Illustrated by God

The clouds tonight were incredible. The rich blues, purples, and oranges reminded me of some of the colorful illustrations in my children's book collection.

Just beautiful!

Ahhhh.....More Staycation Fun

The staycation has proved to be a wonderful way to vacation. We celebrated the end of it tonight with beer and pizza. We've swore off fast food for the next 6 weeks, so it was extremely tasty in light of knowing it was our last (for a little while).

I don't know why we haven't visited there before, but we went to Tropical Beach yesterday, which is about 5 - 10 minutes from our house. It was a great visit and very HOT!

You'd think we'd be used to the ridiculously ovenlike conditions here, but we still can't believe how warm it gets, especially at the beach. But, look how beautiful it is! During low tide, you can walk out farther and catch little ocean critters.

We decided against that, opting instead to lay out and go for a periodic dip in the ocean.

I loved looking out at the sail boats.

The beach had little lifeguard "huts." Makes me think of the Beach Boys for some reason.

And a great view of this monument on the convention center grounds.

That night, we enjoyed dinner (yummy curry!) with our friends, Kenny and Amanda. They hadn't had Yogurtland yet, so we were more than happy to introduce it to them for a yummy dessert.

While enjoying it outside, we were entertained with some local fireworks nearby. Good stuff all around!

Staycation!

With school around the corner, Noa decided to take some time off of work in order for us to have some time together before the work craziness begins. We live on a beautiful tropical island, so we decided that instead of traveling somewhere else, we'd simply use the time together to spend enjoying our home here. Plus, we'll save some money and not have to worry about where to put the dogs for several days.

Anyway, the "staycation" is great. We've been doing all the things we enjoy doing around town, like going to coffee shops, getting massages, sleeping in, going out, and spending time with the dogs.

We had lunch at a new place, Cafe Unizon, which is now my favorite "hang out" place. It is basically a large loft, with a view of the ocean and inviting mid-century and 70s-era furniture. I plan on going back soon.

This was my homemade ginger ale. There were actual pieces of ginger root on the bottom!

The view from where I sat. The tables have magazines that you can browse through. I found a dog photography book that amused me for awhile.

The weather here has been weird the last few days. One minute it will be bright and sunny and the next it will be dark and stormy. I tried to capture this dichotomy of light and dark from the balcony.

Goofing off at the Honda dealership (we were buying touch-up paint, not a car).

We decided to explore the south of the island by visiting a new restaurant that had received some positive raves from our friends. Cafe Caracuma or "Thai in the Sky" as our friends call it, was fun and we didn't get lost getting there (a big feat for anyone trying to follow a map in Oki). The grounds are lovely. Here's the view (hence the nickname, "Thai in the Sky" which reminded me of Pizza in the Sky up north):

Gorgeous, right? There were all these little trails you could explore. Could is the operative word here since I saw this sign about poisonous habu snakes and decided not to try my luck in meeting one. Yikes!

We did however, have fun playing with the timer on the camera and learning to balance it on coral.

But, here's the real treat of the place: the food. Check out how delicious it looks!

Pad thai

Asian spring rolls

Malaysian Chicken Curry with Naan

Oh, the other interesting thing we found was a "museum" on the grounds of this restaurant. So, before eating all the above deliciousness, we walked through the random dinosaur and fossil displays.

Fossilized fish prints

I have no idea what these deer are called, but they are cute. Noa mentioned that he thinks these deer can be found on one of the local islands.

And, check out the special display there: Terracotta Warrior replicas! If you look closely, you can see Noa in the reflection. Sorry to say, but the real thing was MUCH better.

More staycation pics to come! It's not over yet!

Why We Don't Own A Couch Yet

With a year left on our time here, we realize that's it's time for us to start gathering any furniture pieces we'd like to bring back to the states next year. It seems that we may not be bringing as many furniture items as we originally thought. Can you imagine this Japanese couch in an American living room? It would be like doll furniture!

Post Storm Pics

After a typhoon hits or travels near Okinawa, we get some incredible waves outside our place. We can always count on finding a gaggle of surfers testing the waves. This time was no exception.

While we watched from our balcony, I snapped a few pictures.

This guy jumped into the water just as the wave broke against the pier.

Gunnar and Sadie got tired of being on the balcony and watched us from their perch (the top of the chair).

It was too cloudy for a picturesque sunset, but we still had a pretty golden sky for awhile.

Have a great weekend!

