Thai in the Sky

Hello all!
Well today was VERY rainy... so we decided to take a road trip to the southern part of the island. John and I had a great day of exploration! We went to one of our favorite spots in the Southern part of Okinawa for a meal that sets your taste buds alive. It is Cafe Caracuma... or as most know it: Thai in the Sky. All of the dishes are made from fresh herbs that are grown right there. It is a unique spot that sits above the Pacific Ocean with a fabulous view. We went one other time but got there after dark so today was quite an experience. Here are a few pictures of our adventure! We are sorry that you couldn't join us.... hope this tantalizes your taste buds! It was SOOOO Yummy!

Maddie Mutt

We figure that Maddie deserves a spot on the blog too. She has been such a great sport. She has been a desert dog in El Centro, a snow dog in Indiana and NOW, now she is a tropical dog in Okinawa and adapting well. It was a bit rocky in the beginning, she was a bit nerved out from the 21+ hours in a kennel and in the air and then being stuck in a kennel away from us for 14 days...but otherwise she has adapted nicely. Of course, she is still spoiled... walks on the sea wall every morning and fattening food... still no people food though. She has been a "nurse mutt" to us when we got sick and still has not figured out why, when she goes out on the balcony that she can't find any grass... then she looks longingly down at the park... and yes.. we take her for yet another walk. Anyway, here are a few picture of the muttkins...

Fun on the Beach

The end of October we went to Okuma. It is a military resort on the Northern end of the island. It was so fun. We hiked to Hiji Falls - test of strength let me tell you. Between the (kid you NOT) 6 inch+ size spiders, steep hike (I am scared of heights) and the Habu snake warnings around every turn... I was pretty sure John was trying to kill me... and he called it FUN! Seriously, so worth the fear when we reached the falls the were very pretty, we even had a bit of fun in our pictures! ;0) We also just putted around and had fun. We hiked all over the area and saw a FABULOUS sunset. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!!!!

It's Been a While!

Hello Everyone!

Wow! Time has really flown by. I had NO idea that it had been almost 2 months since I updated the blog. I PROMISE we will do it regularly now. We are actually getting into the groove. John really likes being back to work on a regular basis and I am volunteering a ton in our Navy Fleet Gift Shop on base. All proceeds go to charity so that is pretty cool. We have done a few things since my last posting so I will update and put some new pictures up. I officially finished my 8 week Extreme Fitness Challenge. I was SO excited to complete it. Our culminating activity was running a 5k for Breast Cancer. I ran it in 26:00 minutes flat... PRETTY exciting! Take care and thinking of all of you!

Shuri Castle Moonlight Festival

Hello!

Life is good here in Okinawa. We had to prepare for a typhoon this weekend but it missed us... luckily! We had our first real "Okinawan Experience" last night when we attended the Shuri Castle Moonlight Festival. It takes place at Shuri Castle which is where the King of Okinawa used to live. It was SO pretty and happens once a year based on the lunar calendar. I have attached a few picture for your viewing pleasure. The moon was full and the dancers were amazing!!!

Slip & Slide

GOOD morning EVERYONE! HAPPY FRIDAY! At least for us it is TGIF... for all of you back home.. you are almost there! Well they say pictures are worth a thousand words and today I was SO thankful there wasn't a camera around! John doesn't have to go into work until later and he and I took Maddie on her morning walk. I need to say first that in our area there aren't sand beaches, it is the cement wall things that you walk down and then into the water. I decided to look for some sea glass because the tide was not quite in yet so I went down in the area that has a little coral beach and when I was coming out, I slipped on the cement wall. I realized I was falling so sort of turned my body (mind you I am fully dressed) and proceeded to slide on my rear down 2 or 3 steps and then slide into the ocean. Yep, hit the wonderful sea floor! John described it as a zpt.. zpt...shoooing... He was laughing hysterically and had the perfect view as he and Maddie lounged on the upper cement steps! Moral of the story: there are reasons, which I now understand ever to clearly, why they say wear the rubber soled ocean shoes when playing around in that area of the East China Sea! I have attached a picture of where I fell... but fortunately for me... there are none of the incident itself. Just imagine me sliding into the water on the right side of the picture and then sinking...Yes, it was truly an typical "Angela Moment!"

Thursday

Hello everyone,

Well this week has flown by. John was off until Wednesday so we have just been playing catch-up. Life is good in sunny Okinawa. I started a pottery class yesterday... PRETTY cool... I am learning to throw things on the wheel... it is a bit harder than it looks... I had to laugh at myself a bit and finally told my teacher to laugh to... he did of course! I came home very messy. I created 5 masterpieces... none of which will be worth a million dollars... probably not even 100 yen but we will love them just the same. My bowl basically looks like a soy sauce dish because I didn't throw it even and my cups look more like mini bowls... oh well. I there is only room to go up! Prodigy I am not! For dinner last night we went to the Pizza House... WHAT a unique experience. As with other things here we are realizing that what things say they are and what they are are TWO very different things. I had 3 tacos for dinner with a "mini pizza" and John had a sort of italian trio thing. Now the pizza is dough, cheese, hard boiled egg slices, a piece of hot dog and I think some red pepper was on there...bit different than Domino's.... Actually wasn't half bad though. More to come and pictures at the local grocery store will follow. Take care and kumbawa (good evening)