October? Still feels like Aug here

October finds Ben finished up with baseball and hurrying headlong into tackle football.  He has played several seasons of flag football, but I wasn't super excited for him to make the switch over to tackle.  Jim of course was all for it, and before he left us for F-35 flight training in Beaufort back in August, he signed Ben up.  Luckily football only slightly overlapped with baseball but for several weeks Ben was going to a practice every single day of the week.  So that means I was also going to a practice every.single.day.of.the.week.  Add that to the girls' schedule and it is a miracle we ever ate dinner.  But I digress.  Ben landed on the Bulldogs.  He is playing Defensive Lineman mostly although sometimes he finds himself on special teams and Offense.  

There are four teams in his division and so far the only other team to give them any competition is another Georgia team - the Yellow Jackets!  I do wish the league had picked a different ACC team (like Clemson!!) but oh well.  I have told him he needs to wear different colored socks because I am having a hard time picking him out on the field!  So far his coaches haven't yelled at him.

At long last, Jim is set to fly back to Japan.  We have been sending him lists of things we want from the states - mainly from Costco.  Ahhh Costco.  We miss you!!  He sent me a picture of his extra suitcase - yes he has a suitcase just for things we wanted him to bring back - don't judge.

Columbus Day means no school for the kids and an opportunity to check out some sights.  Originally there was going to be a scuba class but the sea conditions weren't cooperating so we I decided to head to a nearby castle ruin.  Waze sent us to a park near the ruins at first, which wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but the kids did play on the structures for a few minutes before piling back into the car and helping me navigate to the actual ruins.
Nakagusuku Castle ruin is one of 100 famous castles in Japan.  It is designated as a Japanese historical site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  You can google it for a full history lesson, but the highlight is this: The first generation of Ryukyuan Lords built the castle around the middle of the 14th century.  It had been expanded by many subsequent generations.  Commodore Perry visited the site in 1853 and compared it with Egyptian architecture.  It is in remarkable shape considering it's age.  The kids had a great time exploring and trying to decipher the signage which is in fairly broken English, but you can usually get the gist of what is trying to be conveyed. 

Kids at the "Ufugaa Well"

The main reason they agreed to go to the castle ruins was my promise to take them to a Family Mart for lunch.  Family Mart is similar to a 7-Eleven but with MUCH better food.  We were introduced to them within the first week of arriving on the island and if the kids could eat there every day they would!  

Jim finally made it back!  We are all pretty excited!  No one more then me!! Well maybe Wesley. I think that dog ran around in circles for a good 10 minutes losing his mind when Jim finally came in the door.   

Jim hit the ground running which is a good thing because the schedule didn't really leave any room for jet lag.  Shortly after getting back we got invited to a Tuna cutting.  I don't know what I expected but it certainly wasn't what we got.  It was pretty much the live cutting of a giant blue fin tuna.  There was also a Filipino band for the entertainment.  It was FANTASTIC!!  A little louder then it really needed to be for the room we were in, but fantastic none the less.  Apparently this is an annual event where the Marines and some local Japanese dignitaries come together to party.  The sushi/sashimi was delicious!   

I had a function at another base the next weekend so Jim decided to do some exploring with the kids.  First up a ramen restaurant followed by an Okinawan favorite - Blue Seal ice cream!  I had been resisting going without him, but he apparently had no such qualms.

You can't always get what you need from the area exchanges (military stores).  Sometimes you just have to go to Lowes.  Alas, no Lowes over here, but we do have several hardware type stores over here.  One very popular one is called Makeman.  The logo has a monkey in overalls on it.  There is another one close by that has a lion on the sign.  I don't know what the name is, so I just call it the Lion Makeman.  This my go-to place simply because it is super close to the house.  Last time I was there I picked up a laundry shelving system for my laundry room because when this house was "updated" (and I am using that term VERY loosely), the designers decided to make a laundry room with ZERO shelves!!  Actually that is a lie, there is one two-door counter cabinet with matching overhead cabinets.  It is seriously the strangest set up I have ever experienced.  I was feeling smart that day so I purchased this.  Once I got home I realized that all the instructions were in Japanese.  I figured, how hard could it be.  Pretty hard as it turns out.  Well not hard, just not simple.  

But I DID IT!!

The weather has been so nice recently and Ben has been bugging us to do some more waterfall-related excursions so we teamed up with Team Cicchi to check off another box.  This time it was Ta-Taki waterfall.  The hike itself is about a 30 minute out and back river trek.  The rocks are pretty slippery in some areas but you wouldn't know if by the mountain goat abilities of the kids.  They were scrambling all over the rocks and jumping into the pools within minutes of getting to the river.  The trail ends at the waterfall.  The pictures don't do it justice.

