Snorkeling at Maeda Flats

Joey had gone snorkeling a few weekends ago with a friend to Maeda Flats and was so excited when he came home because of all the fishes, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and coral he saw. So we went out and bought me a snorkel set, as well as an underwater camera, for our next adventure.

Saturday, we went back to Maeda Flats with the same friend Joey went with earlier, and two other friends who were newbies to snorkeling like me. What an experience! Despite the fact that I would freak out because I didn't know how to use my fins properly, and I hated when my feet couldn't reach the floor, I loved it! I got better towards the end, but only because I decided to ditch the fins. The two newbies went a bit farther out than I did, while Joey and his friend went out past the waves, where the coral dropped off. They even saw a jellyfish, eek!

These fish were a beautiful, bright blue color.
You can see some sea urchins underneath the coral with white tips.

The next day, Joey and I went back by ourselves later in the evening when it was a higher tide than the day before and were able to catch some videos. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time loading the videos, sorry! But the videos don't do justice of what you actually see and experience anyway ... and it's way better than what I learned in Biology class!

A cute blue starfish peeking out of the coral!

Next on the list of things to do on the island, get certified to go Scuba diving ... or maybe after I learn how to use my fins.

Typhoon Sinlaku

Okinawa hasn't had any typhoons this summer, with some just sending us rain. However, it's been a pretty dry season with about 16 days of rain, making officials send out water conservation notices. I read in an article last week that our water level was at 64%, where the average usually is at 95%!

Last week, Joey's work called mentioning that Typhoon Sinlaku was headed our way, and to expect it by Friday and Saturday. We really didn't know how to prepare, and I didn't dare go to the Commissary because we heard it was packed and everything was sold out. If anything, the typhoon wouldn't last more than 2 days, I assumed. We had enough food, water, flashlights, candles, and etc. So, I just went to the shoppette at Torii Station (the closest base), and bought some milk, 2 cup o'noodles, canned corn, and a magazine. Then, I went to Family Mart and bought lunch for me and Joey (he was home because it was the day we received our shipment).

As the weekend approached, and the typhoon conditions constantly changed. With that, we opted to go out and avoid unpacking boxes and organizing our place. As of today, from the looks of it, it seems that Typhoon Sinlaku might just miss our tiny island.

Typhoon Sinlaku at 9/15/08 at 8:00 a.m.

We Have Furniture!

We finally got Joey's shipment from Georgia! He left GA before the weight restriction for the AF was lifted, so he was forced to leave some things in storage. But after he amended his orders with me on them, he was allowed to ship more items because of the increased weight allowance for AD (active duty) with dependents - but was only allowed to ship them once the paperwork and itinerary showed that I was actually arriving on the island. It's been almost three months since he filed the paperwork, and we are so glad that they're finally here! We still have some things in GA, but at least we have our couches! Bye bye ugly green, uncomfortable government issued couches!

Once we get everything organized, we can finally post pictures of our place!

Babies

A little while ago, Joey sent out an email to our family that said something like this:

TITLE: GREAT NEWS! Liza and I are expecting ...
EMAIL: ..... you to be really excited, because I got promoted!

Of course, at the end we put a disclaimer that we are NOT expecting a baby. We got a lot of replies back, the funniest being from one of Joey's sisters where she starts her email off with, "You stupid ass!"

Although I am not ready to have babies of my own anytime soon, I have had some practice recently of what it would be like, sort of. Our friends have asked me to babysit their 10 month old son, being that they are dual active duty, until they find a more suitable caretaker (not that I am unfit or anything). Never having changed a diaper, the first day went great since he had only wet diapers. However, the second day, he had three poopie diapers! Three?!?! Everyone who knows me, knows that I have the most sensitive nose! Just thinking about a foul smell would send me running and gagging, not kidding! Embarrassing as it is to admit, the head wrap used to cover my nose while I changed him didn't stop me from throwing up a little bit in my mouth, and that was before I removed the diaper! I'm getting better though. Now, I only gag once and I'm good. Maybe next time I can do without the make-shift nose wrap. Maybe.


Other baby news, our other friend just gave birth to a baby boy, her second! We just had dinner with them, and I tried to have Joey change the baby's diaper, because he's never changed one either! But, he pretended not to hear me and watched TV instead.

Cars

Okay, people have been asking to see what our cars look like, so ta-da! Joey got the car that he wanted, but of course, wants to upgrade it. Oh, men! I got my box car, that seats 5! So we're just waiting for some visitors from the States to fill them up *hint hint*.

Joey's Skyline

My Dingo

Nago Pineapple Park

Saturday, we took a trip to visit the Nago Pineapple Park with a couple of friends. Despite getting us lost a little bit, due to my excellent directions, we had fun!

The entrance of the park. Cheese!

First, you hop in this pineapple cart and take a mini tour of the pineapples.

The air smelled like sweet, sweet pineapple!

Can you tell when a pineapple is ripe?

At the park, they sell three different pineapple wines and have an all-you-can-drink taste test section of the wines. Joey was the only one to taste the wines because I was driving, and the other two were underage. Before we left, we were sure to buy all three wines, so I could try them too!

The 3 different wines! 'Sweet', 'Dry', and 'Sweet Kiss' which is much smoother.

After the wine section, there is another all-you-can-eat section of pineapple cookies, cakes, pies, and of course, pineapples! Other than the fresh, sweet pineapples, my favorites dessert was the pineapple wine cake! Yummy!

Then of course, a huge gift shop of anything pineapple and more!

This is Habushu, otherwise known as Habu liqueur!
They drown the poisonous habu snake in the wine,
which is supposed to have medicinal purposes
... and very, very expensive!