Long Weekend

I wanted to do some exploring today so we set out to find the Ishikawa Kougen Observatory. I should have added in my last post where I listed things I was thankful for, that I am thankful for street signs/names. Here in Okinawa, there aren't a whole lot of street signs so you are given directions by landmarks. "When you see red graffiti on a building, take a left, go to the 3rd stop light, take a right, go 5 km down and you'll see a big turtle, take a right here" lol, I swear the directions are always something like that. It makes it hard to find places! We found the Observatory pretty easily. It helps when you've been on th
e island for awhile so you know where different roads are. After you park at the Observatory, you have to climb a bunch of steep stairs. There were a lot of them! We were definitely huffing and puffing by the time we got near the top. We may be a little out of shape! It was definitely worth the stair climb. The view was beautiful and you could see so far!

Since we were only at the Observatory for like 10 minutes, I still wanted to do some more exploring. At this point, we just drove until we saw a sign for something cool. I noticed a sign for Cape Manzamo ahead, so we followed the signs leading there. I do have to say that is one good thing about finding places, is if it's a pretty popular place, there are usually signs pointing in the direction to go all the way there. Cape Manzamo was very pretty! I am glad we went!

After seeing the pretty sights, we decided to head back home. We wanted to take Myah to the beach to get her out of the house! We took her to Araha beach, since that's the only beach around here that I know allows dogs. She doesn't really like the water, which I think is strange for a dog, especially a black lab! She runs away from it when a wave washes ashore.

That was about our excitement for the weekend. We did check out the International Festival that was going on right outside of our base on Saturday. I think we went at a bad time because there wasn't much going on, but I know they had a parade and different performances throughout the day. Then at night they were going to have a tug of war, which is a big thing over here! They had a lot of different food vendors with different international foods. Now the weekend is winding down and tomorrow Chad will be back to work! I think I will begin work on Wednesday, but it still has to be confirmed. I was able to get all my paperwork in last week, so just waiting for a couple things to get clear before I can start! I'm trying to enjoy my last few days of having nothing to do before I have to go to work everyday!

Thanksgiving

Chad and I spent our first Thanksgiving away from home this year. I am not going to lie, I didn't like it! I miss being surrounded by family! On Wednesday, we got to enjoy a Thanksgiving lunch that Chad's squadron put on. On Thursday, we successfully attempted to make our first Thanksgiving feast together! We only had a little 3 pound turkey for the 2 of us, which was perfect. I don't even know it if was considered a turkey, more like a turkey breast haha! I put Chad in charge of cooking the turkey and he did a wonderful job! It came out moist and flavorful! We also cooked my Grandma's mashed potatoes recipes. I was pretty proud how those turned out. Chad claims they taste just like my Grandma's! We also had corn, rolls, and gravy. I attempted to cook my Mom's broccoli cheesey rice but that didn't go so well. I'm not sure what went wrong there, she claims it's the easiest recipe in the world! lol Other than that, our Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! It turned out really well!

I'll end this post with 20 things that I am thankful for...

