It's the little things

Today is a cool 81 degrees. Cool because it is overcast and windy from the Typoon that passed us by. This type of day calls for a good book (I love murder mysteries!) and a cup of something warm. I found a new tea at the commissary, and it is yummy. I bet it would be good over ice when the sun comes back.

Okinawa World

After not venturing out into Okinawa for a few weeks, I knew we HAD to get out. We decided on a visit to Okinawa World on the south end of the island. Steph had already been with her school once, but the rest of us wanted to check it out.

Our first stop was Okinawa Cave. This is by far the nicest cave tour we have been on. The stalactites and stalagmites are huge, the pools of water are fed by streams and actually have fish! Best of all-- no tour guide filling you with facts you don't really want to know.

After the cave, we wandered around the various shops, saw the fresh fruit farm, and ate Taco Rice, Soba noodles and Curry for lunch. Once we were rested from the walk through the cave we were ready to face the snakes in the Snake Museum.

The highlight of the museum is the snake show. We watched a mogoose race a snake (seperate water tubes so no drama), watched the handler irritate a cobra and saw a real live Habu attack! I recorded it to share with all of you. The show is completely in Japanese and I only understood the words Habu, Mongoose, and Kudasai (please) so this is a guess, but the white balloon is filled with cold water and the pink balloon is filled with warm. To prove the point that the snake can't see, but will strike when a warm object comes close.

After we finished up at Okinawa World, we stopped for ice cream at our favorite spot, Blue Seal. Today I tried Honey ice cream. It was very, very good. And we even took a picture this time:

Then it was time to head home so Lyle could get dressed for his work thing tonight. My goal was to stamp, but the kids wanted Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies to take to church tomorrow so I am baking instead. Either way my inner Martha is satisfied :)

Full Friday

I woke up this morning with no real plans. Lyle had a squadron function for lunch so I had the whole day (with the kids). After getting home from the gym, I realized we (the kids and I) couldn't do a whole lot since Chris had over 200 weekly flyers to distribute to the neighborhood, and the dog needed a bath, so we stuck close to home.

I pulled out my stamping stuff, since it had been a while. I decided to try to use some of those items that have been hanging around a little too long. I only got 5 cards made, but since Lyle has a dinner function tomorrow night, I will get to do some more.

For dinner tonight I decided to try the stir fry recipe I found for that Winter Melon I bought. Just in case, I also bought soba noodles so we wouldn't starve :) Cooked, the winter melon doesn't really have a taste kind of like a soft water chestnut. Raw, it tastes like the white part of a watermelon rind. Either way no one thought it was worth buying again and the kids were happy to have soba noodles.

After dinner, since it is Friday, Lyle and I went for a longer than normal walk. We walked up the exercise trail, named the Habu Trail. I was a little nervous since it was getting dark, and the trail is unlit (and near the jungle). We made it off the trail without an incident and stopped to get ice cream at the Baskin Robbins. Hey, we did just walk up hill for over 3 miles, we deserve it! While walking home from BR a car sped past us, braked, and reversed. We weren't sure what they were doing until we heard the bump and thud. Then we saw the Habu Snake! Our first Habu snake, in the middle of the road, right on our normal walking route! It was not huge at 2-2 1/2 feet, but it was enough to make us jumpy for the rest of the walk home.

Now it is time to curl up on the couch and relax for the evening. See you all tomorrow!

Bad Blogger

I haven't signed into my blog since Saturday morning! Not even to update my miles, which are growing thanks to the humidity and my husband. The humidity because it has driven me back into the gym and the miles rack up quicker on the elliptical and my husband, since he has been taking me (and Haru) for a nightly 2 mile walk.

Saturday was a nice day. I invited Rita over for a little scrapping and dinner. We hung out for the afternoon, while Lyle went golfing then had a nice grilled chicken, salad, bread and rice.

Sunday was spent shopping and catching up around the house.

Monday we went to the library. Our library here has a TON of non-fiction books, but is lacking when it comes to novels. Fortunately, they have a book exchange shelf that I use everytime we visit. This time I hit paydirt! Three of the books on my to read list, all in hardback! so I stuck them in my reusable shopping bag, went to the checkout with the kids, then left. Tried to anyway. You know those detectors they have by the doors to keep people from walking out with the books? I set those off. Turns out one of my exhange books still has a sensor in it from the Dallas TX Library it was taken from! After the librarian determined I wasn't a major criminal (can you see me in Japanese Prison?) he said I could just keep the book and not to bring it back.

Tuesday I ran the normal errands, but didn't have time for the produce store so the kids and I headed out there today. I bought what looks to be a watermelon, but I couldn't tell from the signs. I looked up the Kanji from the sticker and deciphered the word Tougan, which is Japanese for Winter Melon. I found a recipe to use it in stir fry we might try tomorrow or Friday.

On our way home I stopped at one of the many vending machines to buy us each a drink. You cannot go more than a block without seeing a few of these machines, even out in the farm areas! Chris got apple juice, Steph bought tea, but I tried something new:

Aloe and White Grape Juice. I didn't know the picture of the cubes on the front meant there were chunks of aloe in the drink, so I was a bit suprised at first. It felt like jell-o cubes in my mouth, but was suprisingly nice tasting.

The Strangers

Since the kids had their own plans on Friday, Lyle and I decided to go to the movies and see "The Strangers". For those that haven't seen the previews it is a scary movie. In fact Lyle and I agree that it was the best scary movie we have seen in a VERY long time. I didn't let go of his hand throughout the whole movie (or he wouldn't let go of mine, LOL). Since it opens with the lines "Based on actual events" I had to do some research after I got home. Mostly to set my mind at easy that the "bad guys" haven't moved to Okinawa :)

While looking up the names and dates shown on the movie screen I found that there was no murder of Kristin McKay or James Hoyt on February, 11 2005 but there was a grisly murder in a remote cabin on April 11, 1981 (check out http://www.cabin28.com/).

