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.

First Day Of First Grade

Well, today was the first day of first grade for Mia. She handled it with the independence and general sassiness we expect from her. No, she did NOT need me to drive her to school on the first day because she will take the bus - and she PROMISES to tell me ALL about it, so don't worry. Ok then.

A quick flashback to one year ago. On the left, first day of kindergarten. On the right, well - darned near adulthood.

A much larger and more weighed-down backpack, that's for sure - REAL school supplies. We read and write now. And no more of that extra underwear business (though I still feel I must TELL her to pee when she's dancing).

I picked her up from the bus stop and was eager to hear about her day. She was sitting next to a very nice new girl on the bus (new to Okinawa, anyway) and they seemed to have had a lovely ride home. The bus was quite late, but I would imagine most kids had no clue which bus they belonged on at the end of their first day.

We walked home and I grilled her, and she gave up some good info; she had a Japanese class, and will be having that class once a week. She had reading time, and NO naptime, and recess on a NEW playground with SWINGS and many of her friends from last year.They read a book about the first day of school, and something about toads and lizards, and she's at seat #2 and she handed me her folder that contained a pretty extensive homework calendar among other things.

We were walking in the door and after talking about her day she said, "There was a lot of work. All day was work work work. Even in our free time we have to read or write! I like kindergarten."

Did you hear that? That creak.... the door to REAL SCHOOL has now been opened. Welcome to the world, Mia. It isn't all naptime and playing dress-up. But Mama's here for you - we can still do that stuff at home.

Random Photo Happiness

Hi again! It's been a while since I posted a photo that wasn't taken in our living room, so here we go. Last week I went to Cafe Unizon with LWILIO - pronounced 'luh-WIL-lee-oh' - Ladies Who Lunch In Okinawa - a small group of adventurous eaters who are currently scouring the island for new and delicious lunch opportunities). Yes, I'm a 100% dork and coined that term myself. What of it?

Below Cafe Unizon is a home store called Mix Life-Style. They have fun European-style housewares and furniture - and mind you, it is NOT cheap. However, nobody's holding a gun to your head to buy anything, and browsing is FUN. Check out this fantastic idea:

The menu is felt with iron-on transfer pictures of the food. And see the embroidery of the categories on the right? There's coffee drinks, food, and sweets. I loved this idea!
(More Unizon & Mix shots on my flickr page.)

This month is "Read Across America" month. Last week on Friday there was a literature character parade. Basically, all the kids at Mia's school dressed up like their favorite literary character (or just put on their Halloween costume again and found some book with that character in it - let's just say there were LOTS of superheroes and princesses...). Well, I didn't really want to do that - I took this seriously, and as Mia is now reading, I wanted her to be a real character in a real book she actually liked.

I didn't realize this was going to be happening until the morning before the parade, so I was a little stumped. Finally, I thought about it the other way around - what are her favorite books? GOT IT! The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. She loves that book. I can pick up a green shirt. She can wear brown pants for the trunk. And I happen to have a headdress I made for my Halloween costume when I went to Vegoose back in 2005 (I went with 3 friends, we were the seasons, and I was springtime, of course - Aviva means springtime in Hebrew, FYI). Thank you pack rat instincts. When I told Mia about my (I thought) great idea, she winced. "I wanna be a CAT or a PRINCESS..."
"Well, everyone's going to be that stuff, you really LOVE this book, Mia. And look at the pretty hat - this blue bird here, they even exist here on Okinawa! Cool..." (Ryan, I knew you'd be proud of her thrush.) She hesitantly gave in as I gushed about how beautiful she'd look.

So the night before, I drew some apples that Mia colored in and we put those and the "branch hat" into a bag. I arrived at school early to help assemble the outfit. I even got a green eyeliner and drew leaves on her arms. (she did NOT want anything on her face - please let it stay that way!) Everyone in kindergarten is familiar with this book, and the teachers gushed about her (my) costume and idea. She was very proud, as was I, and she looked great!
After school we got rid of the paper apples, and as I was talking to my friend Ilisa I caught this shot of Ellie & Mia. The two "Nice Jewish Girls" at Bob Hope! (at least that I know of) Ellie's a doll - I'm so happy they're friends.

