Geocaching!!

I guess the excitement of looking for buried or hidden treasure doesn't end in your pre-teen years, we still enjoy the search for treasure though on a more sofisticated level, of course! Who ever thought that spending the day looking for a clear plastic rubbermaid box containing pen, notepad and stamp would be exciting?! My sister got us into letterboxing when we were neighbors in Washington state; this became one of our hobbies and family activities. We've decided to start exploring our opportunities here in Okinawa, and have found that there are "tons" (per my sis) of hidden treasures! Maybe this will be our "Treasure Island"? There aren't any letterboxes hidden here, so far as we can see online, but there are "tons" of geocaching maps and trails! See, we've moved on to a more sofisticated level of searching for hidden treasure, it's called Geocaching! So with iphone in hand (our built-in compass app), bug repellant, water, and good shoes, we're off geocaching.

Our first venture at geocaching took us to someone's apartment complex, we weren't sure where to go from there, aside from waking all the neighbors on the block! So we canned this quest and searched for another geocaching adventure on our handy dandy iphone! This was a successful hunt which led us down a footbeaten path into a little forest area. Our friend found the geocache container right when we were about to give up the search. It's always rewarding to find something at the end of your hike, even if it is just a big plastic container full of other plastic containers, kiddy trinkets, a wet logbook and ants! We took along a travel bug and are looking for another geocaching adventure where we can hide it. We looked up the travel bug (a plastic squid toy with a geotag attached) online and found that it originated in Oregon and had made it to Hawaii, mainland Japan twice, and now here in Okinawa! We'll keep you posted on our adventures, I'll try!

"Abstain from all appearances of evil"

What's that verse "Abstain from all appearances of evil"? Hmmm! We had to take a picture of this, kids are so innocent and most of the time don't even know what they are doing! Thankfully they have parents to steer them in the right way, or take pictures of them while they are still learning!!! We were at our church's Labor Day picnic and the boys of the church were chasing each other around with water guns having a grand time. They grabbed up the used water bottles from the picnic and filled them with water, aka, "ammo" for their water war. They had to find some way to tote their ammo around, so they happened on someone else's corona beer totes and boxes and were using these! Oh the innocence of kids!!!!

We spent our Labor Day at Kinney Park on Kadena Airforce Base with the church, the boys had fun with the water guns and water wars. We are so blessed to be in a church with mostly boys! Daniel and Cameron really look forward to seeing their friends every week.

"Cha-Ching" or "Scooter"

Can you believe it? I am back the next day writing again! Well, I have a better story this time. Last Wednesday, a week ago today, Cameron told me that he'd seen a "kitty" earlier that day at school (same place as church). Upon arriving to Wednesday night service, Cameron pulled me over to the place where he'd seen this kitten. The little dirty white kitty lay right where he'd seen him earlier. He barely lifted his head in response to the crowd gathering around him. He'd been laying there in the hot sun (high 90's and 100% humidity) all day without water or food. This started the whole story.....I am tempted to name him "Cha-Ching" because that's what's going on!!! However, I think we will call him "Scooter," for that's what he does. Apparently, he was hit by a car which resulted in his broken left leg. One of the mothers at the school had seen a car come to a halt in the middle of the road and a bunch of locals got out of the car and quickly whisked the kitten out of the road and layed him on the side of the church/school, in the hot sun, I might add! I scooped him up not knowing his current predictment and put him in a box out of the sun til after church. When we were finished with services, I found that he had managed to get out of the box, he'd looked so weak earlier. He didn't venture far and that's when we realized he was dragging his back legs, hence the name, "Scooter". Although we are strictly forbidden to have pets at our apartment.....I couldn't leave him there to die. He was severely dehydrated, dragging his back legs, and was dirty with goopy eyes. No one else volunteered, so......What was I supposed to do? We actually tried to leave him at the local vet with the information that we couldn't keep him and that he was a stray. That didn't work, so we reluctantly (excitedly) took him home. He ate some spam that I offered him, but refused to drink any liquid, so we forced some water down with a syringe. I half expected to find that he had passed in the night, but the opposite is true. He was a little more alert and gave a little weak "Meow". He was slowly stealing my heart!! We babied him all day and finally gave in and took him to the vet on Friday, for he was recovering from the heat and dehydration and needed some surgical intervention. The veternarian was put in a tight spot regarding treatment, after looking at the xrays. Thankfully, his left leg was the only thing broken, however, he dragged his right leg as if it didn't exist. We told the vet we couldn't keep him and therefore didn't really want to dump a lot of money into this kitty, but we couldn't bear to see him go on like this. He'd die out on the street, he could barely get himself to the plate of food we held out to him. The vet (a Christian!) agreed to do surgery and gave us 50% off the surgery/animal hospital fees! We picked up our "baby" yesterday and he was all clean and white with a shaved left leg. He earned himself two pins in to his left leg, but his right leg is still just dragging behind. We are worried that he will not find a home due to this deformity. The vet thinks this will heal with some time as there weren't any obvious injuries to the spine, vertebrae, or right leg. In this case, we're not sure if he was crippled prior to the accident, which then allowed for him to be hit, or if the accident injured some nerves....only time will tell and heal! $200 later, he's in our possession to be nursed back to health, we'd love to keep him, he's like a new toy in our house! He's very loveable and playful, you'd never know he had any problems, til he decided to sit up or walk. I think I will be doing some kitty physical therapy!!! I think I will have to rig up a splint for the limp right leg once his left surgical leg has healed. He's our baby and we love him already, if we can't find a home for him......... well, what are we supposed to do? KEEP IT A SECRET AND KEEP HIM!

