The Franklin's In Japan

Saying Goodbye...

2011-05-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is my final blog from Okinawa. I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow! The last three years on this island have been quite the roller coaster ride. We have experienced some very difficult times including a six and a half month deployment, several shorter deployments resulting in John being away from home a total of nineteen months, missing several important family events in the US, and a disheartening loss. Through those difficult times I am so blessed to have had an incredible group of girlfriends and we have had an amazing church family. It hasn't been all bad though, I finished my Master's degree, we have had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places, and of course the joy of our favorite little souvenir, our sweet baby boy due in just a few months! Our marriage has grown stronger than ever and we know if we could get through the craziness of our time in Okinawa, we can get through anything!

Here are a few picture of our last days in Okinawa...

Our house is all packed up and our things have been shipped to Arizona.

We had to live like this for a few days before we could move into a hotel!

The first picture is of us the day we moved out of our concrete bunker!

As much as we hated literally living in a concrete home, they are able to withstand the insane weather of Okinawa! Of course we had to go out with a bang and have one last typhoon before we left. Three days before our departure, Super Typhoon Songda hit the island with winds that blew up to 156 mph! I am so thankful the Japanese know how to construct buildings that are able to withstand those winds!

Speaking of awesome forces of nature, my husband received the Navy Commendation Medal on his last day of work. Did you like that transition? I think he'll get a kick out of that! Ha ha! He is an outstanding Marine and I love when he is recognized for it!

To continue with the Marine theme, I have been very involved with the Marine Officer's Spouses Club for the last two years and served on the Executive Board this year. Here are most of the Board members at our final luncheon with a "Mad Hatter tea party" theme!

I have also been very involved in the church and the worship ministry. This is the band and some of the singers on my last Sunday.

Finally, these women have been the ultimate support system for me. We were so excited to spend our last evening together at the hospital meeting the newest member of the group, baby David Michael! He is perfect! I think I can handle this!

Thanks to all of you for your love, prayers and support through these last three years.

We are so excited to be closer to our family again, but will certainly miss the wonderful people we have met here on this island.

For the Love of Marines

2011-05-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

It seems as if we have had a jam-packed schedule the last month or so. We've had several Marine Corps events to attend. Sorry I have been a little behind posting these pictures!

John's unit won squadron of the year for the Marine Corps Aviation Association.

I must also add that he was nominated for the Command and Control officer of the year! Sorry if you don't speak military lingo, but it was a pretty big deal!

John and his friend Matt doing their typical pose. I have no idea where this came from, but I think they have to have a picture like this at every event!

A few weeks later his squadron hosted a Dining Out for their Marines and their spouses.

A Dining Out is basically a formal ceremony with dinner that generally has a sense of fun and is intended to promote camaraderie. There are "rules", and generally many of them are funny. If you get caught breaking a rule you run the risk of being fined and are sent to take a drink from "the grog", a fairly disgusting combination of alcohol and pickle juice, croutons and who knows what else! A few of the Marines were punished by being forced to sing songs or dance in front of everyone. A good time was had by all!

Finally, as is always the case in the Marine Corps, someone is always leaving. We attended a Change of Command for his boss' boss.

My favorite Marine was the narrator for the ceremony but I was sitting in a place where I couldn't get a good picture of him.

Afterwards there was a reception and a few of us stayed later for some karaoke. This man is a surprisingly good rapper!

Who knew?!? I'll have to show you a video one day to prove it!

Baby Franklin

2011-05-01T02:03:00.000-07:00

We found out this past week that baby Franklin is a boy!

Seeing him on a more high tech ultrasound made it so much more real (even though half the time I had no idea what I was looking at!). He doesn't have a name yet, that is the current debate in the Franklin house. Fortunately we have a few more months to decide! They changed my due date again (sorry I forgot to tell most of you that!). Now it is September 11 because he's bigger than what they expected. I knew I was further along than they were saying!

Anyway, my wonderful friends threw me a shower in honor of this little man. Since we are leaving so soon (4 weeks), they wanted to do a little something to celebrate our little bundle of joy. So my closest friends came and brought some amazing gifts.

My Japanese friend brought him a yukata, which is a summer kimono. So cute!

I am truly blessed to have these wonderful women in my life.

It makes me so sad that I won't be near all of them once he is born. But I can't start with all of the sniffling and tears yet, I know once they start, they might not stop for a while! For now I am just so thankful to be blessed with some fabulous friends and this sweet little baby!

Okinawan Oddities

2011-04-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

Since we are coming to an end to our time here in Okinawa I figured it was time for yet another blog post with some funny pictures of signs and other random things we see over here. These pictures are all 100% real life crazy Japan!

Let's start with food... I've seen a few different flavors of Pringles here. This one is cheeseburger. I've also seen seaweed! I think I would be a little more likely to try the burger one!

Have you ever thought to make Spam sushi???

McDonald's had a set of specialty American burgers for a short amount of time. Of course I had to take a picture of the Texas one. I never tried it because I try not to stray from the normal cheeseburger there, but I believe this one had chili, onions and some sort of mustard relish.

I still haven't figured out why this particular candy is "for men". Of course being the rebel that I am, I had to try some. I was a little afraid though that I might sprout a chest hair or two after eating it! Don't worry, it didn't happen!

Speaking of food, most of the KFC's here have a statue of Col. Sanders outside of their restaurant. During some holidays they dress him up. He usually has a Santa outfit on during Christmas time, and during major Japanese holidays he gets dressed in traditional attire!

As many of you know, the Japanese people LOVE cartoons. Anything and everything can take on a cartoon form. This sign is a reminder to wear your seat belt. Always be sure to strap in your vegetables as well!

However, while driving you may see one of these signs. Japanese people are usually pretty cordial and apologetic for any "inconveniences" they may cause. This is a construction worker bowing as an apology for road work!

I don't really know what to think about this sign...

Often times, signs are for instruction. I have no idea why this one is necessary.

However if you do have to use one of these, any sort of instruction is helpful! I still don't quite know the exact logistics of using it!

Speaking of toilets, I took this picture in the entry of a public restroom. I am not sure what prompted this, but I have never seen anyone with loud musical instruments near a bathroom before!

If you know about my summer last year, you would know that I would have benefited from observing this sign.

Here is my permanent reminder that you should steer clear of the water during jellyfish season in areas that are not netted.

Last but not least is my favorite picture. Many times while on my way to work I would see this guy taking his bull for a walk. No, your eyes are not deceiving you, he literally walked him all the time just like a dog! Nothing really surprises us anymore after being here for 3 years!

Big Changes!

2011-03-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't already heard, John and I are going to have a baby!

We are so incredibly excited! We found out on New Years Day that I was pregnant, what a great way to start the year!

I am feeling great and baby is healthy with a strong heartbeat over 140 beats per minute (just for you Kellie). The doctor and I have a little dispute about how far along I am, but according to her, right now I am about 15 1/2 weeks and the baby is due September 14.

Here are a few pictures of out little bundle of joy...

10 weeks

15 weeks

At the latest appointment the doctor thought we might be able to find out the sex. No such luck, the baby is as stubborn as both of it's parents (no surprise there) and kept it's legs crossed! Guess we'll have to wait until the next appointment in 4 weeks with the high-tech ultrasound equipment!

At the end of the appointment baby even rolled away from us proving no interest in showing the goods! Atleast we know it looks great an is healthy!

Please keep us and baby Franklin in your prayers!

Trip of a Lifetime

2011-02-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to two local islands with the American Women's Welfare Association. For those of you not in Okinawa, the Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force officers' spouses have gift shops on the island where you can go shop for items from all over Asia at amazing prices. I have found some great items that look exactly like things I have seen in the Pottery Barn catalog for a fraction of the price! On the island the enlisted spouses also have thrift shops. All of the profits from all of these shops go to the American Women's Welfare Association (AWWA). AWWA then takes the money and divides them between American and Japanese charities. Last year, we gave over $85,000 to Japanese charities. A large money of the money designated to Japanese charities goes to the islands of Miyako and Ishigaki. Every year AWWA takes a trip to those islands to tour the facilities that we have given money to over the nearly 40 years AWWA has been in existence. I am on the executive board for the Marine Officers' Spouse's Club and was given an opportunity to go on the trip.

In the four days we were there, we toured TWENTY-THREE facilities! It was absolutely exhausting, but I am so thankful I went.

We had such a warm welcome at the airport!

First we went to two mayors' offices in Ishigaki.

Then we started our first day with some of the sweetest little kids.

I can't believe I didn't bring one home with me! Look at those faces!

At another orphanage, these sweet kids did a little dance and gave us handmade paper necklaces.

The majority of the facilities we visited were nursing homes. People in this region are known as the longest living people on earth. We went to quite a few places that had around four people who were over 100 years old, and the approximate average was mid-nineties. Although the most impressive thing was their wrinkles, or should I say the lack thereof! Incredible!

A few of the facilities that cater to adults with special needs will teach them skills, usually making a product that they can turn around and sell. This helps the facility become less reliant on the government for funding, and many people are able to eventually go out into the city and find jobs.

The Japanese are really big on gift giving and at each place we gave and received a gift from the staff and those who use the facility.

At many of the places they put on a little show for us, and in return we did a little song and dance for them! I have never done the "Hokey Pokey" so many times in my life! It was a great song though because although we were singing in English, it is pretty easy to follow along and they could dance with us.

The directors of the facilities on each island threw a banquet for us. Of course a show was involved. The appreciation for the money and gifts given by our organizations was overwhelming.

We added to the show by doing the "Cha-cha Slide"! It was such fun!

Here is a picture of a few girls teaching us how to do an Okinawan dance!

The trip wasn't all business. On our last day, we got to do a little sightseeing and even got a chance to put our feet in the absolutely gorgeous water!

There were 18 of us who went on the trip and 9 of us were Marine Officers' Spouses' Club members so we had to show our love with "MOSC" written in the sand. In the background you can see a bus that our organization helped fund.

As the title of this blog says, this truly was the trip of a lifetime. It was beautiful to see efforts on both the American and Japanese sides to bridge the gap between the two cultures, particularly on Okinawa and it's surrounding islands. Next year AWWA will celebrate its 40th anniversary. I sincerely hope these relationships remain for many years to come!

For more pictures, check out AWWA's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=67223431648

Girl Time!

2011-02-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

It seems as if I have more girl-time than husband time since John is always gone. Fortunately I have made some great friends here to keep me busy! Many of us are in the same boat, so it has been so wonderful being surrounded by great women who are going through the same things I am!

John's unit had a "Spouse Appreciation Day", so I signed up to spend a day with some of the other wives in our unit. We drove up north to check out the Nakajin castle ruins.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom so it was gorgeous up there!

Here I am with some of my favorite other wives with a gorgeous view behind us!

After that we went to a little (crazy) place to learn how to make little shisa dogs out of clay.

Many Okinawans have these really ugly looking ceramic dogs outside of their homes to keep out the "evil spirits". I don't really keep up with the hype, but I wanted to see if I could make anything besides a bowl out of a lump of clay!

One of the men that worked there showed exactly what to do and made it seem pretty easy.

Here are some of the ladies working hard and concentrating on the tiny details!

Here's my finished product! It is still ugly, but I am proud!

The next day, my close girlfriends and I drove back up north to the last day of the cherry blossom festival.

Since it is much warmer here in Okinawa than mainland Japan, they blossom a few months sooner.

My friend Christine thought it would be fun if we did a jumping picture. It didn't work out so well. Fail!

That's better!

The cherry blossoms bloom throughout the summer. They are absolutely beautiful. I think everyone needs a little pink in their lives!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-23T02:12:00.000-08:00

We haven't had any major events going on, so here are a few happenings in January for the Franklin's...

We started the year off with a quick visit down the road to one of the shrines. New Years Day is the most celebrated holiday for the Japanese. On the first day of the year they visit their local shrine, and pray for blessings for the new year. We're not into the whole "praying at a shrine" thing, so we just strolled around and took in the sights. The Japanese purchase fortunes and if they don't like it, they tie it to a fence. Guess there were a lot of crummy ones out there!

Of course as with any Japanese celebration, there is food everywhere. I have to admit, I really went so I could get a bag of cotton candy!

We had the opportunity to celebrate our good friend Paul's promotion to Captain. In the Marine Corps, once you get promoted, it is customary to have a "Wet down" or basically a promotion party.

Congratulations Paul and Caralee!

The weekend before John left (again), we drove down south to Okinawa World.

Of course it is a tourist trap, but we heard great things about the huge natural cave you can tour. It is a little over 3 miles long and I really do not want to know how far underground we were! There is a nice pathway all the way through that is well lit, and it took almost 30 minutes to go through the cave.

I have never seen stalagmites and stalactites in real life and it was fascinating to see how they grow.

Outside of the cafe they have sort of a craft mall. in one area we were able to watch glass blowing.

After John headed off to his final deployment here in Oki (woo hoo!!!!) I thought it would be great to have some girl time. A lot of our husbands are gone, so what better way to relax than get an amazing pedicure! I do not think a pedicure in the States could ever compare to these! It was fun to chat with my best girlfriends while getting pampered. Here is the final product!

Seriously, they have books at least 2 inches thick with pages of different designs to choose from! I will miss this place!
January is almost over, so we are one month closer to moving back to the US!

