Im dreaming of a Tropical island Christmas!!

Did you all have a nice Holiday? We had tons of fun this past week. We attended the Hubs unit Christmas party, complete with karaoke! We had our annual Christmas party here at our house. We had a pretty big turn out of about 50 or so people. I did finger foods and desserts and a few games. The gift exchange was HILARIOUS! I am super bummed I didnt get any pictures of the party but at least we all had fun.

Christmas morning was magical as always. This year was big on electronics for the kids. Santa brought Big Sis a Nintendo DSi. She LOVES it. But we are pretty strict on NOT having one of those video game addicted kids so we have to limit her play time on it. Sophia got the InnoTab which is SO cool. I think I've played it more than she has! Maggie got a squirell tail toy and a big bone. She was thrilled but not satisfied, she spent the entire morning sniffing under the tree for more. Later in the day I made a Turkey dinner for the hubs, girls and me. It was SO good! If hubs could eat Turkey dinner everyday, he totally would. Later in the night we attended another party and ate MORE yummy stuff.

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning!

I totally skipped over my Birthday this year. It was the week before Christmas! My closest friend here in Oki made me a pineapple upside down cake (my favorite)!! Hubs was super awesome and got my a new photosmart printer and Ive used it a million times already. I also got a Kanji painting, an itunes giftcard and a Kitchen Aid Mixer. Thats another post all of its own. Ive been taking of pictures of everything Ive made with it. Including about 200 cookies!!! YUM!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Tinsel Town

We went to Tinsel Town on the Air Force base here this past weekend. It was a free event, so thats always great. They even had REAL snow! Big Sis loved it but lil Sis HATED it!! She bundled up with Dad to keep warm, it was sooo cute! They went on a couple of rides and saw Santa and we called it a night. Here are a few pics. I still need to blog about Thanksgiving!!! We had quite the get together at our house! Stay tuned!

My Hubs

Hubs Ran in the Kinser Half Marathon last weekend. He trained for about 6 weeks. His finish time was 2:09;33. I was super proud of him!!! He is planning his next race soon! Im such a proud wife :) Here are some pics!

Pictures!

Is everyone enjoying Fall?? I am! It's been SO nice here and I know it wont last long so Im enjoying my time outdoors. I could sit on my back porch and stare at the ocean all day long. I have quite a few pics to share from this past week. Enjoy :)

Here are a couple of pics from our last race. We lost. But we still celebrated with a beer :)

We took the kids to Neo Park this past weekend. They had fun but we wont be returning. These animals are in rough shape!!

Here are two of Lil Sis just being goofy! She's really is the sweetest little thing :)

Oh the Ball...

Ah the joys of an upcoming ball. I have to admit, all the ball "talk" annoys me. I dont know why, because I love going to the ball. So Im going to humor myself. I was REALLY crazy and bought my ball gown online this year. I ordered it last week hoping it will come in time. It's pretty risky too. Not risky in a ronchy way. You know...that girl at the ball who's dress is right below her ass cheeks, has on way too much hooker style makeup and heels so high she cant walk in them??? Yeah, not that kind of risky. Risky as in, I BETTER lose this damn weight before the ball because I wont be able to pull it off!! What does your dress look like?? Have you gotten one yet?
Which shouldnt be too hard to do considering this boot camp is a NIGHTMARE! In a good way of course. This morning we were to meet at the beach instead of our usual concrete slab spot. So I was nervous. Last week I suffered from some pretty bad shin splints and left limping all 3 days. So today we were running with sand bags on our shoulders. Doing burpees across the sand and literally sling shotting each other with rubber bands through the sand. It was KILLER. 5 more weeks left, lets see if I live to talk about it.

I was having sort of an off day (not a good weigh in) until I came across this picture from last week. It instantly made me smile. Whats better than sitting on a beach with your gorgeous husband?? AAhhh the simple things.

Welcome Baby!!!

