To me, means random photography.
I took a picture of our dinner last night. Well actually, I took the picture yesterday afternoon while it was cooking. Curry chicken. Yumm-O!
Now this next series happened this morning when I went into Turd’s room to waky, waky, eggs and baky him. I normally expect him to be lying there sweetly with his eyes closed and dried boogers adorning his top lip. But this morning I got a surprise:
Notice anything strange? No? How about this angle?
What the H. E. double hockey sticks is that? Did he develop a tumor on his belly overnight?
Nope, he just stuffed Stompy, Puppy, Pig and his football bear down his pajamas.
This is what my son does when I leave the door just a little crunchy. There’s just enough light in his room so he can play. No more crunchy, I guess.
*Crunchy means, “Momma, please leave the door open just a little bit.” We’re not certain where this term came from. We’re hoping it’s some sort of Japanese term. But my guess is that if I were to ask a Japanese friend about it, they will look at me like I’m crazy.
ETA: Paul said that around 9:30 pm last night he heard Turd yelling for Momma. I was apparently passed out in the bed already and didn’t hear him. Paul ran into his bedroom to find out what was wrong with the boy. To his surprise, he saw the same thing except he also had a race car, his handy dandy notebook and a crayon. He would have been fine if the race car wouldn’t have been stuck behind his knee. The conversation that followed was: Daddy, “HOW MUCH MORE CONTRABAND DO YOU HAVE ON YOU?!” Turd, “Contraband, Daddy?”
Right now, I should be commencing with Operation Clean-up/Purge in the house but I feel obligated to post my Cherry Blossom Festival pics. I honestly, didn’t take very many pictures because last week’s post from Nakajin Castle outshined this week’s.
There was a week full of sunshine for the Cherry Blossoms to bloom so there were definitely lots of beautiful pink flowers to capture but I may have gotten carried away by all the neat treats there were at the food booths!
Let me show you my shots of the Blossoms:
One treat in particular, we found very yummy! In all of it’s awesomeness, it’s just a strawberry but a candied strawberry! Who was I to say no to that?!
These babies were lying in a bed of sugar. Yup, that's how I'd like to die...in a bed of sugar covered with a lollipop coating. Maybe not with a stick running through my body and maybe not having someone eat me either. But in any case...
(drool)
I think these were lollipop coated bananas! Yes, I just said bananas!
(agrllllll, drool)
And I believe these were lollipop coated apples! Freakin' APPLES!
(wiping drool from mouth)
Right next to the strawberries was the strawberry mochi. I’m not the biggest fan of mochi but Paul loves it. Mochi (Japanese: 餅) is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki[1]. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is also a prominent snack in Hawaii and Taiwan.(Wikipedia)
We went walking along and we found this:
We played some games. Mostly duck pulling games. Turd is a great duck puller. LOL. Here we are stopped for a rest watching the wee Eisa Dancers and Turd is in awe of them. 
Here Paul is teaching my son the proper way to hold his play gun. Yeah, for some reason lots of prizes were play guns. I’m not a fan of them. But for the day, he got to play with it. He played with it backwards for most of the day, but whatever. He’s 3. I’m not ready for him to learn about guns yet. Maybe I’ll take him deer hunting one year with Grandpa Dave and my brothers and they can show him how to use a gun. But I have years for that.
Oh here’s a great pic of my better half. See all the pretty Cherry Blossoms?
We climbed like a few hundred steps to get here. Paul and Turdy went further up to see what there was to see at the top of Mt. Nago. I went back down to take some time to see if I could get some great pics of the Blossoms. I got a text from Paul saying that there was absolutely NOTHING up there. I’m glad I didn’t go.
I didn’t have one of these because I was sweeted out!
But they sure looked good!
By the time we got back on the bus to go back to base, I was exhausted! It was hotter than we thought it was going to be. We all wore jeans and long-sleeved shirts. We didn’t roast but we were warm enough. I took a nappy on the smooth bus ride back. You’d think Turd would have too but I kept dreaming that he was talking to me saying things like, “Momma, where are we going now? Are we going on a bus ride tomorrow too? Daddy, is Mommy sleeping? Why isn’t she talking to me? Wake up Momma!”