Thailand Part Two- Bangkok

2011-01-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

We hopped a short flight to Bangkok from Phuket and the scenery drastically changed. We started in a laid-back beach town, then ended up in a large, bustling city. Our hotel was amazing. It was chic and very, very tall! On the top of the roof they have a restaurant and a bar. We decided to head up 59 stories to the roof and get a drink and take in the incredible view. The restaurant was appropriately named "Vertigo".
I borrowed this next picture from Google so you could see what our camera could not capture! The elevator ride down makes your ears pop!

We really only had one full day in Bangkok so we went to see the major tourist attractions. We started at Wat Po, which is one of the largest temples in Bangkok. They have the world's largest reclining buddha. Now I have no idea why they need one of those, but it brings in the tourists. Wat Po is a large area with several smaller temples in side. I didn't feel the need to actually go in any of them so we walked around and saw the unique architecture.

We decided to go into the area where the reclining buddha was. John loves all things historical and for me I went in purely with the intention of viewing it from a Sociological standpoint (as most of you know Sociology is kind of my thing!). Here he is standing next to the head. You can see how huge it really was.

I find it fascinating that millions of people worship a statue. Something that isn't even alive. As I watched people marvel at a fake guy made of gold laying down it made my heart sad. People were saying quick prayers and I wondered if they thought it was listening.

It made me so grateful to know that I believe in the living God! OK, now off my soapbox...

Fortunately the Grand Palace was a block away, so we headed over to see where the king lived.

I forgot to mention that in the "wats" or temples and any other place, like the Grand Palace, there is a dress code. You cannot wear shorts or show your shoulders. If you are wearing a skirt it has to be full length. Fortunately we knew the rules before we went so we dressed appropriately. We saw them turn away people because they were not covered. I don't blame some of the people though, it was at least 90 degrees outside! I loved this sign and wish we could use it in America!

As I said before, the architecture is unlike anything I have ever seen.

In the palace some of the buildings had such incredible detail. I tried to take a few close-ups so you could see it. All of the colors you see are like a glass mosaic.

While inside, John took a picture with a monk! I bet you don't have a picture with a monk! Ha ha!

Somehow he fits right into this picture!

After our tour of the palace we took a little break, had some coconut water, paid essentially one dollar to use the bathroom, then headed back to the hotel.

That night we took a dinner cruise along the Chao Phraya River. On the cruise we were able to see 34 of some of the most famous places in Bangkok.

The food was great too. We had a six-course set meal which included 18 different types of traditional Thai food. It was fun to try new things that we probably never would have tried on our own.

It is always hard to take pictures at night, but I got a few good shots.

During dinner, there were a couple of traditional Thai dancers. I had to get a picture with them as we were getting off the boat!

Thailand was an interesting place, to say the least! Coming from the quiet, well-mannered Japanese culture to a wild and crazy horn-honking place was a bit of a culture shock! I think we are all traveled out (for now) and will be happy to move back to the U.S.A. very soon!

Christmas in Thailand!

2010-12-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

We had the pleasure of traveling to Thailand for our Christmas holiday. We had plane tickets and a hotel booked back in May when John returned from deployment, but there was civil unrest in the country and it was very dangerous to travel there, so we postponed our trip. The fighting has ceased and we got the "all clear" to hop on a plane for our exciting trip!

We started in Phuket, a small island in the southern part of the country.

Or hotel was beautiful, and our room had a beautiful ocean view!

I couldn't help but take a few pictures of the tree in the lobby made out of Santas dressed in typical clothing from around the world!

On the beautiful beach in Phuket

We spent our Christmas Eve eating good 'ol American burgers at Hark Rock cafe!

Walking around this touristy island was interesting to say the least. Lets just say areas that are similar to third world countries and a spring break mentality do not mix well.

It was entertaining for a while then we quickly hopped in a taxi and headed back to our hotel!

On Christmas day we spent a good part of the day with some of the world's largest, most fascinating creatures!

I am officially in love with elephants, but John says we can't have one!

These sweet "babies" were in training. The one in the middle is only 3 years old.

We were able to take a 30 minute ride on one. This big girl is 50 years old and weighs 3 tons!

We stopped on the top of a hill and had a beautiful view of Chalong Bay.

We had to say goodbye, but this was definitely the experience of a lifetime! Never in a millions years would either of us have thought we would be riding an elephant on Christmas day in Thailand!

We ended our Christmas day with a nice dinner at one of the best restaurants in Phuket with an incredible wine cellar!

The next day we got on another plane headed towards Bangkok. Be on the lookout for the second post of our crazy trip!

Madame Director

2010-12-29T20:16:00.000-08:00

Early December I directed two performances for our church's Christmas Dinner Theater. My cast had been working for several months and all of the hard work paid off! We sold out both nights, so it was definitely a success.

Here is a photo of me with the cast of the two plays
And here is the choir

With some of our great friends!

Below is the link to the video if you want to take a peek. I won't be upset if you fast forward past the choir and to the places where I perform as narrator for both! Ha ha!http://vimeo.com/18002744

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-12-05T01:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am a little behind on this post, but better late than never!

My dad and step-mom came out here for a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday. This year was particularly special. Last year John was deployed and I spent Thanksgiving in Japan by myself. Of course I had friends take me in but it wasn't the same. This year I was so thankful to have John home and having family with us was icing on the cake.

During their visit we were busy touring the entire island. I am pretty sure they saw almost all of the best sites on Okinawa!

Day one, we headed down south to Shuri castle, the former residence of the king of the Ryukyu Dynasty (just in case you don't know, Okinawa is part of a chain of islands called the Ryukyu islands).

John posing in typical Japanese fashion...

We took advantage of having a photographer with us (my dad) and got some fun pictures in. Be on the lookout for a great one on our Christmas card!

Then onto shopping on one of the most touristy streets here on the island. It was quite interesting, however after living here for so long, nothing surprises us!

We had tons of fun at the aquarium

Spent some time checking out the Christmas lights in American Village

Saw the Cape Zanpa lighthouse

I am still in awe every time I see how gorgeous and blue the water is here!

And of course we had to head to the beach a few times!

I was really sad to see them go but I am so happy they were able to come out here for a visit!

Happy 235th Birthday Marines!

2010-11-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

Ok folks, here is your mini-history lesson for the day. Yes you read right, I (Andrea) am actually going to talk about history. My history-buff husband is apparently rubbing off on me! As many of you know, the United States Marine Corps was formed in 1775. In 1921 the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. John A. Lejeune issued an order to all Marines that on November 10 each year they would honor the founding of the Marine Corps. Soon, some Marine commands began to not only honor the birthday, but celebrate it.

Last night we celebrated the 235th birthday of the Marine Corps. Here are a few photos from our great night!

Here is John in the center with his Marines

The officers in our unit

And their wives...

With our friends Matt and Laura

Happy birthday Marines!

Tadake Falls

2010-11-08T04:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we drove up north with some friends to hike through a river to get to a beautiful waterfall. I have never done anything like this so I was a little worried about walking on rocks in the water, especially given my recent history with creatures that live in the water! Fortunately there are no jellyfish in rivers!

It was a fun hike and a pretty good workout!

Boys will be boys!

Someone wasn't thrilled that he wound up in waist deep water and his shirt got wet!

We made it after 45 minutes or so. The falls were more powerful than I imagined!

John and Matt decided to swim across and walk behind the waterfall. Of course they had to do their typical "battle" photo!

Then he and Matt decided to hike even further up the steep hill to check out the top while Laura and I had a snack and saved our leg muscles from being sore the next day!

After our hike back to the car we were ready to eat!

There is a popular blog here on Okinawa where people post about restaurants and things to do on the island. We read about a place called Beach Rock Village that got good reviews, so we went to check it out. It was interesting to say the least.

It was sort of a hippy campsite in the middle of nowhere, but they had food that you could order. They only had pizza left (apparently they only make a few things and once they are out, they're out!). We ordered food and climbed up into the tree house to eat.

By now, the most random things don't really seem to phase us anymore! Having to eat in a tree sounds normal after you have lived in Japan a while! Ha ha!

The food and drinks were put on a pulley system to make getting it into the tree a little easier!

The pizza was pretty good but I don't think we will make a special trip an hour north just to eat at this odd place!

All in all it was a great day with great friends! One activity to check off the list of things we should do before we leave the island!

First Visitor!

2010-10-30T02:29:00.000-07:00

My friend and former roommate came out for a visit while John was gone. I can't believe we have been here for 2 1/2 years and she is the first person to visit us! Tsk, tsk! The rest of you only have six months left, so you better get on it!
Anyway, we did all of the typical touristy stuff, like the aquarium...

For those of you who know the the horrors of what I have been through because of a nasty jellyfish sting, this picture was appropriate!

And the pineapple park...

After you have been here a while there are some things that become normal that you forget are totally different in the States. A few of the restaurants here have sort of a vending machine system. You put money into the machine, push the button for the meal you want, and after it spits out a ticket, you hand it to a waiter who will bring your food out in a very short time!

This place has the absolute best fried rice in the world! Yes, I am going to go ahead and make that claim right here on my blog! It comes out in a hot cast iron platter with raw egg on the bottom. You get large spoons to mix it all up and the egg cooks as you are mixing. That slab of butter doesn't help with the waistline, but it is worth it every now and then!

Since Halloween is right around the corner I hosted a costume party with some of my closest girlfriends.

In true Japanese fashion, I went as a Harajuku girl!

I will miss going into one of these crazy clothing stores an be able to pick out practically anything and wear it as a costume!

We also had some fun zip-lining through the trees!

Her last day she experienced her first typhoon! What a send off! Sadly we were shut in the entire day due to Typhoon Chaba, but we made it through and fortunately it brought some cooler weather with it!

We are certainly looking forward to our next visitors: my dad and step-mom who will be here for Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for our adventures with them!

Peace Memorial Park

2010-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

This Saturday we had yet ANOTHER all-day power outage. They are building a new hospital on the base where we live and this summer we have had several power outages while they work on the electricity for the hospital. It is quite frustrating, but hopefully this was the last one. We haven't traveled to the southern part of this island yet, so John and I decided to head down there since we did not want to be stuck in a house without power all day.

We went to the Peace Memorial Park, a memorial for those who lost their lives in the battle of Okinawa.

The Battle of Okinawa was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War and lasted from early April until mid-June in 1945.

Monuments were constructed to honor more than 240,000 people who lost their lives during that battle. Sadly, more civilians were killed in this battle than military members.

Both Japanese and foreigners names (Americans included) are written on the monuments and they all face the "Cornerstone of Peace" with a spectacular view and a water sculpture.

There is a museum on the grounds with an observation tower. Amazing view, huh?

The war ended on August 15, 1945 and in 1982 the Japanese government designated August 15 as a national day of mourning for those who lost their lives and a day to pray for peace.

The purpose of the museum is to encourage everyone to learn a lesson from the past in hopes for a better future.

Eisa Festival

2010-09-12T04:16:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I rarely post things anymore that are "Japanese". After two years, you kind of get used to things and forget to take pictures!

This past weekend we went to the Eisa Festival with our friends Matt and Laura.

This festival is a competition between all the local cities on Okinawa. Each city has Eisa performers to represent them. The team usually dresses in bright, traditional Okinawan costumes. They are judged on their talent, creativity of the routine and enthusiasm.

The types of drums that are used in the festival are the shimedaiko and the paaranku. The shimedaiko is a medium sized drum and the paaranku is a smaller hand drum. One of the other instrument used is the sanshin which is a three string instrument that is made of snake skin and looks like a banjo. Thank you to Wikipedia for helping me explain it all! Ha ha!

Laura and I kept sneaking up on each group to get a picture while they were having professional ones done!

I couldn't help myself, I had to get a picture with this guy and his funky outfit! He even made me put on the scarf he was wearing!

While we were watching the dancers, a Japanese man actually stopped us to ask if he could interview us. He post videos on youtube in an effort to inform the world of Okinawan customs and traditions. His editing skills aren't the greatest, and I am certainly not cut out for a career in broadcast journalism, but it is always fun to see yourself on video!

We are "on" at minute 1:30. Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz0DewcAE2k

What a week!

2010-09-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

Last week was quite the whirlwind! Now that we are stepping into Fall, all of the things we are involved with are starting up and John's unit has been hard at work with all sorts of exercises going on.

With all of these things going on the last thing we needed interrupted our busy schedules. Enter Typhoon Kompasu! Tuesday we experienced our first typhoon. As most of you know, our home is made of concrete. These houses were made to withstand earthquakes and typhoons and any other natural disaster that comes with living on a small island. John and all of the other Marines here got the day off to "prepare" for the storm. It was nice to finally have a lazy day together. It hit us during that evening and fortunately we only experienced very heavy winds and rain. As you can see in this satellite image, the center of the storm passed directly over the island of Okinawa.

The north part of the island suffered a lot of damage, so were very fortunate that we had only a few tree branches that fell.

While we were stuck inside I decided we should have a crab boil. I have never done this before, but I got the idea from my aunt's food blog http://www.dishinanddishes.com/ and it was a success! It is rare that we can get fresh crab legs here, but I will definitely do this again the next time I come across them!

At the end of the week my boss' daughter got married. I had the pleasure of doing the makeup for the bride and bridesmaids. I certainly miss the old makeup artist days!

Finally we ended our long holiday weekend with a trip to a place called Round One with some of our friends. Basically it is like Dave and Busters, but bigger! You pay one fee and can play any of the games, sports, etc on all FIVE floors!

They had archery

Golf and batting cages

Badminton/volleyball

and our favorite, a mini bike race around the roller skating rink!

It was a fun way to end a very rainy weekend even if John and I lost the race to two little kids!