Back To School!

Well hello everyone! I thought this would be an easy thing to keep up with, but apparently not! We got all settled into our apartment and now it feels like a home, not a sterile hospital ward or something! The boys are glad to be in school as they were getting quite bored. I am so thankful for the start of this new school, our church-school, Foundations Baptist School, it has already been a huge blessing to us! They start the second week of this school year and so far, the boys are loving it. My boys happen to be two out of four students in the whole school! No wonder they love it, they have the teacher's undivided attention! It's practically homeschool! The other two children that make up the school are two boys, 12 and 5, that live two floors above us in our tower! The blessing in this, is that the two boys are close to Daniel and Cameron's ages and they're already friends from church! Daniel and Cameron were begging to go upstairs to play with Mitchell and Sam, but I had to remind them that they would be seeing them everyday at school! It didn't matter, they're playing together on most days and at school! Daniel even spent the night last night with Mitchell! I am so thankful they have kids to play with! They are thrilled! The Martin boys' mom is my age and we have a lot in common, our husbands also get along and have similar interests; so we're all pleased! Life is good ~! The Lord gets the credit though!

These guys are all over the beach in all kinds of shells and various sizes. We even found one that had just vacated his shell, his bottom was like the end of a shelled shrimp. The one hermit crab pictured below opted for a round rubber cap of some sort! They are actually kinda cute! When you're walking along the beach in the late afternoon/evening, you will see out of the corner of your eye, a shell abruptly stop. It was a hermit crab taking cover. If you sit still on the rocky shoreline, you can hear the "click, snap, click" of the hermit crabs moving along the beached rocks. Stare long enough and the rocks of the sandy beach will come alive, and all of a sudden there's this city of hermit crabs at your feet. I really like them, but I like them at the beach, not at the house! We found one making its way into the boys room last night, of course he didn't make his way to the house from the beach, he had the help of a little boy! It is also important to thoroughly check the shells we bring home that they're not already homes for someone else! We did purposely bring some home for our new salt water fish tank. We're putting a tank together of what we catch at the ocean, it's more personal that way! There aren't any laws for fishing here, so we can take a net and bring home tropical fish right from the ocean! And when the fish get too big for the tank, we can "trade them in" for a smaller size, right back to the ocean it goes! Last night we brought home some coral rock and ocean water, straight from the beach, so this will be just like home for the fish we catch in our nets today!
This little guy with the rubber rear wouldn't stay put for a centered shot, so this is what you get!

We thoroughly enjoyed the beach at Okuma. We hiked down a nature trail to the beach and found our own little area of the beach. Daniel snorkeled some more as the sun was dropping below the horizon. I could get used to living in Okuma!!! The heat is bearable when you're at the beach right next to the sea breeze and waves falling in and out with the tides.

Daniel's head in the water, busy snorkeling. He made sure he got his $$$ worth!

We found the race traxx at Okuma. It was short and fun for the guys though. Cameron chickened out, so the guys raced instead.

Daniel! Beware of blind drivers!!!

My happy little snorkeler! This one's for Nana!

Jason describes the fish he saw under the water! We saw puffer fish, three types of clown fish, various tangs, angelfish. Daniel wasn't too sure about how the breathing thing went with the snorkel tube, but he quickly got over the apprehension when he discovered all the fish underwater! He snorkeled the most out of all of us, he was enamored with it.

