An evening in Chatan

Our town had some sort of celebration this past weekend, it was one of those times when being able to read kanji would have been helpful. No matter though, in the end we ate some yummy food, took lots of pictures and saw some fun fireworks all in the name of something something! :)
I took several shots of the food vendors.

Not too bad...yakatori is good.

Yikes! Squid and peppers; wow, a dish only your mother could love.

Whew, back to a few more friendly staples; potatoes (I think) and rice.

So many of the crowd were all dressed up. What a cute couple!

The kimono are so pretty. The little girls that wear them are adorable but I have yet to be able to take a picture of a child wearing one without feeling like I am going to scare her parent.
I will keep trying.

One shot of the fireworks. I know, not an exciting picture but Joshy likes it.

Hanagasa

A couple of months ago, Dana and I ate at a new fun little restaurant, the Hanagasa. Here is their tasty menu!

Other than the pictures in the menu, we didn't really know what we were getting other than soba with pork. The white filets in there? Well, that is called a fish cake. I have no idea what it is (other than a fish cake) but I really really don't like it. It is a bit spongy and way too fishy and just plain...well, weird.

But the rest of the soba is great. Yummy noodles, wonderful broth and some nice slabs of pork to gnaw on.

They also had this most delicious rice.

And one of my favorites, edamame beans. I buy them at the store and make them (and devour)them at home but they just don't ever taste just like the perfect ones you can get at a restaurant.

This is the outside of the restaurant. A lotus flower hat. It is unique to Okinawa and is an actual hat (not this size though obviously) that is worn in traditional dancing; love it.

I just love the architecture here; it is so perfect.

The statue was neat-o too. It is amazing that something so fierce looking is also so beautiful (but don't tell him I said that).

I also am finding beauty in, well...carp; though they are called "koi" here. It is said that they represent strength of character. They are everywhere and very well fed, though this group was in quite a frenzy as we walked over the bridge.

One of the best things here? The great translations they do; I really enjoy it. It is fun and honestly, just cute.

The Deliciously Good and the Suffocatingly Bad...

Manna from heaven has arrived to the island! Hallelujah! Saturday was the first time in a year that I have seen and been able to buy a watermelon. Oh sure, you can buy the little bitty Korean ones for $20.00 just to open it up to mushy sweet-stuff but that just doesn't satisfy. Thank you Mexico for growning delicious watermelons! I bought one Saturday morning and then had to return that night for another one before they were gone.


Now, for the bad. Logan can't breathe here. He seemed ok throughout the fall and winter but he is now struggling. He is attached to a nebulizer at least 3x and usually 4x a day; poor kid. We are permanently camping out at the ped's office until I can have my healthy son back again.

Joshy's Birthday

Yes, he looks so sweet and innocent, but this kid could cry! He definately wanted it to be known that HE WAS HERE!

It is hard to believe that the boys were all this young; time passes by so quickly!


As he grew older, he calmed down just a bit.


Then his personality started to shine; funny, smart and STUBBORN!

We all love our Joshy (I wonder how many years we will get away with calling him Joshy?!)

We haven't officially celebrated Josh's birthday as we are waiting for Grandma Green to arrive here in Okinawa in two weeks. Once we do a cake (he wants a crocodile!) and have the big day, I will post again. We love you Josh!

Random Cuteness

Logan on his preschool graduation day; I love this kid.

Baby hermit crab trying so hard to hide.

Logan snorkeling for the first time! Logan worked hard to practice his mad snorkeling skills in the bath tub for a year.

Dad and Josh snorkeling and learning about sea urchins. Josh is "unafraid" of the water this year which makes mom and dad very afraid. We have had to do a few crash courses in " How-to-Prevent-Sea-Urchin-Ouchies" for Joshy.

Logan loving the slide at our favorite local town pool.

Andrew in his "gear."

Andrew doing his last report at school.

How to make a volcano cake...

Ok, so I know that I have been MIA for a bit; I have sick kids! We are barely keeping our heads above water here. So, to keep the blog at least moving, you will have to have a cake post today. I will try for something more exciting soon. :)

First bake 3 or 4 cakes in Pyrex bowls. This was the scary part! I was so sure that one or all of those bowls were going to explode due to the heat (they didn't).

For the lava, I bought two bags of red jolly ranchers; unwrapped them and then melted them over the stove.

Once they are all melted, poor them onto a foil covered cookie sheet to create the "lava spews" for the cake.

To secure the cakes together use frosting and chopsticks. Don't forget to level off the tops of the cakes so they are not wobbly.

Wahla! A volcano!

This was the finished product. Not the best picture, but I forgot to take one at home! We broke off the cooled "lava" and placed it all around the cake. The whipped cream on the top was supposed to look like steam (but just looks like a glob of whipped cream).

We also crushed up oreos for the "rocky terrain" of the mountain. I was not sure about how this would look, but I am glad we had it to cover the bottom of the cookie sheet. It made the lava look better.

All in all, a huge and fun cake to make! Andrew loved it and that is all that matters.

Bootcamp Finish Line

So, this morning was my last workout and I am not sure how I feel about being done. On one hand, I feel accomplished that I was able to see this month through with all the early mornings and pain. On the other hand, I am just glad to be done. But that is the "kicker" isn't it? I can't be done! I have to keep going and going and going. So, I now need to evaluate what I need to do from this point.

Last Wednesday's workout was a killer, literally. We did a cycle of running/jogging a lap as fast as we could and then doing 50 squats. For the squats, we were all at low benches to make sure our bottoms would touch therefore getting the most out of the squat. YEEEEOUCH! We did this cycle 4 times. I of course, could not keep up with the group so I ended up doing about 30 squats per round. Let me just tell you though, I am so sore that sitting in any chair requires mentally gearing up for the pain.

Todays workout was a circuit of timed trials. Planking, jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, putting your back against the wall and legs at 90 degrees, jumping and touching the wall, squats, dips and step-ups. We also did about a miles worth of jogging/walking. It was tiring, but the time went by very fast! Not only that, but I was also able to see improvement especially in the planking and dips.

All in all, I REALLY enjoyed this bootcamp. The trainers were really great (Barb Carson and Carrie Clancy), I highly recommend them! They were supportive of each persons fitness level. They also were just friendly and kind every workout.

Thanks for all of the support that so many of you have given over this past month. It really helped! I felt continually motivated knowing that I had people ready to read the next bootcamp installment.

Have a great 4th of July!

Just because I LOVE the shisa...

I am not a coke drinker (I will take a Dr. Pepper anytime...oh, and cherry vanilla please), but could NOT resist taking a picture of this cool coke can that Dana bought at a vending machine at the Aquarium. Look at that great shisa! Also, check out the size of the can, tall and skinny. This culture is amazing! Our coke cans are so drab and boring, but not this one. I also love the manta rays swimming and the hibiscus flowers at the top, just beautiful.