Typhoon Season is Here

Okay, technically it's been here since June, but a typhoon off the southern coast of Okinawa is currently threatening us with strong winds. Wind so strong it woke me up in the middle of the night and I realized that our porch hadn't been cleared yet. So, at 1 o'clock in the morning, Noa and I were out on our balcony bringing in rain-soaked plants and shuffling our grill through the living room. Now we have to live with our outdoors in our indoors until the storm clears or the wind dies down. Check out our latest set-up:

The typhoon won't hit the island directly. We'll most likely be in the clear by Sunday. It's also a good excuse to work a little on my porch - I'm thinking of adding another plant and maybe get a chair or two. Now, I have a clean slate to work with!

The Worst Best "Dog Park" on Base

I was delighted to hear about a fenced-in area to let our dogs run loose that is close to our house seldom used (as opposed to the one at Torii in which I was kicked out when the Army had training practices). Noa and I decided to check it out yesterday evening when it's cooler out. We were excited to find that the overgrown ball field was indeed completely fenced in, had a working gate, and had no signs of "no dogs allowed" to be seen. Score! However, when we showed up, we found out that we're not the only ones to use this area for our dogs. Several other people and their four legged friends were there. This always makes me a little nervous since some dogs don't play well with our petite pups and I didn't want to risk our dogs getting hurt. Thankfully, all the dogs were well-behaved and under strict supervision by the owners. Here are a few of the doggie friends we met:

Ginger, the Pit Bull puppy (Gunnar kept playing with her and tried to {ahem} "dominate" her a few times.)

Bailey, who lives upstairs from us and has been to our place to play before

Chunk, the chocolate lab who did the most running and mooched off the other's water bowls

Upon entering, we walked the perimeter with the dogs on leash in order to get some initial excited energy out (and check for any holes in the fence). I kept looking at Gunnar because the kept walking funny, almost as if he had a limp. Then I noticed Sadie was doing the same thing too. It wasn't consistent, so I shrugged it off and we unleashed them. They meandered over to sniff out the other dogs, but took their time getting there. There was no dash to the crowd or an excited burst of energy. So, I grabbed a tennis ball to entice Sadie to run after it and Noa ran around calling to the dogs to get them to run and really strut their stuff. It was an ideal scenario - friendly dogs, fenced area, and LOTS of room to run. Still, they pretty much stayed in one place and only came when they absolutely had to - and at a snails pace, I might add.

See? There they are, just standing around. Move, you two! You were made to run!

We couldn't figure out what the problem was because all the other dogs seemed to be fine and our dogs had been acting fine all day. After further investigation, we found out that the lovely, fenced field is covered in some sort of thorny grass. The bigger dogs didn't seem to be as uncomfortable, but our dogs, who were the smallest, seemed visible displeased with the lawn. So, we relegated to the fact that our dogs would not be running around after all. So, we visited a little longer with our new doggie friends and then headed home.

Noa keeps Sadie from the painful grass. Isn't this picture great?!

One last treat before we head home. Good sit, dogs!

Adventures in Yogurtland

Tonight I convinced Noa to take us to Yogurtland, the new frozen yogurt shop in town.

Here's a quick view inside the place. It seemed to be a pretty popular place. Of course, it's located in the heart of American Village, which is always crowded on a weekend night.

So, here's how it works: pick your flavor. They offer many different flavors of frozen yogurt, such as cheesecake, pomegranate, pistachio, peanut butter, and of course the traditional flavors as well. We especially like the double cookies and cream. You can pour as little or as much as you want and mix flavors to your liking.

Then, choose your toppings. I was a big fan of all the different fruit toppings offered, especially the strawberries, kiwis, and mango.

You pay for your frozen yogurt creation by its weight.

Here are our bowls of frozen yogurt goodness. They gave Noa the pink spoon - he he he.

Yummmmm! Yogurtland is yummy!

Mmmmmmm....

Not a bite left!

I think I've found my favorite way to stay cool this summer.

Curse of the Black Thumb

It's no secret that I don't have a green thumb. My mother-in-law is blessed with amazing gardening skills and has turned her backyard forest into a lush, flowering garden oasis. I, on the other hand, can't even keep a simple houseplant alive even if it was fake (yeah, I'm that bad). So, I need your help. You see, I received this lovely little ficus plant as a thank you gift from one of my favorite students. I know, I know....I'm not supposed to have favorites, but we're getting off topic here. Unfortunately, I'm not doing a very good job at keeping this plant alive. Lately, it's been shedding a lot of leaves. Do I give it more water? Plant food? I want to put it into a larger pot, but I'm afraid the rest of the leaves will fall off and it will die. Help!

Oh, and yes, Sadie just had to be in the photo.

Diva.