Bullfighting, Chinese Stuff and a couple cute kid pics

We got to check off another "thing to do in Okinawa" a few weeks ago. We went to an Okinawan bullfight! First you sit your kids on a real, giant bull for the traditional picture (yes, this was a tad bit scary):

Then pose with the cartoonish mascots:

After some Eisa dancing and taiko drumming that went on way too long, the fighting began. The bulls don't charge a guy in a red cape like in Spain. They have ropes tied through their noses and a trainer controls them this way. They charge and lock horns until one gets too tired and cries mercy. I thought it was very entertaining, but the kids were bored.

I bought some "stuff" lately. You can get Asian antiques at a very good price over here so I've been planning to buy stuff before we go back to the US. Rob gave me these authentic Chinese foot binding shoes for Christmas. The bucket is from around 1900 and was used to measure rice at Chinese markets. The mirror is from Vietnam from reclaimed teak wood.

My favorite happy buy was this beautiful wardrobe from 1920 China. I just love, love , love it!


And just for fun, here's a picture of some Kate cuteness. Doesn't she look so big in this picture? She's 20 months today.

And some of my eldest too...

He can really ham it up for his siblings. We gave them a camera to "entertain" themselves while we were shopping for the wardrobe. He's such a goofball.

Sumo

The senior missionaries at church rented some sumo suits for the singles. Afterwards they invited families to come and participate. We were the only family who showed up so we got to wrestle and laugh to our hearts content. The kids had a blast, but could barely move.

1st week of January 2011

The first week of the New Year started off with a bang. We got together with some great friends and actually stayed up until midnight this year. We could see the fireworks going off at Sunset beach from where we were in Kishaba housing. It wouldn't be New Year's without a New Year's kiss.

My sweet friend Correna went into labor with her 3rd baby on January 6th. This is her second baby while her husband has been deployed. I had the privilege of being with her during her labor and delivery and, man, was she a trooper! I have never been in the delivery room for a baby being born except with my own kids. It was a tender experience and I'm so glad to have been there to share it with her.

Rob was awarded Junior Officer of the Year for 3rd Dental Battalion. He is an amazing dentist and officer and I couldn't' be more proud of all the hard work he puts in. Here he is talking to the other dentists and enlisted (I think) at his clinic. Standing with him are the XO and Master Chief of 3rd Dental.

Speaking of Rob, he turned 33 on January 9th. Rob spent the day in true Rob fashion....serving others. He attended two branches for church meetings and then spoke at a fireside that evening. Here we are catching him for dinner and a song. In true quintessential Rob fashion, he's got his bow tie on.

There is a cave that supposedly houses hundreds of bats that we decided to explore. Thankfully (uh, I mean, unfortunately) there were no bats there the day we explored. We had fun on our little adventure trekking through some mud and water with our little flashlights. Rob went back the next weekend with the boys and our neighbors and they did indeed see some bats.



New Years Day we went to the Chula-U spa with our rockin' friends, the Neals (same folks we hiked Mt Fuji with). We had fun in the hot mineral water pools and skinny dipping in the single sex bathrooms (there are two pools in the women's bathroom that are purely for women skinny dipping---it's a cultural thing, folks!) There are also two pools in the guys bathroom. Afterwards, we did Doctor Fish as evidenced in this video.

The year is off to a great start. It's weird to think we are moving in just four short months back to the States. We sat down and scheduled out things for the rest of our time here. Whale shark diving, a Keramas trip, a whale watching trip, a bike ride around the circumference of Oki and a Battle of Okinawa sites tour are all things on our bucket list before we leave. I think we'll be able to do it! I know the time will fly by.

Christmas 2010-Goodbye Okinawa

Well, it's our last Christmas on Okinawa. It's weird to think actually. I decided I needed to make new stockings for the kids considering the last ones I made were in 2004 at a Super Saturday enrichment activity in my Cleveland Branch (Ben hadn't been born yet, but I made him one anyway. Little did I know that I needed to make ones for the girls too). I like how they turned out especially since I didn't follow a pattern or anything.