It's almost Friday!!! We are a day ahead of all of you (Thursday 2030 as I type this). I am dying for Friday! Friday means my weigh in at boot camp. Ive followed my healthy eating plan to the T this week and am super proud of myself. It was super tough for me, cause I love food!! But I know I am totally going to get my ass kicked during the workout. Yesterday we did boxing and it was awesome. I am incredibly sore though, which is great. I am SOOO happy I have friends in the boot camp with me. Without them, I dont think I would make it. Also tomorrow night I am going to a gold Canyon Candle Party, woohoo. I am not a Scentsy Fan (Let the comments roll) Sorry guys. It will be my first time really being temped by all kinds of naughty list foods. We'll see how that goes. I am making my BFF's famous truffles and I promise to only eat one!

On another note, I have a Dragon Boat race this Sunday. We have some new team members and they have REALLY helped out team out. I am totally stoked and I know we are going to win this race. Go Ryukyu Crazy Girls!! (Look us up on FB!)

Finally, our friends' baby was born yesterday! We went to the hospital to visit today and their new baby boy (after having 4 girls) is soooooooooo stinkin cute. I love him to death already. He was born in a Japanese hospital so it was really neat to see the dfference from the Naval Hospital on base. Everything is pretty similar, except the security. You can just walk right in and snatch up a baby if you wanted to. Hubs made me leave my giant purse in the car for that reason. ;) I was a teeeeeeeeeeeeenie bit sad though. I feel like we're never going to get a baby :( I am sounding like a Debbie Downer, I know.

Here is a pic of the super little guy in my arms. Welcome to the world little guy!!

Cant Keep Up

I like having a full plate. Ive never been one to sit around and do nothing. But for the past couple of months, my plate seems to be over flowing. You know, like when you load your plate with mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and stuff just starts falling off? Maybe it's just me that does that...ANYWAY!

Things are great here with us. Big Sis is kicking butt in Karate and prancing around in Ballet. She is loving school, making lots of new friends. She rides the bus to school and I think thats her favorite part since she doesnt sit in her carseat on the bus. Lil Sis hangs with me during the day. We start by going to the gym every morning so she gets to play with friends while I work out. I started a Boot Camp program. It's 8 weeks of kick your ass workouts. All outdoors, which is crazy considering its like 90-100 everyday still. Im on week 2 and every part of my body is sore. WHich is good because I already ordered my ball gown, and lets just say it's...red.

We are looking at some huge life decisions coming up in the near future and I hope to be able to share them with you all. Im excited and nervous and anxious and every other emotion about it all!

Anyhoo, I am going to REALLY try to blog more. I know Ive said that a million times. But this time for real! I know a lot of friends and family have been asking about it. I do have a few pics I will leave you with!! I hope you all are doing great!!


80's night for a friends birthday!

Big Sis getting on the bus on her first day!

Trying...

Blogging has just been last on my list lately. I think my biggest priority right now is trying to lose weight (again I know). When we got to Okinawa, I gained a lot of weight and it's driving me CRAZY! I started back at the gym a couple of months ago but I still seem to be gaining. Im trying not to worry about it too much but Its on my mind all the time. Im taking an Extreme Fitness class, Zumba (of course!!!) and Turbo kick every morning. Im also doing Dragon Boat Practice 3 times a week which is a killer upper body workout.

In other news...Big Sis starts Kindergarten so soon. She is so smart and will love it. We are taking her back to school shopping next week, she is THRILLED. Lil Sis will be starting pre school too. Im still on the fence about it. She is our baby so part of me wants to keep her home so we can play all day. But I know how smart she is and I know she will excel in school. I will also have to get a job! HA!

Hubs is doing great. He loves working here in Okinawa and has a great group of guys. Not sure if I ever mention that he got promoted too. Im now the proud wife of a Staff Sgt! (As of May).
He went on a fishing trip Saturday so I took it upon my self to invite a bunch of friends over for some grilled fish. I have to start by saying I love my Japanese friends. But when you invite one of them...it multiplies quickly. Which is fine with me, I love the company! Needless to say, hubs came home to a very full house! We enjoyed lots of grilled food and lots of beer! Here is a picture of my close friend, A, my teammate Megumi and me.

