Wipe it clean

I want to post about our trip to Minna Island but I can't yet. Charlie wiped the computer Sunday and Monday. It's totally clean with nothing on it!!! Yea!!! We thought we were going to have to buy a new computer because it was slowly dying. Sites kept freezing up, I couldn't print more than 1 page, couldn't put it into stand-by and then the ever dreaded black screen happened. Thank goodness I saved everything I needed and wanted onto an external hard drive just last week. So now we have to re-load what we want back on the computer (cameras, G drive, word, the printer, everything). But we are going to keep it as simple as we can. All the cameras (5 to be exact, you know the kids have theirs, I have mine, Charlie has his underwater camera) aren't going to be re-loaded. I'll get a card reader instead because all the software eats up the hard drive and causes it to be slow. It's 5 years old now and we are trying to keep it as long as we can. If it holds out until next year (which it should now) we'll give it to the kids and I'll get my very own laptop! So anyway I'll get around to posting about our trip to Minna Island soon.

The Crocodile

It should have been named "The Crab" for the best snow crab legs on the island and anywhere I've tasted for that matter. Charlie and I love going to this resturant for the crab legs and the atmosphere. This time Maya and Kiera came along with us.



The girls waited paitently for their food.

Our snow crab legs and four dipping sauces (soy with lemon, chili, special Japanese sauce, and herb and garlic). They are all so good. The hard part is choosing which one you want to try for the next bite.

By the end of dinner the farris wheel was lit. It always makes for a good shot.

5 more years

The Oath of Enlistment

I, _, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.


Today Charlie reenlisted for his last five years until retirement. This is the first time the girls and I have been apart of this ceremony. His first reenlistment was done at our first duty station in Wyoming. Charlie didn't see it as important at that time. His second reenlistment was done in Saudia Arebia. So we missed out on it as well.


As you can see he did it at the beach. What better place? You can reenlist anywhere you chose. It was a beautiful day. We are so proud of Charlie for serving our country and making the oath once again.

Can we move to Kinser?

We are lucky to have 10 bases to chose from with the activities they offer. Some are better than others. Kadena and Foster have a good bx and commissary. Schuab has a great beach and cabins. Okuma has great water sports. White Beach is quiet.

After a "quick" trip to Kadena's pool the other day, I told the girls we'd have to find another pool. We actually walked in, saw the hoards of people, and walked out. The girls were disappointed but what was I to do? There were no seats, standing room only, and no place to swim. It was extremely loud. And I was afraid the kids would just get bounced around, knocked around and possibly hurt.

I overheard a conversation about where is the best pool on Okinawa. Kinser. Wow, that's a drive. It's close to the capital city of Naha. So you can only imagine how bad the traffic is to get there. But if it's great, it's worth the drive.

We made it in good time - 40 mins. It's only 10 miles from our house. Yeah, traffic sucks here. But I fell in love with the base. It's QUIET, not crowded and has everything you need. Check out the pool. We were there for four hours and about 10 other people shared this huge pool with us. We're coming back! I just might do my grocery shopping here too (on this base). We ran through to get some drinks and there was only one other family in the whole store. Two girls in Burger King at 5 pm. Where is everyone? I am so NOT going to let this secret out!!!

The Big Day

Today Charlie pinned on Master Sergeant (E-7)!!! He waited 1year, 4 months since he took the test to actually pin it on. It was a long wait but well worth it.

The ceremony took place in the base theater in front of the communications squadron, about 200 people. Before he was pinned the stripe, a little other business needed to be taken care of first. He was awarded a commidation medal for his hard work. He was also given a letter of reconition for community service.

Then the girls and I were called up on stage to do the tradional honors of punching the stripes on. One person stands on each side of the member and punches him as hard as they can in the arm. The girls and I did a great job. Charlie won't admit it but from the reaction on his face and the lean he gave after I punched him, he was surprised I hit him so hard. At least I got cheers instead of boos from the crowd. My pics. turned out badly from having a rookie use my camera. So I didn't get any pictures of us punching Charlie. Oh well. Maybe someone else got a good shot and will send it to us. I'm hoping.

Nice day for a swim

The girls are continuing their swim lessons this week. The temps. are much hotter and the rain has cleared. Jasmine's class worked on treading water and diving to the bottom of the pool so I didn't get any good shots of her today. Maybe next time.

Maya and Kiera's class however learned a lot today.

Learning the back crawl.

Kiera perfecting her back crawl.

Maya swimming the back crawl.

Maya doing a dolphin kick.

Maya getting some pointers from her coach on how to do a quick start.

Kiera performs a quick start.

The girls learn how to dive.

This was Maya and Kiera last year with the same coach before they could swim. They've worked hard and have come a long way. It was also great having the same coach teach them this year too.

M is for Mangos

We have mangos, lots and lots of mangos! Today Charlie helped me pick mangos off our tree. We knew they were turning ripe soon. The bats got a few of them already. We are determined to not let them get most of the mangos like last year. We learned that you have to be careful to not touch the sap from the steam because it's very acidic and it will burn through your skin. These mangos will have to sit a couple of days before we cut them. I can't wait. They are going to be so sweet and yummy!