Ok, last topic - OIWC Luncheon in Naha. Okinawa International Women's Club (I teased this in a prior post) holds monthly meetings, every other one is on base, and the others are out in town. This was still during lockdown, so I had to get a permission slip signed by Craig's commander before I could go.

The luncheon was at the Naha Terrace Hotel, there were lots of women there, I was impressed. The food was delicious (as large group food goes) and the company was fantastic. So many sweet & wonderful women, willing to gesture and describe to conquer the language barrier. I met a lovely woman, Tomo, who literally offered to come with us to Kyoto and show us around! And she also finally taught me how to say, "May I take your picture?" in Japanese! (Shashim o to temo desu ka?)

Here is what the centerpieces looked like:
And this during this month, there's a holiday called "Girl Day". There were dolls on display which are apparently REALLY expensive, and over time it became popular belief that the dolls protected the daughters of the family. Girl Day, or Hina Matsuri, is a festival held throughout Japan to pray for daughters' happiness. Here are some of the dolls on display on stage at the luncheon:


There were even some sakura branches there - yes, they're still in bloom!
Lastly there were dances, one in honor of the sakura:
One woman who danced with a fan:

And another that was a warrior with a spear:

Well, that's it for now. We're off to dinner with some friends who are PCSing tomorrow... we'll miss them.

Take THAT, Negative Nancies!

I've decided (very typical of my sickeningly optimistic and positive nature) to help us all smile a little bit with my post today. A bit tired of the phone pole, there was a more momentous event last week. 100th day of school at Bob Hope Primary School.

This kindergarten celebration is off the hizook, people. As mentioned earlier, a t-shirt was made. I joked about the partying, but little did I know it really was a much bigger deal than I had anticipated.

On the morning of the event (this past Friday) I grabbed my camera with my 16-35mm (wide-angle) and smiled as I noticed the SUN - what?! YES SUN! IT was a STUNNING day, and I quickly regretted putting a long-sleeved shirt under Mia's t-shirt.

I got out of the car at school and saw this:
HOLY SCHNIKIES! (Ok, can I just say that Craig saw that over my shoulder and doesn't know what "holy schnikies" is? Somebody rent that dude Tommy Boy....) See the black boxes by the banner on the awning? Loud-speakers. Blaring music. Tables with games are set up all over the place, a tricycle track with 10 trikes, 2 bouncies... I was blown away. And highly disappointed that I wasn't there when the buses arrived and Mia SAW this insanity for the first time. I asked her about it when I saw her later and she said, "I almost screamed my head off it was so cool!"

So first it was time to take a picture of the entire kindergarten class and all the teachers for the yearbook. What more perfect day than 100th day? Here's the "Where's Waldo" (if you're good, you can spot Mia and maybe even Logan, her boyfriend):
As you can see, there were many cool banners, shirts, hats, and very very happy kids.

After this picture, I had to shoot one of the 3rd grade class, so I missed the parade. But afterward I headed out to the carnival of 100th day fun. This mom was all dressed up for the occasion:
Each kid had a list pinned to their shirt, they had to do each activity available, and as they did them the activity was crossed off their list. Like lick a lollipop 100 times, jump in the jumpie 100 times, run a 100 foot dash, hula hoop 100 times:
Make 100th day glasses:
tricycle for 100 meters:
Color 100 spots on a dog:
Get your face painted (you could pick any number, but almost everyone chose - you guessed it...):
So, as you can see, I was snapping away on a beautiful day - the gorgeous kindergarten kids were just having a blast. I ran into my friend Joelle and she had her camera out; she was taking pictures for a local magazine they sell on the bases called "This Week" and I told her I'd share if she wanted. She told me she had to leave, but that some Japanese kids were coming to celebrate and could I take pictures of it. Of course!

