2009. A year in review.

Photo queen that I am, I thought it would be fun to go through and snag a few pictures month by months of what this past year has been like. Some of the people are still a huge part of my life while others have drifted away. No matter what the feelings now, these were all great times this year.

I'm going to try and label each month, and in looking at all of my pictures from January, I'd have to say January is the month of Aimee.

Our first trip to Tonneau Bistro of 2009 (Jan 9th) and the best part, or one of the two was when they brought out 4 adult appetizers, and 5 child appetizers. Apparently Aimee didn't look grown up enough for fried fish, pickled plums and what other random thing us 'grown ups' got. The other highlight of this night was the ice cubes, or balls rather. To spare anyone any embarrassment though, I'll keep those pictures to myself.

The next January event is an Aimee event, even though she wasn't there. Andie and I were on one of our many outings and needed a new place to try for lunch. Aimee sent us to a great little hamburger stand right on the beach. I think she was trying to kill us both. ;)

 

The front of the place should have scared us away, unfortunately she gave us directions through the back. The inside was just as random and maybe a little more grimy looking but in a little fairness, we did eat on their outside patio. Other than the fried egg on Andie's cheeseburger, the food was really good.

February was the month of flowers. We went plenty of places and it seemed everywhere we went a flower we would find.



The boys at Okinawa Fruit lands. Fun to go through once if you're up in that neck of the woods but I'd rather spend my time riding through the Pineapple golf carts next door. :) We explored quite a bit of Nago that month. The most fun though was our annual climb up to the top of the Nago castle ruins with the beautiful cherry blossoms blooming all around us. Even with Derrick deployed, friends made February a month to remember.


 March was the month of Green & me of course!

Green wig, shirts & clover shoes oh my! & here are the cakes the boys and I decorated and the flowers from Derrick.

I think I'd dub April the month of highlights. Luke came home from school one day and the next day Brandon came home from a week at Yoron Island to the surprise of Derrick being home for his R&R.

While having Derrick home for R&R was plenty exciting for us, there were other things to get excited about too. The biggest was to witness an amazing Marine (from my original Okinawa Den ;)) get presented the Silver Star for his bravery and heroics while serving in Afghanistan. His story can be found here: http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil/public%20affairs%20Info/Archive%20News%20Pages/2009/090410-silver.html.

Without looking through May's photos, it's hard to think of anything in May that would be better. May was a tough month. It was Derrick's birthday and our 12th wedding anniversary and he was back in Afghanistan. Time on Okinawa was also drawing to an end for my BFF Jill and I wasn't liking that one bit. Let me see if I can redeem May after all. I think I just did. :) Andie's birthday is in May & so is Mother's Day. This year was more of a kids day, but we all had fun. We explored a new park, one that we have frequented several times since & it never gets old.

This slide is too much fun! There was plenty of other fun stuff here but the slide was the main attraction!

We did some historic exploring with schools and as a family, and some island hopping and exploring with Andie & Brian for the last times in May. This island is full of amazing places. Here's a few pics from our day on Ikei Island. 

Brian, Brandon & Luke on their side of the glass bottom boat and Andie & I on the other side.

June, also known as School's out for Summer! For the boys at least. I decided to continue through the summer. School let out and Andie and Brian were on their way back to the States. A sad month for me all around. But it's like they say, true friendship isn't seen with the eyes but felt with the heart. We have some crazy stories to share, plenty of trouble we found and of course drama that followed us. :) I think we both still laugh at that one. We were the 'mean girls' of Okinawa.

Apparently June was really a tough month for me, I only have three photo albums. One with the kids last day of school pictures, one of Derrick on the webcam and one of me in the burka Derrick sent me. I'll spare you the latter two but here is a good one of the boys.

I snapped out of my funk by July and we were back to exploring the island. July was the month of fun! We started it off with the 4th of July in American Village watching fireworks from the Ferris wheel.

We shot over to Bios on the Hill the next day. What a beautiful place to spend a day. Beautiful orchids, amazing landscaping and topiaries and the maybe not so wild wildlife is pretty neat too.

 

A few days later we stumbled across Cape Zanpa. We climbed the lighthouse, found the giant pirate ship and the largest Shisha lion dog on Okinawa. 

 

 

Looking north of Zanpa up the west coast of Okinawa and here is one looking back to the island. Gives a little perspective on how big the shisha really is.

 A few days later we did some beach hopping and made a trip to Ryukyu Mura. Another fun place to see while here, though not as fun for the kids as I would have hoped. It really gives a good look into what life was like for the Okinawan people as much as 200 years ago. I have hundreds of pictures I could post but I feel like July has enough and we still haven't even reached the middle of the month. We made our way up to Hedo Point the most north point of the island, a long trek but a beautiful view. Here is a shot of the point from a look out we found down on the east side of the island.