Starting off our last year

2010-08-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

Can you believe we have been here a little over 2 years? Actually I can, it feels like 5 to me! We have less than one year to go until we're back in America; as my cousin once said, "Land of the free, home of the brave...and Target!"

I did have the pleasure of celebrating my 28th birthday two weekends in a row. The first weekend (the weekend of my actual birthday) didn't go as well as the second. My wonderful husband took me out to dinner and we had a great time.

The next day we had a scheduled power outage in our neighborhood. One of the joys of living on base is they control things like that. Our power was going to be out for 10 hours so we ran all of our errands and then decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach.

We have been wanting to try stand up paddle boarding for a while so we rented a board and headed to a little marina where the water was calm. I paddled out first and was really proud of myself for staying on the board. It took a few minutes to figure out the whole paddle thing, but it was really fun. I paddled back to John, he held the board as I jumped off and as soon as I got into the water I felt one of the most horrible pains I have ever felt in my life. It was like someone took a huge whip and snapped it around my ankle. When I lifted my leg out of the water there were jellyfish tentacles stuck to my leg. Let me tell you that being stung by a jellyfish is something I hope that none of you ever have to experience! I am so thankful John was there to take care of me! The next day my ankle swelled to epic proportions! Fortunately I can walk normally now and the swelling has gone down! I still have a pretty crazy scar though.

The following weekend we invited our friends to a cute little restaurant that we rented out for my birthday.

Everyone had a great time. I had to rock the jellyfish scar with my sparkly shoes!

We are so blessed to have such great people in our lives. Here's to one last year on this island! Hopefully it is a good one, but goes by quickly!

Three Fabulous Years!

2010-07-12T00:37:00.001-07:00

While we were in California we celebrated our third wedding anniversary.

Ever since John was deployed he has been planning a surprise anniversary date. I had no idea what was in store which is great because usually I am big snoop and figure it out! Since we were going to be in another country it was much harder to find out what was going on!

We drove into San Francisco and checked into the amazing Marines Memorial Hotel.

We walked around for a while and did a little wine tasting before dinner.

The best surprise of all was tickets to see the musical Wicked!

We both loved it. If you ever have to opportunity to see it then you must. It was amazing!

We couldn't have asked for a better day. I am beyond blessed to have such a wonderful husband and look forward to many, many, many more years together!

California

2010-07-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

The trips keep coming! We headed to California for two weeks to see John's family and attend one of John's closest friends' wedding.
The first night we were there we had a surprise Father's Day dinner. I wish someone had a camera out to capture the look on John's stepdad (also John) when we walked in the restaurant and saw all of the kids and their spouses. It was a great night.
The weekend we drove down to Los Angeles to see some family and enjoy the wedding festivities. We had dinner with John's cousin in LA and afterwards walked down the street where her brother was working on the set of the television show Californication. I was so excited to see what a "real set" was like. I was a total dorky tourist and took a bunch of pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. David Duchovny is the star of the show and I must say he is much taller than I would have expected!
We had a fantastic time celebrating Scott and Sarah's marriage that weekend.
John's parents were able to drive down for the wedding and I finally got to meet some of his childhood friends that I have heard so much about! These guys have known each other ever since they were kids and all graduated high school together!
The lovely bride and groom!
With the parents and our friends Doug and Kellie.
John and his best friend Doug. I have no words.
The next day we were able to have brunch with more family that live in the LA and Vegas area. Sorry I didn't take more pictures but Isabella loved hanging out with her cousin John!
After driving back up to the Bay area, we went to a Giants Vs. Dodgers game with Patrick.
Lets just say I have never had an experience like this one. Never in my life have a heard more trash talking and seen such, uh, "colorful" people!
The weekend before we left was the 4th of July weekend. We headed up to the lake and had a great time with all of the family.
Here we our rockin our "My husband/wife rocks" tshirts!
We even had a chili cook off, complete with very intricate ballots!
Here are the contestants. Congratulations Uncle Roger on your win!
I am so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful family. Thanks to all of you for your love and support.
One more year to go here in Okinawa!

Luau

2010-06-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

The luau we went to was one of my favorite parts of our trip. We made reservations a few weeks in advance because it is the oldest, most popular one on the island.

We were greeted with gorgeous real leis and a mai tai.

Before it started we had an opportunity to walk around, take a few pictures and enjoy the scenery.

A little later a crowd formed around a huge pit. They cook the pig under the ground and it is essentially steamed for hours.

We got to watch them dig it up. It was kind of gross, yet interesting at the same time.

Shortly after it was time to eat. The food was buffet style with plenty of options and it was pretty good.

Finally to the best part of the evening...the dancing!

They combined several types of traditional Hawaiian dances with the history of their culture.

If you ever have a chance to visit Maui, we highly recommend the Old Lahaina Luau. It was such a great experience!

Maui Part One!

2010-05-25T01:40:00.001-07:00

A few weeks after John returned home, we took a MUCH needed, relaxing vacation to Maui, Hawaii. It was fabulous! We have been to the Big Island as well as Oahu before so we decided to try out Maui and we both agree it is our favorite!

We were very fortunate to stay in one of the most amazing hotels I have ever been to in my life. Here is a view from our balcony.

And the pool area...

The first day we were there we relaxed a bit and settled in.

The next day we took a little road trip south to do a little shopping. John was quite gracious to let me do this the second day we were there! When you live in a country where shopping as we know it in the US is virtually nonexistent, then seeing a strip mall or any recognizable retail store is very exciting!

On the way, we pulled over to a scenic outlook and were able to see 3 other islands.

On the way home we strolled along the beach for a while, then we had dinner at a new Mai Tai restaurant with rooftop dining.

Just in time to catch the sun setting!

The next few days we spent at the pool and the beach.

We got to swim next to a few sea turtles!

I'm sorry this took so long to post. This blogger website has been acting up a bit and finally let me upload pictures!

Stay tuned for the second half of our vacation...

Happy Mothers Day!

2010-05-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to our beautiful moms!
Here are a few pictures of us with our favorite ladies on our favorite day!

I only hope I will one day be as good of a mom as these two fabulous women are!

Beach day!

2010-05-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

One of the worst parts (but in some circumstances, a good part) of military life is having to say goodbye to people. Inevitably you meet some great people and one of you has to move soon. This weekend we spent a gorgeous day at the beach with some good friends to bid them farewell.

We had a really good turnout. I have spent a lot of time with these girls lately. We are in a small Bible study together and the majority of our husbands have either worked together, or in close proximity.

I think that Okinawa should be re-named to "Baby Island". There is definitely something in the water around here. Here's proof. Two of these babies were born the same day and the other just 2 weeks earlier. I think I am going to invest in Babies R Us stock with all of the baby showers I am attending!

However I did get to sneak a picture of this cute guy nervously holding one of the little ones!

Anyway, back to the beach. We had a great afternoon full of sun and laughter. I hate having to say goodbye, but in the small Marine Corps world, it is very likely that we will bump into these great people again!

Homecoming!

2010-04-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

It is with great pleasure that I write this blog. I have been waiting 6 months for this. On Wednesday, I anxiously drove to the airport and waited for my husband to return from his deployment to Afghanistan. I spent that day trying to keep busy so I wouldn't get nervous. I hung this awesome banner I had made and put up the flag.
I tried not to get to the airport too early because I knew I would probably be pacing back and forth.

Fortunately we had some friends and some of John's co-workers show up to welcome him and the others home.

He was one of the first people to get his bags and come out into the waiting area. I wasn't expecting to, but I started to cry the moment I hugged him for the first time. I think they were tears of joy AND relief! I don't know if I have ever hugged anyone tighter in my life!

I finally was able to let him go to greet his friends! It was such an amazing experience, I am so very thankful to have John home safe and sound.

Zeke was extremely happy to see John when he came home. He would not let him out of his sight!

Thanks to all of you for your love and support during this long deployment! We are so happy to finally be back together!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

This has been a long weekend! It was jam-packed full of things to do!

It started on Thursday with our church's production of "The Living Lords Supper". Basically it was about Jesus' last supper as well as the history behind Leonardo DaVinci's painting. Each of the disciples also had a monologue telling a little more about who they were and how they became a disciple. They did a fantastic job. I am a little partial however because I directed the entire production! It was my directorial debut! Ha ha! We all put in a lot of hard work and I think it was well worth it. Here is a picture a photographer friend took of the men in the same pose as the original painting. She edited it to look like a painting.

We had a few more weekend events going on to include FOUR church services Easter Sunday. Since I am on staff at the church I had to be there for most of them. Thankfully I wasn't required to attend the 6am service. I think my boss knew there was no way I could be out of bed and ready by then! I also sang at a few of the services. Here is a picture of me and the girls!
And one of my friend Jessica and me.

As you can see, I am keeping busy while John is away. The countdown has begun and I am very much looking forward to finally having him home in a few weeks! Hopefully the next blog you see from me will be filled with pictures of our reunion!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Mischa did!

Marine Drum and Bugle Corps

2010-03-04T04:07:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-01T02:31:00.000-08:00

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!

Out and About

2010-02-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

Life has been really busy lately. You would think with so much stuff I have going on, time would fly by, but these past few months feel like they have been the longest months of my life! Just a few more and my wonderful husband will be home!

I've been keeping busy with some girlfriends. There is nothing worse than doing nothing on a weekend while your husband is away, so I have been out and about in hopes of making time go by more quickly.

I recently had my first Japanese karaoke experience. As most of you know, karaoke originated here, so I HAD to try it while here! In the States you would usually go to a karaoke bar or something similar where you put your name and song on a list then wait forever for your turn. Here it is quite different. It is best if you go with a group and you get your own little room! Depending on the size of the group you will have different sized rooms. They fortunately have a large book of English songs. You type in the number on an electronic keypad that coordinates with the song you want to sing, then off you go!

Now the girls that I went with and I are all singers.

Most of us sing on the praise team at church, so we could have gone on for hours! It was such a blast!

What makes it more fun is the absolutely ridiculous Japanese videos that play along with the sings we sing.

I had my first experience with Indian food last weekend. It was great! My good friend Heather and I went out to try a place we had heard was good.

If you have never had Indian, basically you pick the curry you'd like (the plate we got allowed us to choose 3 kinds), and seriously the biggest piece of naan bread I have ever seen in my life! It was so good! I could eat 3 of these!

This weekend for Valentine's Day I have quite a few friends whose husbands are deployed so we decided to all go out to dinner together. We went to a pretty popular "American style" steak and seafood place called Sam's by the Sea. The staff there all have to wear these ridiculous sailor outfits (I feel so sorry for them!) however when we asked if one of the waitresses could take out picture, they handed us all hats to wear! Ha ha!

It was a great night. I really thank God for bringing me so many friends here to help me get through this rough time of John being gone. I think I might be miserable otherwise. Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I can't wait for my Valentine to be back home with me!

Bullfight...Sort of.

2010-01-23T01:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had my first Okinawan bullfight experience. It was very different than I had imagined. During my undergraduate years, I went to Spain and studied there for a semester. The bullfighting experience there is quite gory and involves a crazy man (in my opinion) and one bull in a ring. In Okinawa there are two bulls who "fight" each other. They have handlers who hold onto a rope attached to the bulls' nose the entire time.

The bulls basically push each other around. The looser is the bull who gives up first. I think this one we went to was more for show than the real competitions they often have. Apparently they hold real competitive matches with judges and possibly a little betting on the winner.

Of course there had to be quite a few performances by kids. The Japanese love being entertained!

As many of you know, I HATE clowns and anything or anyone dressed up, it just creeps me out. This guy was no exception, but Laura was brave enough to take a picture with him!

At the end, we went down into the ring where they brought out an old bull and you could take a picture next to it OR sit on top of it. Of course I couldn't be a wimp, I had to get on! Only in Okinawa!

Here are my friends Laura and Sabrina with me and the host, the creepy clown and of course a girl dressed up as a cow because, well why not?

Texas Part II

2010-01-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry my blogs are not quite Japanese-y. I do venture out, but it is to do everyday things that don't seem blog-worthy. So I apologize if you are reading this blog to see all of the cool things we have done in Japan, and you see posts about the zillion times we have been to the States! When John comes back we will do a few more touristy things, I promise, but for now, I guess it is the "Andrea Show". Ha ha!

Hopefully you all had a chance to see the snow madness we got in Texas. I am still shocked over the amount we got, and the havoc it caused in that town! Here is my younger brother, Jacob's huge snowman!

I have to post a few more pictures of the trip. Here are my cousin's girls who greeted me at the airport when I got into Dallas.

The next few days we spent at home because the roads were so horrible. Fortunately, my brother Daniel has a 4-wheel drive truck and was able to trudge through the snow so we could see them on Christmas. Here is my nephew, Cade who is too cute for words!

I love this boy!

Finally I was able to go with my dad up to Oklahoma city to see my grandmother and some of my aunts, uncles and cousins. As soon as I walked in here house I saw this and immediately staked my claim to it! My dad had the same idea but I called it first!

See, my gramma is a fabulous seamstress and always has a quilt in the works, so when any of us go over there and see something we really like, we have to put our name on it before someone else does since the family is so big! Luckily gramma saw how much I was in love with it and let me take it home. It is so fitting for our home and our life here.

For some reason my cousin Chris and I thought it would be funny to wear my grandpa's suspenders, and Jacob found some old sweatbands and tube socks!

Back at my mom's house I had a fun time playing with her new West Highland White Terrier or Westie, as they are known, his name is Cooper and he's adorable but made me realize how much I do not want to ever have a new puppy!

