Tango and Roller Skating

I've been silent for a few days. Jacob is doing much better at least I hope he is doing better. We will get his ears rechecked on Thursday. Jon has been home since Thursday on a 96 so that has been nice even though I can't really remember what we did. Probably because we didn't do anything and it was nice!!

Friday was our Okinawa wedding anniversary. We left Jacob with a babysitter for only the second time ever and off we went. We were gone for about 3 hours and thirty minutes. I was not the one timing the whole event. Jon timed it since we were on a tight schedule according to him. We ate at this delicious restaurant in American Village next to Tony Roma's but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the cute little Italian place. But, I know we will visit it again soon. We had a two person 'set' which included two drinks, a salad and spaghetti. Jon ordered me lasagna but I think we more so shared everything. After that Jon took me to a place called Round 1. I had heard of it but never did any research on it because well it didn't sound like a place to take my bouncing baby boy anytime in the near future. We went roller skating which was fun. I can't even remember the last time I went roller skating! We will definitely head back to Round 1 soon!! Then after roller skating it was off to Leon Eri Dance Studio. We had a private dance lesson of the Tango for 30 minutes. We can now Tango. We still have four more dance lessons to go to now so Jacob will for sure be left with a babysitter again.

Our date night 2009 was SUPER. I had a blast but the best part was I only got the babysitter. I didn't know about anything else. I love my husband and I am very thankful that I married someone who fits me so perfectly!!

Typhoon Morakot

Typhoon Morakot is heading our way. Or at least as of late this afternoon it is forecasted to be coming our way late on Friday. This is not our first and I'm sure this will not be our last typhoon while here on Okinawa. The last typhoon we spent out on our balcony about 200 yards from the beach during parts of the storm. Of course that was when it was just us with no baby to worry about. Last summer we had a few brushes with typhoons but nothing major. I believe the last major typhoon hit in 2007 so maybe we are due for one.

Our preparations are complete which really only includes going to the commissary to buy water, baby food and a spray can of cheese. Oh, and Pop Tarts. I have to indulge in junk food if I am going to be ordered to stay inside my off-base housing until the storm passes! The crazy thing about the storm here is that I have never really seen a panic or "boarding up" from the locals here. We will get a call from our housing agency in a few days reminding us to take all items off our 4 porches but other than that no real preparation for our apartment or all 9 windows or 5 sliding glass doors we have! It's much different here than a hurricane back at home in Florida! And I'm thankful for that and the fact that I am not having to hoover under a bed sheet doing some sterile procedure on some poor patient with all the other patients nearby in the hallway!!

What to do on a H-O-T day!

It sure seems like each day it gets hotter and hotter here. It is like someone has left the gas stove on at 425 degrees for days and days now. I believe it is the humidity that makes it so hot here since the temperature has only been in the upper 80's and lower 90's. I sure can't wait for some rain to come in a few days and cool things off!

We were outside a few days ago to clean out my car and bring some items upstairs that I have been meaning to bring up for weeks. We came inside after 5 minuets because poor Jacob had sweat running down his little face. He was even in the shade outside!

This is how Jacob likes to cool off. I can't say I blame him. Jacob has discovered the refrigerator and loves to sit in front of it and cool off after being outside as well as pulling out all of the water bottles.

Total Solar Eclipse

This morning I am sitting on the computer adding photo after photo from our shutterfly account to the shopping cart so I can finally get caught up on pictures. I noticed outside getting darker and darker and really didn't give it a second thought. It rains here a lot since it's a subtropical island so I figured it was just a storm passing us by. I totally forgot that this morning starting at about 9:30 until noon or so there was going to be a total solar eclipse happening right outside! The last one happened here 46 years ago on July 21, 1963 and the next one isn't suppose to occur for another 26 years on September 9, 2035!!!

Eating sand is good!

Today was the first day in well over a week that the sun came out to play! We have had swimming lesson for a week and every lesson has almost totally been in the rain! This morning we woke up to sunshine. Jacob and myself headed out to Araha Park/Beach where we use to live to go and walk along the beach on the sea wall. I wanted to be outside today. We ran into friends from the squadron and actually ended up back at the beach after a quick milk snack for Jacob and a change of clothes. Jacob loved the beach. The last time we went to Araha with him was 7 months ago. He didn't like it then. He really didn't even like the Florida beach either but today my waterbug loved it! I don't know if he had more fun eating the sand, feeling the sand, playing in the sand, sitting in the water and having it come up on him, floating in the water, or attempting to get washed off but he had fun or at least I think he had fun! We even ended up taking a bath together because he had sand in every possible crevice on his body! And the sand here is gritty and rough not smooth like the white beaches in Florida so the stuff gets nasty when it gets wet! I was so thankful to have a sunshine filled day! Back to the rain for another week tomorrow!

