It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

My giant kid. Can you believe another year has passed? First day of SECOND grade. The history from left to right:

Feelin' happy in her new sneakers.
"Mom, WHY are you coming to the bus stop with me?"
With a couple of her bus mates. Watching them all grow has been crazy.
Ok, mom.... I'm outta here. Enough with the camera.
I can't wait to hear about it. But I'll probably just get, "It was good!" Until I pry.

Last night.

Last night I had sushi & other goodness at a fantastic restaurant with my friend Kelly and my new friend Mary. I was so very happy to eat a delicious dinner with friends, and to meet Mary because I LOVE reading her blog. She makes amazing videos too. She said, "I get a little sad when I see your stiletto heels on your blog and you haven't posted anything new." Trust me - I know that as each day passes there are a few (not many, but a FEW) folks who are very disappointed that I'm not blogging.

That's lame of me. Mia returns to school on Monday. I'd like to make it a part of my day - even if it's just to put up a photo or a quick sentence - to blog again. Because I like it. And a few of YOU like it. And I miss it!

Anyway - I did NOT have my camera with me at said fabulous restaurant (a sushi place in Hamby) but I will definitely go back there again.... but I do have a few summer photos, more specifically of the fishies we've been watching because it's so unbearably hot outside we really must be in the water at all times.

Have a great weekend! More on BACK TO SCHOOL for the next post!

Okinawa Hikers & Space A

This is NOT an unusual sight here. As many friends can attest.

This photo was taken on the rocks at Cape Manzamo:



Let's zoom in for the footwear, shall we? (Not that the guy's flip-flops are the best choice, and not that they were in for a day of hiking or anything - but REALLY? THESE!?)I remember seeing many pairs of spiked heels on the Japanese women at Shuri Castle and other attractions here in Okinawa; attractions where a lot of walking, climbing of stairs, and hiking are happening. And comfortable shoes are a must for me on those types of days. Well - whatever. Bless their little vertically-challenged hearts. I guess they want to make their legs look longer.

In other news. I should be gone right now. Yesterday our family of three sat at the space A terminal for a while, hoping to hop to Hawaii. I have to admit - the terminal is nice (tvs, a snack bar with good unhealthy foods, a kids' room with cartoons playing...) and the wait wasn't torturous, we met nice people and such.

For those who don't know the space A game - a quick lesson. You get on a list via paperwork from hubby's (or spouse's) command when you want to take a space-available flight somewhere. For example, we want to go to Hawaii. There are categories of priority (a basic list, there are other people in these categories - full list here):
Category 1: emergency leave/medical or active duty on orders
Category 2: active duty or DoDDS teachers on leave flying alone or with family members (in our case, he is coming WITH us so we're all there together and we're higher priority to fly because he's coming along)
Category 3: family members of an active duty member who is deployed, or active duty people going to house hunt, etc.
Category 4: family members flying without active duty member (would be Mia & me if Craig wasn't joining us)
Category 5: retirees & family members

We were in great shape. Another factor is that Craig has to be on leave to get on the list, the longer you're on the list, the higher priority you get (so if we showed up and some other active duty member just got on leave on July 5th - the fact that we've been on leave since the 28th bodes very well for us - we'd go first if there were enough seats).

So - seats are a factor, priority/category, and flights. The reason you go through this little dance and play the waiting game and potentially not get on? IT IS FREE. A free flight to Hawaii is totally worth a little dancing.

For all of us it's our first time doing this space A thing. SO...we show up, check in, and they announce there's a big plane leaving soon with 35 available seats. WOO HOO! That's a lot of seats. We were hopeful.

They called up an emergency leave family and a family who was ahead of us via category 2, and then they called us! WOW - amazing. We got boarding passes. We ordered meals. We checked our bags. And we went to the gate. This is awesome! Mia was jumping up and down, and I was right there with her! Then it happened. As they were checking in the family in front of us, we hear, "They're not going to Hawaii anymore." WHAT? In the next few minutes we heard everything from "it's flying to Iwakuni [mainland Japan] and on to Elmendorf, Alaska" to "they just don't feel like going to Hawaii" to "it's landing in Iwakuni as the final destination", but the point was... we got our meal money back and our bags off the plane,and realized we just had the biggest tease of our lives.