I also found a commentary from the director on the official website (http://www.thestrangers.net/):

"As a kid, I lived in a house on a street in the middle of nowhere. One night, when our parents were out, someone knocked on the front door, and my little sister answered it. At the door were some poeple asking for somebody that didn't live there. We later found out that these people were knocking on doors in the area and, if no one was home, breaking into the houses. In The Strangers, the fact that someone is home does not deter the people who have knocked on the door; it's the reverse."

Either way, it is a scary movie I would recommend to any horror lover!

Steph's Bday Recap

Stephanie spent the afternoon swimming with Chris, Darien and Diana. I dropped them all off around noon at the pool and told them to give me a call when they wanted to get picked up. I had a very nice, relaxing, quiet afternoon. At 4:00 I took the dry laundry upstairs and found the phone, on my bed, off the hook. No wonder they hadn't called yet!

I hung up the phone and hurried over to the pool to pick them up, ready or not. They were all sitting on the curb outside the pool and had been there for almost an hour, trying to call me every few minutes! I took Darien and Diana back to their room, and took my two home. Lyle came home shortly after saying he tried to call a few times and it just rang. I told him about the phone fiasco, but he said he had JUST tried to call and it still wasn't working. I checked the phone and sure enough, our line was dead until he could call the communications office in the morning.

We headed off to go to dinner. Stephanie had chosen Mike's Italian Garden for her Birthday dinner. Unfortunately, Mike's is closed on Tuesday. After a few minutes in the parking lot she decided to go to Platter's a 50's style diner on base. Platter's is right next to the theater so we saw that Get Smart was playing in less than an hour. We ate quick then got our seats. It was pretty funny, we all left laughing.

We had a giant cookie waiting back home (Steph didn't want cake) and she had some presents to open. Our gift hadn't arrived yet (Wal-mart shipping takes forever when you need your order), but Stephanie had gifts from Chris ( art supplies) and envelopes from family back in the states.

Overall, she said she had a good day, and that is what counts!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Today is Stephanie's Eleventh birthday! I spent a few minutes (okay an hour) looking for pictures of her first 11 years to post and it struck me how fast time goes by. Over her lifetime Stephanie has lived in 7 different homes in 3 different states and 2 different countries, and she isn't done yet! She is still asleep so I don't have a picture of her at 11, but there will be one by the end of the day today.

When in Japan...

At every grocery store, corner market and restaurant we have seen (and tried) balls of rice with different seasonings or fillings in them. We all like them, so when I saw a package of seasoning packets at the 100 Yen Store I bought it.

The instructions were in japanese, but I read between the Kanji and deciphered to read "One packet mixed into 180 grams of cooked rice" Of course, we have no idea what the "flavors" are so I asked the kids, "Green, Yellow or Purple". They chose green, which had a picture of what could be a leaf, or an onion... not really sure. I learned that 180 grams is about 6 ounces (give or take), mixed it up and using plastic wrap formed 4 little rice snacks. To be authentic, they should be in a triangle. I will be buying a rice form next time I am at the Yen Store

I served them up, we each tried one, then wished I had made more :) There was enough left over rice after dinner to mix up one more batch, this time using the purple packet. The purple packet had a picture of berries, or beets, or maybe the purple sweet potato. I guess we will find out when we eat them with lunch today. I am going to try to remember to take the package with me to have one of our Japanese friends at church tell me what the flavors are supposed to be.

Bingo!

On Saturday, Lyle had to go help with the squadron car wash, so the kids and I went to family bingo at the community center. We have played here a couple times before and always had a good time.

Chris was the lucky one this trip. He won straight bingo in only 14 numbers ($25) and was one number away on the coverall for $150! After Bingo he headed right to the BX to spend his "free money". Maybe I should have made him pay me for the card??

Pineapple

I went to the local farmer's market today. I love that place! I enjoy just walking around absorbing the sights and sounds and figuring out what I should take home with me.

Today I bought tomatoes, asparagus, local bell peppers (they are about the size of limes), a korean yellow melon, some fresh rosemary and a local pineapple, all for only 915 yen (about $9).

The pineapple isn't huge, it is pictured against my 15 inch plate, but it smelled incredible. I had to slice open the pineapple right away to serve with lunch. It was by far the freshest and sweetest pineapple I have ever tasted in my life. I wish I could send one to each of you. But since I can't, I will tease you with a picture:

Earthquake

Since I don't get real US news I have no idea if you heard that we had an earthquake yesterday.

It has been so long since I felt an earthquake it took a second for me to realize what was happening. The kids were out delivering papers, so I called Lyle to see if he felt it too. It was a 6.0 according to this web site:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html
But nothing moved from it original location, no cupboards opened and no damage was done.

Chris and Stephanie didn't even notice since they were outside! Funny since both had been concerned about earthquakes since we got here!

Sunset

We spent Sunday afternoon at Torii Beach. This has quickly become our favorite swimming beach because of the gentle waves, soft sand, and shallow swimming area. The only drawback- no dogs. I took pictures as the sun was setting and thought you might enjoy watching.

What I have been doing-

Not much in the last few days, but we did see a movie - The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Very Very Good movie

And we have been playing the Wii. We got Boom Blox (made by Steven Spielberg) and we are all addicted. This is one of the best games we have played as a family in a while!

I have dreams of Stamping and Scrapbooking one of these days, I actually got my Power Layout box out today, but instead of working on layouts I spent my craft time getting the kids to journal their own albums. Chris finished 2005, Steph only has a few pages left. I on the other hand have quite a bit to do on the family album.

Only 55 days of summer left :)