Risa's Pieces

Abnormal Christmas

Yeah, it's been a while....

Christmas... it still feels weird not spending it with my family.  From the start, since moving to Okinawa two years ago in November, trying to spend Christmas with our little family of four just seemed... strangely odd.  Three Christmas later in Okinawa and it's still strange.  Not bad, just different.  Different from the holidays we got to spend with my family that were.... warm.  Not weather warm, but cozy, glowing, happy warm.  Here, we just can't recreate my Mom's orange rolls, my Dad sneaking ham to all the children, talks with my sister, the kids creating games to play, my brother's silly jokes, John's eggnog milkshakes and heated board games around the kitchen table.

Here, Christmas is a little abnormal, but it works for us.  I especially like how neither Marcus or the kids expects me to cook for Christmas.

We started out Christmas Eve by hitting up a Starbucks in Yomitan.
 

It was empty when we got there, so we got to be a little silly.  We pointed to our wishes on the poster.  Mine said I wished I had wings.

Marcus' wish was I wish kids don't remember everything I say.

We zigged-zagged across the island over to Toys R Us where $10 to pick out an early gift turned into a little more...

While waiting on dinner, we had dessert at Baskin Robins...

 

We were actually looking forward to our Christmas Eve dinner from KFC.  We only waited five minutes for our order, huge difference from the hour we spent waiting last year.

I love the delightful little bucket the chicken comes in.  I spent about five minutes trying to think of a way to display or reuse the cute, holiday chicken bucket before Marcus squished it in the trash.

After dinner, the girls sprinkled the magical reindeer food.  Yoshi still dreams of being a flying dog delivering toys to all the good boys and girls with Santa.  He managed to get a hold of a bag of reindeer food, ripping the bag open and spreading the magical mix all over my living room floor.  Same as last year, guess he has his traditions too.

The tree...

 

Christmas day, we opened our presents, played games and then treated ourselves to a delicious dinner at the Four Seasons (same as last year).

Our Christmas... it's a little abnormal, but it works for us right now.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanksgiving Haiku

A Thanksgiving Haiku by Chloe, my Potato Casserole helper...

God's divine Grace and

Nature's beautiful symphony,

Miracles He gave.

Flowers dying down,

Pumpkins ripening up and

We have Thanksgiving.

Thankful for the Earth

Sun, moon, grass, water and wind,

Miracles God gave.

Gold Hall

Usually I'm the "let's go here", "let's do this" person in this family.  I have something wrong with me, a bug that requires me to go, go, go and try to see everything.  There's the days though, that I just don't know what to do or where to take our little family.  That's when I make Marcus in charge, he gets full credit for this find.  By full credit, I mean he picked up the Okinawa Marine paper and read about this place.

It's across the base from Camp Hansen, an area we haven't explored much.  This is what you see when you first arrive at Gold Hall.

 

I did not want to go in there.  It didn't look like the place we were expecting.  Closed down bars lined the streets.  There was no parking near it.  It didn't look open.  I was ready to turn around and head home. Me = chicken.  Marcus, being the brave airman that he is, opened the door and pushed us girls in.

We paid a small fee, then went wandering through the humongous place.  We went up and down floors filled with objects made from there natural form. 

 

 

A grand, wooden chair made for a princess...

This table was long and just so... neat.  I want one for the house but I don't think I could fit it through the door.

 A mini Statue of Liberty and a Shisa dog, the best of both worlds.

We walked through a miniature forrest.

 
 

Watch the masters sculpt perfect little bonsai trees.

 

 We were hot and sweaty but the end of our hiking and decided to cool off with some fancy lemonade and scrumptious tacos.

 

Charming

In an attempt to spruce up our fine government living quarters, we headed to Max Plus.  I couldn't find anything that screamed, "take me home, I'd look perfect (name of location)".  We left empty handed, but not with empty tummies. 

Inside Max Plus, they've always had this little cafe by the entrance, but to be honest, I couldn't tell you what they sold.  Now.  Now they have a sweet treat so of course, that catches my eye.

We thought it was a type of shaved ice.  Instead, it's shaved ice cream with a soft, fluffy texture. 

 

I can read katakana, but I'm extremely slow at it.  Plus, I felt pressure to hurry up and order, so the girls went with a safe bet, plain with chocolate syrup (or what they call milk cocoa).  It's like snow melting on your tongue with a hint of chocolate.  Delicious!

That's It

The last of our Washington vacation photos.  It's a little sad for me, I've enjoyed reliving our vacation through pictures and blogging.  On the other hand, life's been rolling right along here in Okinawa and I have lots, LOTS to share.   

After our escapade to Seattle, we headed to the mountains.

 

Growing up, Marcus spent many a summers staying with his Uncle and Aunt at their cabins in the mountains.  He would spend hours tubing down the Skykomish river with his cousins until the sun disappeared for the day.  Now, we get to take our kids there to go tubing down the river with their cousin.

We had a daily visitor.  Well, as long as we laid the peanuts out.

The kids picked huckleberries.  Enough to make a scrumptious huckleberry and blueberry pie.  Am I the only one who didn't know that huckleberries were real.  I've heard of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, but that's the only time I've ever heard of a huckleberry.

 

It wouldn't be a trip to the cabins without a stop at Zeke's for peanut-butter shakes.

 Fresh blueberries for the huckleberry pie... 

 

Amazing sunsets that made the mountains radiant with it's blazing colors.

 

And a last minute, action packed trip to Great Wolf Lodge.

The kids had there own den to sleep in.

 

The indoor water park, probably a must for Washington, that kept my kids saturated our entire stay there.

 

 

Then a few days later we were back in Okinawa.  Blah.  At least it was blah when we first got back, we're slowly falling in love with the island again.  Slooooowly.