On the way home from the falls, we stopped by another park that we thought was going to have a ropes course.  Turns out is wasn't exactly that, more of an elevated trail with some rope swings.  Kids didn't care.  They ran around until closing. 

Ben doing his best "Pitfall" impersonation

Lucy and Ben are dressing up as dinosaurs for Halloween this year.  I think I am more excited about this then they are.  I have been wanting to buy these for a while now.  Their plan is meet up with several other friends who are also dressing up as dinosaurs to trick or treat.  I foresee these costumes making many appearances throughout the year(s).

Lilly hasn't been idle either.  She is still working hard on her serve in volleyball and has even been invited to do some workouts with the varsity team a few times.  She and her friends also decided to attend the Homecoming dance.  I remember Homecoming as being a fairly big deal when I was in high school.  There were powder puff games between the classes, the halls were decorated, a whole week of wearing different theme clothes, a parade and of course the football game & dance!  It is pretty different here.  If there were activities they were all a secret.  Not sure if that is just a Japan thing or just how it is these days.  There was a football game and a parade and a dance and I think that was pretty much it.  The first dress she ordered didn't work and so we scrambled and had a friend's daughter who was coming to visit the week before dance bring it with her.  That was a life saver!! She looked beautiful and had a great time!

While Lilly was at home getting ready for the dance, Lucy and Ben were finally finishing up their diving qualifications.  It has been extremely hard to get them in the water.  We have been dodging Typhoons and unsafe water conditions for several weeks on end.  It has only taken 2 months, but they are finally certified!  Hopefully Lilly will be able to knock it out faster.

Halloween in Okinawa means lots of haunted houses.  Apparently it is a pretty big deal and all the kids were super excited to hit as many as possible.  Lucy met up with a few friends and Ben joined another group of friends until linking up for the last couple.  While the kids were running around Kadena Air Base, Jim and I took the opportunity to try out one of the cool restaurants in the area.   

Since we are on an island, generally if you see something in a store and you want it you better buy it because chances are it will not be there when you return the next time!  The kids and I had been watching the pumpkin bins at the commissaries start to dwindle but I was still holding out.  Pumpkins have a tendency to rot pretty quickly (read overnight) in hot, humid weather.  The prices are also ridiculous.  Finally the day came that I thought would be the perfect time to buy - but guess what, no pumpkins at the Kadena commissary.  OH NO!!! Thankfully the Foster commissary had just gotten a new shipment and even better, since it was the 29th, the pumpkins were already on sale!!  BONUS! We usually buy 4 pumpkins, but I decided we could survive with just 2 this year.  As always, time got away from us when it came time to carve the pumpkins and the kids decided to go with a more classic design versus the complicated ones of years past.  Another win for mom!

Our housing area doesn't have that many kids so we decided to go over to an adjacent neighborhood on Camp Foster and let the kids trick-or-treat with their friends over there.  Of course after we made that decision the word went out that a local Japanese orphanage was going to be bused over to our neighborhood to trick or treat.  Oh well, we have been leaving candy out on our porch for years, I guess this year won't be any different.  

Lucy and Ben were anxious to hang out with their friends so we drove over early and settled in with the Cicchis and the Shulers to have some dinner and some adult conversation while the kids run amok!  The dinosaurs were extremely entertaining while they were getting ready and then before you could say trick or treat - they were off!

Lilly also got in some trick-or-treat action but of course starting in our chosen neighborhood was not going to happen.  She did agree to end her night with us so I guess we should be happy about that.  It was a fairly early night since it was a Thursday even though the schools out here had the right idea by not having school the next day - GENIUS!  All school districts need to adopt this policy.  Either that or Halloween should be celebrated on the last Saturday of October regardless of that actual date.  Jim disagrees with this and thinks Halloween should always be on the 31st.  Easy for him to say. 

I have made you guys wait til the very end of this edition to give you an update on our crazy cat.  We have finally decided on a name.  Let me introduce you to Yoshi.  It means "Good Luck" and we feel that it is about the most perfect name for him given the circumstances.  He continues to do really well with his recovery.  His hair is slowly coming in and his walk is starting to smooth out.  The vet has assured me that as his nerves repair and his muscles start to develop his gait will improve.  The fact that he is walking at all is a miracle!