I may not have been dreaming.
Like I said, Paul had a camera the other day too. He’s a much better landscape guy than I am. I think he kinda has the “eye” for it. He definitely sees things differently than I do. I think it’s because his vision is way better than mine. I see people and their personalities. He sees the skies, the mountains and the ocean. He pays much more attention to things like that. Here’s his perspective of our trip:
See what I mean? Great view though, huh?
Here’s his Cherry Blossoms:
This one is my favorite.
Then he took some of Me and the Turd:
A tree trunk:
and a couple from Pizza in the Sky:
This last one, I realize kinda reminds me of Holly from Christmas! Oh Christmas, I love this time of year here! 
Stay tuned for next weekend’s Nago Cherry Blossom Festival!
Next weekend the three of us are taking a little bus trip up to Nago for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Well this weekend we had originally made plans with a friend to go to Pizza in the Sky for some Freakin’ Awesome Pizza but my friend couldn’t come with us so Paul and I decided we still better go for fear of not getting our pizza before the end of March! Wow! Was that just a giant run-on sentence? Who the heck cares? My old high school English teachers are probably not reading this right now but if they are just walk away, man. Walk away. I don’t write properly. I write the way I would be speaking to you at this very moment. Walk away, man. Walk away.
Oh yes, so we decide to check out the area where the Festival is going to be held to see if we can get a sneak peek of the trees and we were so disappointed to see that there were hardly any buds on the trees. I fear it’s because of the weird cold fronts Okinawa has been getting. So I’m praying to the Cherry Blossom Gods to let those babies pop out for the Festival. Otherwise there will be some pretty bummed out Festival goers!
The trees that we did see looked sorta like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I can’t imagine what they would look like if they were fully bloomed! But here’s a little example:
It’s kinda sad, isn’t it? I’m hoping for a nice, warm week full of sunshine so that those little buds will pop open for some glorious pictures next weekend. There’s still hope!
Here we are waiting to be seated at Pizza in the Sky. It’s on top of a hill overlooking Sesoko Island and if you look off to the right, you can just about see Expo Park. 
There were some beautiful flowers to admire while we waited:
Berries:
After lunch, Paul suggested we hit one of the castle ruins we haven’t actually seen. Our plan was to take the rest of the afternoon to check it out but when we arrived there seemed to be a lot of hustle and bustle. Buses everywhere and cars parked everywhere. What the heck was going on? A Cherry Blossom Festival at Nakajin Castle! The blossoms were better here. Yet there was still quite a few trees that had barely any blossoms. Here are some great close-ups of the Cherry Blossoms:
These light pink ones were my favorite because you just don't see as many of these around.
Can you see what's amidst all those blossoms?
Let’s take a closer look:
How about now?
Can’t see it yet? Try now:
There it is! A sweet yellow tweeter among all the pink! Nothing seems so sweet!
Oh, wait…
What about this sweetie eating a sweet Okinawa Donut?
Or how about this:
This one makes my heart melt a little.
Oh, I must not forget to show you this:
Oh the beauty! 
I couldn’t stop myself from snapping tons of pictures of these spectacular globes!
I am obsessed with these! And Look! There’s different colors besides pink!
Do you think it would be weird of me to want these all over my yard? My house? Indoors and out? In my car? Don’t answer that!
How about one more taste of sanity? Who would claim these two?
I guess I will. Who would put up with them besides me?!
But I guess my man will just have to put up with me then. Is that fair?
Hey, there’s more of this day to come! Paul had a camera on this day as well. Wait until you see his take on the blossoms! Until next time crazy folks!
Back in early December, we went to this place called Dreaming Angel. It’s a Christmas Restaurant! What? A Christmas Restaurant? Well, you know there are those few that really take the Christmas holiday to a whole new level. Sorta like my Mom and Dad. You can see their house lit up from miles away during Christmas because they like to go all out on the holiday lights around the outside and inside of the house. But this couple outdoes my parents no doubt! It’s like Christmas threw up all over their property! But they only have everything on display for 6 weeks out of the year.
This is her shed and it is full of Christmas decor!
