Picture Cube

Today I took the kids (mine and Rita's) bowling. The base offers a "Summer Strike" program for the kids to get a free game of bowling and shoe rental every day of the summer. They ended up playing 3 games and ate lunch there too.

I am not much of a bowler, so I took all the supplies to work on a craft project I wanted to try:

A Photo Cube Puzzle

Jen PV made one of these towards the end of my ND cropping days and I liked it enough to file it away in my mental "to do someday" list. I found the cubes at the Yen store (6 cubes for 100 yen) so I bought them. I am going out shopping tomorrow and plan to buy more. It was a fun little project, but the instructions were a bit confusing. I had to move my pieces around a couple times to get it to work right.

I found the instructions here: http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/shows_cds/article/0,2045,DIY_15079_2502286,00.html

Just a hint, I made a little model using 8 dice and sticker strips to identify the 10 different sides. It helped A LOT!

Hooray!!!

While Lyle was home for lunch there was a knock at the door. Lyle said "It's for you" which made me wonder what he was up to.

I amswered the door to find Rita (and the kids)!!!!!

She came in on a civilian flight so she was a day earlier than I thought she would be. We spent the afternoon catching up, ate a spaghetti and meatball dinner, and let the kids play Wii.

Sorry, no pictures, by the time I thought of the camera Rita was dozing off in the chair :)

Now if only the rest of you would get orders.....

behind.... again

I know, I know, even my husband has been saying I haven't updated my blog in A WEEK! So it is time to play catch up.

I should start with last Sunday- After Chris's performance at church we came home, did house stuff then packed up to hit the beach and get dinner. Unfortunately, all the food joints at Torii Beach close at 7 pm (We got there just before 7). We let the kids play in the water anyway and said decided to stop at the base food court on our way home. Torii Beach is THE beach for sand glass, and the water is pretty calm so the kids could have a good time too. On our way out we saw a sight that made us miss ND- Sunflower fields- Three of them

On Monday, Steph's girl scout group met for dinner at Chili's and a movie. Chris and I tagged along for the movie portion since it was Kung Fu Panda. This movie is laugh out loud funny. Lyle wasn't able to go with us because of work, but I would see it again in a second!

Wednesday was Kid's Membership night at the club. There were games, clowns, prizes and dancing along with free dinner. Dinner was kid friendly spaghetti and hot dogs, but we all had a good time. Chris got called up to take part in a contest he has trained for all his life: Soda Chugging. He downed his whole can of Coke before anyone else even got half done! There was a split second we thought he might spray the audience, but he held it back and won a prize. Too bad I left the camera at home.

Saturday was our family outing day. I have wanted to go to a castle, any castle, standing or ruined, since we got here. Saturday was my day. We drove to Shuri Castle and spent the morning touring the grounds. The drive there was interesting:

You can't really tell from the pictures but this road is uphill for a few kilometers with a monorail track above us. It was a fun road, not too twisty or frightening (I have been a few of those already)

One of the things I find so amazing is how well the Japanese utilize the limited amount of space we have here. I see buildings like this one on every drive we take. There is a Key making shop in the lower part, and stairs on the back side that lead up to what I can only assume is a one room apartment on top.

Our morning at Shuri Castle:

The actual palace building has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. We were able to look through a glass floor to see the original foundation. While the outer walls have also been rebuilt you can see the difference in building materials from the original to the restoration. By far, the best part of this trip was the view:

There, a week wrapped up in a single post. I will try to do better this week.

76 Trombones

Okay only two.... and a piano. Chris played a trombone duet with the music director at church today during offering. Both Steph and I recorded it, but I only know how to upload from my camera, so forgive the shaky hand and the not so perfect sound.

Farmer's Market

I have been complaining about the produce the base commissary sells almost from the day we got here. The prices are high, even for "local" produce and the quality isn't very good, but the local grocery chains weren't much better for price so I thought I was stuck.

I found out I was wrong. Lyle and I ventured out to find a Farmer's Market that is only about 10 minutes from the base. The selection at this market is incredible and the prices are about half of what I had been paying. The vendors offer a huge variety of items including flowers and many local foods. Best of all they offer samples! We made a lunch of the items we found there and took home some cucumbers and tomatoes. The tomatoes are the smallest I have ever seen!

I will be making that my weekly stop and planning my menu around what I find there that looks good.

First day of Summer

This post is 3 days late, but since I had the pictures I figured I should finish it. Friday was the first day of summer vacation, leaving 74 days until school starts back up again. This is the first summer in 3 years that I haven't been working, I am sure I will survive. Haru is doing great. She gets angry when we have to put the collar on her. We only put it on when we aren't home, or at night while we are sleeping. She has been staying out of the kennel and doing so good that we are going to start letting her choose where she sleeps at night.
I got happy mail on Friday too. I had ordered a computer program to go along with my Cricut. I haven't had the opportunity to play with it yet so I will have to give you an update another day on how much I like it.
And to finish the first day of summer, I made the kids help me make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. I used Ghiradhelli chocolate and I don't think I can go back to Hershey's. They were (notice the past tense) AWESOME cookies. Credit goes to Chris for scooping all the cookies and watching the time in the oven. I love cookies, but hate waiting for the timer to go off every 9 minutes.

Priceless

Dog from Lost/Found ad FREE
Kennel and assorted toys $75
Vet appointment for getting Spayed $142
Finding out your dog was already spayed PRICELESS

That was my (and Haru's) experience today. I had asked the vet at the first appointment if they thought she had been spayed, I didn't notice an incision and neither did they. So I made the appointment and brought her in this morning, thankful she hadn't gone into heat over the last few months.