Now, mind you - we were in our PoR at this point, so I thought this was going to be extra awesome - show people how well the children can get along - despite any language barrier - and that it's fantastic for all cultures to spend time together here. (Americans can throw one humdinger of a 100th day party, yo.)

At 10:30, I heard an announcement for Japanese moms to head over to the buses. I turned around and saw this:

A friggin' cat and dog BUS! Filled with Japanese kindergarteners! Oh yes. And when the bus drivers beeped the horn. Yup. BARK and MEOW. I kid you not. I think I need to be a bus driver now. For Japanese kindergarten children.

2 of the Bob Hope Primary School classes had made t-shirts for the visiting children so they could join in on the fun:


The students filed off the bus, lined up boy-girl, in their gym uniforms. Look how excited they are! JUMPIES! TRICYCLES! LOLLIPOPS! Look at all this space.....our school is in the city, dude. LET US AT IT!

The kids had a delightful exchange of t-shirts, and the Japanese kids quickly pulled them on over their shirts. Then the kids were paired off to go play together with the help of the bi-lingual moms & children.

The biggest hit was definitely the tricycles:

This is so sweet.... I seriously couldn't take a bad picture all afternoon. There are a lot here, but I pared it down from about 100 pictures.

I love this kid. His funny little dimples. His striped tights and differently striped socks. I realized I took about 6 pictures of him. But I really wanted to take him home. With my limited Japanese, all I could say to these kids was, "Is that delicious?" and "One, two, three, SMILE!" - and of course, thank you.

In return, the Japanese children made artwork (really cute collages, see below) for the American students:
Just before the students said goodbye, Ms. Hobbs (acting Principal) handed out goodie bags to the kids. I seriously was teary-eyed the whole time.
I'm sure you're all familiar with "All I ever needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten". I think some of the grown-ups around here could learn a lot from these kindergartners. I had almost as much fun as they did.

Ugh.

I wasn't going to blog about this but I figure I could maybe get some advice or helpful commiseration from readers, so chime in if you like. Mia had been scratching her head for a few days, and on Tuesday morning I found out why. She had lice. Ok. EW.

All I know about lice I learned from Linda Evangelista in elementary school. She had lice and she had hair down to her butt. After a while, she showed up with a chin-length bob. I now know why.

Thankfully, Mia didn't have a really horrendous case, however when I told her teacher about it via email on Tuesday morning when I decided she wasn't going to school, the nurse came to check the students. 2 other kids were sent home, and the teacher had it too. Then it was discovered in 3 or 4 other kindergarten classes, and a couple of other grades too. And then my friend told me she got a note home from her son's off-base preschool about it.

Long and grueling story as short as possible; got a rinse with the stuff in it that kills these buggers from the hospital pharmacy, did it, combed like mad, and nearly vomited several times. I bagged all of her stuffed animals in sealed bags not to be opened for two weeks. I threw away her pillow and washed ALL the clothing, towels, sheets, jackets, etc. in scalding hot water and dried for 50 minutes in the hot dryer.

The next day she went to school, the nurse checked her before she returned to class (good thing) and her teacher told me she had some nits (eggs) left. Nits are stuck to the strands of hair about 1/4" from the scalp. They're TEENY (1/2 of the head of a pin) and whitish/clear - read as "hard to see". The piece of crap plastic comb I got with the rinse does NOT remove the nits. My fingernails do. Still finding live bugs. ACK. Now I'm being told that this is a problem at the school (lots of kids have it) and I keep Mia home because the mamasans (Japanese women who clean the rooms at the school) aren't cleaning sufficiently and properly to eliminate a lice problem. I'll tell you right now - I'm NOT going through this again. My kid will sooner wear a swimming cap for the rest of the winter until this is over than I pick another nit.

Thursday; did the rinse again, still finding live bugs. Friday morning SERIOUSLY attacked her head. Have I mentioned how THRILLED I am that we cut her hair? That makes my job easier - but I kinda wish she were a boy because if this wasn't getting better I could consider shaving her head.

