Trip down south!

The first week of August was actually sort of busy for me! I spent a lot of time cleaning and cooking. We had one couple over for dinner on Tuesday as they just got to the island. So that was fun to play "host" for the first time since our house is actually complete now!

Thursday the 2nd, Dan had to figure out how to wear his Chem gear (in case of a chemical attack). Apparently, its very hot and he thinks he might lose 10 lbs the week he has to wear it (end of August)! Should have more stories on that in a few weeks after their "exercise" consisting of five long 12 hour days. Thursday night, we hosted small group for the first time. So I spent the day cleaning and making a yummy dinner of beef stroganoff, green beans, strawberry salad, and Special K bars. My favorites! It went well and it was nice to actually have people sit on our new furniture. :P

Beef stroganoff and green beans! YUM!

Friday morning, I took the kittens to the vet for their 3rd and final set of vaccinations. They get better every time! They both held still for the whole thing, and now they won't need more until their 1 year appointment next April. Then, after a fun lunch with a new AMMO spouse, Alicia, I was thrilled when I went to check our mail and found out my 16x20 poster had arrived! Love it!! I just love the picture because it was taken the first week we were here, Dan is in uniform, and we are by the water so it shows Okinawa. It will always remind me of this new adventure that we started!
      That night, Dan was pretty pooped after work, so we just stayed home, made a pizza, and watched the season 2 finale of Castle and started season 3. Anyone else watch that show?? What an ending! AND I just found out that the books Richard Castle writes on the show, actually exist and are available to purchase. That blew my mind. ABC really did a great job making people believe that the character really exists, with his own website and all. That might be my new summer reading project.....

We're growing up so fast!

Saturday, August 4th, Dan had to go in to work at 6:30 to do Typhoon Preparation since apparently we were supposed to be hit by Monday, but he was home by 9:30ish thankfully! So I decided to experiment and make "cinnamon sugar pull apart bread". (http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/04/cinnamon-pull-apart-bread/) Well that failed majorly. The dough was still raw when it was supposed to be done, so we had to dump them all in a bread loaf pan and cook it again. Next time, I think I'll skip using the ramekins!

We spent the afternoon watching some of the Olympics and then decided it was time to get out of the house before we went crazy. We needed a couple things from the BX, so we went there. And then instead of going home, Dan decided hey, let's drive to the most southern part of Okinawa. We need to explore the whole island right? So instead of going home, we started driving south for almost 2 hours before we found the end! It was crazy because there were so many rough waves compared to around here, where there are practically none. And there were a few Japanese people way out there surfing! We watched them for a bit, and then started driving back to Kadena. Long drive just for a few minutes of sight-seeing, but it was an adventure. Before we found a good lookout spot, we were actually driving through some different fields (hopefully not private property!). On the way back, we stopped to eat at MosBurger and ordered a meal for 2 not really knowing what we ordered. We think it was a teriyaki burger and a Mos burger with some crazy sauce and lots of onion. Good times! Then we made it back home and enjoyed the rest of the evening.