On New Years Day I had lunch with my aunt, uncle and cousins, then it was back to Dallas to get ready to head home.

The night before I left I got to have dinner with some of my best girlfriends. It makes me sad that I can't be around them all the time I really miss them.

Now I am home safe and sound. The flamingos are out of my yard and I am working on my very last class for my master's! Woo hoo!

I Got Flocked!

2010-01-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

I made it back to Okinawa safely and even got bumped up to business class on the long leg of my trip. It made for a MUCH more pleasant ride! I guess all of those trips back and forth to the States has paid off with the airlines!

Two days after I got home, I woke up and heard some kids laughing and talking very loudly outside my house. I peered out the window to see what was going on and I spotted a pink flamingo. Uh oh. It happened to me. I got flocked!

The youth group at our church are always coming up with ideas to raise money and I think this is the most fun one yet. Anyone can pay them to put a little heard (or whatever you call it) of plastic flamingos in another person's yard. They usually sneak around in the middle of the night so you have a big surprise when you wake up. You can also buy flocking "insurance" to protect yourself from this happening to you! I think it is hilarious. I knew they had started doing this, but didn't think it would happen to me! This definitely made my day!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

2009-12-20T04:49:00.000-08:00

I made it safely to the other side of the world to Texas! This is me and my dad who decided to go for the Santa-look this winter!

My cousin Jessica and her husband drove through a snowstorm in Virginia to be with family for Christmas and were there to greet me at the airport.I got in just in time because 2 days later, we had one of the biggest snow storms this area has ever seen!
Here I am with my Dad, brothers, and Brittany on the 23rd (notice the tshirts and clear ground).

This is my adorable nephew, Cade hanging out with his daddy!

Just one day later, we woke up to this...

Central Texas rarely gets snow, and when they do, it is only an inch or so, melts immediately, or turns to slippery ice. They had a record amount of snowfall on Christmas Eve. All of the highways were shut down. There were people stranded in their cars for hours, some even overnight! It was a mess! Fortunately I was nice and warm in my mom's house. My brother Jacob and I got out in the snow and took a few pictures.

Check out the yardstick we stuck in the snow where it had accumulated in a corner.

John and I received a great Christmas present, some very exciting news last weekend. John was selected for promotion. For those of you who do not speak the military language, this is a big deal. He will move up in rank, get a nice pay raise, and will no longer be considered a junior officer. As in the civilian world, not everyone who is up for promotion gets it. There were 660 United States Marines who were selected and John was one of them. Soon he will pin on the rank of Major. If you are not familiar with the USMC officer rank structure, here it is. Bring on the oak leaf!I am so very, very proud of my husband. He is an amazing man, and a fantastic officer. It is apparent that he is great at what he does. We will keep you in the loop when the times comes that he will become Major John Franklin.

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll post more pictures of the rest of my trip (if the weather clears and we can actually get out of the house!)

Tis the Season

2009-12-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

This Christmas Holiday season has by far been the most stressful one I have ever had. First of all, forget shopping for gifts around here. Last year we did the whole get-everyone-Okinawan-gifts thing, so for anything else it is pretty hard. We don't have the greatest selection of things to buy! As most of you know, I am also in the process of getting my Master's degree and I stupidly took 3 online course this Fall. I cannot believe my brain has not exploded yet. Top all of that off with a zillion cookies to bake for every party or "forced volunteer" cookie donations, AND my husband being so far away. I am ready for a break! I am sorry, this blog was not meant to be a gripe-fest, I guess I needed to let off a little steam!

In all of the madness, I still put up a tree and decorated the house a little bit. The 75 degree weather does not make it feel Christmas-y, so I had to do something! I am planning on going home to Texas for a few weeks to see my family for Christmas. I think that will be a much needed break! Not to mention when I get back it will be January, and that is one more month closer to having John home! I am so ready for him to be back here with me!

I almost forgot to add one more thing to the madness; this weekend at the church we had a dinner theater performance. There was a little acting, lots of singing, and of course dinner for those who came to watch. It was a very nice evening. Here are the choir members. I must say we have a very talented group of fabulous singers!

These girls, Caralee and Katelyn are two of the sweetest people you will ever meet.

I am truly blessed to have made some good friends here. Friends can make or break any duty station. It is always so hard when you move to a new area and know no one. I finally feel used to this different world. I didn't say I liked it, but it is growing on me!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I will hopefully be posting pictures of my trip back home very soon!

Even if it's not me...

2009-11-22T06:37:00.001-08:00

I am a sucker for reunions. Have you ever seen that show "The Locator"? It gets me every time when I see long lost siblings, children, or friends reunited. What is even better, is seeing military families come together after long deployment. Tonight I had the pleasure of going to the airport to capture photographs of quite a few friends of mine as they hugged their Marine for the first time in 6 months.

My good friend Laura's husband Matt is one of John's best friends here. He was where John is now, luckily they had a few weeks to hang out before Matt headed back here. Ridiculous, I know.

I arrived at the airport to see so many anxious faces and signs that said "Welcome Home" and "We love you". My heart leaped! I love this stuff!

The worst part about the airport in Okinawa is there is a HUGE glass wall that separates you from the passengers waiting for their bags. It can be torture when you have waited to long to see someone, then you finally do, but you still have to wait for them to come through those doors! After what seemed like forever, our Marines walked out the door to cheers and claps! Wives and children ran to get that first hug and kiss. My heart just melted!

Eventhough it was not me who was welcoming home my hero, I am so happy for all of them and I know my day will come soon!

My 50th Blog!

2009-11-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I can't believe I have had enough to say to write 50 blogs! What better way to celebrate than to wish a happy 234th birthday to the United States Marine Corps! Happy Birthday Marines! Thank you for all you do to protect us. Of course thanks to the the other services, but I am a little partial to the Marine Corps!

I decided to go to this year's Birthday Ball even though John isn't here.

The commanding Officer of our squadron (who is also our next door neighbor!) invited me and the other wives with deployed spouses to the ball as his guests. So I figured why not, I always welcome a good excuse to dress up! My friend Christina, our squadron's Family Readiness Officer was my date. It was her last event before she moved in a week. Her husband is a Marine so they are on their way out of here. She's the one in the cream dress. My friend Rebecca and me.

My favorite part of every ball is when the young guys get out there and strut their stuff! This year was no disappointment! They crack me up!

Apparently the Executive Officer took pity on me and we did some Two-steppin'. I am sure he assumed since I am from Texas that I would be a pro. Not so much, but I have gotten better after working on it with John since he is great at it! We were pretty much the only ones on the dance floor because these 18 and 19 years olds had no idea what to do with country music!

I have had surprisingly a lot of support since John has been gone. My faith has been restored in the kindness of others. I honestly believed that because I am living in such a HUGE military community where almost everyone's husband (or wife) deploys, that the attitude would be "Well my husband is gone, or has been gone a lot too, so suck it up". But I haven't experience much of that. The first few days after he left I felt so much love and support, and for that I am so thankful.
My loving co-workers even left a "We love you Andrea" note on my desk along with literally mounds of candy piled on my desk and chair! Granted, there was so much candy in my office that had been donated to the church for the Fall Festival, they had quite a bit to work with. Don't worry, we finally got rid of the left overs so we would stop eating it!
Our church recently opened our new playground, so the staff decided to get out there and be the first to try it out!

The pastor is on the left with our crazy associate pastor in the slide!

Thanks again everyone for all of your love and support!

Lost in Translation

2009-10-30T02:58:00.000-07:00

Both the Japanese and English languages are some of the most difficult in the world to learn. When you combine them, there is potential for disaster. Today I thought it would be fun to give you a good laugh at some of the signs that we have seen around here that could have been translated a little better along with a few other odd things! Yes, these are all REAL things we have seen here, there have been no alterations made to the photographs!

Sorry buddy, the road ends here for you.

What?!?! Nothing about the spelling on this entire sign is correct.

As opposed to your child smokers...

I guess Japan gets 2 more hours than the rest of the world.

Lets take a ride in my spazz-mobile!

This one was strangely at the aquarium. It just looks like a bad idea to me, especially right next to a water fountain. I was not brave enough to try it out to see what it was. I know it is some sort of gargle, but once again, why out in the open at the aquarium?

I bet you guys don't get this in the States!

Here is a perfect glimpse into the joys of driving here. "What do I do?" Was the first thing that came to my mind the first time I pulled up to one of these!Have a great weekend!

Things NOT to say to a military wife

2009-10-15T02:33:00.000-07:00

Well, John is on an airplane right now headed for the States before he goes to "the big sandbox". Last night we had a nice dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants.I found this list posted on a friend of mine's facebook page. I know we are early into this deployment, but I am just going to throw these out there just in case any of you hadn't heard that some of these things aren't so great to say! Don't worry if you have already said any of these to any military spouse you know, we will forgive you! This is all done in good humor. I am not sure who wrote this, she's a little crass (I edited out a few things!), but it is true while being funny! So here you go...14 things not to say to a military wife!

1. "Aren't you afraid that he'll be killed?"
This one ranks in at number one on the "duh" list. Of course we're afraid. We're terrified. The thought always lingers at the backs of our minds —but thanks brilliant, you just brought it back to the front.

2. "I don't know how you manage. I don't think I could do it."

This is intended to be a compliment. Though, its just a little annoying. Here's why: it's not like all of us military wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we'd get to be anxious single moms who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom and in the shower. We're not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked to take on a challenging job. So we rose to the challenge and found the strength to make sacrifices.

3. "At least he's not in Iraq."

This is the number one most annoying comment for those whose husbands are in Afghanistan. What do they think is happening in Afghanistan? An international game of golf?

4. "Do you think he'll get to come home for Christmas/anniversary/birthday/birth of a child/wedding/family reunion, etc?"

Don't you watch the news? No! They don't get to come home for any of these things. Please don't ask again.

5. "What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he's gone?"

Short answer: Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there's a military wife out there who gets bored when her husband leaves. For the rest of us, those with and without children, we find ourselves having to be two people. That keeps us plenty busy.

6. "How much longer does he have until he can get out?"

This one is annoying to many of us whether our husbands are deployed or not. Many of our husbands aren't counting down the days until they "can" get out. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because they actually love what they do or they VOLUNTEER AGAIN and AGAIN to go back to Iraq b/c there is work that needs to be done.

7. "This deployment shouldn't be so bad, now that you're used to it."

We do learn coping skills. We figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets "easy" and the bullets and bombs don't skip over our guys just because they've been there before. The worry never goes away.

8. "My husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you're going through." (This is my favorite!)

This one is similar to number two. Do not equate your husband's three week trip to London/Omaha/Tokyo/etc. with a 6-15 month or more deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious time difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, and he flew comfortably on a commercial plane. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for it. Comparing a 12 month combat deployment to a few weeks business trip is like comparing a crappy Hyundai Excel with a Mercedes convertible.

9. "Wow you must miss him?"

This one also gets another big "duh". Of course we miss our men. There are some wives who do not and they're now divorced.

10. "Well, he signed up for it, so it's his own fault whatever happens over there.

Yes, ignorant, he did sign up. Each and every day he protects your right to make stupid comments like that. He didn't sign up and ask to be hit by anything, he signed up to protect his country. Oh, and by the way, he asked me to tell you that "You're welcome." He's still fighting for your freedom.

11. "Don't you miss intimacy? I couldn't do it!"

Military spouses learn quickly that our relationships must be founded on something greater than sex. We learn to appreciate the important things, like simply hearing their voices, seeing their faces, being able to have dinner together every night.

12. "Well in my opinion….."

Stop right there. I didn't ask for you your personal political opinions. Hey, I love a heated political debate, but not in the grocery store, not in Jamba Juice, not at Nordstrom, not in a bar when I'm out with my girls trying to forget the war, and CERTAINLY NOT AT WORK. We tell co-workers about deployments so when we have to spend lunch hours running our butts off doing errands and taking care of the house, dog, and kids, they have an understanding. We do not tell co-workers and colleagues because we are giving an invitation to ramble about politics or because we so eagerly want to hear how much they hate the President.

13. "WOW....is it time already for him to come home? This deployment just FLEW by!!"

So glad it was a quick ride for them....

14. "OH, that's horrible…I'm so sorry!"

He's doing his job and he's a badass. Don't be sorry. Be appreciative and please take a moment out of your comfortable American lives to realize that our MARINES/soldiers/airmen/sailors fight the wars abroad so those wars stay abroad. If you want to say anything, say thank you.

I hope you got a little laugh out of these! The bottom line is that although we go through some tough times, most military wives are so very proud of their husbands and are willing to be a part of the sacrifices they make to serve out country.

Yep, the States again!

2009-10-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I know, it is a bit ridiculous, but we went to the U.S. again! Well John had a conference to go to in Reno and I decided to tag along! As you know, we moved to Okinawa from the Reno area, so I had some friends there that I wanted to see, and of course, who would pass up an opportunity to be near Lake Tahoe?!

We flew into San Francisco and the first night had an amazing dinner in the city with John's family. I don't know how I married into such a tall family! I have heels on in this picture and yet am still so short!

We made our way to Reno the next day and stopped in Davis to have lunch with John's best friend Doug, his wife Kellie and their son Jackson. This is their first appearance on our blog, so I am going to pause for a moment so they can soak it in..........

Kellie, I hope it is everything you thought it would be!

Anyway, we had a great lunch and enjoyed some time catching up then after a trip to the nearby outlet mall, we were back in the car.