Today was a good day. She woke up and after breakfast I only found 3-5 eggs. Not bad. No live bugs. Exhaling - as there's a metal comb worth a crap on the way from my mother (THANK YOU) and a doctor friend who offered to get me a stronger shampoo to kill the bugs if they don't go away. Now I just have to get over the fear of sending her back to school because I don't feel that all the cleaning people and other parents are NEARLY as anal as I was about eradicating this! Also big thanks go out to Kaho - wonderful friend who speaks Japanese and helped me try to find a stronger shampoo & better comb at the pharmacy out in town. Everyone has been great, I'm so lucky.

So... it seems to be better on Mia's head now, thankfully, but the story is slightly to be continued.

In other news, because I was trapped inside dealing with this all week, I wanted to get OUT today (Saturday) and go to the Okinawa Prefecture Museum. (brand new - opened in November) It's raining and chilly - nothing new for the last six freaking weeks - and we drove down on great directions that we didn't follow properly and got all turned around; and by the time we figured it out it was 4pm and we bagged it. SIGH. Maybe tomorrow.

Lastly - the highlight of my week (considering the week I had, even something lame would be good, but it's not!). I went to Suwanee's photography reception today at the Foster Library and met a fan. Of little old me! What? I know! A fan of my photography & my blog! Talk about humbling - so HI there, K - and all your SAHM friends!! Please do comment sometime, I'd love it! I want to hear what you dig and what you don't - and what you want to read about or see that you aren't. I'm blown away that I've now met two prior strangers (once before at the commissary) who told me they know me because of my blog and photos. And that's to say nothing of the several comments I've received from other people I don't know who found me in a variety of ways.

Wow, minor MINOR celebrity status on Oki, but amazing and encouraging nonetheless! K - we will so get out and take some pictures, I'm down to help you practice and help you with some Elements when you upgrade! So great meeting you!

And a big hello and thanks SO much to anyone & everyone out there for reading and watching the adventures of lil' ol' me and my family - that's just such an added bonus to blogging. It was truly just to keep the friends & family back home aware of what's up out here, and I love doing it and it's taken a really interesting and fun direction now. Big fat warm fuzzies and love to you all.

Of Course This Happens

Back in late September I think it was, Mia had a school picture taken. Her first "real" one, as a kindergartener. Pretty big deal. She put on a dress, I did her hair just like she likes it (she had a pretty headband on), and off she went with the advice to "smile naturally, no cheesy faces!" and all that.

She returned from school without the headband, and I asked and she said the photographers made her take it off. Well, I guess as long as she didn't flip out on them, that's fine - though I wasn't sure why they'd do that. Oh well, as long as they made sure her hair wasn't doing anything freaky.

The pictures got lost in the mail coming here. (Campus Photo International took the pictures) Side note- now that I have the pictures, maybe someone would've noticed that the company has an AOL email address and thought to themselves maybe we should find someone a bit more established. I'd pay a few bucks more for decent school pictures, especially since we're overseas and will be sending them to relatives & friends back home! But I know, I'm a photographer, and my expectations and reasoning on this might be a bit elevated. Sue me.

We got a note home speaking of the lost photos, and that the company would be reprinting and sending again and they'd be here hopefully in time to drop into holiday cards. Fabulous.

Yesterday Mia got off the bus and said, "I have great news! We got PICTURES!" She proceeded to unzip and unload her backpack in the middle of the street on the walk back to the house - very excited. (mind you, this is my picture taken of her picture - so bear with the quality)


Wow! My little girl is all grown UP! I can't get over how big she is and how pretty. Best picture she's ever taken? No, definitely not - but for a school picture, very pretty.

Wait.

What is that?

It's in an envelope with a plastic cover, that has to be crap on the sleeve.

I take it out.

No - it's the film, it has to be an imperfection on the film. Is it on all the pictures?