I will TRY to be better with blogging. I just cant seem to find the time lately! I hope you all are well!!!

Some pics!

Here are a few pictures. I have all of my pics on my other computer so Ill have to log into that later!
The kids at Onna Point. We had to off road to get here but it was worth it!

Celebrating after our 2nd place victory at the Dragon Boat Race. My Team rocks!

Just chillin at home!!

Life in the fast lane.

I cant believe its been over a month since Ive blogged! Settling into life in Okinawa has been crazy. It started off a bit rocky but now I am loving life. My husband just went back to work after 2 weeks of long overdue leave. We spent 3 days at a resort way up north. We spent the rest of the time spending time as a family. It was sooooooo nice.

A lot has happened since I last blogged! Little Sis has turned 3!! I cant believe it. She is so smart, beautiful, crazy, stubborn, sweet and a million other things which makes us love her so much. We had a Rapunzel birthday party and it was a blast!!!

I joined a Dragon boat race team. We totally kick ass. Its way harder than I thought but totally worth it. I know way too many people who just waste away their overseas tour and do nothing but bitch about being in Okinawa. Not this girl. I am all about culture. Our team is mixed with American women and Japanese women. They are all great ladies! We had our first race last Sunday. 80 teams raced and we came in 2nd place. Its safe to say we celebrated!! We have another race Next Sunday and its an ocean race. Its going to be tough, but Im confident we will do awesome! Go Ryukyus!!

I have soooooooooooo many pictures to put up but just dont have the extra time at this moment. I will try by best to get some up this week though!!! I hope all of my fellow bloggers are doing well!

New with Us

The picture uploading problem remains. I have no idea what the problem is but Im assuming it has something to do with my brand spankin new computer. Ill have hubs check it out today because I have a crap ton of pics to upload.

We have been having too much fun lately. We have been to at least 5 BBQ's in the past two weeks and hosted a few ourselves.. Which means too much food. I started the ass kicking regimen yesterday. I burned 600 cals in my hour workout so I was happy with that. Until the next round of BBQ's this coming weekend...UGH. I just cant say no to BBQ food!!

The summer is starting off right though. The kids start swim class next week, and it's time for Kindergarten registration. We are going to try and take a July vacation too.

We are happy to announce that we are starting the adoption process. We had our first seminar last Saturday (which I was proud to organize) which was very informative. There is sooooo much information that it's pretty overwhelming. International adoption is a crazy process. Some people wait 2 years for their child and some people get their child in 5 weeks. I knew it was expensive, but when I heard the number out loud I almost threw up. Of course it's totally worth it though. We are pretty sure we are going with Taiwan for our choice country. Did you know kids from Russia will cost you around $50,000? Crazy!

As some of you may know by other Okinawa military wife blogs, we had a Typhoon roll through Okinawa.
I was fully ready since we had been through a Super Typhoon before. I had my emergency kit fully stocked. Which I pulled out about 10:00 PM when the power went out and needed flashlights. Then the pipes burst. It was literally raining in the upstairs bathroom and downstairs laundry room. They had to tear down the concrete wall to fix it. We cleaned up most of the water and went to bed. We were laying in bed for maybe 5 minutes when we heard the LOUDEST crash of glass. We ran around upstairs looking for the damage but found nothing. It was so loud we were sure it was upstairs. But no...it was our dining room sliding glass door. Our fence came out of the ground and flew through the door. It was the BIGGEST mess. There was glass, saltwater, and sand every where. I left with the kids because the storm was so loud in the house. Hubs and Repairman boarded up the house and left the mess for the morning. All in all, there was maybe 2-3 thousand bucks in damage, 3 days with no water and no door. I heard so many "thats why I live on base"...but hey. Living on the beach is still worth it. We get a few powerful storms but the rest of the year, its paradise.

