Risa's Pieces

October Birthdays

So much for my whole week of blogging idea.  The weekend rolls around and I get caught up running around with the family, they have a way of side tracking me.  Then comes Monday, Marcus and the girls are back to doing their thing and I'm left with all the chores and whatnots that didn't get done during the weekend.

October is full of birthdays for my family; my sister, brother, sister-in-law and my Dad.  This past Monday marked another year older for my smart, wise, handsome Dad.  I LOVE YOU DAD!

 

A picture of my Dad taken while we were hanging out at Mom & Dad's house a little before heading to Okinawa, Chloe, Matthew and Caitlin splashing in the pool and Dad making sure everyone is well fed with his delicious grilling.  I miss the yummy chicken wings!

Starting to feel oh-so homesick looking at this picture and thinking about family.  Really, shouldn't the homesick part start going away, we've almost been here a year now.  Geez!

Spaghetti Dinner with a Y

It's amazing to me that this song still seems to be a hit, it's still a party favorite.  We went to a spaghetti dinner and karaoke event at our school tonight, had a great time chit-chatting with a fabulous family. Amazingly enough, it seemed like every kid knew the YMCA song.  Caitlin started getting down to it, here she is making a Y.  Where she learned from I'm not sure, is it something your just born with because I didn't show her those moves?  Must have been her Daddy.

 

Yep, it was taken with my purse camera. 

Lucky Rope?

You know how I mentioned in my last blog post about getting a piece of the tug-of-war for good luck.  Well, there might be something to it.  At the little Oktoberfest Brunch we went to this past Sunday, we entered our name into an overnight giveaway at the YYY resort.  Then I heard from a few people that they heard Marcus' name on radio and that he won something.  I started getting excited but we were a little skeptical because nobody had called us.  Until today.  We did win! 

It's an overnight stay for two adults and two kids.  I'm not sure of all the details, like what kind of room, what's included, are there only certain days we can go, but we'll find out soon when Marcus goes to pick up the information.  I'm so excited!  Marcus and I were just talking yesterday about how we wanted a break from our island. This is perfect timing.  Yes, it's only for one night (I think) and it's only a hop and skip on a ferry boat to IE island, but we so need the change.

Naha Tug-of-War and a Little Polka

Sometimes I'm extremely shy about where I'll lug my big fancy camera to.  I get that awkward feeling and talk myself into not taking my camera with me to places, and then end up with blurry, off colored pictures like this one taken with my little purse camera....

 

This festive polka band was at the Oktoberfest Brunch we went to Sunday at the Butler Club.  We weren't able to quench our yearning for tasty German food (guess we'll have to go back to Germany to satisfy our taste-buds), but the band was a hoot.

After brunch we headed to Naha for the huge tug-of-war event, not knowing where we were going but somehow managing to end up at the perfect place.  Right smack in the middle.

 

The tug-of-war is an annual event in Naha between the fourteen Naha districts (seven on each side).  Whoever wins (North or South) will be lucky in fishing for the year.  Or at least that was what we were told. 

We got to the rope intersection at around 2:30, they blocked the street off at 3pm.  Some speeches were made, karate demonstrations demonstrated and Taiko drummers drummed.  At four something the big ball popped open and the tugging started.

The rope is in two separate pieces and before they can tug, they have to tie the rope in a knot.  Once they allowed people to go to the rope, we were able to get up close to the rope.  Big mistake.  I was with Chloe when all the sudden people started shoving and ramming us, our toes were being stepped on and elbows were smashing into Chloe's head.  I lost a shoe.  Found it in between shoves and I slipped it back on. Somehow, we had managed to get in between the 18 ton rope and the little side ropes. The big rope had to be pulled to meet in the middle and we were stuck and getting mushed in between the people pulling the side ropes and the big rope.  I managed to lock eyes with Marcus who had Caitlin on his shoulders, he was trying to get through the people to get to us but he kept getting pushed back.  Folks, I was terrified.  I was so afraid that Chloe was going to get mulled over. Another nice American guy tried to protect us until he got pushed and pulled away too.  Eventually the ropes came together and me, Chloe and other scared folks got out of the in between in one piece.  Unreal.  After the scare came out of me, I got really upset and was ready to leave.  Five seconds later after I backed away from the rope I was okay again.  Really, I should have known better, of course they would have to pull the rope together first.  Marcus and I both saw extra rope slack and thought they just unfolded that to bring it together, but apparently it wasn't enough slack to tie the knot with.  We thought the rope would be pulled in the opposite direction, so it was really freaky when it started coming toward us.  Why do I always have to learn the hard way?

After the North side of Naha won the tug-of-war, the top layer of the rope is cut up and you keep it for good luck (obviously we need all the luck we can get).

 

On the walk back to the car we stopped by the Fukushuen Gardens to feed the fishes.  Me and the big fancy camera captured this picture that I adore.

Catching Up

I know.  I've been really bad about blogging lately.  So, I've decided I'll be good.  I'm going to blog a little something everyday this week to make up for my not-blogging.  There, I've committed, so I have to do it.

I'll share some random happenings from our last week or so.

One of Caitlin's teeth decided to vacate it's home for the last seven years, last Sunday while she was munching on her tuna Subway sandwich. It's such an itty-bitty tooth, one that we thought would never move out.  The whole week before it fell out, it was doing tricks in her mouth like laying down flat making it look like it disappeared and twisting around.  Here's Catie-loo's new smile and her goofiest face seconds after it fell out thanks to my handy-dandy purse camera.

 

Chloe will now be referred to as Senator Chloe Amick.  She was elected as a senator for her 5th grade class, but I have no pictures to share.  She's a little too cool being in fifth grade and all for me to follow her around with the camera so I'll try to paint you a picture.  She wore her sophisticated llight blue button down shirt paired with her shimmery khaki tan metallic skirt and a little brown barrette to keep the hair out of her pretty face while she presented her speech to the class.  She's got amazing confidence, I'm sure her chin was up and her facial expression flipped between being serious and a beaming smile.  She worked hard composing her speech, making sure she was truthful and had some of her personality in it.  The girl is fabulous.

Marcus has been working a few swing shifts here and there.  On those days I drag him to school with me and we do some volunteering where needed.  Then we've been sneaking off for dates, trying out some new lunch spots.  We've picnicked on the sea wall while gobbling down gyros and tried out Mike's Tex Mex, we loved their guacamole and chips.

 

Chloe's sweet, dear friend will be PCSing soon.  Chloe's made other friends, but Kylen was the first friend Chloe made when we moved to the island and is the one she connects with the most. I hate to see her and her fabulous family leave.  The girls had a sleepover Friday night at our house with Kylen and her sister. They accompanied us to watch Chloe's soccer game then joined us for a picnic at our favorite park.  After dropping them off, we headed to the Schilling for our first shot at Family Bingo.  So, so much fun, I can't wait till next month so we can do it again.  It was easy enough for the girls to do and we were all able to enjoy it.  We didn't win, we're not that lucky, but it was fun getting excited about maybe winning and marking the numbers off our cards.

 

Things have been wildly crazy here, but a good crazy.  I'm already looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend.