Sanity in Photos

I have been keeping my sanity lately by diving into my photo hobby. I spent most of the weekend taking and editing pictures...it calms me! And I needed that! Friday I went out with my neighbor to look for some good photo ops. We stumbled upon this really awesome Buddhist Temple, visited the Nakagusuku Castle, and also the "Haunted Hotel".

I guess the Haunted Hotel is off limits to Army peeps (I thought it was only Marines), but George tells me when I start uploading, "You know an order just came down that we aren't supposed to go there...", OOPS! I thought I was over the whole "breaking the rules" phase. Hee Hee! I guess I can't hide who I really am. It was creepy there and cool. FULL of spiders and graffiti. Imagine this place after sunset though...I don't think I would have went in.


But there were some great spots...and shots!



The castle is before you get to the hotel. It was definitely what you would call in "ruins". I almost busted my a$$ several times from the uneven steps and such...but the view from the wall was amazing!!

I may have been channeling my inner diva once or twice...I mean come on, it IS a castle right?!


The temple find was a total fluke...all we could see was this pretty red building in the distance and so we made a quick turn to be nosey! What a payoff...

Tara got some good ones here (b/c she is savvy with her camera and took pics like a spy even after the lady told me no pictures). She got one of me kneeling in the temple...believe me, I had PLENTY to pray about!!


I tried to act on her stealth-like photo skills, but only came up with this one...but you can see the two guys from the above picture praying to the three monks(?) chanting away. I wish you could have heard it...it was astounding and piercing.


They had some shrines located at the bottom of the steps that you could cleanse your hands and also one that looked like a fertility shrine...

...this is about how close I went to that one (with the zoom on). I don't need anymore free fertility, thank you!

There is also a bunch of good luck charms and wishes spread throughout the entrance way and leading up to the Temple. I can't imagine how old some of these are....

Very cool adventure...

Saturday, Geo had a softball tournament (shocking, I know)....so the boys and I (Saige was at a friend's), decided to make a trip to the Botanical Gardens. JD was our tour guide (he would like me to call him "Explorer JD")...and Teage was our bird/insect finder. We happened to go about 2 hours before they closed, so we ended up having the whole place to ourselves practically. It was nice! More priceless shots...

This dragonfly landed right in front of me...I ♥ dragonflies!!

My new favorite things to shoot are lotus flowers...they are always so flawless!

These carp were everywhere, and the lips on these things...I'm talking Angelina all the days!!

Gotta love some outdoor recreation...thanks for looking!!

Spring Break...the end!

Well, the time has come that all little children must go back to receiving their education. WOOT WOOT!! I love them of course, but DANG it can be hard to please/entertain a 13 year old a 2 year old at the same time. But we did it and had a fun week all around. Saige got in her sleepovers here and at her friend's, while Teage fulfilled his eagerness to have outdoor play every single day. JD is so easygoing...except when he complains that he's missing out on his lego fix. So, the previous post was all about the first few days of Break and this will cover the latter part.

We had a few more stops on our week adventures and one of them was Shuri Castle. The oldest child has already been here on a field trip for school, but it holds a lot of history about Okinawa (specifically the Battle of Okinawa which destroyed most of the castle in 1945) so I thought it was a must that we go as a familia. It was fun and I could feel the historic energy as we sashayed the halls of the biggest Okinawan castle. There were several areas where we could not take pictures and had to walk barefoot, mostly because of the ancient artifacts and conserving the restoration. JD was hilarious...he kept asking the whole way..."Where is the KING?" Of course this was the home to many of the Ryukyu kings centuries ago. But, we finally found the throne, the crown, and the quarters where the royal families lived. It was very regal....
The random tour guide practically cut off Teage's head in this pic...poor baby :o)


There was a nice mini display of what the castle would have looked like in its day....notice the king...hiding away!



Along the way through the castle, there were podiums where you could get your map stamped and if you received all the stamps you got a reward...JD took that as a mission. He was excited to see that the reward was stickers of all the stamps. So all the kids got their stickering on...

...map complete!!

Our next stop was Kokusai Street. This reminds me a little of NYC where there are just tons of shops/restaurants lining the street complete with the usual peddlers, starving artists, and your occasional photo cutout spot. We all had a blast...Saige brought a friend to this one!! "You gotta have a shopping buddy", she said!! She's pretty much right!!

JD ran up and put his cutie face in this one so I immediately snapped and then sissy says..."I'm not putting my head in that slaughtering pig thing". I didn't even notice. That is all wrong!!


Ok I had to do it....


Lastly, "One of these things just doesn't belong here" LOL LOL LOL!!!


We picked the sunniest day of the whole break (thank goodness we had one) and high-tailed it up to Okuma Beach Resort. We have been there before, but it has some great amenities that we wanted to do again. Gotta love a beach day...


This is all Teagie wanted to do...throw rocks in the ocean!! He wasn't too big on getting sand all over him...it was cute! And of course we had to go pod racing...

In addition to all the out of school fun...we celebrated Easter on a very low key this year. We did the good old egg hunt (well two of them did...the other one was telling herself she was too big to hunt LOL), ate Thai food and went shopping before heading in early to prepare for a school night's sleep.

It was a very relaxing day and I have to say the whole week was a fabulous one.

Now, I have some news that just got brought to our attention today at lunch (yes I said at lunch where George and I were minding our business...when a co worker of his walked in and burst my bubble). Our extension to stay here has been officially disapproved!! It made my stomach turn. Not just because it means I have to think about once again packing up my whole life and changing locations...that is part of the job. But mostly because of the kids' education. It is so hard to make the kids move and ask them to make all new friends and adjust to a new school. It hurts, but I know they will be ok no matter what happens. I am not sure of what will happen now....since it is still so fresh! We have some other options (maybe Tampa...that would be awesome, or Germany would be ideal choices). I just hope we can lock in a location before we are TOLD and placed and in some jacked up state. Let the anxiety begin....

I'll keep you all posted as I learn new information! Please keep us in your prayers for a good assignment...

Hope everyone else had a great Spring Break, too!!! Love Ya!!