When I picked her up today, I paid my bill, then was brought back into the vet office to claim my dog. The vet came in first and asked where we got our dog. I told her she was a stray and we adopted her a few months ago. That's when she dropped the bomb that Haru had already been spayed, probably in Europe. She only had her ovaries removed in that surgery, a European technique. The vet said she took the rest of the works since Haru was already opened up.

I feel horrible for my poor puppy now, as she naps on her blankets, but am left to wonder about how she came to be with us. Is she a German dog? Italian? possibly a Russian spy? We will never know why her other owners didn't microchip her, or why they didn't look for her when she got lost. All I know is we lucked in to one of the best (and smartest) dogs I have ever met.

Okinawa Hai

One of my Okinawa friends, Heidi, led me to a great resource- www.okinawahai.com.
This website has information on just about anything on island from an American point of view. They even have turn by turn directions to everything!

After Saturday's trip out, I knew we needed to have something "real" to do for Sunday. I popped onto OkinawaHai and found a post about a new strip mall that had opened up, and according to the directions it wasn't that far from us. We loaded the kids into the car and took off.

Chris found something right away in the first shop we entered. He said this shirt "screamed Chris", Lyle and I agreed it screamed something, but he really wanted it and it was on clearance (who would've guessed) so we bought it for him.


We went through each shop one by one and let the kids waste some allowance in the Arcade. The arcade had slot machines and video poker set up in the far corner, the kids stayed away from those.

Our last stop was a grocery store. I could spend hours walking the Japanese grocery stores. I love the tiny packages of everything, the fun artwork and the cleanliness of it all. We bought a few little things to try. Next time we are eating lunch or dinner at one of the many restraunts that were there.

So if you find some time on your hands check out the site and let me know what you think!

Vegetable Ice Cream???

We spent Saturday evening driving the streets of Okinawa. We were really looking for a shopping area Lyle thought he saw. I know he saw something, but we couldn't find it again. But touring the side streets of Okinawa was a nice way to spend an evening. I know the group of men that were on one corner saw us enough to be able to pick us out of a line up (passed by at least 4 times!) After an hour or so of that we stopped for dinner. Since it was getting late we decided Ice Cream was an acceptable dinner.

Blue Seal is Okinawan Ice Cream at its finest. I tried Mango Madness this time (it was good and VERY mango-y), Lyle tried Goya. At the time we had no idea what Goya was, but it tasted pretty good. I have since located it on-line and found the following:

"Various prefectures (like a state) come to the Expo to promote food and crafts from their part of Japan. At the booth from Okinawa, a local vegetable called goya or bitter melon is used to make different products like tea and noodles."

The kids got the standard Chocolate Cookie and Mint Chocolate Chip. While standing in line to order our ice cream Lyle looked through the dinner menu. Intrigued by "Curry Fries" and "Spicy Fries" he ordered a side of each to go with our dessert. The curry fries were really good, spicy fries were like regular fries. Sorry no pics, I forgot to take the camera along for this journey.

forwarded mail

It amazes me every time we move; we ALWAYS lose touch with someone we need to stay in touch with, because mail doesn't get forwarded or a company refuses to update our address. I am also surprised by the things that continue to find their way to us.

Today there was only one lonely piece of mail in our PSC box. It was one of those things I will not need in the foreseeable future


As much as I would enjoy Father's day Bingo, even after the coupons they sent 6000 miles, it would still cost a little more than my budget allows.

The funniest part is that they have my current address on the flyer, so I will continue to get these, until they check their files and see I haven't attended Bingo in a while.

Cream Cheese Carrot Muffins

Tomorrow is the Ladies Bible Study and I am bringing snacks. Since it is a morning meeting I made something to go with coffee. These muffins are pretty good, I used 1/3 fat Cream Cheese and doubled the muffin ingredients since the filling makes way more than needed.
Ingredients
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can sliced carrot, drained
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup Sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Filling
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar

Directions
Place carrots in a food processor; cover and process until smooth. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices. In a small bowl, whisk the pureed carrots, eggs and oil; stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fill 12 greased muffin cups one-third full. In a small mixing bowl, beat the filling ingredients until smooth. Drop by tablespoonfuls into the center of each muffin. Top with remaining batter.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Yum!?

Lyle and I both had tried Korean Sushi while in ND (Kimbop), and I have had California Rolls before, but neither of us had true raw fish Sushi. Our commissary just opened up a Sushi Bar addition to the Deli, and in honor of being in Japan we have started trying some of what they have to offer.




We started last week with the familiar, California Rolls. The kids didn't care for them, but Lyle and I both enjoyed them. This week we tried Cream Cheese Rolls, made with raw (as in uncooked) tuna. They were okay, but we probably won't try them from the commissary again. I don't know if we will ever get brave enough for the eel rolls!

On a tastier note, today was the Women's Ministry Annual Cake auction. Since I left all my food friends in December, I have been looking for opportunities to cook for those that might appreciate it. So I prepared one of my favorites, Lemon Meringue Cake.

I was a little worried about how the meringue would like the humidity here, but it turned out pretty good. It sold for $22. The best part of this auction was that everyone cut open their cakes right away and shared with all. I tried like 6 different desserts, my favorite, Red Velvet Cake Balls. Chunks of Red Velvet Cake, dipped in frosting then coated in melted chocolate! I will be asking Heidi for her recipe!