As we are nearing Reno, we stopped again in Lake Tahoe to barge in on John's cousin's family dinner! Tim, Kim and their two gorgeous girls were at a cute little restaurant where we snuck in to spend a little time with them. We were certainly entertained by the girls the entire time!

We later made it to Reno safely and crashed after our full day. The rest of the week I spent shopping while John attended meetings! I know, what a terrible life!
We also had a chance to meet up with some of our closest friends from Topgun that are still stationed out there. I don't know why, but we didn't take many pictures!

As you all know, my wonderful husband now has a slight obsession with scuba diving! He was determined to dive Lake Tahoe. I don't know how many of you have ever been there and touched the water but it is NEVER warm, especially in October! Once I jumped in on a warm August day and felt like it took my breath away for a minute because it was so cold! As soon as we got into town, John was on the phone with the local dive shop to find out how he could make this dive happen. He was able to schedule a time to get a certification for drysuit diving, which would allow him to dive in Tahoe. The landscape is quite different from the coral reefs we are used to in Okinawa. There were many rock formations and even a sunken forest.

He had such a blast! I think in his excitement, he forgot to get a picture of himself but here is his instructor and you can see how much more gear he has on with the drysuit!

Our last night in Reno we went to an amazing steakhouse called Charlie Palmer, at the hotel where we were staying. We had been a few years earlier on Valentine's Day and were looking forward to some great food. It certainly did not disappoint!
We ended our weekend with a stay at John's parent's lakehouse with more family and friends. We had such a great time, John practically had to drag me on the plane to come back to Japan! I think that will be the end of our trips for a while!

Please keep both John and I in your prayers as he heads to the desert soon. I will keep you guys updated as much as possible, but I will forewarn you that for a few months you may have to just settle with the adventures of Andrea!

Okuma Beach Resort

2009-10-03T00:25:00.000-07:00

Way up on the Northern part of Okinawa is a military resort called "Okuma". I have heard people ranting and raving about this place. It is sometimes hard to get is, so we got really lucky and were able to fit in one night there. They have cabins, campgrounds and condos for very reasonable prices and they are all very close to the water.

They also have just one private cabin (for couples only) with its own private beach. This is what we scored for the night! I was so excited! When you live on a little island a 30 minute drive seems to take forever, but it took almost 2 hours to make it to Okuma. It was certainly worth the trip!

The private cottage comes with the use of a golf cart, so we checked in, got our keys, then off we went to our secluded cottage. We were more than impressed.

It had it's own little locked gate and we could pull the golf cart up next to it.

The cabin was one room with a little bathroom and a TV. It had a porch with a fabulous view. No complaints here.

We had a nice little dinner at the restaurant on the grounds, then hung out on the front porch before heading to bed. In the morning all I wanted to do was this...

Here is a picture I took of John from the front porch so you could see out little beach area.

It was a short trip, but a much needed break from everything.

Since we were the furthest north we had ever been on the island, we decided to keep going up the Hedo Point, the northern most tip of the island.

I am certain these monuments mean something!

So now we are back home for a night before we head to the west coast! See you soon!

They just can't get enough!

2009-09-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

I guess those people at the Military Spouse magazine love us because our picture showed up in the magazine again! I have to give quite a bit of credit to our photographer for the amazing pictures she took for us on that special day! And of course, having a good looking husband helps too!

I know I haven't written much lately. We have been so busy ever since we got back from our trip to Texas. We have not had much of an opportunity to get out and do anything fun, but last weekend we did have some friends come by for a visit. Our friends Adam and Becky who we knew from Topgun, are now stationed on the mainland Japan. They decided to make a quick weekend trip down here to Okinawa, so we got to spend some time with them.

If you recall, we got to hang out with them when we went to Tokyo last Christmas!

We wanted so bad to let them see some of the best places to snorkel on this island, but the weather was not cooperating. Luckily we found and area where we could all get in the water. The water is pretty chilly up where they are so I am glad they got to get in the ocean here!

My least favorite part of military life is having to say goodbye to those whom you are closest to. Our friends Nate and Megan have lived directly across the street from us since we moved here. They just PCS'd (Permanent Change of Station) to Florida, and we will miss them so much!

We will be headed back to the States yet again this coming weekend. I know it is a little ridiculous, but John has a conference to go to in Reno and since we just moved form there, I have quite a few friends still there. As a bonus, it is close to all of John's family so we will have a chance to see some of you west coast friends and family! We can't wait!

God Blessed Texas!

2009-09-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

We went to Texas for my mom's wedding. It was a super short, but fun week. We got to see quite a few friends and lots of family. Here are a few pictures of our time there!
The first night we stayed in Fort Worth and saw some friend there. We all got together at Billy Bob's Texas (The World's Largest Honytonk!) Ha ha! John loves country dancing (and is actually quite good at it), so he has wanted to go here ever since we started dating.

His friend Rob flew out from California to see him for a few days.

The next day we drove to the bustling city of Wichita Falls! I was so excited to see my nephew Cade (and of course the rest of my family)!

Here are my dad, brothers and nephew right after some awesome BBQ! Oh how I missed Texas food!

Cracker Barrel has some awesome looking rocking chairs that my cousin Jess and I just had to get a picture in!

Wedding day was a fun/chaotic one, but I say we clean up quite nicely!

Ok, seriously, isn't Cade the cutest thing you have ever seen?!?!

Me and my dashingly handsome brothers.

John's parents also flew in for the festivities!

These are my cousin Amanda's little girls, Rachel and Mackenzie.
My cousin Jess and her husband have a fairly new photography business and we got a chance to help them build their portfolio. Here are our favorites! Enjoy!

Family Friday

2009-08-21T02:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy July and August for the Franklin's. John spent a few weeks one country, came home for two whole days, then left again for another country for a month. He will come home at the end of the month, then 2 days later we will fly to Texas for a week for my mom's wedding. He has been working non-stop and I have taken on way too many things! I am working part-time (luckily), still going to school, and am now on the executive board for the Marine Officer's Spouses Club. It is quite intimidating being on the board with the wives of VERY high ranking Marines, includes 3 Generals' wives. But everyone seems very nice, it will definitely be an interesting experience! I am the editor of the newsletter and website administrator. You can check out my work at http://www.moscokinawa.org/.
Anyway, with all of that going on, I haven't had much time for the fun stuff that we usually post on here. So I am going to do a short Friday series: Family Friday, Friend Friday, and Flashback Friday. I sort of took my friend Jessica's Flashback Friday idea and ran with it! I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I have dug up! They are just in random order.
So here we go with some pictures of our fabulous family!
John and his dad having a little fun in the pool!

My two younger brothers giving me some love before the wedding!

John's family braving the bitter cold while we watched John hard at work telling pilots where to drop bombs in the middle of the Nevada desert!.

All of the girls in John's family took a trip to L.A. to give his cousin a surprise baby shower! We had such a blast that weekend!

John and me with my dad and step-mom right after his last flight at TOPGUN.

Me and my beautiful grandmother at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

The Franklin/Haynes family at Dan and Kristin's wedding.

How cute are these Franklin's?!?!

My little brother Jacob's graduation with all the cousins on my mom's side.

One of my favorite pictures with my mom, aunt and cousins!

My grandparents at my wedding.

I miss you so much papa!

John and Patrick before Patrick was 6 inches taller than John!

Meeting my sweet nephew, Cade for the first time.

These guys are too cool!

Typhoon Season

2009-08-06T03:12:00.000-07:00

We live in what's called "typhoon alley". Typhoons, which as essentially hurricanes, pack powerful winds and can be very destructive. They occur when warm water of the South Pacific Ocean between the Republic of the Philippines and Guam combines with the cool winds in the region. Once formed, the storms usually travel in a path beginning near Guam, travel south and around Okinawa and then head north toward mainland Japan or Korea. Most weaken at sea before they reach inland. So there is a weather lesson for you today!

We were supposed to have one headed our way this last weekend, but it turned and hit Taiwan full force, you might have seen some pictures on the news. Everyone on the island had been in preparation mode for the possibility of a nasty storm. Here is a picture of the storm headed towards us. My dad added the caption before he sent it to me!

We still got some rain and serious wind! I have never seen wind like this. My neighbor's tree had branches falling all over the place and there was debris everywhere.

Typhoons are interesting, especially how large they are. For example, one hit this island a few months before we moved here. They took the size of it and compared it to the United States. It would have covered the ENTIRE Gulf of Mexico! Incredible! If these same storms would have hit the US, it would have been mass destruction. Thankfully, we live in homes literally made of concrete! We are definitely not going anywhere! Seriously, these homes have been around for at least 50 years, if not more. If you remember from an earlier post, my dad lived here when he was a kid (while my grandfather was stationed over here while in the Air Force), the house they lived in is still standing and someone still lives in it. That goes to show that buildings here can definitely weather a storm or two! Growing up in north Texas otherwise known as "tornado alley", it makes me wonder why more homes are not made out of material that can withstand high winds and storms. Hmmm...food for thought...
The weather sadly delayed John from coming home from the Philippines. He got to be home a whole 2 days before he headed out again to the next country! Gosh I love the Marine Corps!

A pretty chill weekend...

2009-07-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot to report from Okinawa this week. I have been studying like a mad woman and John has been preparing for a trip for work. Needless to say, our house is a bit of a disaster and we're a tad stressed! To help with the stress, my wonderful husband took me out to dinner at a nice restaurant (ok, nice by Okinawan standards!) for my birthday since he will be in the Philippines on that day.
We stuffed ourselves silly with crab legs and steak although nothing compares to a good ol Texas steak! It was a great birthday dinner and I am glad we had a chance to go out to celebrate!
Saturday morning we planned on diving (shocker, I know). We headed out to a place we had never been and after getting lost a time or two, we finally found it. The conditions were way too windy and the water was too choppy to get in, so we took a little stroll on the beach. We encountered these guys.
I am not quite sure what this is called, but I would say stupid might be implied. These guys are strapped to a harness which is connected to a parachute, connected to a motorized fan! Now I am all about doing "daring" or exciting things, but this just does not look safe to me!
We watched them fly around for a bit then continued are walk, but were sure to keep an eye out so we didn't get knocked over in one of their landings!
This picture makes us (especially me) look a little dwarf-ish, but it is cute nonetheless!
The water was exceptionally clear and beautiful this weekend, I couldn't get over how pretty it looked.
We officially have one year down in Okinawa. I wish I could say "I can't believe it has already been one year", but it seems like 5 to me! Orders are still in the works for us to head out of here next summer, but nothing is ever official in the military until you are on that plane. Say a few prayers for us that if it is God's will, we come back to America sooner rather than later!

Boat Dive

2009-07-17T01:34:00.000-07:00

Alright, I am sure by now you are tired of scuba diving pictures, but quite frankly, that is all we do on weekends because my husband is just a little obsessed!
Last weekend we decided to do a boat dive to the Kerama Islands. The guys we had planned on booking through were not going out there this particular weekend, so we had to settle for going through the Air Force's Scuba Locker. Sorry to my Air Force loving family, but this was just a bad idea. They don't exactly have their act together over there, but I think it is partially the fault of the 5 teenagers behind the counter. We got on the boat at 7am (let me remind you that I am sooooo not a morning person). An hour later we still had not left. It was pretty disorganized and then to top it off, John overheard the captain talking about another island. Luckily he asked about it back the boat we were on was not going to the Keramas, but to Ie island...meaning we were in for a 2 hour boat ride each way. Ugh. Absolutely no one on the boat knew we were going there, they all thought the same way we did. The captain decided to do what he wanted to do, not what the rest of us wanted (and paid for!) so off we went to these other islands. By this time we were one hour and 1/2 behind schedule. Add that to the ridiculous amount of time we had to spend on the boat; needless to say, we had a REALLY long day!
Alright, now the complaining stops! We wound up having a great time and the water was absolutely gorgeous. I have to say, there are some fabulous places around here, and dare I say, some are prettier than Hawaii!
This was the bluest water I have ever seen and the visibility was incredible.
You have to really watch your gauges to be sure you don't go too deep because the water is so clear.
Check out this giant mushroom coral. Hopefully you can see the other divers around it to put into perspective how big it is!
I love this picture John took of me.

Here is John in a creepy crevice. I just hovered above and watched. Too narrow for me and my weenie self!
Diving near our house isn't going to be nearly as fun since we have been to this beautiful place!
This is a little video of what it is like down there!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T01:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a few days ago, but I guess I forgot to actually post it! Anyway...

We had a pretty chill 4th of July weekend. John had a 96 (military speak for 4 days off...96 hours), so we got to hang out pretty much all weekend. This island has a ridiculous number of military bases, at least one for each branch. The large Air Force Base (Kadena AFB) hosts an Independence Day celebration every year. Friday was only for service members, then Saturday they opened it up to the local nationals. We decided to go on Friday and check it out. It has been so rainy and nasty here and that day was no exception. Here is kind of a sorry photo of the flightline at Kadena. There was hardly anyone out there since the weather was bad.

Melinda Doolittle (remember her from American Idol?) was out there performing and she was really good! She came in third on the sixth season of Idol.
Gary Sinise (of CSI and Forrest Gump) also performed along with his "Lieutenant Dan Band". He is a huge military supporter and he and his band travel all over the world performing for the troops.

They also had one of each of the military aircraft that fly here on this island along with some Japanese jets.

And of course the awesome new F-22!

