Jed patiently awaiting his freshly spun cotton candy.

Jed's "call sign" is Cricket. I thought we should get a pic of him with his namesake.

Last weekend we took a bus trip to the Okinawa Botanical Gardens that hosts a Christmas lights show. It was pretty entertaining. The evening started with a Japanese buffet dinner, laser light show, then time to wander the park.

Another pair of nurses, Paolo and Rachel. They met and married while here in Okinawa. (Rachel was deployed to Iraq most of the time they were dating). Since Rachel's been back Paolo spends most of his time "deployed" on the Essex with Jed! Apparently Paolo comes around frequently looking for a poker game. (Whatever makes him think to come find Jed???)

Aron and Maria are both nurses that I work with - they hosted one of a handful of Christmas parties over the past couple weeks.

I don't remember what we asked for from Santa but I was pretty sure Santa was asking for us to get off his lap!!

"Mrs. Claus" is amused

Shortly after the guys came home his squadron threw a large Christmas party. Santa waved as he flew in on a helicopter! (I love this picture of our friends, Kara, Matt, and Alani)

Jed and I often go running in the Okinawa Comprehensive Athletic Park near our home (below). There's a stream that runs through it with these HUGE fish. This is after the feeding frenzy of huge gaping mouths and splashing water ended. I wasn't so sure it was the bread crumbs they were after or the small Japanese children that were throwing the bread crumbs. (I guess they figured the crumbs were appetizers.)

Jed came home December 8th!

This was after our winter dress blues uniform inspection.

We pedaled further - certain that there were a few karaoke establishments nearby. We stopped at one that seemed to have a lot of people coming in and out - we were turned away "Members only". We weren't really sure what the story was. A few wanted to see us stay but the bartender was pretty clear.

We were about to throw in the towel when we heard music coming from further down the road. Sure enough we hear "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da". Through a window we could see a live band led by a Japanese man with the highest pompadour I'd ever seen! It was pretty crowded but we found a table near the back. The whole place was decked out in 50's / 60's decor and the TV's were running video of old performances by Nancy Sinatra, Elvis and Motown groups (vintage music videos). This band was SO GOOD!! I was losing my mind I was having so much fun (I LOVE oldies) There wasn't anything they couldn't sing. (Although he gave himself away when he was singing Elvis, "I can't help falling in rove with you".)

Onward we pushed... we found a small Hizakiya with only 3 small tables and 4 bar stools - run by a soft-spoken older Japanese woman. She seemed to be surprised to find 4 loud American women coming through her quiet, tidy establishment. "Konban-wa!" (Good evening) We had a drink each and "talked" a little with our host. She was very curious (and I think entertained) Her English wasn't very good and neither was our Japanese but I think she understood more. "Watashi-wa Kongoshi des" "Ahhh... so desu ka. Chatan-cho?" "Hai" (We are nurses - Oh, I see. In Chatan town? - yes)
She fed us tiny little dishes with a green vegetable wrapped with something cold and squishy - covered in a viniagrette. We all did our best to politely swallow as much as we could tolerate. We made our exit as we bowed, "Arigato Gozaimasu!"

Jed and I don't have many American neighbors. We live farther away from the bases than most. There's an areas of town farther past our house that we've explored a little; a few restaurants, a shoe store - we just didn't really know what was out there. SO Katie and I decided to invite some friends for a Saturday night "Hizakiya" tour by bike. What better way to explore?? Our first stop was this "Italian" restaurant along one of the sea walls. I don't think the Olive Garden would be borrowing any ideas. It was good but was basically Japanese foods with added noodles and tomato sauce.

I've been having some difficulty uploading photos as of late... stay tuned!