I've heard of people getting stuck in places, having a crazy circuitous trip around the world to try to get home, or just not getting to fly out at all - but HAVING BOARDING PASSES IN HAND, BAGS ON PLANE AND THEN - POOF - NADA!? That was a first. We went back to the terminal and another flight was called with very few seats and that category two family in front of us got to go. That was pretty heart-breaking too. Then Mia started to cry when I explained we wouldn't be leaving today. I wanted to cry with her, but I didn't. I just explained we'd try again next time. I sure hope it happens for us because we have a great trip planned. It's going to be really hard not to be disappointed if it doesn't.

But by the evening we were watching So You Think You Can Dance (HOORAY, best show ever!) and enjoying dinner with wonderful friends. As Mia kissed me goodnight she said, "Let's hope we get on the next plane, ok, Mama?" Yes, let's.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Mia at the Yomitan Starbucks

Photos taken by Craig, edited and compiled by Aviva. Funny faces provided by Mia. (Who also has a very loose top tooth as you might notice due to the much larger gap in her mouth.)

So Very Thankful

Hi, gang. I'm hoping you'll let me slide this blog back on like a comfy sweater from last winter.... ok? Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in Oki. And I celebrated with local family, much as we did last year. The Neatherys have left to move back to the states, but life does go on. We celebrated at Val & Cat's house down at the end of our block. No - not two women who live together, two families who live next door to each other and have taken out the glass panel between their balconies so that we can roam freely between TWO apartments! Killer setup for a big party with 4 little kiddos.

First, a shot of our kiddo before we left the house. She's playing on my iPhone - a fishing game. How long-legged and giant is she now? I can't believe this is my kid.
I made stuffing, a home-made (no cans) green bean casserole, and my famous fruit coffee cake. We headed to Val's and as we entered, the smell of the perfectly cooked turkey wafted up my nose and made me giddy. Here she is carving. I don't THINK I drooled on the turkey. Too much.
I looked over and saw Guiness, their dog, watching closely for a dropped morsel.
Kinda brought back memories from 2006 at the Kollegian home in Carmel Valley...

Chris popped open some champagne.... gotta love that.

Sweet nectar...
The hors-douvers spread... and some coconut/butterscotch/chocolate bars. Who says you can't start with dessert?
The ladies...
(Myself, Cat, Val - Val is the one I went to Kyoto with.)

The guys - Craig and Nate (Cat's hubby). And Val in the background grinning while carving.
Maddie (AKA "Wormy") running into Cat's apartment through the open balcony.
The spread...
And THE TURKEY. Mmmmm.... I can still taste the juicy goodness....
Hostess #2, Cat. (She made crazy awesome mashed potatoes, a leg of lamb - she's Australian - and apple pie among other things...) Isn't she a classic beauty?
Her daughter, Victoria, in Tinkerbelle regalia.
And Guinn-Dog. Wearing a St. Patrick's necklace, if you can spot the green. He is a sweet & handsome devil.
After the feast (they made me put down my camera while I ate...), the ladies all grabbed their cameras. There is a REASON the three of us work so well together. HELLO - Canon 5D..
And Canon 40D... (and possibly one of my favorite portraits of you, Val... even though there's a camera in your face)
Some fruits of our after-dinner-shoot-out. George, Cat's other kiddo:
Wormy girl:

And of course, my kid being a goofball with Victoria.
Last one - I felt I had to make up for lost weeks of photos... This is just so sweet!
All the photos are here. Hope your holiday was happy!!

233rd Marine Corps Birthday Ball

Thanks, Val - for sitting for Mia and for taking a couple of photos. The results were good - I just am not sure when I started growing neck fat. Anyway... the kid hopped in this one, and my hair was a little less crazy due to the tornado-like winds on our roof!

My hubby was oh so handsome and much more comfy in his new mess dress. That made for a better night all around!

Here's a quick shot of my friend Sarah and I getting our groove on. She's good people, and she's leaving me in January. Sniff.

