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The Toliet Bowl (yes thats really the name)

Cody and I went on an adventure this weekend. After enjoying our neighbor Maddies 4th birthday party on Saturday we found ourselves itching for adventure on Sunday.

The Toliet Bowl, as it's called was the perfect adventure. Not too far of a drive, safe, clean, and fun! Our trek to this perfect tide pool beach started with a cave! Yes Cody went in a cave! He was uncerntain, as was I, but I knew if I kept my cool, he would too.

After the cave we had to climb over a few waist high lava rocks. Sharp jagged rocks. Luckly we were both wearing our trademark orange crocks, and our feet were protected. The cave, and climb were totally worth what we discovered on the other side. TIDEPOOLS perfect for exploring! Full of sea cucumbers, sea urchins, salt water fish (think Finding Nemo), and calm waters to wade in! At one point we watched a snorkler surface from the waters with a HUGE octopus in his catch bag, and a spear in the other. Very cool!

Below: The cave we had to pass through. There was water dripping in it. And bugs everywhere. But there were scuba divers, and snorklers passing through, we weren't totally alone or in THAT scary of a location!

Below: Cody exploring the tide pools. Some were a few inches deep, others a couple feet. Each offered tons of fun sea life to explore.

Below: One of the smaller tide pools. As you can see it's full of sea cucumbers and sea urchins. We did our best not to step on anything during our exploring.

Below: Cody holding a blue star fish! I coud not believe he was willing to pick it up! All in all, we had a fantastic day. Cody was tired by the time we got home (good) and got in some serious exploring during this spring break. We WILL be going back to explore here very soon!

 
 
 
 
 
 

Field Trip- AAFES Bakery and USMC Cook Chill Facility

Finally that time of year for field trips! Cody and I boarded the bus headed to Camp Kinser across town. Now normally I'd prefer avoid a bus full of first graders, but Cody's teacher insisted parents travel on the bus, since each parent was assigned a couple students to be responsible from departure to return.

The AAFES bakery is just that, a bakery. We were surprised to learn that some of our favorite bakery items come from this bakery though. The salsa chips we order from Chili's prepared right here at the bakery, wonder bread, tortillas, cakes and other goodies.

My assigned children. There were actually 4 of them, but the she kept mixing in with other groups.

Fresh salsa chips. I was waiting for one of the kids to swipe one, but they were all on their best behavior, and the chips were left alone.

Just a handful of the products made at the AAFES bakery!

Each child was given a roll of bread at the end of the tour. As you can see Cody is missing some teeth! They are coming out quick, and the tooth fairy is not always able to keep up with the demand. Sometimes she leaves YEN, sometimes dollars.... just depends on whats in her wallet at the time.

Next we went to the Marine Cook Chill Faciity. This is where ready made products for various base clubs and eating facilities. The kids got to tour large freezer containers, that were filled with everything from roast beef, to milk (stored frozen along with other products to be released after an emergency).

In this pic, we are observing workers cleaning, cutting and packaging salad lettuce. There was a lot of handwashing taking place prior to being allowed to enter, after each child washed their hands they were given the paper chefs hat to show they had completed the hand washing process. Parents had to wear them also, I was not too thrilled about that, and looked like a bit silly.

According to our tour guides, this is the biggest dishwasher on the island. It is pretty cool. I can only imagine having something like this in my home would make life a whole lot easier! 

The field trip was fun. I did not enjoy being on the bus. Actualy I really disliked being on the bus. First graders in herds are a handful.

I've got a few more adventures to post on, so keep checking back. Life has been a bit on the hectic side around here, and as our island departure date nears, Cody and I are going to try to squeeze in as much adventure as possible.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Happy 234th Birthday Marines!

Yet another wonderful Marine Corps Ball. Our last one on this island. The ceremony was fantastic, as always. The food decent, and the cake was delicious. Our seating arrangments had us sitting much closer to the action. We've never been so close to the festivities, it was a real treat. We were greeted by some familiar faces. Men and women who showed up for support when Cody was hospitalized. It was touching that they remembered us, and asked how Cody is doing (he is doing great btw).

Now on to the pics. I will say this. There is nothing more entertaining than watching a Marine (or several Marines) in full dress blues doing the "worm" on the dance floor!!!

 
 
 
 

First Grade!