1. My family – I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them! I am also thankful that I get along with my in-laws because I know not a lot of people do!
2. My Mom – She’s my best friend who will always be there for me. I am so much like her in so many ways, it’s kind of scary!
3. My husband – Chad is also my best friend who loves me unconditionally. I am not the easiest person to love yet he continues to put up with me every day!
4. Electricity – We’ve had 4 scheduled power outages this month, so it makes me realize how grateful I am for electricity!
5. My Home – A lot of people complain about base housing but I really love our home. We got lucky with our newly renovated place and therefore I am thankful!
6. Brittany – We’ve been best friends forever. I am thankful to have someone in my life who understands me.
7. My health – Not everyone is healthy, so I am thankful that I am!
8. Beachbody – Without being introduced to this wonderful company who makes all sorts of work out programs I would probably be 200 pounds now. I remember laughing at my Mom when she bought like 3 different workouts. Little did we know, it changed our lives and I am thankful for that.
9. Airplanes – I am thankful for this wonderful form of transportation. I think in the last year, I have been on an airplane more times than in my entire life. I can’t wait until I am on one again!
10. Our Armed Forces – I am thankful that there are people willing to fight for our freedom every single day. It truly takes someone special to do that.
11. The Air Force – Even though I truly hate it at times, it has provided for our family many things that we would not have otherwise. We are financially stable with money in the bank and we get to experience a whole different country and culture on their dime.
12. A car – We didn’t have a car for the first month that we were in Okinawa, and that really sucked. It was probably one of the worst times of my life because it made the transition of living here 100% more difficult. I am thankful to have not only 1 car, but 2 cars which are both really nice!
13. Myah – I was hesitant about getting a dog at first but I am thankful that we got Myah. We got lucky with her because she’s a really good dog (don’t mind that she chewed up one of my new candles the other night)!
14. Amazon.com – This site is amazing. It pretty much has everything we need and it’s one of the few sites that ships here super quick. I am also thankful for my Amazon Prime account, especially when I lived in the states for the free 2 day shipping. I miss that so much!
15. AF Wingmoms – This facebook page is truly a blessing from God. They help families who have an Airman in Basic Training. I met some very wonderful people through our Flight group who will remain forever friends.
16. Snail Mail & 15 minute phone calls – I’m wrapping this all up in one but I am thankful for these 2 things especially when Chad was in basic training. I wrote a letter every day for 60 days and I lived for those 15 minute phone calls every single week. Not knowing when he would call was horrible anxiety but I am thankful for when my phone rang.
17. Skype/Facetime – The technology of video calling these days is amazing. It helped me stay connected with Chad while he was at tech school & now it’s helping me stay connected with family and friends back home
18. Facebook – I will admit I am totally addicted to Facebook but that’s just because it keeps everyone connected! It’s nice to have a place to share stories and pictures with people that you know!
19. iPhones – Even though I totally was an avid Droid user before moving, I am now thankful for iPhones. I have the ability to text & facetime other iPhone users for absolutely free (without the use of a stupid app), which has made staying in touch with family and friends so much easier. I am thankful that my Mom, Chad’s Dad, and Brittany all invested in iPhones!
20. Crockpot – Chad and I make so many of our meals in the crockpot and each one is delicious! It makes dinner so easy! I am also thankful for Crockpot Liners because they make clean up that much easier!

Mid-November Update

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week already! Where is the time going?? Chad and I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves this year. Usually we're surrounded by family and delicious food, so that will be a little different! I hope I can make my Grandma's mashed potatoes like she does because that's what I'll miss the most! Well.. and family :) I bought a small little turkey today for us to cook; I'm kinda excited to see how it turns out!

Since I haven't updated in 2 weeks, I'm trying to think of all the exciting things that have happened. Well for one, I got a job! I'm not sure when I will start it yet, as I have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and get an extensive background check done but I will doing clerical work at the base's Youth Center. I've always done clerical work and I actually like it, so I'm pretty excited to start working again!

We've been taking Myah to the dog park a lot. She loves it there! She's like the perfect size where she can hang with the big dogs but she can also play with the small ones too and not be overwhelming. I like it! She likes to chase the dogs all around. The nights that we don't take her, I think she begs us to go because she always gets really antsy at night time. I told Chad, I wonder if she thinks when the two of us leave if we go to the dog park without her. Haha! She's been doing really well though. She did chew up Chad's shoe.. actually twice. That's really the only bad thing that she has done. Thankfully she didn't get too far into the shoe so both are still wearable.

We were going to foster a dog last weekend through the same organization that we got Myah from. This organization adopts dogs from the local kill shelter and then places them in foster homes to be adopted by military members and their families. When I saw this dog, Layla, on Facebook looking for a foster home, it pulled at my heart strings for some reason. The dog was another young black lab mixed that looked just like Myah! Before the dogs leave the shelter, they get spayed/neutered, well Friday when Layla was getting spayed, she passed away :( They think she had an allergic reaction to the anesthetic. So that was sad.