Switching gears...our dogs definitely LOVE the water! We spent some time with them at the beach this weekend so here are a few pictures of them living it up!

Zeke got a bit sandy!
We found a little crab and the dogs were surprisingly scared of it!
It was time to go and Mischa refused to get out of the water. Here she is pretending she didn't hear us calling her so we could go!

They also got a pool this weekend to play in since it gets so hot around here!
Yes, I know, our dogs are spoiled.

I hope each of you had a great weekend. Living in another country really makes you think about how good we have it as Americans. Here is a picture of the HUGE flags that fly at the headquarters of Marine Corps Bases Japan which is on the base where we live. It is a little weird to see them together, but I am glad we are able to peacefully co-exist with the Japanese.

*Side note* I corrected a little paragraph on the previous post. I think I kind of made it sound completely different than what I was intending. John caught it and questioned me, so I just wanted to clarify the "break" part I wrote about. When I said this place can either make or break a realationship, then said, I have seen the break part, I meant I have seen it break up marriages, not ours! I think I scared my poor husband a little!

Two years of wedded bliss...

2009-06-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe it hasn't been all "bliss", but living the military life where my husband has been gone about 6 or 7 months of our marriage, and a move to the other side of the world might be partially to blame! All in all I have a fabulous husband! Living here has definitely brought us closer together. We really only have each other to rely on because we are so far away from family, and we have only a few good friends here. I think it has been great for us, and a place like this can either make or break a relationship. Sadly I have seen the "break part". It is tough, but we are in it for the long haul! (Just to clarify on the "break part", I meant I have seen living overseas break up OTHER familes, not us!)

Here are a few pictures from the best day of our lives!

Our fabulous bridal party.
Who doesn't love a man in uniform?

Tonight we went out to a nice dinner at a sushi restaurant we had never tried, called Sushi Zen. It was good (just like every sushi place is here). It was nice to just be together. In the year left that we have here I hope to only grow stronger within our relationship and enjoy being here on this island.

I look forward to many, many, many more anniversaries together!

Our 15 minutes, or maybe just 15 seconds of fame!

2009-06-20T02:21:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, my cousin Jess (fellow military wife) told me that the Military Spouse Magazine was asking people to submit pictures of their military weddings. She suggested I send a few in. Well, lo and behold, our picture showed up in the magazine this month! Ok, well it is small, but hey, it's there!

So here is a picture I scanned of the page it was on, and of course it is one of my favorites!

You can click on the picture to see it larger.

Here, There and Everywhere

2009-06-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, there hasn't been a whole lot of exciting things going on here, so that is why I haven't blogged in a while. Here are a few pictures of the last few weekends, just hanging out here and there.

Last weekend we took the dogs for a long walk around the dam here. This isn't exactly a dog friendly island, so we are always looking for places that have trails or large grassy areas for them to get out their energy!

Here I am with my crazy Mischa.
John and Zeke. Zeke loves to pose for the camera!

Later, we went out on our date night to a great Italian restaurant by the ocean called Cafe Nirai.

They have a loft area with couches and a table, it is great for just hanging out and relaxing, not to mention a wonderful view!
This weekend we did what else, but scuba dive!
Here are a few pictures of us checking out the water and a few surfers at the Tsunami Seawall with John's friend Dean.

It is definately nice to have the ocean so close. It is so beautiful!
We chose a new area to dive and it was spectacular!
The coral was gorgeous and we saw tons of fish!

I know this picture is a little blurry but I was trying to show that we were 60 feet below the surface! I figured my dad would appreciate this one!

Well, I guess that is about all for now. Hopefully soon we will do something exciting for me to blog about!

Under the Sea

2009-05-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

Back in February, John and I became certified scuba divers. Yes, February, it was cold even though we live on a tropical island! I won't go into all of the horrific things we had to do in order to get our certification, I believe I have suppressed some of those things from my memory! Basically we spent a few days going through all sorts of scenarios (in the water, no less) of bad things that could happen to us in the water so we would know what to do if any of these situations arose. Scary. Anyway, we made it through and are PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) certified Open Water scuba divers! John left for the States a week after we were certified, so we had to wait until he came back to go on our first dive on our own.

This past weekend was an absolutely gorgeous weekend and it was a perfect time to get in the water.

We woke up early and headed to the ocean. Luckily, we don't have to go very far. Five minutes later, we started putting on all of our gear. It takes FOREVER to put everything on! The wetsuit alone takes me around 3 minutes! So after the wetsuit, weight belt, BCD with the tank attached (buoyancy control device--the vest looking thing), regulator, snorkel, mask, and fins were all on we could finally get in the water! Here is a link for further equipment info: http://www.padi.com/scuba/scuba-gear/intro-to-scuba-dive-equipment/default.aspx

Finally we got in the water and I heard a really annoying sound. It was a discomforting sound of leaking air. Oh great. So John tried to check it out, but there is only so much you can do standing in chest-deep water and quite a few pounds strapped to your back. We had to get out, take everything off and drive back to the place where we rented our gear. Sure enough, there was a leak in my BCD. Not exactly something you want when you are out in the middle of the ocean and that is the device that will keep you floating in the water!

So, round two. We geared up again and got into the water to experience our first dive by ourselves.

It is such an amazing experience seeing things that you could never see just snorkeling.

The coral was stunning. I have never seen anything like this. I never knew some of these types existed.

There weren't a whole lot of fish where we were, but we did see a little sea snake. I kept my distance. I do not feel the need to attempt to befriend those guys.

Here we are hanging out at 40 feet underwater.

Afterwards we decided to go to one of our favorite cute little coffee shops right by the beach, relax and check out the pictures we took underwater.

I am really glad my adventurous husband convinced me to get certified with him, it was such an amazing experience.

We hope to take a day trip this summer to a small chain of islands a few miles off the coast of Okinawa, called the Kerama islands for a dive excursion. I hear you can see 200 feet down, that is how amazingly clear and beautiful the water is there. Stay tuned for more adventures of the Franklin's!

God Bless the USA!

2009-05-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

We made it home safely after our trip back to the good ol USA! However, jet lag is rearing it's ugly little head! It was so great to see our friends and family eventhough it was such a short amount of time.

Here is a rundown of the trip. I will try to keep this blog as short as possible, but I have alot of pictures to post!
First of all, I had the pleasure of sitting in an airplane in Denver for hours watching a snowstorm blow by and waiting for the plane to be de-iced. I finally made it to Dallas 7 hours after I was supposed to be there, but I was still happy to be in the great state of Texas!

Here are pictures of me and my beautiful mom and my wonderful dad!

Now, I love my family, but I was mostly excited to see my adorable nephew, Cade! Here we are with him in the kung fu suit I brought him from Japan!
I also got to go to lunch with some of my best friends. I have known these girls pretty much my entire life and it had been years since we were all together at once!

We took a short trip up to Oklahoma City to see my grandma and some of my cousins, aunts and uncle. Here is a group shot of grandma with the grand kids and some of their fiances, spouses, and children; and no, this isn't even all of us! We have quite a large Johnstonbaugh clan!

At grandma's house we were playing Wii Fit and Cade decided he wanted to play! I had to post this picture because it is too cute!

My Texas trip went by way too fast, but I will be back in September for my mom's wedding!
It was time to get on yet another airplane to FINALLY see my husband! We had been apart for 2 months and I was so excited to see him! So I flew to the bustling metropolis of Yuma, Arizona. While I was there, I was able to see him graduate from the school that has been occupying his time those 2 months. He is now a Weapons and Tactics Instructor!
After a few days in Yuma, we were off to California to spend some time with his family and friends.
Here is a picture of us with a few of John's friends: Rob, Andrea and Tony.
The last weekend we were in the States, we headed to John's parents' lakehouse for some family time. We had a major karaoke marathon! It was a blast!

John and I sang "Summer Lovin" together!
John and our nephew Aidan

The day before we left, we met our friends Robin and Shawn and their little boy Gavin in San Francisco. They were our best friends back in Fernley and Gavin was actually born 3 days after we moved, so it was great to see them and meet their little guy!So that was our trip in a nutshell. It was so great to get back home and see everyone, as well as a much needed break from this little island! Love you all!

Tea Anyone?

2009-04-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

The Marine Officer's Spouses Club (MOSC) usually has an event every month to raise money for charity. This month they hosted a Japanese Tea Ceremony for all of us to take part in. This one was a little different because there are so many members of our club. It was not as intimate as they usually are, but it was still a cool experience.

This is my friend Rebecca. We always wind up dressed alike. Of course today was no different: black dresses and turquoise necklaces.

Here is our president and one of the General's wives giving a run down of what will go on during the ceremony.

So many people had kimonos on, I wish I had one!

First we were served a gelatin sweet cube, thing. If any of you come out here to visit, you will soon see that they like many foods, especially desserts in this gelatin form! It wasn't exactly the greatest thing I have ever states. Basically, it tasted like hard Jell-o, with a sugar-like flavor and sweetened rice on the inside. It is customary to eat sweets first in order to sweeten the palate in preparation for the bitter tea.

The tea was, uh, interesting as well. They grind tea leaves into a powder and mix it with hot water. I have never tasted anything like this before! It was pretty thick and had a bit of a spinach taste! You could see grimaces on everyone's faces! We were try not to be rude and suck it all down!

This is where one of the men mixed the tea. There is an entire sequence of things he must do to prepare the tea. that was probably one of the neatest things seeing all of the intricate movements he did in order to clean the bowls and mix the tea.

Here is a picture of my friend Haiden and I. She goes to our church and was on the last adventure we went on at Forest Adventire Park (zip lining)

It was a fun experience. Only in Japan would I be able to experience something like this!

In 2 days I will be on an airplane back to America! I will finally get to see my family, it has almost been a year, as well as my in-laws, it has been since last July since we have seen each other! I will also get to see my fabulous husband, whom I have not since in 2 months! I am so excited! I will see you all soon!

Swinging from the trees!

2009-03-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

OK, back to blogging about fun times! I am a part of a women's Bible study at our church and we just finished a 10 week long study so it was time to celebrate and do a little hanging out! Ha ha, you shall soon see what I mean! As you may recall, a few months ago, John and I went to the Forest Adventure park where they have numerous zip lines and an obstacle course.

Quite a few fearless ladies decided to take on the challenge and try it out. There were only few of us who had ever been before, so it was really fun getting some of them up so high and racing down a zip line.

Oh we had so much fun! Its pretty difficult to make friends here when you do not have children because pretty much everyone else does, and everything they do is centered around them. I have to interject something for my mother and mother-in-law...no I am not going to have a baby anytime soon. John says making friends is not a good reason to have baby! Ha ha! Anyway, it was nice to be in a different setting and get to know people a little better.

Here are Amanda and I getting ready for our first run!

You cannot beat the view of the ocean from up high.

Here are a couple of the girls taking a break from the big Tarzan swing!

By the end of the day we were all peer pressuring each other to hang upside down! Whew! After 3 times, I FINALLY got it. It is really hard to trow your legs up there, then have the courage to let go and just hang there!

What a rush! Yes, I am crazy, but it was a blast!

Here is my friend Amanda showing us how its done!

Just One of Those Days...

2009-03-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

I know I usually only post fun stuff that happens around here, but this is a serious blog. I have alot of stuff to just get out, so I thought I would type it here. These past couple of days have been extra tough. John has been back in the states for 3 weeks now. I still have 5 1/2 more weeks until I get to see him. I started working again for the first time in a year, luckily it is only part-time. I am working at our church doing their financial stuff, it is a great job. and if you didn't know I a working on my Master's degree toward a Master of Human Relations. So I have been pretty busy. It's hard with John being gone to juggle it all and housework and of course the two lunatic dogs we have! On top of all of that, yesterday we lost a Marine to a tragic accident here on Okinawa. He was a guitar player in the band at our church. I didn't know this family very well, but I have still been so sick to my stomach about it. It is amazing that bond I feel towards other military spouses I don't even know. I cannont explain it to you. It is one of those things that could happen to any of us, and when it happens to someone you know, it just hits that much closer to home. Our worst fear is having a man in uniform come knock on our front door. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. Why do these things happen? Why do his two young children have to grow up without knowing their father. Why does his wife have to make a huge move back to the United States all alone? Scary. I am a Bible-believing Christian, but these are all the questions I have asked God the past few days. The answer is, I don't know why. It is hard not to be angry. But I truly believe God has a purpose and a plan for all of our lives and everything that happens in our lives happens for a reason. Some of those reasons we may never know. As Christians our faith in God is tested every day. Do I still trust that He holds my life in His hands? Yes. Do I still struggle with those issues? Of course.

For now, I will continue to be thankful for all of the blessings I have been given. I thank God every day for the Marine he brought to me. I don't know what else to say but be thankful for the things you have. Hold your kids a little closer and hug your wife or husband a little tighter. And please keep the Roy family in your prayers.

My favorite Marine :)

Out with the girls

2009-03-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind and I am busy for the first time in a long time! As most of you know, my wonderful husband is back in the States for a few months, so if you're looking to see what he's up to, I probably can't help you out. I am sure when he's not torturing me by telling me of all the great restaurants he got to go to or his trip to Target (oh how I miss that place!), he's either sleeping or has his head buried in a book studying. So this blog is all about me and the girls! Luckily, I have a found a couple girls that have helped me keep my sanity while John is away. The past two weekends I've had the opportunity to go out with some of them and get in a little girl time.
The first weekend John was gone, we went out to farewell a friend who is on her way to England. the first stop was Kitakaisen, a sushi restaurant that has EVERYTHING! We have been there a few times before, but I am always overwhelmed by their menu. There's something for everyone, whether its sushi, pizza, or even horse meat sashimi...I'll skip that one.
Afterwards, we went bowling. That bowling alley on base was closed for maintenance so we went off base and were definitely the only Americans there! Language is always an issue, but luckily the employees knew what were there for.

