Peace Memorial Park

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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!