Thats the latest with us. stay tuned for pictures. Hopefully!

Wanna play a gaaaame?

I still cant get my memory card to work in my new computer so I can put up my Mothers Day pics from the caves yet. So let's play the question game instead. It seems it's the new cool thing amongst you lovely military spouses. So go ahead, ask me anything and Ill answer. Probably. Depending on the vulgarity...my parents read this blog peeps. But Im pretty much an open book.

Ive noticed quite a few new followers around my bloggity blog lately so Ill update you with WHO I am. The name is Lindsey, and Im from Massachusetts originally although Ive been to like 6 different elementary schools. Ive been married to my Stud for 7 years and he is a Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps. We have two offspring, (girls 5 and almost 3). We are currently in Okinawa for our SECOND tour. My FAV things to do are snorkel, shop, teach Zumba, cook, exercise and of course, hang with the hubs and kiddos.

Thanks for following me! Now here are some questions for YOU! Just leave your answers as a comment!

1. Whats been your favorite duty station so far and why?

2. Do you have kids? How many?

3. How do you get your daily exercise?

4. Morning person or night owl?

5. Whats your FAVORITE food in the whole world?

6. Do you have any magnets/bumper stickers on your car?

7. If you could give $1,000,000 to a charity or organization, what would it be?

8. In your opinion, what is the best Disney movie ever made?

9. Granny's, T-back, breif, boyshort, bikini, or commando?

10. Who inspires you? Besides me. (bahaha!, I always laugh at my own jokes)

Mil Spouse Friday Fill In

1. What is one of the things you always do special when your husband returns from a deployment?

The usual, make sure the house is really clean and Im lookin sexy. I usually bake a lot of goodies too.

2. What do you do to help your spouse and/or yourself re-adjust after a deployment or long separation?

I try to make things relaxing and comfortable. He doesnt want to come home to a hectic, loud place.

3. Are you a crazy coupon clipper (I’m becoming one, so share your secrets with me)?

I am a crazy coupon lady. The manager at the commissary knows me by name because when I come through she comes out of her office to watch my savings add up. People behind me in line ask for tips and Ive helped several people make "coupon binders" like my own. The binder is the first step to success. Then you need to learn to combine coupons. Thats how I get my stuff for almost free.

4. What’s your most treasured memory of you and your spouse (not counting your wedding – that’s a given)?

We've been married for 7 years, so there are way too many memories to pick just one. The day we eloped, our kids births, reconnecting after months apart. No way I can pick just one.

5. If you could live anywhere overseas, what would you pick and why?

We picked Okinawa but only because hubs duty station list is super short, we just wanted overseas again. But if I could pick ANYWHERE Id pick England, that way I could travel around Europe easily.

Slacking

Ive been slacking big time on my Blog. My apologies! I dont really have an excuse, Im busy with the kids as usual. And I FINALLY got in a co op so I can go to the gym again. (Its been like 2 months) and Ive gained like 10 serious pounds.

I have to say, I tried to post a blog about Mother's Day but blogger was being lame and not letting me put up any pics.

My mind is in other places right now so forgive my lack of blogging. I should be back soon!!

Karma

Last week, the Hubs and I were shopping for a lawn mower. We went to the register where the employee rang in all of our things. She couldnt reach the lawn mower so handed me the scanner and I scanned it myself. We left and I was checking out the receipt when I noticed the lawn mower not on there. it was $104.99. Hubs and I feel super guilty so we head back and pay for it. Even the guy at customer service was shocked that we were honest enough to come back.

But it did take a minute of contemplating. For starters, AAFES is a HUGE scam and I hate supporting them but I needed a mower. I try to buy local or avoid aafes as much as I can. Im not a super religious person, so I didnt feel like I was going to hell. But I do believe in Karma. And I reallllllllllllly didnt want a flat tire or get the flu or something. So I went back.