I was hoping our names would be put on the screen in Japanese, but no such luck!

Getting shoes was an interesting experience; you puts coins into a vending machine-like thing and out came your shoes. The problem was all shoe sizes were in centimeters, so it was basically trial and error!

Here is a picture of Eve (the girl who is leaving), demonstrating how to use the machine!
We decided to go to the Officer's club after that to dance a little. Saturday nights are pretty dead there, so it was great having the dance floor to ourselves! Oh, I almost forgot, I got a raffle ticket when I walked in the door. I never think much of those because I never win anything, but my odds were pretty good since there was hardly anyone in there! I wound up winning a Coach purse! Cool huh?! I was pretty shocked! I think its a ploy to get more people in there on Saturday nights, hey it works for me!

So this weekend a few of the girls from our squadron went together to our monthly Marine Officer's Spouses Club event. The basis of MOSC is to raise money for women's charities in Okinawa and they generally raise ALOT of money! This month we celebrated St. Patrick's day with some great food, green beer, and an auction. We raised over $2000! Pretty darn good for one event!
Of course, it wasn't all business, we had fun too!

We especially had a good time with the decorations!

A little karaoke is always great! I can't believe they did "Bohemian Rapsody" so well!

My friend Rebecca and I must be long lost sisters. We somehow wind up with matching stuff without even trying. We have the same bedspread, entertainment center, and dozens of other things that were never planned but we laugh about when we find out yet one more thing the other has that we have. This time, we had to take a picture of our new coach purses our husbands bought for us for Valentine's Day (they had no idea either), along with our side ponytails! Ha ha!

I ended this weekend with a trip to the spa with my friend Laura. She had heard about this hot stone spa so we thought we would check it out.

Here is an excerpt of an article I read about this spa: "Ganbanyoku is a sauna-like bath, as it heats your body deeply inside and makes you drip with sweat. The Japanese word “Ganban” means “rock”. The Ganban used at stone-spa parlors contains a lot of minerals and emits far-infrared ray. At such places, the rock is heated up to about 40c (105F) and you spread a towel and lie on the rock for 15 minutes. After taking a break for 5 to 10 minutes, you will repeat the same set for 3~4 times."

So that's what we did. We got into some outfits they gave us and downed a ton of water before sweating our buns off!
It was actually really relaxing and pretty cheap. I'd probably do it again!
So I hope you enjoyed "Andrea's weekend adventures"! If I do anything else that is somewhat interesting, I will keep you all updated!
By the way, incase you didn't know, John and I just might be coming to a town near you in April and May, so watch out, you may have a visitor or two!

Forest Adventure Park

2009-02-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

We decided to take a trip up north and try out a place called Forest Adventure Park. Basically, its a huge zip-lining course. We had never been before but had heard great things about it! We had a blast! John had an extra day off, so going on a Tuesday was great because there was hardly anyone there. We had a girl put on our harnesses and give us a brief lesson on how to use the equipment, then off we went. I have been on a zip-line before, but I was a teenager so the first time was a little scary!

Here is the video I took of myself going on the first one!

There were trails that led to different zip-lines, probably 10 or more and you had to go on them to get through the course.

As you were going from one area to another, there was basically nothing but trees and bushes underneath you!

Here comes John!

The higher we climbed, the better our view of the beautiful ocean was!
Towards the end was a large obstacle course that was pretty hard!

After climbing up some swinging ladders we had to go on what is called the Tarzan Swing. These videos are so funny, I could watch them over and over!

We actually wound up doing this course twice because no one was behind us, so we might as well get our money's worth!

So keeping with the adventurous theme we decided to try some curry. The Japanese are big on curry and it seems all of our friends just love it. John and I have been very wary of try it, mainly because of the smell. It doesn't look all that great either. So we stopped at a big restaurant called Coco Curry House and tried some chicken curry. Generally a plate comes with rice, some sort of meat and this brown (curry) sauce that you can choose your level of heat. From mild to #12. You are only allowed to have above an 8 if you have eaten the whole thing of a 5 or above. We stuck with the #1! Ha ha! Hey, we were easing in! It was surprisingly good! John loved it and I am still deciding how much I liked it, but I would probably go back. So that was our day of adventure. I hope you enjoyed pictures and video of us looking like fools!

Valentine's Day at the Aquarium

2009-02-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We have heard all sorts of great things about the aquarium here on Okinawa and decided to take the long trip up to the north part of the island and check it out. This aquarium was once the largest in the world, but a new one in Atlanta was built a few years ago and now holds that title.
The aquarium is in an area called Ocean Expo Park. We didn't have a chance to see the whole park, but in the middle of it all were some awesome sculptures made out of flowers, they were beautiful!
When we walked inside, there was a large tank with so many different types of fish.

This picture almost looks fake!
Here are the largest lobsters I have ever seen in my life!
Me with some hot pink fish!

Here is John and a new friend!
After walking around a bit we rounded a corner and saw the first parts of one of the world's largest fish tanks! I had heard about this tank and I thought the first one we saw was it, luckily, I was wrong! I was so incredibly amazed at the size of this tank; it holds 1,981,290 gallons of water and has the second largest acrylic glass panel.

I took a video to help you understand the magnitude!

On the side of this tank you can walk into an area where the water goes above your head.
It was a really rainy day, so we didn't get to see the dolphin show because it is performed outside.

We walked around a bit more and heard music and clapping so we decided to see what all of the commotion was about. There were a few little girls dressed up and performing little dances. It was so cute! Here is a video of one of the dances.

This little girl was soooo good! She was probably 5 or 6 and so dramatic and was so precise in her movements.
As I said before it was raining outside, yet people still thought is was so great and fun to run through the mist machine. By that time my hair was enormous, so it was time to head home! This weekend is a 4-day weekend for John and Tuesday we are supposed to go to the park where there are tons of zip-lines! Hopefully it won't rain and we will still be able to go! Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Snorkeling

2009-02-09T05:11:00.000-08:00

There hasn't been a whole lot of exciting things going on around here, we both have been crazy busy, but not necessarily fun stuff! Last week, John's squadron got a new commanding officer, so it has been a hectic changeover for him and everyone else. There are always alot of things to do when a new person takes over. I finished my very first class towards my masters degree. Here, you do reading and a few assignments on your own, for 4 weeks, then have one week of intensive classroom time. When I say intensive, I'm not kidding. Monday through Friday we had class from 4:30 to 9:30 and then Saturday 8am to 2pm. Whew! This was no ordinary class, it was Research and Statistics, so my brain is slowly recuperating! But its over and I am one step closer.
This weekend we were pretty lazy. It had been a tough week for both of us and we didn't see each other at all. Sunday we decided to go snorkeling since it was such a beautiful day. The weather has gone back and forth from a little chilly to 75 degrees so the water wasn't too bad if you had a wetsuit on.
The water was a bit choppy, but we braved it anyway. Our favorite spot to snorkel has a cave you can swim into. Its a little creepy, but kind of cool at the same time. It was great being able to see it when we did because there was hardly anyone out there and usually this spot is extremely crowded, especially in the summer.
Here is John on the inside of the cave.
Here I am (even though you can't tell) at the entrance.

These are a few of our favorite pictures of the fish we saw.

After we were in the water about 45 minutes, the wind started picking up and it was pretty rough. I have never has to swim that far out in the ocean while the water was so rough. We got a little beat up by waves and were certainly exhausted by the time we made it to shore, but we made it ok!
This may be one of the last times we snorkel here because next week we start classes to be certified scuba divers! Diving here is supposed to be some of the best in the world, so we decided to take advantage! Hopefully I will not be a big chicken! I think it will be fun once I get over the initial fear!
Well that's all for today. I hope all of you have a Happy Valentines Day!

Cherry Blossoms!

2009-01-31T04:06:00.000-08:00

Okinawa is the first place in all of Japan to see the cherry blossoms start to bloom. Since the weather is so warm here, we are able to see them at the end of January. Every year, there is a cherry blossom festival on the northern part of the island, so we decided to check it out.

Of course as many of you have seen through pictures, there are always the weirdest, most random signs everywhere. I have passed this one a few times and finally was able to get a picture of it! I just want to make sure all of you know to make sure your vegetables are safely buckled in when you go anywhere! Ha ha! I really don't get the obsession with making everything a silly cartoon.

Anyway, back to the festival...Of course there is NO PARKING anywhere on this island, so after driving a few blocks we would up having to park at the convention center and walk 20 minutes. Oh well. The Japanese are really into festivals, and they are basically all the same. A bounce house, food, singers/musicians, and useless toys for children!
Here we tried our first chicken yakatori. It pretty much tasted like teriyaki, but it was on a stick, so it made it better and more fun to eat!

I LOVE cotton candy, so I had to get some. Believe it or not, this was the small bag!

Some of the other food, was a little, uh, questionable...

This festival is held near the ruins of an ancient castle. In order to get to the actual ruins, you must walk up over 700 steps! Whew! It took quite a while. I have a feeling my legs will be sore in the morning!
This picture was taken about halfway up. Its a fairly descent view of Okinawa.

Still walking...

Here's John posing!

Up at the top was something important, but all of the signs were in Japanese, so I'm sorry I can't tell you what it was! It made for a cute picture though!

We are really lucky many of the trees had already blossomed. It has been a really mild winter, so I think they started to come out a little early.
These are a few musicians that sang a bit for us. We are not exactly into this style, so we headed back home!

On the way back we encountered yet another strange sign. Scary. I don't think I would want to run into this animal!

All in all it was a nice day. The weather was a beautiful 75 degrees. Can't really beat that for January! We have some fun stuff planned for the weekend of Valentines Day, so stay tuned for some exciting pictures of us zip-lining over Okinawa!

Pineapple and Pizza

2009-01-13T17:02:00.000-08:00

I hope you guys enjoyed the Tokyo blogs, we had a great time and I hope we have a chance to go back before our time is up here. Now, I haven't had many comments lately, so you guys should get after it! I have no idea if anyone is even reading these things anymore! Ha ha!

Anyway, a few weeks ago we went on a little date and ventured up towards the northern part of the island, something we rarely do.

We decided to take a little tour of the oh-so-popular touristy destination of Nago Pineapple Park. Now, around here, they are BIG on tours and things are done a little differently. Rarely will you find a place that you can just wander by yourself and look around. Everything is on a "course" and I have a feeling you might get reprimanded for not staying on that course! Now while I am a push the envelope type of person, I steer clear of my rebellious ways over here because there is no telling what they will do!

After a few minutes of trying to figure out where to take our tickets, we hopped on a little golf cart with a pineapple on top, a lady pushed some buttons near the speakers in the cart and off we (slowly) went around the park. Of course it was on a track and we really weren't driving it. I believe the locals are well aware of their, uh, "driving abilities" or the lack thereof, so most of the time you're on a closed course!

Our tour guide in our personal speaker system told us how pineapples are grown and about the many different types they had here. I don't think I ever thought about how they grew, but it was really cool to see itty bitty pineapples as they were growing.

After the short tour, we got off the cart, staying on the route of course, and headed into the tasting room. Here they bottle their own special pineapple wines and you can have a taste of the 3 types. They were surprisingly really good!!!

After that, you go into a large room with a windy path and people and food samples everywhere! I tried many varieties of pineapple cakes, chocolates and cookies. Needless to say, the $5 per person was well spent for so many snacks!

Since we had our dessert, it was time to leave and head to Pizza in the Sky for dinner. I have heard rave reviews about this place.

It took a while to get there and the directions and windy roads were ridiculous, but we finally made it, and this was the view we saw when we arrived!

We put our names on the list and had another couple take a picture of us.

This is the view of the restaurant. I love how you can also sit outside and enjoy the scenery.

After a short wait, we sat down inside. Check out the menus! What a great idea!

Here, there is only one choice of pizza, one type of salad and all sorts of funky juice drinks.

We were pretty impressed by the food and as always, the service was impeccable. It took John a few minutes to get up, but we finally headed home. **Side note**If you plan on visiting us, start your stretching exercises now because when we go out to eat, you have a 50% chance of having to sit on the floor for your dinner!

Tokyo Part 3

2009-01-05T04:31:00.000-08:00

The last two days of our trip were a bit of a whirlwind. Saturday, we met up with a few friends who were also stationed at Topgun and now live on the mainland of Japan. They took a train into Tokyo to hang with us for the day.
We met Adam and Becky in the shopping area called "Ginza" This is where all of the super high end stores are. You know, the kind you don't really even feel comfortable going into because you know you can't afford a keychain!

However, we had to go into the 5 story Apple store. Yep, an insane amount of iPods, computers and well, that's about it. They even had a floor with a conference room dedicated to hearing Apple-related seminars! Ha ha!

We grabbed lunch a Hawaiian place then went to another area called Odaiba. Here is a picture of the Fuji electronics building.

We walked along the boardwalk for a bit, and what do you know, we saw the Statue of Liberty! Random, I know, but by now, I am not at all surprised by the random things I see in this country!

We walked up 110 steps (John counted) and found a showroom for all kinds of cars. The reason why we went to this particular area, was because I was told by a tour guide that since we have Japanese drivers licences, we can go to this area and test drive all of these futuristic cars! Well, technically that was true, if by futuristic, they meant the 2009 model of the Toyota Corolla.