We had a chance to talk to the husband and he said that this shed was full of decorations from floor to ceiling! They start pulling out the decorations and putting them up approximately a month or so before they open. I believe they open right after Thanksgiving. 
Although I said that Christmas had barfed all over this woman’s house, it was very charming. My mom would have loved it!
Even her beautiful chandeliers got the Christmas makeover.
This is the front entrance to their house. You see, immediately when you walk into their home you feel the Christmas spirit.
Nothing like Mickey and the gang singing Christmas carols!
Did I mention that this place serves food? All homemade by the owner and a little help. It looked like it was all family back there in the kitchen. Such gracious hosts. The food was delicious!
My dinner set included this yummy salad. If you know me, I love a great salad.
Garlic toast to sop up the delicious pasta...
And my Piece de Resistance! Creamy Bacon Pasta sumthin or ruther!
Some great Soba for Paul.
And some fried rice to finish off Paul's dinner.
De-lish! The Turd got to have the best of both worlds that night. He shared with the both of us. Are you kidding? Noodles and my kid go together like peas in a pod!
Sorry I forgot about the Dreaming Angel. If you want to read more about this place, here is an article about it. Unfortunately, this was the last year they said they were going to decorate and run the restaurant. The husband said, that 30 + years of doing it was enough. I agree but I sure am happy that we got to see it before we left the island and before they decided to retire from the public Christmas cheer.
Over the 2 week Christmas Vacation, our plan was to visit with friends and maybe go see things on the island that might be our last chance to see. Well, going to see things got squashed by all the rain we had. As a matter of fact, on this day that we visited the S Family, it was raining and dark and gloomy. Not really a good day to visit Neo Park like we had planned. So instead, I took pictures of their adorable kittens and adorable kids! But I’m just going to show you pics of my kid and their daughter. They’re just too cute not to share!
Miss M wouldn’t look at me but this scrunchy-faced kid did.
I kinda like extreme close-ups of my kid. His cheeks seem to get bigger. Can they BE any bigger?
After Miss M’s Daddy let Turd check out the binoculars, he’s been asking about the really big glasses.
And Turd and Miss M make a really sweet couple. I really like this series:
As long as that’s as far as things go, I’m ok with the Turd having this relationship.
I’ve been slackin’ on posting the Christmas photos. I didn’t take too many. Sadly, because the light in our house is icky. Honestly, that is probably the #1 reason why. Base housing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Yes, it’s great to have a roof over my head and somewhere to lie my head at night but I wish there was bigger windows in this house!
So here we are on Christmas morning opening up gifts that Santa dropped off.
We left cookies for Santa and a cup of milk. Santa got full and left 1 cookie with a bite out of it. He drank all the milk and he wrote Turdy a note thanking him for the cookies and milk and for being on the "nice" list. The Turd was excited!
Checking out the Santa letter.
Candy! How did Santa know that Turd loves candy?
What?! How did Santa know that this kid LOVES Lightening McQueen?
A raincoat. For as much as it rains here in Oki, it's about darn time that he got one of these!
Santa sure does know what this kid wants!
Nice face.
After dinner, we openend up gifts from us. All those gifts are for the chubby-faced little one there. Paul and I couldn't decide what we wanted. So we just got each other gift cards to places like Starbucks or the BX. Not exciting but we didn't need anything.
This came from Grandma Jo and Poppa Dave. He rolled around in this until he would get stopped by a piece of furniture or the wall. We tried telling him that he's supposed to sleep in it not roll around in it.
There were a ton more gifts that he went nutso over. Tractors, cars, a racetrack, cars, a Leap Frog and cars. I think that about sums it up. Poor thing, I think he was deprived of socks, underwear, gum and sticks this year. I might have seen a frown on his face because he didn’t see those things. I’ll have to remember that for next year. Are you kidding me?! He told us that he had the best day ever!
Oh, Grandma Jo! You’ll be happy to know that your grandson loves cranberries too!
Evidence of the cranberries all over his face.
I caught him licking the plate. Not that I’ve ever caught my Mom licking the plate! But that would be hilarious!
