Marine Drum and Bugle Corps

Tonight I had the pleasure of watching the Commandant's own Marine Drum and Bugle Corps as well as the Silent Drill team. It was awesome!

They performed at a high school football field and there were so many people there.

I have to admit, some of these pictures are from my friend Beth who has a MUCH nicer camera than I do!

The band was outstanding and incredibly precise.

Here are a few Marine WWII veterans that were honored at the ceremony.

Ah, the Silent Drill team! I had never seen them before and they are so amazing!

The announcer did inform us that those are 10.5 lb, fully operational M1 rifles with fixed bayonets. I wonder how long they had to practice with the fake ones before they were allowed to use the real thing???

Here are me and a few of my girlfriends. What can we say, we love Marines!

Semper Fi!

A Whole Lotta Shakin Going On

I would very much prefer not to relive this weekend again. On Saturday morning I was violently awakened by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Wow. It was said to have lasted 30 seconds, but it felt like time had stopped. I know all you Californians out there probably would have been much cooler than I was. Fortunately this Texas girl had heard somewhere that you are supposed to stand in the doorway during and earthquake. I had enough time to wake up, realize what was happening, go stand in the doorway, and still endure a few more seconds of rattling. It was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. The ground should not be moving! My poor dogs were panicked. They had no idea what was going on and didn't let me out of their sight for the next few hours. Over the next 2 days we had TEN more! Fortunately I only felt one, but it was a 5.0 and of course it happened during the middle of the night the following night. I am clearly not a fan.

Here is a link to a video on youtube that recorded our big quake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfbprlCgpGw

As most of you know a few hours later Chile experienced and even larger earthquake! Is God trying to tell us something...hmmm...

That quake triggered tsunami warnings for all of the Pacific, Okinawa included. An hour or two before is was supposed to hit us they evacuated all of the people who lived along both coasts of the island and anyone 30ft or below sea level, and put the bases on lock down. Fortunately the "tsu-mini" and we called it, hit us with waves only 4 to 6ft high. Whew.

I am pretty much over this whole island-living thing! Luckily the Okinawans are very prepared for all of these natural disasters that come their way and we all live in concrete homes that are built to withstand tsunamis, typhoons, and earthquakes.

It was a wild weekend, but I am so thankful for God's protection over us, and even more thankful that we are more than halfway finished with our tour here! Don't get me wrong, we have had many experiences to last a lifetime, but I am ready to go back to America, preferably somewhere inland!