Show us where you live Friday!!

This week on Kelly's blog it's all about playrooms, bonus rooms, and laundry rooms. I really wish we had a playroom to keep Jacob's toys from exploding all over the house or a bonus room so we could actually have another room to store stuff but we don't. All we have is a laundry room that I spend all day in only one day a week. I put off laundry usually till Friday's and get it all done before the weekend. I love folding laundry I just don't like the washing it or putting it away part.

Here is our government issued laundry machine...thank goodness it is normal and in ENGLISH! And here is our Japanese dryer that came with the apartment. All of it's little buttons are in Kanji. The shelving unit below has three shelves. The top has all of the laundry products. The bottom two house my husband's "boat" bedding and pillows when he is not deployed and gone. Right now those shelves are empty. Fortunately, Jacob has not discovered that yet!

An up close of the dryer. It's gas and I love it! I sometimes don't understand it but as long as I keep cleaning the lint trap that works better than any other lint trap I've ever seen it works fine. Our housing agency gave us a sheet of all the symbols translated when we moved it. My favorite features are it's ironing cycle (yes the clothes actually come out without wrinkles), it's delicate cycle which makes my husband happy because I don't leave my non-dryable clothes hanging around the house anymore, it's thick cycle that i use for towels, and it's bedsheet cycle that actually dries sheets completely! It also has a quiet mode so that it still drys but is quieter if I'm drying while Jacob is napping!

Here is all the extra storage in the room. Whenever we finally get to build our own house my laundry room will have extra storage like this. Besides towels, bedding, bathroom, and extra cleaning products. It is the home to my husband's packed sea bags when he is home, Jacob's infant car seat and some tennis rackets. Our microwave and coffee pot are also used in this room since our kitchen only has ONE plug. We found a cheap TV cabinet at the furniture store on base and so that is what they are housed on. We don't use the microwave very often but it's nice to have I guess.

Our old laundry room in our first apartment was inside the kitchen with a sliding door that just covered the washer and dryer. No seperate room. At least our new one has two sliding doors, one into the hall and one into the kitchen that I can close to keep down on the noise a bit.

Rain Rain GO AWAY!!

Rain Rain GO AWAY! Come again another DAY! It has been raining now for a week here in Okinawa. It's wet. We do need the rain so I am thankful for it but I miss seeing the sunshine. As I write the sunshine is peaking out but it did that earlier today and gave us enough of a break so we could head over to swing after buying baby food for the week and then buckets poured down again! So I may have just jinxed myself and the rain will probably start again in 5 minutes!

Here is Jacob swinging earlier today.

Show us where you live Friday's

I've enjoyed "Show us where you live Friday's on a blog I enjoy reading called Kelly's Blog. I absolutely love how creative people are with their own homes and it makes me really eager to get back to the United States to be able to decorate our first house together. I love Okinawa but not being able to really modify room colors and having combined rooms like living and dining rooms just isn't my idea of design. Here are our two bathrooms in our Japanese apartment in Okinawa. Well, this is the Japanese designers impression of what an "American" style bathroom should look like.

This is Jacob's bathroom. The foam blocks are a nice knee support along with our Fisher Price knee bath pad since the tile is rough.

The mirror and sink has always intrigued me in this bathroom. But, I don't think I would ever place this sink combo in my real bathroom in a house one day.

The shower in Jacob's bathroom that never gets used since it is such a pickle to clean with all that glass!


This is our bathroom in our master bedroom. It is small but it works besides the lack of storage and only one towel bar which is typical of housing here.

Another funky mirror and again our need for storage with all the suction cup holders on the wall. There is no storage in the bathroom just a really small medicine cabinet.

Beach Rock Village

I usually go to Okinawa Hai and find something to do for our Saturday's when Jon is home with us in Okinawa. Usually the reviews are pretty dead on and we usually enjoy our little adventures. I found this review about Beach Rock Village and fell in love. I thought it was going to be a great outing. I was excited that Jon might be able to go horseback riding until I looked at the official website and found out it would cost almost $200 to ride a horse. I was also excited about the tree houses throughout and the idea that Jacob may get to see his first elephant. This review could not have been more wrong. It was a real live commune. I guess it might have been cool if I could have found my inner hippie psyche but we stayed long enough to get a few mosquito bites, climb a tree house which is most likely used for recreational adult fun, and take some pictures. Then we left. It could not have been more of a disappointment unfortunately! Maybe to some it appeals but for us it didn't. At least the view of the surroundings was pretty cool.

