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!