Hi. I LIVE Here.

First... tonight's lovely rainbow. This is a lousy shot of it - when we got in the car it was the brightest most amazing rainbow I've ever seen. Mia asked what made rainbows... I explained to her about the water droplets and the sun, but realized I should have just said, "It's magic, baby."

Recently I went to Sesoko Island with some girls... It's about an hour & 20 minute drive north, and the whole drive was just so beautiful - I knew it wouldn't disappoint. It WAS hot as blazes out there....and this was taken from the parking spot.

Somehow when you look at THIS:
heat isn't such a huge factor. Besides, my feet were in the water. That felt pretty good (though if it weren't for my camera, I'd have jumped in).

We were walking, and this guy showed up with an octopus ("tako") on a hook! It was still alive, and all of us got to walk up and feel what it was like to have little tentacles suck onto your fingers (it feels rather strange, but very interesting). I like this portrait very much.


On the way back, Anne stopped the van just one more time so I could snap this:
Oh yes - we will be back. In swim suits. With snorkel gear.

This is Mia with her friend (fellow only child and smarty-pants), Grace.


They were swim buds last session, and still will be buddies past the swim class thing as I will be in touch with Grace's mom. Her dad leaves for a YEAR in Afghanistan, and I think we need to be doing girl things together like tea parties and such. Especially since Grace's mom is from England. And I very much enjoy listening to her speak with that crumpets and rubbish accent.

My kid. How did she end up being this cute big girl?
She now swims in the deep end, treads water, "pencil dives" to touch the bottom, and is learning the butterfly stroke, side stroke, and breast stroke. Soon she'll be driving. (NOT)

We love it here. We've been busy, but enjoying our craziness. Friends are leaving, that's not a part we love. But I'm thrilled to have made them and I know we'll see each other very soon. As I live in a time warp on this little island.

Have I mentioned... I'm starting a business? With ITS OWN BLOG too? Yeah. That's insane! I'm excited and petrified all in the same breath. I'm realizing this tiny island grows smaller in the photog community. At Mia's swim lessons I've been speaking to Tara (who is a complete character and I can see that friendship working out very nicely) - and now to other folks who are recognizing me! My 15 minutes has started, everyone! Set your clocks, I hope it can last!

Diving As Of Late

Thursday I dove with some friends in the morning and then again in the late afternoon. The surf was rough (trust me, my body has the bumps & bruises from the coral to show for it) but oh my was it worth it to go out and see the amazingness! Thanks to Anne for the photos from her awesome Olympus underwater camera! She got a case for it and now the photos are even BETTER (see the last cuttlefish shot - holy cow!).

(I know, these are small - but it's ok - you get the point) Here I am ready to enter the abyss from the Kadena steps:
Here's a photo Derek (Anne's hubby) took the next morning on a dive (this guy is almost neon, isn't he?):


Awesome trigger:
Anne & me - yay!

Flippin' D the birds....
This little clown fish was bathing in the anemone. Cutest thing ever!

Peeking from behind a cool yellow plant.
Under a rock formation, Derek found this HUGE fish (seriously, like 1.5' high) - is it an idol? Does anyone know?

I snapped this one of Derek & Anne with the sunset in the background when we came up. Sweet!
And this masterpiece. Anne took it snorkeling yesterday. Doesn't it just look like this is from a magazine or something? WOW!
Photos of Mia's last day of session 3 swim class to come (she's now in Level IV! She treads water! YAHOO! - first day of level IV is today, so now I'm off to wake her up and make her eat breakfast. Sigh. My big girl!), and also some shots of a trip to Sesoko Island. STUNNING. Can't wait to go back in the water! I'm going to buy a case for my p&s Canon.. over $300, but at least it isn't the $1500 it'd cost for the SLR case. Worth it to have memories of the incredible sea life just outside my door!

Tonight Before Dinner

Craig was putting away Connect Four after a rousing game with Mia, and saw the Scrabble box in the closet. Some smack-talkin' began, and I asked if he cared to make it interesting. We have a bet going now, and let's just say it's DEFINITELY interesting. We'll see if it happens.

So as I was finishing putting together dinner, and the smack-talking was in full force, he said...

"I will beat you due to my DEVASTATING..... ah....... what's the word......."


"VOCABULARY!"

Spottings In Hawaii In the Small World Category

So the Turner family moved to Hawaii. As you may know. I'm in touch with Kanoe of course via email as my plan is to go visit. Definitely. More than one family to visit (HI, Edith!)

I got an email from Kanoe yesterday. The house they're renting in Hawaii? It belongs to my neighbor Maggie's aunt.

Kanoe headed to the landlady's house to pay the rent and Maggie happens to be there visiting with Chuck (her hubby) and her two daughters and spotted Ella and recognized her from my photos!

Craig and I about died when we got that email. The world keeps shrinking.

In other news - I'm busy! DUH.

Mia is loving t-ball and swimming, and is also playing piano begrudgingly. I hope she starts getting it soon, I'm tired of being the bad guy when I say, "Time to practice!"

This weekend is full with not one but TWO photo shoots and I can't wait! More to come on that on my photography blog (which I WILL update soon, promise!).

I went snorkeling yesterday with Anne and had such an amazing time we're bringing the kids today! (Wonderful Derek took the kids ALL FIVE OF THEM to t-ball practice, so we had a couple of hours to go play..... oh it was heaven!) Today we'll take their camera that we can use underwater and hopefully I can hook you up with some local snorkeling scenery. Let's just say there were plenty of moorish idols, parrot fish, tangs, clown fish, butterfly fish, wrasses, giant clams, and triggers to name a few. And the coral.... wow.

