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!!

Capping off with Field Trips & an Update!

Oh how I've missed you my little bloggy blog!

Things have been slightly hectic (which I accept is the way of my life) these days. With the PCS coming soon, my mind is in 20 different places all day, everyday....you know the usual anxiety a woman goes through every time she has to move her whole family to a new country. I swear the guys don't achieve the anxiety level we women do. My hubby is so the "go with flow-everything will work itself out if we wait" PCS-er. I am the "gotta know what's gonna happen so I can plan out what schools my kids are going to and what neighborhood they are going to hang out in" PCS-er. As you can see, my PCS pre-planning mentality is way better :o) Maybe not on the mind, but definitely for our livelihood. So our orders aren't in our hands yet, but I expect them in the next couple weeks. Germany looks pretty promising since that is the one place George has always had an option of going to throughout his career. Tampa obviously was too good to be true, but it was fun to imagine living so close to our roots. Actually, since we are going back to Germany and George will be getting deployed from there...we will get choice of assignment when we leave there, soooo I still see Tampa in our future!! Until then, we look forward to showing JD where he was born and getting to visit all the fabulous places in Europe we missed the first time. I'll keep everyone posted as soon as we get orders...once that happens we will be in hyper-space mode with getting all the appointments and clearing in order. Can't wait...

In other news...I had, yet again, another field trip with JD this past week to Ocean Expo Park. We have all been there, but it was one of the first places we saw when we moved here...it was nice to get in a refresher visit before the move. JD had fun of course...mostly at the dolphin show. That boy is not ashamed to show his excitement about anything...gotta love it!!

*what a great way to look ahead on your day*

*my group(the girl on the upper right was anti-photo taking)*

*i love his ability to never care what people think*
*he stuck his tongue out and JD got wet from his huge splash*
*as you can see there was one who was a little behind...so cute though*
*"Look Mom, it's Dory"**Saige's favorite fish-the Lionfish*

*I didn't even tell him to make a face*

One of the other things I have been doing is volunteering with Army Family Team Building (AFTB). This program is designed to empower, ready and educate Army Soldiers and Families in order to strengthen self-reliance. I recently completed Instructor Training and taught my first class on Problem Solving. Another great way to give back to the community. I love the power of volunteering!! Anyway, in light of me being a volunteer there, AFTB had one of its field trips to promote morale and to also enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having lately.

*I'm a geisha...NOT*

We spent the afternoon at the Ryukyu Glass Factory where we watched the local glass makers create items for their shop. It was so neat to see how incredibly fast they were. They also had this game where you had to throw a ping pong ball and if it landed in a glass, you got to keep it. I decided to play and won FOUR glasses! SWEET! What a deal since they are pretty pricey to purchase retail side. Check out how they make a glass Shi-sa dog in three easy steps...

*Step 1-get a glob of red hot glass ooze*

*Step 2-use a pipe and shape the body of the dog*

*Step 3-be enamored by the gorgeous color it turns into when it cools and the cute finished product*

*Group Shot*

We also went to this wonderful place for lunch called Pizza in the Sky. It is obviously named that because of its beautiful coastal view of the island.


The food was simple and yet delish!! It consisted of one kind of pizza and one type of salad with many fresh juices to choose from. The menu was quite cutesy, so I had to show it along with the yummy pizza...



After lunch we headed to the Pineapple Park (which I experienced not that long ago...you can see the pics from that post here). The only thing I can say about that place now is that I stumbled upon these shoes...ok flip flops without the flip or the flop. I had to get them and see what they were all about and I decided on the ride home that I would walk in and announce to Saige that I bought her a souvenir. Her first response was "Cool", because they were in a plastic bag and she didn't see the big picture. Once she did, her face turned to that of confusion.

S: What is this?
Mom: Flip Flops
S: They're broken!
Mom: No they aren't, they are topless.
S: Um ok, NO I don't want them...you can have em Mom.
Mom: At least you could try them on since it was my gift to you.
S: Fine...Wait why are getting out the camera? AAAHHH, they are sticky to my feet.
Mom: *giggle giggle*

Needless to say I had her give me her best foot pose and VOILA!!!


Great way to end the week. OK I'm off to run some errands and go play Bingo with some ladies I know. Fun Fun Fun...Hope everyone else is having a great weekend, too...Love Ya!!

Neo and Busena

Well, we have added more to our scrapbook of Spring Break and headed to Neo Park & Zoo, Fruits Land, and also Busena Underwater Observatory the past few days. The weather has been acting up and not very Spring-like, but we are making the best of it. Sunday, we hit up Neo Park in Nago (the northern part of the island). It amazes me how different a zoo even is here, compared to the states. You wouldn't be caught dead in Miami Zoo doing this...

Because maybe this could happen if you're not careful!!


Seriously, walking an Alpaca?? Don't they spit and stuff? All I know is George had to go after it once Teage's grip got loose and he came back out of breath saying, "Those things can run!!"

Even this seems to be a stretch...birds are shady I tell ya! You never know when one of them's gonna get flappy on your a$$.

I was watching my back is all I'm saying...

The boys both got their pony ride on as well. Teage's first one, he was always scared...this time he was excited!

They also had a petting zoo there that had like 20 purse-size pooches and one pot-bellied pig in the mix. This picture says it all....George's face is imitating his words, "What's up with the pig, he thinks he's a dog!" Yeah he did, and he was so cute.

Then we went and visited Mr. Tortoise. He looked really tired and OLD! Poor guy! He's probably given so many kids a ride that his back must hurt. So we opted for a good old fashioned rubdown and went on our way!


Saige spent most of her time in the petting zoo with the guinea pigs or what we refer to now as a Bugsy (watch Bedtime Stories if you haven't already).


Another questionable animal prancing about....Teage & a Wallaby!!

JD wanted me to include this one. He broke out into song immediately..."I like to Move it, Move It..."

So, towards the end of the park, they had a room where you could go in and pay 600yen. They dress you in traditional kimono garb and take your picture. We were all over it...WOW I look really tall in that Japanese bonnett!

Leaving Neo Park...Good Times!


Once we left there, we hopped on over to Fuits Land. Not sure what to expect, well hopefully some fruit, right? Yeah, so the fruit was out of season. HA! But, there were two other sections: the Butterfly Garden and the Bird House (dang, more birds). Here are my biggies prettying up the flowers...

Check out the golden butterfly coccoons. They are freakishly shiny! There were hundreds of them hanging on grates. Ahh, the joys of breeding...

Oh, here's an after life shot...

Next were the birds. They were just flying around all over the place (sketchy, I tell ya). You could buy nectar to feed the rainbow ones, which all three kiddies enjoyed.

After taking a couple shots of random flowers, I came around the corner and saw this...Teage makes friends everywhere he goes. Plus, I think the Japanese ladies with the little one were really trying to get a picture of my son's saucer eyes LOL! How cute are they??

We knew it was time to head out when we saw this...Oki weather is always playing tricks on us!!


Today we went to Busena and it was a really sunny day. I wish we had planned the beach instead after driving up there and seeing this view...


Getting ready to take a long walk on a short pier...


The boys got tired I guess :o) What an awesome big sissy!!


My baby is a HAM!!!

The steps down into the observatory lead you to a 360 degree room of portholes. The fish were everywhere! I got a few good pics, but this one really felt like I was in the water with them it was so clear...


After we left the observatory...

...we headed over to the glass bottom boat to get the real experience of the coral. It was cute since the boat was shaped like a whale.

I highly suggest checking out the local touristy spots on island. They are really worth it. Next up...castles, ice skating, beaches, and shopping!? And who knows what else!!!??? Stay tuned...Love Ya!!