Where has the time gone....

It has been over 4 months since our last blog entry... there are no excuses, just busy lives.

I have been keeping busy with buy trips for work, traveling home for Lynsey's wedding & visiting with family, and now the holidays.

Nate has been keeping very busy with his new favorite hobby... spearfishing! oh yes and also work. We have been eating a lot of very delicious, fresh fish. We eat mainly parrot fish & grouper. Nate now has a special wet suit that is "underwater camoflauge".  Yes, feel free to get your laughs in.

It is never fun to spend the holidays away from your family, but we are so very lucky to have a wonderful group of friends here in Okinawa to spend Thanksgiving & Christmas with. Only one more year away from home at the holidays! We are already at our half way mark of living in Japan. It is really crazy how fast time flies.

Thanksgiving in Hiroshima with Matt, Jody, Melissa & Greg

Family photo in front of our Christmas tree before Matt & Jody's Ugly Sweater Party!

We will do our best to keep our blog a little more up-to-date in 2010!

It's Been a Year!

It’s Been a Year!

We can’t believe that a year has passed already. Where does the time go?

Nate and I decided we would put together a list of things we love about Okinawa and things we miss about the states… one year in. It is really funny the things you definitely learn to live without and the things you never realized you would miss so much!

Things we LOVE about Okinawa:
Sushi, driving on the left side of the road, SCUBA diving, traveling to other Asian countries, finding Tootsa (our new Okinawan kitty), how polite the Okinawans/Japanese are, beach camping, being surrounded by beautiful water, the plethora of restaurants, our scooter, the sea shells, the ocean view from our apartment

Things we MISS about the United States:
Our family and friends of course!, Papa John’s (don’t laugh), being able to drive home, holidays, real TV and real radio, getting a Netflix delivered in reasonable time, being able to call people at normal hours, winter (just kidding!), Target, stores that we both can buy clothes in (Nate is too big), reasonably priced produce, microbrews (Orion lost it's novelty after a couple months)

We will be back to update this list in a year!

Crazy Kitties

We have a little copycat kitty on our hands. Tootsa likes to do just what big brother Monsy does. We can't leave any drawers open.... as they become comfy beds. The little stink stuck her head out for Nate to take the picture.

More of our little copycat...

Monsy loves laying on newly folded laundry... Toots was trying to get on the new laundry, too!

Tootsa likes to sleep on her back. She is a crazy little kitty!

Eating Bugs in Thailand!

On my most recent Buy Trip to Thailand, I got the chance to sample some of the unique cuisine! We tried bamboo worms, crickets (we are talking large ones), minced pork innerds & parts, and pickled sausage. The bugs were surprisingly not bad! The video is of me trying my first cricket and the picture below is of the worms we tried! Bon Appetite!

She's a wild one...

Nate took these pictures while I was gone... they are so hilarious! We have had Tootsa now for 3 weeks and she is a ball of energy. Her new thing she really likes to do is torment Monsy all the time. She likes to find him when he is sleeping and then pounce him... as shown above. Needless to say, Monsy does not find this too amusing. It sure did make for some funny pictures though.

SCUBA video

We've made an addition to our family!

Tootsa Necko

"Tootsa Cat" was dumped on HWY 58... along with two other siblings. We met Tootsa at a picnic yesterday where her rescuers were trying to find her a new home. We decided it would be a good time to give Monsy a playmate! She is the smallest little kitten ever!

Big brother Monsy is checking her out while she eats some food! They are getting used to eat other, and Monsy has only had to hiss at her a couple time to display his dominance. Haha!

Tootsa with her new Mommy.

Having fun playing with Monsy. She has a lot of energy and is definately keeping Mons busy.

Our latest family picture :)

Made me think of Phil...

We were on our way camping this past Saturday and I saw these guys on the side of the road. I am pretty sure they are Japanese surveyors, and they made me think of Phil!

I bet Phil wishes he wore cool unis like these.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter '09 from Okinawa!

Birthday Weekend on Tokashiki Island

This weekend Nate and I hopped on the ferry in Naha and took the 1 hr & 10 minute ride out Tokashiki Island in the Keramas. We loaded up the Pajero and also ferried her out there too! In the picture above she is waiting to be driven on the boat!

This was taken on some of the rocks that were close to our campsite the first night. The weather was beautiful for the first day or so... and then turned a bit rainy. We camped out the first night and then found a small bed and breakfast type of hotel in the village of Aharen. We stayed at Hotel Sunflower. The staff was so friendly and very accomodating! It is also in a great location. I definately recommed that hotel for any fellow Oki dwellers that are headed to the Keramas for a getaway.

This was the sunset the first night! So beautiful! All of the small islands around made for some amazing views & pictures.

This picture is taken from the road looking down into Aharen.

This was before our first official dive outside of our class!!! It is also about 10 minutes before we saw our first sea turtle! We dove at Tokashiku Beach. The weather wasn't the greatest and the water was a bit cold... nothing that 5mm & 8mm of wetsuit couldn't handle though! We were lucky enough to have good visibility.

It was such a fun weekend and a great way to celebrate my 26th birthday!

SCUBA Certified!

Nate and I finally got our SCUBA certification. We are PADI Certified Open Water Divers! Very exciting stuff. The pictures above are from a guy in our class who took pictures while we were getting certified. There is a lion fish, an octopus and some cool coral.

We went on our first dive trip to the Keramas (islands off of Okinawa) this past weekend. We saw a ton of cool things... an eagle ray, three sea turtles, lots of sea anemones & clown fish, blow fish, sea cucumbers, trigger fish... you get the idea. We are looking for an underwater housing for our camera, so we hope to have some really cool pics to post soon!

It's been a while!

It is amazing how fast time flies. It is time to get back in the swing of blogging! Nate and I started off '09 with a trip home to Indiana. It was so wonderful to spend time with our friends and family. After our whirlwind trip back to Jasper, Nate and I split ways for about two weeks. He headed to San Diego for Continuing Education classes and I came back to Okinawa to get ready for my first Buy Trip to Thailand. After 10 very busy days in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, it was so nice to get back home with Nate and Monsy. Nate had a good time in San Diego and Thailand was amazing! I can't wait to back with Nate on a trip!

As most of our family and friends know.... Nate is going to be leaving this summer on a humanitarian mission called the "Pacific Partnership". He will be gone from mid to late May until early to mid September.

This is a link to an article about the 2009 mission:

http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=43115

Monsy and I are not the happiest of campers to have Nate gone... but we know it is going to be an amazing experience for him and we will keep busy here in Okinawa! I have started my new position at work and will be gone on 3 Buy Trips while Nate is out to sea this summer. I will be heading back to the Philippines in early June, back to Thailand in mid-late June, and China in August.

This picture was taken during the Cherry Blossom Festival on Okinawa right before our trip home. We took our trusty scooter on the hour drive up North to check out the amazing sites.