For The Web Geeks, TV Geeks & Resort Freaks

If you have no clue what this means, it's ok. I only sort of do. It's our download and upload speeds on fiberoptic cable Internet. Basically... blazin'. Craig said it's yet another reason we're happy to be living here.

I love: So You Think You Can Dance, Swingtown, Mad Men (STARTING UP SOON), and Burn Notice. Please begin watching at least the latter three shows so that they stay on TV. Take my word for it, they're fantastic.

Now - about a 15-minute ride up the road from us starts the "resort" area of Onna. It's gorgeous at this time of year - the sea has jewel tones you never thought existed in nature. But wow, don't get out of the car or you might melt. Unless you're in the water.

We went to the Renaissance Hotel up in Onna this past weekend. Mia and I had been once, we took Craig to show him. he was just as impressed.

In the lobby, there were several resident tropical birds hanging out. This is Pinkie (their names are on plates for us to read in English or Japanese):
Craig calls him the Buckeye Bird now as he is donning Ohio State colors. I think that's cool.

This is Oscar. He has a friend, Charmie who's orange - but I didn't get a good picture of him as he was preening.. very busily. Behind Oscar there's a stairway in the lobby, the bottom is turquoise and has those cool circles underneath it. It's a very pretty and tropical-looking lobby. Occasionally they have a woman on staff making balloon animals for the kids! It's a very happy place.

Mia made a friend, and they insisted in trying to give Pinkie back his feathers. He played along though, it was sweet. The other girl's parents were smiling at them too.... they were cute together.

This is the INDOOR pool. With water slides. Kid heaven. I could just leave Mia there to grow gills, she'd be fine with that.

Outside we wandered around for as long as we could stand it. Those cone-topped buildings sort of reminded me of the Hotel Del...right? To the right of this bridge were enclosures where the dolphins swam. The dolphins you could swim with if you paid enough. They're rescued, and it's an amazing program actually - I hope to do that before I leave Okinawa. (Yes, Mia was going bananas over them.)

We took the glass elevator to the top floor (12th I think?) and at the end of the hall was this. The reflection is unfortunate, but you understand why I'd put this up here. I mean... wow.

Not a postcard. A photo I took from the top floor lounge on the balcony. I hate it here. It's not like being on vacation every day or anything... I mean really. Sigh.
This is the area past the swimming beach where they give sailing lessons, scuba lessons, and they snorkel and dive. It's gorgeous, I'm dying to get out there!

Ok, more soon - I have too many photos and not enough time! nothing new. And many cool stories to share regarding my new friend, Robin. Stay tuned!

Things That Make You Go, "Mmmmm?"

Every so often (ok, almost every single time) at the grocery stores out in town, you'll pass by a Japanese twist on some American candy creation. As my friend Jen says... the saying in Okinawa is, "Why not?"

Hot soba soup on a 90 degree sticky sub tropical day? Why not?
Garlicky pasta restaurant and an ice cream parlor under one roof? Why not?


Chocolatey KitKat goodness - in watermelon flavor? Why not?

I was intrigued, to say the least. I like chocolate, I like watermelon - how bad could it be? I mean they do have curry-flavored Pringles, and wasabe-flavored Doritos out here.

So I opened the bag, and instantly it smelled of sweet watermelon Jolly Ranchers. These little snacky dudes came out:


What's inside looks like a regular KitKat snack bar, but since there is no smellivison yet - world wide sniff? Monodor... ooh, I like that one - I'll tell you. It's a kit kat that has watermelon flavor in it. I can't describe it, that's just what it is. And it's odd - but yet, still chocolatey enough to be kind of good. Will I buy another bag? Probably not.

Interesting side note - the other day as I was coming upstairs, a homeless man came up to me. He was holding a small bottle of that bright blue Gatorade. He was pointing and asking, "Drinku? Drinku?"

Finally I pieced it together and said, "YES! You drink that, it's ok to drink. Hai."

Honestly - the stuff could be a Windex refill, I mean nothing naturally occurs in that color - and the bottle was in English.

Happy Birthday, Hubby.

Warning: Mushy post below... if you hate this stuff, move along.

Well, it's still your birthday in the states; as a matter of fact you were born about 15 hours ago, east coast time, at 6am-ish.

It's an age I won't give away here (but most of our friends know what it is.. it rhymes with "shorty") - and I know that for whatever reason this turn of the age odometer has been tough for you. I know the reasons, but I'm in denial because it's only 3 more years away for me and we all know how quickly that will go!

In September of 1998, nearly 10 years ago, we met on the Internet. The www was still quite young at the time, and so were we. You were sweet, funny, had good taste in music, and you were darned good-lookin'. (You still are all of those things and more.)

Since then we've been through a lot, not the least of which were plenty of days enjoying each other in San Diego, San Fransisco, even Mexico...a kick-ass wedding, a delightful honeymoon traveling up the coast of California, the birth of our daughter, three deployments to a war zone for a total of 2 1/2 years spent apart, a couple of fun family vacations, and a move overseas to enjoy our current adventure. We've spent a quarter of our lives together so far. And it has flown by. Except the deployments, of course.

As you eloquently said last night over the birthday carrot cake - I'm "the happiest I've ever been right now". With you, Mia, our amazing time in Okinawa, and the experiences we've had and continue to have.

I'm so happy we're together as a family, and we're all thriving on that. You support and encourage me in so many ways, you've made me a better woman. I love going out and taking photos with you - and even though I whine about it, your opinions and encouragement You are the most amazing man who I respect, admire, learn from, love more than anything - and more each day, and am so lucky and proud to call my husband. My soul mate. The incredible father of our (mostly) perfect child. My better half.

Happy birthday, honey. Here's to at least.. um, shorty more years.