Did I mention fruit in Okinawa is very expensive. Walking in the store today I spotted this sign: 5 mangos for about $80. We spend way too much money on fruits and vegitables. We are broke trying to stay healthy.

Tattle Tell

While Kiera was helping me make the most wonderful dinner last night, I asked her what she wanted to do for daddy on Father's Day.

Kiera - "Let's go to Sauce. It's his favorite restaurant and mine."

Mom - "That sounds great. Thanks for helping."

Right about that time daddy walks in.

Kiera - "Hey dad, we're going to Sauce for Father's Day."

Mom - "K - I - E - R- A You weren't suppose to tell!!!!"

Charlie has a huge smile on his face. He loves Sauce.

Jump in, the water's fine!

Today the girls started the summer with swim lessons. Yes, they can already swim but we want them to be more confident and more proficient swimmers. Jasmine is in level 5 and Maya and Kiera are in level 4. They swim rain or shine unless it's lightning. It's been raining for 4 days now. Thank goodness the rain stopped during their lesson.

I was ready for Kiera to start calling quits before it even began. I was waiting for the stomach aches, the "I can't", "it's raining", "I don't want to do this". But it never came out of her mouth. Coach took them the the 8 ft. and said jump. WHOA! Now I'm scared. They hadn't swam since last season. And Maya and Kiera have never been in past 4 1/2 ft.

They jumped (actually did a cannonball)!!! And swam!!! Maya is a natural swimmer. Maybe I should get her on the team this year? Kiera surprised me and did really well. They always do better at something like that without me around. Jas can't swim in a straight line though. Everyone else has to watch out for her. But she'll get it with two more weeks of lessons left. I'll get some pics when the rain stops falling. Looks like that will be next week.

Quick Update

The kids are out of school for the summer... Yea!!! More work for me....Boooo! No actually the girls are easy. Keep the pantry stocked, games to play and cartoons to watch and they are happy. They start swim lessons on Monday rain or shine (unless it's lightning of course). Maya and Kiera will be in level 4 and Jasmine in level 5. Wow! They can swim, I just want them to have more confidence and know how to do the strokes properly.

They each have a free game of bowling and shoe rental everyday until school starts again. They'll get their fill and then get sick of it. We won't be going everyday anyway.

Did I mention that it's raining for the next 8 days? Ugh! It's not how I had planned to start summer vacation. But from what I hear Okinawa really needs the rain. We are in a drought and they are talking about rationing our water if we don't get rain soon. All the resiviors are between 20 and 50%. Not good. I don't get it. I think it rained the entire time Charlie was deployed. He doesn't believe me but the sky cries over me everytime he's gone.

Jasmine has a job tonight. She is babysitting by herself for friends of ours. They have a 4 year old girl and 2 year old boy. I think she'll do fine. She can always call home for questions. She loves making and saving money.

So not a whole lot going on, just haning out and making plans for the summer. Charlie won't get the results from the MRI on his knee until mid-July. So we wait. He will start the paperwork on the special duty next week. So we wait. That's what the military's motto is: hurry up and wait.

Yea Jas!

It's finally the end of the year! Jasmine received an award for her grades - 6 A's and 1 B. Go Jas! We are very proud of you!

Actually, all three girls made the honor roll. Maya received 4 A's and 1 B. And Kiera got all CD's.

But I have to get on my high horse about something. I've always been a fan of if you work hard you should be reconized. Charlie has different thoughts. He doesn't care about any awards. And Jasmine would rather not have her name called than to walk in front of everyone at school. But I REALLY HATE how her school reconizes the students for the grades they receive. You only get an award for any A over 95 or if you went up a letter grade in a subject. So you are telling me if you have straight A's but they are a 90-94 you don't get an award? And if you have straight F's and get straight D's the next time, you get an award for good effort? I understand encouraging the kids that worked harder. But how about reconizing the kids that made the A or A/B honor roll like every other school? It's so backwards to me. Please let me know if I'm wrong here. I'd like to shout out to all those kids who made A's but did not get reconized. You deserve it too!

Riding to Cape Hedo

Charlie and I took an awesome ride to the northern tip of the island called Cape Hedo. It's a gorgeous ride along the coast. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The water was a crystal clear blue and green as usual.

His smile melts my heart.

Look closely and you can see a sea turtle swimming near the rocks. Charlie has an itch to dive this site now. Can you blame him? It's beautiful.

Sakiyama Dive

This weekend we went with some friends up north to Sakiyama for Charlie to scuba dive and for the girls and me to snorkel. It was so nice and beautiful out. The weather was perfect. The humidity hasn't come to Okinawa yet and I hope it holds off as long as possible. We set up a shade tent and off everyone went. It was low tide and too shallow for the girls and I to snorkel so we went on a reef walk instead.

We saw some crazy looking starfish

some little blue fish

and spiny sea urchins

Charlie saw some awesome fish on his dive.

And to top it off, on the drive home we had this beautiful sunset.