Cameron was trying to get the hang of it. Once he got over the fear of having his face in the water and the gear on, he wanted to "snorkel" all day. He wasn't seeing any fish in that cloudy 2ft of water, but he was having a time. Cameron was busy singing through his tube, I think he enjoyed hearing himself! That was his bout of snorkeling!

Our little kayaking adventure in Okuma!

We kayaked and snorkeled all day long. We found some really cool looking shells on the beach and lots of hermit crabs. I love the hermit crabs, they're actually kinda cute! The water here is sooooo clear, you can see clear to the bottom in 10ft of water!

We rented some kayaks and paddled our way to our own part of the beach. It was so relaxing and I couldn't believe how clear the water was as deep as it was!

Daniel is all geared up for the kayak trip, he did a great job and loves the water.

Still can't believe we live here! I can't get over the beautiful scenery here. I still love the mountains and beaches of Washington, and the weather is way better in Washington.

We are enjoying island living, with white sandy beaches and crystal clear turquoise water everywhere. We love to comb the beaches and rocky shores for interesting shells and critters and while we're at it, we'll take a dip to cool off. It's cheap and a great source of family fun. We are working on building up our own "tank gang" straight from the ocean. When the tide is out, you can clearly see all kinds of tropical fish that have stayed behind in the covert of the rocks.

The net separates the swimming area from the main ocean waters where box jellyfish roam freely. There is sufficient warning concerning these pesky critters, they are actually quite deadly.

We have lots of room for swimming and snorkeling. I can't get over how beautiful the beaches are here. It's like we're living in the pictures that you see of Hawaii or the Bahamas! This is going to be a great adventure for all of us. Cameron is my little fish, he loves the water! And Daniel has now become a lover for snorkeling! He'd stay in the water all day if I let him.

This is actually just a few miles from the base, sort of a "private
beach" for military, though civilians wander on occasionally.

Here is another "shisa" on the roof of a shopping center, this one looking more comical.

This was taken from the passenger window of our car, sorry, it would be a nicer shot otherwise. We were on our way to Okuma, a nice beach resort for the military. We spent four days there in a cabin and did lots of cool stuff which by now you have already seen what we did!

Not sure what this sign was actually for, I didn't see a park or building within the vicinity. It is interesting to see just how Americans are viewed by the Okinawans. Almost all the shops in "American Village" are playing Hip-Hop Music and cater to the Afro-American style in clothing and music. I'm sure I will find out more about how we Americans are viewed as the time goes by here in Okinawa.

We visited one of many castle ruin sites here in Okinawa, these date back to the 14th century when kings ruled parts of the island. This is one of the views atop the castle wall.

Cameron enters the second level courtyard of the castle. This would be a beautiful spot for a wedding.

This is the first level of the castle ruins, opening into the first courtyard.

A map of the grounds. It was a very hot day, I believe it was near 120! We used a lot of Japanese vending machines that day! Aquarius, that's the name of the Japanese version of Gatorade.

Aaahhh yes, icecream on a super hot day! Daniel went for chocolate mint, Cameron for pineapple, me for mango, and Jason for "potato" icecream! It actually tasted and looked like blueberry icecream! I wonder if they have their fruit and veggies mixed up!

This is a view of one of the cliffs out by the lighthouse, pictures just don't do it justice! I can't get over the clear water and the beauty of this place. If the heat and humidity were just a little tamer, I might call it home! But. . . . Washington is still "home" for more than this reason! You see, I am still at that stage of, "Well this isn't like home, my place back home was way better, cause. . . . ." Don't get me wrong, this is soooooooo beautiful, but not all beautiful places are reasons to call it home!

Here is the coral that makes up the rocky cliffs. It looks a lot like lava rock but is much harder and less forgiving if you fall down! It is another wonder and beauty though! We're so privileged to have come here. (yeah, that's what I keep having to say over and over again, maybe it'll sink in)

See how clear the water? I am told that this island has the best places in the world to snorkel and scuba dive. Not sure that I want to scuba dive, I'd rather sky dive or hang glide. I think it's a fear factor kinda thing!

This is more coral. Because of it's plentifulness here, the Japanese or Okinawans use their readily available resources. One of the many uses of coral is for sidewalks and paving the streets. Though the streets resemble those of any other asphalt street in America, they are very slippery and dangerous to drive on in the rain (which NEVER happens here!). It's like driving on ice in Washington! Walking on the sidewalks and roadsides are very slippery in the rain as well, so everyone walks slow and drives slow. That's something I'll have to get used to!!! Those are the two main things I don't do slow!!