 A few days at Okuma resort (I'll spare the pictures) and a solar eclipse wrapped up our July. That was another awesome event in itself.

As eventful as July was, there was plenty for me to get excited about in August too. Derrick was supposed to be coming home from Afghanistan and school was about to start back up. August was the wind down month. Lots of time relaxing on the beach and getting things ready for Derrick's return. But then it happened. Due to the upcoming Afghan elections he was extended. :( Just so August isn't the only month with a picture, here's one from the beach just down the street from us.

September came & oh what a relief. The first eight months of this year and the last two of last we spent without Derrick and he was finally coming home. September was the month of excitement!

 

We did tons of things now that we had our dad back but in consideration for you the reader lets scoot on through to October, AKA Vacation time! We took a trip up to Tokyo and spend a few days having fun and exploring Disneyland, Tokyo Sea, Ueno Zoo, Tokyo Tower and a handful of other locations. It was our first taste of good American food in more than 3 years. Who would have thought, Tokyo would satisfy our American cravings.

This one is really special, I thought so at least. Inside the center of what looks like a wing is a small flame. That flame is the Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasake and has been burning since the first bomb was dropped in 1945.

The picture below is as close a shot as I could get of the palace the Emperor of Japan lives in.

Tokyo was such an awesome vacation. Now on to November. Another quieter month and one much needed. We celebrated the Marine Corps 234th Birthday and had a quiet Thanksgiving with good friends. Then began the preparations for all that December had in store for us.

December was our month of farewell. We worked for months getting everything in order for Derrick to head off to school. We worked so much on doing that, that Christmas just sort of snuck up on us. We had Derrick's personal farewell dinner followed by our farewell at his work. Just yesterday we said our family farewells for the next few months and tonight the boys and I are saying farewell to one heck of a year.

 

The world is always at his fingertips. :)

My how they've all grown. I love those boys!

Here is to another amazing year filled with love that abounds, amazing memories and good fortune!

It's begun

He's off! By about the time I wrap up this blog Derrick's flight should be pulling up to the terminal in Tokyo. The first of three flights will be behind him.

For most of you, you know what's been going on the past several months. This blog is for everyone else. I am going to try and condense it all into about ten to fifteen minutes of reading.

We were supposed to leave Okinawa last July but Derrick really wanted to deploy to Afghanistan with/as an embedded training team. When the first opportunity came around (back in 2006) his unit had other plans for him. He was a little bummed initially but that disappointment faded quickly when he found out what he would be doing instead. He was selected to lead a 21 man detachment in support of OEF and a part of JSOTF-P. I think I still remember what all those letters mean but I'll spare you. The bottom line was he was commanding his Marines in a sometimes hostile/combatant environment and assisting local forces to ensure that terrorist regimes in the area could not make progress is taking part of the occupying country for their own state. I will take a leap and say he must have made an impression with someone important in order to land this job, as he was the first Staff Sergeant (e-6) to ever hold this billet. He did well enough at it that they've opened it up for other SSgts to lead since then.

After returning to Okinawa there was a little bit of down time. He was able to take his career course and of course we saw a promotion too. Then his chance for Afghanistan reappeared, but because of dwell time (time he has to be home between deployments) he was passed over again. The third time was a charm for him but we ran into a little snag when they started calculating his expected return date, August/September 2009. He wouldn't be able to deploy AND move back to the states in July so in order to deploy he would have to extend his time here on Okinawa. So he did, and he went. That gave us extra three months here.

We knew when Derrick came home for R&R he would have to take some time and head up to work. It was time to start planning what we were going to do next. Something told us to start the process early in his time home and glad we followed that hunch. Turns out we would need quite a bit of it. We talked with the career planner and Derrick inquired about a job he thought he'd really enjoy. We had talked with his commander already and he was on board with Derrick's decision and eager to help us out in any way he could. Turns out Derrick was in the wrong career field and to high ranking for that job, but the career planner asked if we had ever thought about going on Embassy Duty. Derrick didn't even hesitate before chuckling and telling him "no, my wife would kill me." Thank goodness I was sitting right there. I was quick to clear the air and from there the process, the very long process began.

Tons of paperwork, screening upon screening for everything under the sun and interviews galore and less than two weeks to do it. We managed to get it all done and the waiting game began. And boy did we have to wait. Derrick went back to Afghanistan and still didn't have internet at his location so there was no communication on this matter for months. It wasn't until right before he came home that we found out he, and us of course, had been selected for the program contingent on one thing. His 30 and 60 day post deployment mental health. Okay maybe two things, those assessments and another extension here on Okinawa. Another six months tacked on bringing us to just under 4 years.