I look closer at the 5x7.

Nope.

One thick gorgeous strand of hair is hanging smack dab down the center of her face. Not just across her forehead, but it continues to the side of her nostril, around the corner of her mouth, and to the right of her jaw. You have GOT to be kidding me! I can't even look at these pictures anymore. It makes my teeth itch. I can't stand that there wasn't SOME person there - in front of xenon bulb lights shining on her face while taking pictures of my well-behaved child - after removing her headband or having her do so - who didn't say, "Oh, wait - she has a GIANT HAIR HANGING IN THE MIDDLE OF HER FACE AND HER PARENTS WILL PROBABLY BE COMPLETELY IRRITATED BY THAT - especially her photographer MOTHER!"

I think even if I email these people at their AOL address they'll say there's nothing they can do. I mean Photoshopping that out would be quite time-consuming and probably impossible for their crack team of editors.

Or the email will bounce back. They don't even have a website.

I'm done with the rant of the day.

Picture Perfect

Today is picture day at school for our almost-6-year-old kid. At dinner after soccer practice last night, her dad said, "When we get home, after your shower, we're going to pick out what clothes you're wearing for your pictures tomorrow, ok?"
"Yeah - so that we don't argue about it in the morning."

She had her yearly physical yesterday, which wasn't really all that because we'd just done a lot of it for her school immunizations and her sports physical to play soccer. She's 47.3 lbs and 45 3/4" tall. Doing great in every way, and told the doctor that she "eats broccoli now" and that in school she's "learning to listen well". Gotta love it.

Here she is mugging for me before she went to school:


We might put her in an Aikido class we just heard about. Craig insists it's time she start training to fight the boys off. I can't say I disagree.

In other news- I had a FANTASTIC dive yesterday with my original dive buddy, Scott. He was nice enough to rent gear for us ($15 for tank, BCD, regulator & weights) and we easily had more than $15 worth of FUN. Among other things, we saw a moray eel, a cuttlefish (seriously one of the COOLEST things I've ever seen, we followed it for 10 minutes), lots of sea snakes (yeah, I kept my distance), a very friendly clown fish that was playing around Scott's hand (and another that was peeking in and out of the anemone below), several puffer fish, and tons of other tropical goodies in every color of the rainbow on a beautiful great visibility dive just a 5-minute swim from the sea wall at the end of my street.

Another one of my favorite things out there is the christmas tree worm:
They come in every bright color you can think of, and when you swim up and reach to touch them, they suck down into the coral really quickly. For a video of this, if you care, click here.

I'm off to continue my busy week!

No Gills Yet - But She Does Have A Bus Pass

Yep - my baby starts kindergarten this fall. And after registering her for Bob Hope Elementary School (Home of the Pandas), we had to get one of these! Thankfully, she's just about the last stop on the way in and one of the first on the way out - so she won't be sitting on the bus for long.
They have a video camera and a human bus monitor on there, so no funny business. (I'll have to make sure Mia waits until she arrives in class to beat up on people.) As you can see, she gets picked up at 8:05 am (not too bad) and returns home at 3:30. Awesome! She's super excited for this part of her kindergarten transition. Kids on base have to walk.


Saw this while driving to swim class yesterday:

I know, I know - my Japanese will NEVER be as good as their English, but the misspellings and translations will just never get old. Yesterday at San-A (local everything store, kind of like Jusco) I saw so many t-shirts that made me laugh out loud! They love Grateful Dead bears here. I am going to buy myself a Dead t-shirt or 10 at that store when I can because they're hilarious.


Here's the kid diving into the 12' deep end. She's learning a lot this swim session - I love her teacher, she challenges them and Mia's really showing improvement. Ms. Sea Turtle is no Mr. Mike, but hey - what can I do?

Just proof that we're in the flight line - this was taken last night about 3 blocks from our place - can you guess which direction? It's pretty cool though. If you stand on our roof you can wave to the pilots and they wave back. Yeah, they're that close.