I know. Bad blogger. Very very BAD. I have so much to update here, and never any time. I'm going to Kyoto in a couple of days and hope to share photos with you of the amazing fall foliage and maybe catch a glimpse of a geisha. Here's hoping! (Heck - here's hoping I can post Mia's birthday photos from OCTOBER, hello!)

Commence throwing rotten produce. I still love you.

Construction Worker

Just THINK how much money we'd save if we stopped paying that one guy to wave traffic by. If we just made these guys:
His right arm swings back and forth with a light on the end so that from a little way back you can see there's a lane closure ahead. I'd bet his arm never gets tired!

Thanks to Val for the photograph; I was driving.

We Interrupt This Blog For A Rainbow Photo...

The NEXT post will have the rest of the photos from our trip up north.

This morning I was on my way home from the gym and saw the biggest brightest rainbow I'd ever seen. It had gotten significantly lamer by the time I ran upstairs and ran back down with my camera, but I felt the need to capture the rainbow - and with it, the amazing mural that Derek painted on the sea wall the day before the Neathery fam PCSed.


Thanks for leaving us with this masterpiece, Derek.... this won't be the last photo I take of your work of art. I already have some creative ideas...

Hi There, I'm Aviva!

Yeah, I figured you thought I'd forgotten about this blog - but I haven't! Bear with me.

Catch up time - things are good. Busy with work. Craig's fine. Mia's working hard in school and playing piano, I'm thinking she might try out for swim team but not if she isn't into it. We're using weekends to do some exploring despite the fact that it's still hot as blazes outside. But when the typhoon winds aren't blowing, it makes for amazing skies... as you can see from our recent trip up north to Hiro's Coffee Farm!
About 1 1/2 hours' drive north is this little gem. I read about it on Okinawa Hai! and had to see for myself. What a hidden little paradise for the coffee lovers!

What.... I said farm, right? There were chickens. Mia was fascinated. This guy was just hanging out under our table. Very friendly, even when Mia decided to pet it.

Now just MENTIONING Mia petting chickens reminded me of this:

Pardon the quality - they're screen shots from an album on Kodak gallery from October of 2004 at Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center (aka "Nate's Butt Farm"). That is Mia. Carrying a chicken. A poor defenseless small and fuzzy chicken. Who, surprisingly, did NOT peck her eyes out. Many of you reading this blog didn't know Mia when she was 3, so here she was - in all her long-haired cuteness.

Onward to Mia (and BOTH Craig and I!) in the present day! Enjoying our time at Hiro's Coffee Farm. Hiro himself took this shot - he offered, and as he took my camera he lifted it with a surprised face and said, "Whoa, big camera." No kidding.


We got macro tubes. For those who don't know, these are cylinders that attach between the camera body and the lens that extend your focal length. It allows you to focus in to details of things MUCH closer (like flowers, bugs, water droplets...) - so we experimented, and I think these are quite nice.

One of my favorite flowers - particularly for its incredibly delicious smell - the plumeria.


Of course the Hibiscus.

And some bouganvilla.
Here's the kid with her dad. She enjoyed a couple of cookies and an OJ while we downed a fantastic mug of iced coffee. (as you can see here, Craig's is already empty)
The inside ceiling was lined in burlap coffee bags.
Here's the menu. We knew to bring a cooler with lunch food because there's not much food on the menu here... but that was quite alright with us. Mmmmm...

We bought a small bag of freshly roasted beans from Hiro, and he brought it in this cute paper sack. Craig snapped this interesting shot, I'm pointing out a photo in a magazine to Mia in the background.
This is a milk canister as far as I can tell (or cream). I just thought it was cool.
Here are some young seedlings. Hiro told us that the 1000 plants he harvests from on his farm are 20 years old.
Here are some new young beans on a 10-year-old plant:
Neat, huh? And here is Hiro with Mia & Craig. What a sweet man, very appreciative - and definitely doing some good business. By the way, we tried the coffee this morning - and it's fantastic. Though the atmosphere up north while sipping iced java on a hot day is EVEN better.

A few more photos from the nearby beach to come - soon, I promise - more of Mia (for you, Mom) because I know it has been a while!