Thirty days flew by and he was A-O-K, sixty and still feeling just fine, and around that time the orders came too. Another round of check lists, paperwork and more medical and dental screenings followed by countless trips to admin to update, re-update and update some more then the time finally came. Uniforms are all in order, suits and dress clothes packed and he's off, on his way to Quantico by way of Tokyo & Chicago for 8-10 weeks of school.

There is plenty of mystery surrounding the next two and a half months, and the biggest is where we'll end up next. That's something they hold out on until the end of the school. They invest a lot of time and money into these Marines and want to make sure the Marines have what it takes to give back to the Corps and more specifically to the Embassy they'll guard and the Marines in which they'll lead.

It's all so exciting.

And here we are, our next big adventure courtesy of the United States Marine Corps has begun!

Xmas in Japan.

Before anyone says anything about me using the term Xmas please know that I don't personally use it, never have and have no intentions of making a habit of it. Christ has his place in my Christmas. BUT here in Japan where Christianity is not the majority religion many Japanese (& Okinawans) celebrate their American inspired holiday which many know simply as X-mas.
  
This blog is going to be a lot of other people's words but all to explain why I got so excited this morning. Today is the last day (before Christmas) that our mamasan will be here. While I had already planned to bake her some good old American goodies I wasn't expecting her to bring us anything.

She greeted the boys and I with a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken! Oddly something I hadn't eaten in over 4 years although I pass them everywhere here. What a great gift! The only thing to make it better would be a sweet Okinawan cake. Maybe I'll make one later this week.

For those of you not on Okinawa, you've got to be thinking I'm a little crazy. I mean getting excited over fried chicken. We'll here's the big deal:

(Here is a blog from another blogger here on Okinawa)
Xmas in Japan means Xmas cake and KFC!

Xmas is more or less a Western holiday, but here in Japan, it is celebrated with a twist. Of course, most of the celebrating is commercialism at its best. Japanese stores and businesses put up Xmas decorations all in the hopes it will attract shoppers.

But aside from the "merriment" of Xmas decorations, Xmas in Japan is anything but ordinary. Many Japanese families treat themselves to a special Xmas eve dinner from KFC. That's right. Colonel Sanders has made a killing here in Japan selling pre-packaged Xmas chicken dinners. I'm not really sure where this tradition comes from, some have said that Japanese eat chicken because they want to imitate Westerners who eat turkey with all the trimmings. Or perhaps KFC's popularity has grown due to the fact that Japanese homes do not have large ovens. You simply can't make a roast turkey or a roast chicken in a little toaster oven. KFC has come to the rescue bringing Japanese people pure finger-lickin' deliciousness.

So if you're inclined to eat some fried chicken on Xmas eve, keep in mind lines might be long. You might want to place your order in early.

In addition to the "grease fest" of fried chicken, Japanese also like to partake in Xmas cake. Many Japanese bakeries like Fujiya, even ice cream parlors like Blue Seal sell special Xmas cakes. The cakes are usually sponge cakes decorated with whipped cream, strawberries, and cute little edible Santa Clauses and reindeer.

I think the Japanese have something here, because these cakes are delish! The cakes aren't too sweet and are oh so pretty to look at. If you want to take a look at the Xmas cake Kev and I had last year, take a look here.

Have I mentioned how much I love Xmas in Japan?

 Happy Holidays!

25 days of weird Christmas: Kentucky Fried Japan
http://www.newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/78374.php

Compared to something like the the lap pillow, the Japanese Christmas tradition of eating Kentucky Fried Chicken seems pretty mundane, but for the purposes of this blog series, it's worth a nod. Blame it on savvy overseas marketing strategies by the fast food juggernaut or the mostly non-religious attitudes towards the holiday, but indulging in greasy buckets of KFC has become a commonplace practice on Christmas in Japan. Lines are known to stretch out the door on Christmas day as people wait for their annual treat.



Now do ya see why it's kind of a big deal? :)

Merry Christmas!

I think I've created one of these every year since JibJab started this project. It's always fun to see how silly Derrick, the kids and I can look as we dance around like little elves. This time I thought I'd have a little fun with it and create a Christmas clip with Derrick and the rest of his team. Men, or elves in this instance, I hope you don't mind a little giggle at your expense.
Merry Christmas to everyone!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Taskforce Bayonet - 1st Btn 178th Infantry

Click to Play

Video courtesy of of Specialist Dorcy. Some of the images on this video were at the location Derrick was stationed at while in Afghanistan. These are some of the U.S. Soldiers and A.N.A. that he worked along side.

Time flies in the blink of an eye

This week has been so busy and it's only Tuesday. Oddly still, as much as we managed to get done, we still don't have anything tangible to show for it. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have some noticeable progress.

We're one signature, or rather 3 signatures from one person away from being all set. Then it's just a matter of getting one last uniform cleaned and pressed and Derrick will be ready for his school. Three weeks and he'll be on his way. Crazy how the past few months have just flown by.