Well today Cody is an official first grader! The playground was pretty chaotic with parents and camera's traditional japanese dances performed by one of the after school student clubs. There were speeches given, and then finally the students were led off to their classrooms. I didn't cry! Cody's kindergarten teacher came to say hello, and wished him a healthy school year. I reminded him about 100 times to wash his hands, and not to touch his face. Hopefully his health issues are going to be a thing of the past, a one time deal and he will have a wonderful healthy school year.

 

 

This last picture sums it up. Too many pictures mom.

 

Home!

Whew! Just shy of a month gone, but it seems like it was much longer. Cody and I are finally back in Okinawa.

From the day we left (July 20th) until yesterday (Aug 17) I flew on 14 airplanes, and spent 11 nights in hotel rooms! We spent time in Santa Clarita, CA at Moms, Nebraska/Iowa picking up and dropping off Brianna, Sacromento, CA waiting for a flight back to Japan, and Hawaii, also waiting on flights. We also landed in Alaska, Arizona, Denver, Chicago, and Washington!

Space Available flights are a nice perk for military families, but require a lot of patience. Traveling without our sponser (that would be Chris) we had very little priority when it came to being manifested on a flight. We spent hours at military passenger terminals waiting and waiting. We did a lot of walking and sitting. Thank goodness for the Nintendo DS, Ipod, and wireless internet!

But now we're home. The dogs were very excited to see us. The house was messy, and many of my plants were sad and clinging to life, but I will save them.

Now time to get ready for a fresh new school year. Cody will be a first grader. He managed not to be sick all summer (even traveling on all those planes, and in all those public places covered in germs). Hopefully that is a good sign that his little immunse system has finally gained some strength.

I will post our vacation pictures soon. There are lots to go through and edit before I can post them.

And back to Japan!

Cody and I spent about 3 weeks in California. We had a great time. It was fun to drive on the "wrong" side of the road again, eating at some of our fav restaurants, and going to Universal Studios!

Tomorrow we had to Travis AFB where I fully expect to be stuck in a hotel on base for several days until we are lucky enough to be manifested on a flight back to Okinawa. This time we are better prepared mentally for the rejection that we will face.

Nobia_n_Alaska!

Ok, well we're getting there! On ou 5th attempt to catch a Space Available flight we were successful. Cody and I set off on an interesting journey headed to Alaska!

 

The plane was a cargo plane, and huge! The seats were like jumpseats in a pick up truck, and very uncomfortable. After reaching cruising altitude we were given the option to spread out on the cold floor. Cody and I opted to just get comfy on our jump seats with pillows and blankets. I am very sore after that flight!

 

 

 

 

After arriving at the first base, we learned of a hop to a base near a major airport. This was good because the flight we arrived on wasn't going to be leaving for 24 hours, and there were not hotel rooms available on base! That plane was a C130, which as many of you know is the plane that Chris is a Crew Chief on. Cody was BEYOND excited. And since there were only a handful of us passengers, all the kids got to visit the cockpit in flight! Very cool.

 

Plenty of leg room on these cargo planes. And unlike commercial liners, once you're in the air, you can pretty much roam the plane. On a icky note. When we questioned our load master about using the potty, he referred us to our memories of our camping days as children. Everyone managed to hold it for that flight!

In the next 12 hours we'll be in California! Very excited.

nobia_still_in_japan

Bummer. We have not had success catching a Space Available flight to date. Apparently it's not an easy task during the summer over here. We'll keep trying though. Even if we have to hop a cargo plane with stops in 2-3 different countries along the way, we will make it to California!

nobiancalifornia?

Very shortly Cody and I will be attempting to take our first military hop. For security purposes, I can't go into military flight detail but if we get on we'll be arriving in the US of A very soon!!!! It'll only be for a month or less, but it'll be a chance for us to see family, do some shopping in a store other than the BX/PX, and a break from tropical island living.

Stay tuned.

The Graduate!

My Cody is no longer a Kindergartener. Today was his very last day of Kindergarten. I cried today as much as I did the first day of school. Maybe it's because of all he's been through, but it was a very emotional day for Cody and I. He's grown so much. He can read, he can write (kind of), he can count to ten in Japanese, and 20 in spanish! He's a computer wizard and excellent line leader. All that after missing nearly 100 days of school (between the hospital, appointments, and getting sick alot since leaving the hospital)! Cody rocks!

Remember this little guy? First day of school, fresh hair cut. Ready to learn.

 

Returning to school after his hospitalization. He was just there to visit, but the children were so excited to see him again!

 

And today. Six months later. Last hair cut: sometime in November. He did it!!!!! On to bigger and better things. Go Cody!!!