Oh well. In the showroom there were plenty of funky vehicles to look at and one particularly beautiful Lexus that I am saving my pennies for!

So after a long day of sightseeing and cars, we bid farewell to our friends and spent one more night at our awesome hotel.

The last day, we had until 1pm until our bus left the hotel for the airport, so we decided to sneak a few more things in. I am a travel channel junkie and watched an episode on the best donut places in America! One of the best places only had locations in New york city and Tokyo, so of course I convinced John to go on the 30 minute trek to "Donut Plant". I was a good donut, made from only all natural ingredients (and they were square...ooh ahhh) but I probably wouldn't go out of my way again for these! Haha!

We hustled over to Harajuku for the slight possibility of taking a picture with the famous Harajuku girls.
Basically there are a bunch of crazy dressed girls that hang out in this area. they are supposed to be the epitome of Tokyo fashion. I actually saw some at Disney, but didn't get to my camera in time. We only saw a few and they weren't very close by, so I took a picture off of Google just to give you an idea.

As you can see, the style ranges from Little Bo Peep-ish to goth.

The main street was lined with shops and quite interesting clothing inside. Don't worry Dad, I didn't buy any of these outfits!

And one of my favorite parts of the trip...a GAP!!! Oh it has been so long since I have seen a real American store! I was so thrilled to see a store that wasn't weird and the clothes actually fit me! So that was a good ending of a trip for me!

Well I hope you enjoyed reading about our latest adventure and we hope that you are all saving up to come visit us and experience this country for yourselves!

Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea

2008-12-30T00:23:00.000-08:00

Day number two we woke up early and headed to Tokyo Disneyland! It was so fun! Being Christmas Day, it was packed!

It was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

This year Tokyo Disney was celebrating its 25th anniversary, so it was more special and there were 25's on everything!

We have been to Disneyland in California, so it was quite an experience getting on the same rides, but in Japanese! Luckily, John had been to Disney several times growing up, so he had most of the rides memorized and could let me know what was going on! Ha ha!

As you probably know, the Japanese have a very different style than we do in the States. I couldn't help but get a quick picture of this couple dressed in their, uh, family friendly attire.

I had to take a picture of this guy too, for obvious reasons! I still don't quite get why he was wearing it. Hmm...

John hates the Teacups, and I had never been on them, so with a little begging, he agreed to go and took a video. Beware, you may get a little nauseous watching it, but its funny!
I had the chance to meet Mary Poppins and got to see many other characters.

Many of the "A-list" characters were mobbed and had huge lines to take pictures, so I just took a few pictures of my favorites with random children!
Later in the evening, we had some time to kill, so we decided to walk over to the brand new Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. It was opened this summer and was quite stunning.

We had Christmas dinner inside at their buffet restaurant. It was pretty expensive, but it was so much better than standing 30 minutes in line for a funky hot dog and the food was pretty darn good.

At the end of the evening, they had an electrical lights parade. I only got a few pictures, but it was pretty cool!
The next day we hopped on our bus and went to Disney Sea. Disney Sea is not like Sea World, but more of an amusement park. The rides were geared towards a little older crowd with more roller coasters and fast rides.

Here is a short video looking towards the entrance of Disney Sea. Don't mind my dorkiness...

Our favorite ride was the Tower of Terror! We rode this once at Disney California Adventure and loved it.

At the very front of the park, there is a huge globe and at night it is lit up beautifully.

This park was probably our favorite of the two. The architecture was amazing and it was like nothing we had ever seen before!

Stay tuned for the last installment of our 3 part Tokyo series!

Tokyo part 1

2008-12-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we hopped a plane and flew 2 hours north to Tokyo! I haven't been off of this little island since we arrived 5 months ago, so I was certainly ready for a vacation! There is a travel agency on base and they put together all sorts of tours to wonderful places around here, so since we couldn't be home for Christmas, we decided to take a little trip. We did ALOT of things while there, so I think I will make this a 3 part series!

First of all I have to make a comment about the toilets in the airport! For one, they are heated, not too hot, but the perfect temperature, then if you wish, there are quite a few options for you in your short stay in the stall, to include a button for music-y flushing if you need a little extra privacy! Ha ha! John will probably kill me for writing about this, but I am still fascinated!
OK, moving on...we had an early flight, so we wound up arriving at our hotel around noon, giving us the rest of the day as a free day. So off we went to the Imperial Palace (the home of the Emperor).

The subway system there is great. It looks overwhelming when you see a map, but everything is clearly marked (and also in English) so we mastered it in no time! In front of the Palace, there are huge gardens that you can tour.

After we went through the gardens, we stumbled upon the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo and had a quick look!
We hustled back to the hotel to meet the tour leader and one other couple who wanted to go eat sushi. The sushi restaurant that we went to was in Shibuya, a very touristy area that looked a lot like Times Square in New York City! I have never seen so many people in my life!

We had an opportunity to cross arguably the world's largest intersection. Here in Japan, at a large intersection, all of the cars get a red light and the people cross at the same time. At this particular one, it wasn't just crossing four corners, or even diagonal, this was madness. When you walked across the street, there were people coming from you from every way! There is really no way to explain, I can only show you. I took this video from youtube and it best exemplifies the insanity! Check it out: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OGgfT4TG_k0

Now on to the sushi. This place is apparently one of the best so we had to wait a while in line to get in at 5 o'clock! This is what we got. We had no idea these rolls would be so huge! I seriously have never seen anything like it! They were really good!

So after stuffing ourselves silly we still had a little room to get a drink at the world's largest Starbucks! We had to just to say we did! We walked to the second floor of the Starbucks and watched the craziness of the city below. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep for Tokyo Disneyland in the morning...

Garlic Breath

2008-12-22T05:37:00.001-08:00

Ok, I am very sorry it has taken so long to post a blog, but I have simply been lazy about writing them. There have been blog-worthy events, so I guess I better get on the ball!
Last weekend we headed out to a local favorite restaurant with some friends. Now actually, I mean a favorite of the Americans here, you probably won't see many Japanese because we have made it such a touristy spot! It is called Arin Krin, but it is better known as "The Garlic Restaurant". Pretty much everything on the menu has garlic in it. Luckily, I am a fan of garlic, so off we went with our friends Matt and Laura.

I have never seen so many garlic dishes in my life! I didn't even know they existed! From garlic pizza to fried garlic, they had it all (and we were sure to bring some mints for afterwards!) Matt and Laura are long time veterans of this place so they were able to give some good suggestions.

The plates are pretty small, so we each ordered 2 or 3 things and passed them around. Here is just a little bit of the aftermath. I couldn't even get all of the plates in the picture and I didn't feel like embarrassing everyone by standing on the table, so just add a few things to this picture! The garlic bread was amazing, as well as the pizza. We had spicy garlic fries, garlic beef, shrimp, and well, you get the picture.

Here we are in front of the worlds largest painting of a bulb of garlic!

Right down the street is our favorite ice cream place "Big Dip". So we walked off a little of our full bellies and headed down the road to stuff them some more. As you can see, we had a bit of fun with the ice cream cut outs! I have a feeling these pictures might wind up at John's office one day!

On the way back to the parking lot, we saw a sign letting us know we probably shouldn't have parked there. Oh well, it is nearly impossible to find parking anywhere on this teeny tiny island. Now, I have no idea who gets chosen to translate signs over here, but this guy needs to take a few spelling lessons. This is by far the worst one I have seen since we have been here!

So that was our fun little night. Once again, sorry for not posting more, I PROMISE I will try harder! We leave for Tokyo in one day, so I will certainly be posting lots of pictures from our trip!

Out and about

2008-12-06T23:36:00.000-08:00

I am a member of the Marine Officers Spouses Club here on Okinawa and each month there is an event generally involving lunch and going somewhere fun. All of the profits made from each event goes to a local charity. These people are serious about their charities. Last year they gave over one million dollars to local women and childrens charities.
This month we went to the Botanical Gardens and had a few Japanese ladies teach us how to make a traditional Japanese flower arrangement.

Here is a picture of my friend Rebecca and I with the finished product. Not too bad, huh?! I wasn't a huge fan of the pink basket, but what can you do?

I didn't have a chance to walk through the entire garden, but it was pretty big. They had a really nice restaurant there where they have a buffet lunch every weekday. We had a long table set up on the back porch of the restaurant. It looked out over a beautiful green area.

Lunch was, uh, interesting. It was buffet and so you could try everything. Unfortunately I did just that. I had some sort of tofu flavored, jello like, soupy thing; some questionable chicken (well I think it was chicken); the salad was strange, but the rice was good! You can't really go wrong with fried rice, right? Haha, it was certainly a different eating experience!

On the way out I noticed some painted bulls/cows in the bushes and of course a surfing cow. Why not? This is Japan, the land of randomness! All in all it was a nice little outing, especially getting the chance to see something new. They have a huge light display set up for Christmas that is supposed to be spectacular. Hopefully we will have a chance to get out and see it!

The day after Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T04:29:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We went to a friend's house and has the whole she-bang with a few of John's co-workers and their families. Its always hard to be away from family during these times, but at least we are not here forever!
The day after we stuffed ourselves silly was a bit of a lazy day. We slept in and then I got a little shopping in. Of course the shopping here is nothing compared to the "Black Friday" extravaganza in the States. Later that evening, we decided to go on our weekly date and try out a new restaurant. We went to an authentic Okinawan restaurant and it was fabulous! The Japanese eat late here, so it is great going to places a little earlier because you get prime spots! We had our own little room with sliding doors that were shut while we were eating, it was so fun! We had a little sushi, some amazing noodle stir fry, shrimp tempura, tuna and avocado salad and of course some hot tea!

I tried to get a picture of the inside, but it was difficult since the room was so small. Check out my good looking (and quite skinny) husband!

We decided to take a little stroll after dinner. We were in "American Village", a touristy area, so the Christmas lights were up and there was plenty to see! Hopefully you remember seeing this ferris wheel from an earlier blog.

We heard a band playing down the street and decided to check them out. It was a local Japanese brass band performing on the street. They were pretty darn good, so I had to take a video. I couldn't get my camera out in time to record them singing "When the Saints Go Marching In", but I got a little bit of them playing it. I added another video on you tube because it was too big to add on here. The videos are both a little dark, but these guys are great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAE559cpzio

So now that Thanksgiving is over, its time to start thinking about Christmas! My favorite part of getting into the Christmas spirit is putting up the tree! This year the theme was gold, green and ivory, I think it turned out to be one good looking tree!

I would like to take a moment to recognize those mighty Texas teams who tore it up in football today...the Dallas Cowboys and of course the Texas Longhorns, who destroyed A&M! Hook 'em horns! Ok, now back to the rest...

We really miss all of you and are so sad we cannot celebrate the holidays with you this year, but certainly in years to come! This Christmas we decided to fly up to Tokyo and spend a few days there. We will get to stay in downtown Tokyo and go to Tokyo Disney! We are sooooo excited! I am sure many blogs will some from that trip, so stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Marine Corps!

2008-11-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is a little overdue, but better late than never! The official birthday of the Marine Corps is November 10th. This year they celebrated the 233rd year of the Marine Corps existence. The USMC birthday is a pretty big deal and is celebrated by the "Marine Corps Birthday Ball", definitely my favorite event of the year! This year we had the opportunity to attend two of them.

We had one for the squadron that John works in, and then a larger one for all of the officers that are a part of the Air Wing his squadron falls under. Forgive me if I have lost you already; military jargon can be quite confusing. Send me an email if you need further explanations!
So, at the squadron ball, John was a member of the ceremony. He was the highest ranking officer in the ceremony, so he called all of the commands. If you attended our wedding, then I am sure you remember hearing some of them. I have no idea what they actually say, occasionally I can get a word or two out of it! I was hoping I would get some pictures from a girl who had one of those crazy expensive cameras. She took some great pictures, but I don't have any of them to post. The flash on my camera isn't so great, so I'm sorry you cannot see John very well in some of these. He looked really good though!

In this picture, he is the one on the right

Since we are celebrating a birthday, there is a ceremonial cake cutting. I love all of the traditions that come with going to things like this. The first piece is given to the guest speaker. Then one is given to the oldest Marine present, he then passes it to the youngest member present.

After the traditional ceremony, guest speaker and dinner, the dancing begins!

Here is John with his Commanding officer (bottom middle) and a few other crazy officers!

As I said before, the second ball we went to was an all officer's ball, and it was huge as evident by this insanely enormous cake!

Here are a few of the officer's wifves of the group John works in. We know how to have a good time!
There are certainly good points and bad points of living the Marine life, and one of the best parts is being a part of a military community and being able to go to events like this. You are reminded of what our military does for us. I am so proud of my husband. I could care less about what is said about the war, I think we should be respectful of all the men and women who sacrifice so much so that we are able to live in such a wonderful country. These service members make so many sacrifices, like being away from their familes, having modern conveniences, and sometimes making the ultimate sacrifice...their lives, just so we have the ability to vote, have the freedom of speech and so many more luxuries many other countries do not have. Living in Japan has definately made me so thankful for the freedoms we have and the abundance of blessing and opportunities we have as Americans. So I would encourage you to please thank a service member for what they do, just shake their hand, smile and say "Thank you". That is all. Maybe say a prayer for those whom you've never even met who are in a war zone. And by all means, give thanks to God for blessing you with the true pleasure it is to be an American.