The British Wine and Tea Shop

Last weekend we ventured out to the north part of Okinawa which is called Nago. We ended up heading to The British Wine and Tea Shop for lunch! It was fabulous. John and Maki were faboulus hosts. We really enjoyed getting to know them and their two little poodles, Ollie and Cromwell. I think Jacob got a kick out of the poodles.

This was Jon's lunch. Tandoori Chicken Curry.

My lunch. Freshly made pasta with meat sauce and a small side salad.

Jacob trying out his first real scone that John made specifically for him. He actually ended up liking it.

My real cheesecake! It was YUM!!!

Jon's scone! It was YUM too!

The best part about this restaurant was the fact that it had a geocache outside. Hence why I knew Jon would be on board with find this place since we had the GPS coordinates for it and we were sure not to get lost! We got a new treasure that we will be placing in another geocache box somewhere in Okinawa this weekend.

Commissary

Thursday is commissary day! I don't know why but I had decided that thursday work best for Jacob and myself to head out to the commissary. We normally head to the AFB commissary to do our shopping because it's closer and there is a cute little park that I take Jacob to on our way off base once we are done. Today I was reminded why I do not like to go to MCB commissary which amazes me because 6 months ago I use to find all I needed there. I now have to make another trip to the AFB commissary because the MCB one did not have Jacob's diapers, Jon's granola and about 5 other things that I need for next week. Thank goodness I have a typed out list when I go and I'm very particulare about crossing off items once I find them!

I think what aggrevated me the most about this trip today was the fact that the sweet Okinawan baggers put 3 glass jars of spaghetti sauce and about 10 glass jars of baby food in one plastic bag! That was sure fun to bring up 3 flights of stairs!!!

American Village

Yesterday, Jacob and myself headed out to "American Village" which has JUSCO, a movie theater, two Starbucks, a few restaurants, an arcade or two, a giant Ferris wheel that we don't ride nearly enough, different shops, and Makeman. My goal was to get to JUSCO because our list for JUSCO kept growing. JUSCO is sort of their version of a mall here but still does not even come close to a mall in America. The nice thing about JUSCO is that it has everything a mall has in it, plus the things Bed, Bath and Beyond has in it, everything Best Buy has in it plus a grocery store. One stop shopping at it's finest! We got our needed items and off we went. Sometimes my experience there is just frustrating because I can't find what I want or I'm to overwhelmed. I wish I had pictures but "No Photograph" signs are all over the place.

We stopped on our way out at Mister Doughnut and picked up some doughnuts to try. Again not like Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts. Very different!! I did however fall in love with the variety carton of donut holes you can get!

We walked down the road or should I say I walked and Jacob rolled in the stroller down to Makeman which we have kindly dubbed "the monkey store" to go the 100 yen or $1 store inside. Makeman would be your Lowe's or Home Depot back home with the addition of scuba/water items, electronics, fish, and curtains. I always love going to see what I can find. We had a list for the 100 yen store as well. We got our new curtain hooks, some small plastic containers for Jacob finger foods, sand toys and a two balls for Jacob and some cookies to try that seem to be Cuban from the writing on the package but look like they might taste like Oreos. Who knows! Always an adventure!!

I get burnt but Jacob doesn't...

I'm totally perplexed by this. I got burnt on my arms, chest and face today while outside for about an hour and fifteen minutes. But, Jacob did not get burnt at all. How is that possible? I've obviously been exposed to the sun more than him but he still has his perfectly white skin!! I just don't get it!

But, the reason we were out in the sun today was because we went to the Foster Flea Market on base which in and of itself is just fun to go to because of the stampede of locals on foot when they open the gate to them! It still creeps me out a little bit with all the people running at you! We walked around looking for good 'airplane' toys. Almost all of Jacob's toys that he has received make some sort of noise that after about five minutes would probably be annoying to anyone who wanted to actually sleep on a 14 hour plane ride! So, I was on the hunt for cheap silent toys that would keep his interest. We came away with a few toys and got out of there before it got super crazy! One day I will have to write about the MCCS flea market. It is just nuts. The locals will buy anything because it is "American."

And on another note...Jon's Baby Bjorn held Jacob like a champ today!

Days like today make me love Okinawa!

Days like today make me love Okinawa. Right now it is 19 degrees Celsius here or 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit with a light breeze and a humidity of only 60%. It is a nice change considering a week ago here it still felt like summer! Hopefully, the cooler weather is here to stay so it actually feels like a little bit of fall! If it was this weather all year I would never leave!!


The picture is of the view from our apartment. I totally love our view! Sunsets are the best part on a clear day. That is the East China Sea. The bridge is used by people not cars and is part of my daily walk routine with Jacob. The windmill is actually pretty cool to watch spinning when it is really windy and on. It has a box under it that tells you how much electricity it is producing. It was made at Ellyson Field in Pensacola.