Cut top off garlic heads, leaving root end intact. Place cut side up in a small baking dish. Brush with oil; sprinkle with rosemary. Cover and bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes or until softened. Cool for 10 minutes. Squeeze softened garlic into a bowl, add broth and lightly mash. In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a saucepan heat milk, water and ½ Cup butter to 120-130. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Beat in egg and garlic paste until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky). Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, divide into thirds. Divide each portion into three pieces. Shape each into an 18-inch rope. Place three ropes on a greased baking sheet and braid; pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Melt remaining butter; add garlic salt. Brush over bread. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.