What would you have done? Is it because of what GOD might think? Or Karma? Or just plain honesty? Or would you leave without paying because its their mistake?

Clear some things up.

I recently have met a lot of new people here in Okinawa. Ive made some great friends out of the clubs and playgroups etc. There seems to be this tiny battle about on base housing vs. off base housing. Maybe not a battle, but Ive heard a tad too much arguing about it so Id like to clear a few things up. Most of the people Ive met are on base (first timers on island so off base is intimidating I think). They tend to tell others, or incoming people, that living off base is a bad idea and that you pretty much go broke doing so.

Untrue.

We actually save money by living off base but thats not the point. Why put a negative imagine in someones mind before even getting here? Why not explore all of your options before deciding? I prefer off base because you get so many more options that fit your needs. Such as, we are a family of 4, we need way more space than a tower (highrise apartment building) can offer. It might be tough to look and it might take some time. But the right house is out there for everyone. I think I can speak pretty well from experience because Ive lived on base in Okinawa, and off base. Our on base house was small, SUPER old, and was in a cul de sac so every single thing you did or said was known by the neighborhood. Not really my style.

And as far as the money, like I said we save money, but thats just us. Ive seen people go broke living off base (but maybe some of us can handle our finances a tad better than others) and Ive seen people save a lot too. At first yes, its tough to start out with. But let me ask you this...if you were moving to a different country with nothing but your household goods (no cars, etc) wouldnt you have a good amount of cash saved up? I sure as hell would! So with that being said, it costs to move in. But its not much different from the states. When you move into a rental place in the states you USUALLY owe first month, last month and security deposit right up front. Its the same here, except the rent is way high. Around 180,000 Yen for an e5, all the way up to 255,000 Yen for an e9. You need first and last month plus the agency fee which is half of your rent. Some people pay all of this money out of pocket and some take the advance from IPAC and pay it back over a years time. So its not much different than the states at all.

I also keep hearing/reading that off base houses are tiny, and dirty and the conditions are overall bad. Ive posted the pics of my house on here so you know what they look like. But my husband is an E6 and we found a 2000 sq ft, with a garage and fenced in backyard. I am 100% sure that doesnt exist on base. Living off base always gives you the freedom to live without the ridiculous rules. For example, I can run with headphones off base!! (I know it sounds lame, but I got yelled at for running on base with headphones! Its against the "law") Also, my grass doesnt have to be below 3 inches tall...no one is going to take a ruler to the my yard. I can have little fires at BBQ's at my house. I can be as loud or as quiet and no one will call the MP's on me. And last but not least and also my favorite...no nosy, catty, evesdropping, talking behind your back military wives are going to say a thing about me after I shut my door!! Yahoo! Dont get me wrong, I have tons of military wife friends. And I know you ALL arent bitches :)

SO, my point is. Dont listen to the jibber jaber from bitter wives who hate Okinawa on Facebook or any other site giving "advice" about this duty station. You have options. Explore them. The grass isnt always greener on base! If you have any grass that is.

Tadake Falls

Last Saturday we headed up to Tadake Falls. We grabbed a bunch of Marines from the barracks and another couple who we are friends with and drove an hour up there. You start out in a small creek and hike through the river (just below waist deep) until you reach the falls, which took about 30 minutes. It was a tough hike! The falls were amazing although a tad chilly. Of course we didnt stop there. I dont know who's idea it was to hike to the top. O.M.G. We were literally climbing straight up a cliff with wet shoes to add to the drama. Then had to repel back down.
If you are in Okinawa and want to try out this waterfalls...I highly recommend it!! Although I would not bring kids under the age of 10 or 11. Wear lightwear sneakers with a good grip on the bottom and dont attempt the hike to the very top unless you are in pretty good shape. I did it with Marines who PT every single day and even they were slipping and out of breath. Check out the pics!!