Through all the craze of the past few weeks we've had our share of quiet time too. In that time Derrick has been able to reconnect with many friends from his past. All the way back to his first unit. Echo Battery 2/11. Oh how I vividly remember those days...

We were a one car family and on the days I needed it Melanie and I would have to wake up at 4am to drive from the south end (good ole Wire Mountain I) of Pendleton through the soupy thick fog all the way up to Las Pulgas. Another thirty minutes (because the visibility was next to none) back home and 14-16 hours later I'd make the trip back up to get him just about the time I'd want to be tucking Melanie into bed. I guess we've always dealt with crazy long days. Even worse were the middle of the night drop offs for three months of CAX. Ah the fun we had as an Arty family. And then there were those home 18 months gone 6-7 rotations. If you take a minute to do the math, I bet you can figure the time of year Derrick returned from his deployments. Military families who understand deployments know what I mean. ;)
The hours were crazy, we seldom saw each other but man we appreciated everything. The unit cohesion was like something else. I've only seen it like that twice since.
Like Archie & Edith Bunker used to sing, "Those were the days."

Today we were driving home from another fruitful trip to IPAC (the big admin office) and talking about some of the guys Derrick's recently been in touch with and a thought came to me. Call it irony, random coincidence or me just analyzing things too much but here's what I realized.

In late 1999 Derrick was on his second deployment, what was supposed to be a 6 month UDP. He was supposed to come home a few days before Christmas but because the world was coming to an end, ya know Y2K, he was involuntarily extended a month. That was our first Christmas apart and we survived it alright. What I feared most was the new year and any possible hostile situations he might be called to assist in. We all survived Y2K and I think everyone pretty much forgot all about it until I brought it up now. It's always been a bigger deal for me, but because of the unknown and that I wasn't able to spend the turn of the millennium with Derrick.

Here we are a decade later. Holy crap a whole decade! We've got several deployments behind us now and fortunately there isn't one in our near future. Instead we're looking at a school. *AN AWESOME SCHOOL- but still a reason he'll be away again.* He'll be home for Christmas this year but will be leaving shortly after. Another New Years we'll be celebrating apart. Not our first, or even second but 4th.

The irony, coincidence or just me over thinking comes now: The turn of the century/millennium we couldn't be together because I was in the states and he was here in Okinawa and now, ten years later for the following decade we won't be together. This time because he will be in the states and I'll be in Okinawa.

Isn't it funny how life plays out? I bet this thought would have passed me by if Derrick wouldn't have reconnected with some of the E-btry guys from way back when.

Nothing [much] new to report

I have been meaning to send out an update for a while now. Thanksgiving (& my friend Linda's comment on facebook) reminded me I haven't done it yet. So for everyone curious about what's going on over this way, here's the scoop.

We still no nothing. Well not really, but kind of really. :)

We still have no clue where we'll be going next. Derrick has his course in a few weeks and round about the end of that we'll find out where we're off to. As it's looking now, I'm not sure when we'll be making a trip back to the States to visit. It may (a very loose may) be in the early spring after he finishes his course, but it might actually be after we make our move and get settled in.

Everything is still on schedule for Derrick to leave in just about 4 weeks. Except we don't have his flight information squared away. Due to deployment schedules, training, field ops and then of course plain old meetings there seems to always be at least one key player out of the office at any given time. Hopefully next week we'll have all the bells and whistles (and signatures) needed to move forward again.

The kids and I are ready to go where ever we'll go. We've been cleared medically and through dental, or as I said it the other day, dentical. I asked the doc about immunizations like yellow fever and typhoid and he tells me that we (as dependents) really don't have to get any of them (and they don't recommend them either) but if I wanted to get them/give it to the kids they won't protest. So until I hear that we have to have it because we're going to [insert random third world country here] then I am going to skip the unnecessary immunizations.

Derrick has chatted briefly with a few guys who have been through MSG school either as a guard or Det Cmdr but for each it's been a few years. If anyone has some advice - specifically if it's current - D would love to chat with you. He's heard plenty about how long the days are, how busy they keep him and how he'll have little to no free time but beyond that, not much. He'd like to know what keeps him so busy and fills his days so full.

As of now it looks like I will be meeting Derrick in VA for my week of training but the kids will be staying behind in Okinawa. (I have a wonderful neighbor!) Between Derrick's homecoming, our trip to Tokyo and days missed because of Brandon's doc appointments for his broken arm plus the unknown amount of days of school the kids will miss when we move, they can't really afford to miss another week and a half of school to go out to VA with me. That and the military doesn't provide child care nor do they pay for their flights. Being here in Okinawa has sure made this adventure just a little more chaotic, but not enough to detour us.

I think that about sums up what's going on here as far "where to next?" As I learn more I'll let ya'll know.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Hugs and love.