Wrong of Me to Say?

Scene at the vet:

I'm sitting in the vet waiting room with my dog, Sandy. A guy walks in with his dog. The two dogs look like they are from the same breed. While my dog is groomed, coat is shiny, and has a cute motif around her face, his dog's hair is long, wiry and matted.

Guy: You cut her hair?

Me: Yes, if I didn't she'd look like that (and pointed at his dog).

Nothing else was said.

It was the honest truth. Did I just not care about offending him? I think the jet lag has set in and I didn't have my filter on.

Another Day, Another Dive

Charlie was able to enjoy some time diving this weekend. His diving days are getting shorter and he's taking advantage of living here with the beautiful weather as much as possible.

There were some pretty coral here.

Some pretty soft coral too:

He saw he first sting ray and was so excited! There were two very young ones actually. He said they were so quick and he only got a glance of them. He's been waiting to see these since he began diving.

Happy Earth Day

Maya won a school district wide Earth Day Poster Contest. She entered just to have fun and never thought about actually winning anything. She received some awesome prizes, $100, shopping bags, reusable containers and some gift certificates to various places. Her poster was also made into a poster for the Natural Resources Management Office and placed all over the base.

Skoshi Bowl Party (little bowler)

Happy 10th Birthday Kiera!!

Kiera had her birthday party at the bowling alley. It was all in glow-in-the-dark which made it fun for everyone.

Maya is having fun:

The girls could bowl as much as they wanted:

Jasmine is having fun too:

Pizza's here!

Time for cake. Make a wish and blow out the candles:

Let's bowl some more:

Time for presents:

Bolo Point

The weather is clearing up here so Charlie and his scuba buddies took a trip up north to Bolo Point. The saw a lot of amazing creatures and he took some great shots.

Clown fish:

Toby:

Butterfly fish:

Can you see the poisonous stone fish?

He says, "Hi, don't mess with me."

Sea fans:

Soft coral:

I'm not sure what this is but it's pretty cool looking:

Firefish:

Coral fish:

He hopes to do some more diving before our time in Okinawa is up.

Round 1

The only excitement we had during Spring Break was going to Round 1. It's 7 floors of entertainment and fun. You pay $20 for 3 hours (nothing is cheep in Okinawa). So 100 bucks kept us entertained for just a few hours.

There's roller skating (yes, you HAVE to put on ALL the gear):

Bull riding:

Putting range:

Free arcades:

Batting cages:

Archery:
Our favorite, massaging chairs:

And tons more. We played basketball, soccer and tennis. There's karaoke, a bowling ally, slides, ball pits, jumpy castles, ping pong, volleyball, mini golf and more. We tried to all stay together but ended up in different directions trying our skill at a number of games. The kids were wiped out by the end.

Spring Break Wasn't a Break

We were suppose to go camping at Okuma this week. It was suppose to be nice. It was suppose to be relaxing. It was suppose to be nothing to do but enjoy ourselves. It didn't happen.

Charlie returned home Sunday from his disaster of living in Korea for two weeks. He came home with that nasty staph infection but at least it was healing and didn't require any more visits to the hospital. But I woke up that morning with a blocked tear duct. I looked like I had been in a bar fight. It stayed like that for a few days. Beautiful. Monday morning consisted of making appointments for our upcoming move and turning in paperwork from Charlie's trip. We received a phone call from our good friends who had already spent one night at Okuma. They said the winds were strong and camping was miserable. Not what we wanted to hear. So we called off the camping trip but was determined to make the week fun for us and the kids anyway. Rain was in the forcast for the whole week, ugh.

The next day we decided to JCI my van (not on my top 10 list of things I enjoy). It failed the inspection with a burnt out head light, a torn brake hose and a possible oil leak. Oil leak? Really? I just spent I don't know how much on repairing an oil leak 6 months ago. So we had to get a rental car and put my van in the shop. Again, not what I wanted to do on our vacation.

The next day I called the repair shop and my van was fixed and ready to go (They didn't bother calling me about an estimate or to tell me it was ready. They got an ear full.). Thankfully, there was no oil leak. It was just residual from the last leak I had repaired. And finally, it passed JCI which I'm very happy about because now I can sell it for a good price.

The kids didn't do much of anything this week but play on the computer and watch movies. The rain came in and poured. We had all three of them come running in our room because they were awoken by a thunderstorm (Okinawa rarely receives thunder and lightning, weird, and Germany hardly ever got a thunderstorm too). So I think the girls have only experienced about a handful of times that they had heard thunder or had seen lightning. It could be scary if you had never seen it in your life.

But we did manage to take the kids to Round 1. It's 7 floors of play. They have it all, a skating rink, free arcades, bull ride, batting cage, soccer field, basketball court, archery, golf range, bowling, massage chairs, I could go on and on. It does cost a hefty price though. For the five of us, it was $100 for 3 hours. We all had a blast and were wiped by the end of it. I'll post pictures of it next time.

So the week is almost over. I ended up going to the hospital last night because I got an infection (probably some nasty stuff Charlie brought back with him from Korea). I'm fine, no need to worry about me. Kiera's birthday party is tomorrow. I totally feel like I'm not ready. We have gotten so much done this week that I haven't given her birthday much thought. At least I set up her party weeks ago.

Notathomeitis

According to Maya, Charlie has notathomeitis. That's not-at-home-itis. He tends to get really sick wherever he goes when he's not with me. That's because I take care of him so well. Before he left a couple of weeks ago, he started having a terrible cough. He still has it. It's been two weeks. He informed me on Tuesday that he noticed a red spot on his leg. By Wednesday it had swelled to the size of a baseball. He went to the ER and was told it was a staph infection. They gave him some antibiotics and said to come back in a day if it hadn't gotten better. Today he went back to the ER. The swelling went down but it's now dark red and hurts like heck. He has to go back on Saturday to have it checked again. Hopefully he will start feeling better and see an improvement otherwise they may have to admit him and he won't be able to come home on time. So yeah, notathomeitis is the diagnosis from Dr. Maya.

This Week

It's raining and raining and raining. Charlie is in Korea. One day before spring break. So what have I been up to this week you ask?

Took the desk out of Maya and Kiera's room and returned it to FMO (furnishing management office- for government furniture). Wow, that leaves their room with a lot more space. I should have done that long ago.

Took Jasmine's bed back to FMO (she doesn't use it anyway. half the time she's bunking with Maya and Kiera. plus there's a bed in the office she can use.)

Took two end tables and a night stand back to FMO.

The house is starting to look empty. It's exciting! Yippee! The more I can get done the sooner the better. Now I can't wait for the truck to come and pack up.

I've been looking at houses, printing off my favs, and have narrowed down my decision to 10. I've had a better look at them thanks to googlemaps. I can see street views and arial views. It's a life saver. I'm able to really see the neighborhood, the yard, how close shopping is and more of what to expect. I can't wait to be able to finally step inside these houses. The time is getting shorter every day, 63 days from today.

Dying Easter Eggs

Today we enjoyed dying Easter eggs.


Sandy couldn't stand being away today. She tried to lick all the eggs. I think she wanted to eat them but couldn't figure out how to.
Kiera is showing us her pretty green egg.


Jasmine is sponging color onto her egg.

Kiera's eggs.

Maya's eggs.

Jasmine's eggs.

I don't think we'll be hiding and finding eggs tomorrow on Easter Sunday. Rain is in the forecast so I think we'll stay inside.