The 3rd Dental Battalion Christmas Party. They had tons of crafts and pizza as usual. Here's our pic with Santa. The kids asked for 1. Legos 2. Hot Wheels and 3. Barbies. Next, Mattel donated some toys for military kids. Unbeknownst to us or them, they got 1. Legos 2. Hot Wheels and 3. Barbie. So much for downplaying the Santa thing. They thought it was totally cool that what they had JUST ASKED FOR was then what they opened.

We had the missionaries over for dinner. This was a special treat for us because they used to only be able to go over to the Japanese houses, but they can now do military houses. It was nice to have them in our home, especially since Rob's little brother Josh is on a mission in LA and it made me think of him.

I made 6 batches of cookies (because I participated in a cookie exchange). The kids and Rob were wonderful enough to help me decorate them. This is a fun tradition I have every year with the kids and they LOVE IT!



We hosted our first Christmas party with friends. The theme was an ugly sweater party and the Quackenbush's won hands down with these amazing little numbers that Alicia made. Stellar. If you must know, they are wearing reindeer antlers.



Christmas Eve--new pajamas acting out the nativity with their puppets. I made those for a Super Saturday enrichment once too.

A sweet man in the branch makes the perfect Santa. He asked if he could come around on Christmas Eve and visit a few families. We were lucky enough to be one of them. Imagine to the kids wonderment (5 minutes after we tucked them in) Santa appearing at the door (with bells). They were totally in awe. Ben was brutally honest about his behavior because you can't lie to Santa after all. They were awestruck. After he left and they went back to their rooms we caught Ben looking out his window for Santa's sleigh. We walked into his room just in time to hear him say, "What the heck! Santa's riding in a CAR?"


Christmas morning all lined up ready to run downstairs and check out the loot.

Opening their stockings. This is BEFORE it got chaotic. I think those crossbows were a hit and we got them for a dollar in China.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

Rob at the Japanese Stake Dance. I was just trying to get the band on video, but he steps in in usual Rob fashion.



A few days later I caught this video of Ben dancing. Like father like son, eh?

Speaking of Ben, he just turned six! My baby boy is six. Crazy. We love our loud, energetic, scientific, adorable and quirky little boy. He wanted to go to this place called Crafty Things and paint a ceramic piece. It was a WAY low key party, but he had fun. You can kinda tell in this photo, but the cake was ruined because the icing came off on the cover. Oh well. He didn't care and neither did I. We did a bunch of science experiments and he was a happy camper. I love this guy!

The folks at his party.

A video is worth a thousand words.....

Unless you are my mother or in one of these videos feel free to skip this post. It's video overload! Let's start off with a little karaoke in honor of our good friends, the Wilson's, who have left the island. Thank you for the entertainment, Joy and Scott. Actually, no one is singing in this video and, no, no one is drunk.


Next off we've got Ben playing the part of little Indian boy in the Thanksgiving turkey hunt for his class.



We went up to Oura Wan for Thanksgiving this year again with a bunch of friends. SO MUCH FUN! Here a video of the kids football game (we had a grown up one too).







Here's a long video of me trying sushi. I've tried the stuff before, but it's always been the cooked kind. Apparently that doesn't count. I'm glad I don't have to do that again.




The next three videos are of some island "exploring" that Rob and the three older kids did on the way home from Thanksgiving. I'm not sure of all the technical names of the places he went, but the Toilet Bowl and Elephant Rock are some of them.















Rob's typical commuting garb and a cute pic of Kate. She's obsessed with trying on people's shoes.


Noah won a teacher's award for basically being an all around great student. They presented it in front of all the 1st and 2nd graders (5 classes of each at his school). He's such a great kid.



Anyone who knows Rob knows he's 1)extroverted and 2)likes to dance. Combine the two and you've got some pretty dang hilarious video footage. This is a dance competition they had at his work Christmas party (for 3rd Dental Battalion). Needless to say, he won.


And here he is with his old boss getting jiggy.