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much for pictures from this night. The lights were nice but nothing spectacular! But here is a little tiny collection of the night:
Have you ever seen a black swan? Me neither! Well, at least not until this night.
One of the things that makes Christmas in Okinawa is the numerous light shows for the grand holiday. If not for the light shows, we wouldn’t feel Christmasy! Our first stop was down south past Naha. If you look at a map of Okinawa, there’s a little peninsula on the bottom right-hand corner and there lies the city called Itoman. Itoman is also where you’ll find Thai in the Sky aka Cafe Curcuma aka Freakin’ Yummy Thai Food! Unfortunately, on this night we didn’t plan for Thai in the Sky. We played it smooth and made a quick stop at McDonald’s before hopping on the Expressway. Prior to this visit and my visit to Mickey D’s the day before, I think it was like a year since I had eaten at the Golden Arches. Don’t judge! It’s Christmas Vacation and I’m allowed! But lemme tell ya, the hips don’t lie! I digress.
Skater Boy(aka Turdy, Turd Boy, Boog (I haven’t used Skater Boy in such a long time!), has had quite a fascination with the Christmas lights this year so to indulge him we thought it would be fun to check out each glorious display. He has his favorite houses he likes to pass by on base. That’s really cute to hear him screaming joyfully telling us that he sees Frosting the Snowman or Santa or Reindeer! Yes, that’s Frosting the Snowman. Can’t correct him and really don’t bother with it because it’s funny. 
My favorite part of the night was when we walked beyond the lights and found the flowers!
Who doesn’t love a lily? There was a whole building full of them and the smell! Oh my, it smelled like a really great perfume that I once had. It was simply delicious!
I honestly can’t tell you what the name of these flowers are. I am not a horticulturist. But I do love flowers. I am a girl. Who loves flowers. I never get them.
It would be great if someone could tell me what these are. After all, we paid 100 Yen to get into this building. Shoulda bought some of them. 
I officially love taking pictures of flowers. They stand still.
Hibiscus, oh how I can’t wait to see a butt-ton of you in Hawaii!
I can’t forget to mention that this crazy guy decided it would be fun to do this:
If you look really close, the table that he is standing on is not one but two! Yes, two! Freakin’ crazy!
And look at these cute things. They look like paper mache’.
And what night wouldn’t be complete without a picture of these boys of mine?
I HEART these boys. I wish I could keep the short one short. The tall one, I got him that way. I suppose he can stay that way 
Next up, The Okinawa Zoo Light Festival. Until next time peeps!
OH!
Speaking of peeps…not sure if it’s relevant but some of you may have heard that our assignment to Eglin, AFB in Florida has been cancelled. But not to fret pets! Well, we definitely did some fretting and pouting. Along with our cancelled assignment email we got 5 places to choose from instead. Our list went on as follows: MacDill AFB(Tampa, FL), Schriever (Colorado Springs, CO), Ft. Meade (Maryland), Cannon AFB (New Mexico), and the dreaded Robins AFB (Georgia (Yuck!). We put MacDill as #1 on our list and the rest as you just read. This beautiful Sunday morning, Paul awoke early and headed into work to take care of some emails and reports and blah, blah, blah. He came home just as Turd and I were emerging from our slumber and Paul says that he has something to show me. I’m totally thinking what kind of remote control car he wants this time and wondering if it will take 3 damn months to get here again. Oop, I digress again. And he shows me an email and says, “Honey, I’ve hilighted the area I need you to read.” I read…..I read again…..I scream…..I jump for joy in my pajamas…….and Turd says I wanna play too! We’re going to Tampa, Florida people! Start planning your vacations! Now, what’s the chances this assignment will get taken away from us again? Paul seems pretty confident that since the email came directly from the “detailer”, that we’re good to go. But me, I’m a little skeptical but super happy we’re still going to Florida and even closer to some dear friends! And let me not forget, Disney is like a couple hour’s drive! Hell yeah! Ooop, Heck yeah!
Alright, it’s late. Darn near midnight. I told Paul I was going to bed an hour ago. But blogging is an addiction, an obsession, my chocolate…NO! My chocolate is my chocolate. Who the hell am I kidding? Ooop, Heck! Heck! Heck!