On Monday, Chad and I went bought our first artificial Christmas tree. I couldn't wait to put it up! My Mom has already sent all her Christmas gifts to us, so I needed a tree to put them under. I feel silly putting up my tree before Thanksgiving, but I love it! I told Chad that I want to keep the tree up all year, it's so pretty sitting in our living room! I got the last batch of boxes today that my Mom sent, so now our under our tree looks even more amazing! Chad and I need to finish up our Christmas shopping for our families so that we can get those gifts sent out! I am excited for Christmas! I wish I could be home for Christmas, but I love that my Mom sent us gifts so that we can feel like we're home. I'm sure we'll Skype while we're opening them too, so that will be cool! Technology is really amazing these days!

Okinawa Zoo

It's been about 2 weeks since I updated my blog! You're probably wondering what we've been up to! We haven't really done a whole lot, but we did go to the Zoo last weekend!

I had heard interesting things about the Okinawa Zoo before going, so I didn't expect it to be like the Zoos that we're used to visiting in the states. We arrived there with low expectations but I was pretty impressed. You can get pretty close to all the animals. They don't have fancy cage exhibits like stateside Zoos where the animals are usually in the farthest hiding spot they can find. I felt kind of bad for the animals though since all their cages were pretty small, especially the bigger animals like the lions and tiger. They had all the typical Zoo animals that you expect to see at a zoo; monkeys, lions, tigers, a bear, hippos, giraffes, elephants, etc. We didn't really see anything too unusual. They did have a raccoon caged up, which I thought was funny since back home we see those found dead on the side of the road all the time or find them digging in the trash. I wonder if they are uncommon here. Even though the zoo wasn't as glamorized like the zoos that I am used to visiting, we still had a good afternoon looking at all the animals. I wish there were more exotic animals here. You think there would different animals since we're on the other side of the world!

The one funny thing is that since you can get so close to the animals, you have to be careful. I've heard stories that the animals will throw their poop at you. This sign was outside the lion and tiger's cages. I think it's funny! Thankfully we didn't get sprayed on!

Happy Halloween!

I was so excited to pass out candy to the trick or treaters at my house this year! I had saw that other people posted online that in past years, they had ran out of candy. So reading this, I decided to stock up! I was feeling a little festive on Halloween, so I pulled out my western gear and dressed up a little bit. Sadly, I did all this for practically nothing. We had 7 trick or treaters come to our house. 3 were my neighbor kids who live in the same complex, 1 kid who didn't even have a costume, 1 infant, and 2 Japanese kids. I was pretty disappointed in the turn out! It sounds like our whole neighborhood was a bust. It didn't help that every other house on our road is sitting empty so I'm sure most people didn't even bother coming down. I guess the more popular places to go on base is the officer housing, go figure. The Japanese locals don't really celebrate Halloween. I think some of them do just because of all the Americans here but most don't participate. The local kids were able to come trick or treating on base if they had an American sponsor them on. I'm sure that's fun for them to do especially if it's their first time! I am not even sure if the two Japanese kids that came to my house were actual Japanese or just Asian Americans lol but for the sake of being in Japan, I'm going with Japanese who knew how to speak English :)

Myah waiting for the trick or treaters

So now I have over 4 pounds of candy leftover. I really don't need it sitting here for me to eat. I'm sure Chad will eventually eat it all. I did see a place on base where we could donate Halloween candy. I might consider doing that since Chad really doesn't need to eat all of it either! Now that Halloween is over with, we can start thinking Thanksgiving and Christmas! My Mom is already having Christmas presents sent to us, so I feel like we need to get a tree ASAP so they can sit under there. It's going to be so hard to have to look at gifts for over a month but she wanted to make sure they got here in time!

This is 2 houses on base that are connected who decorated their houses together