Thanksgiving in Oki!

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Now going back a few weeks...

November 13th, we had our monthly Ammo social. This month was a dessert social at one of the ladies houses. I enjoyed making some cake batter truffles! But before that, I decided to make chicken and dumplings to practice for Thanksgiving. I found a recipe online that looked the most like my grandmother's that she so graciously prepared for us every year. The hardest part was just rolling the dough out on a slick piece of wax paper that wouldn't hold still on the counter! Flour was everywhere, but they turned out pretty well! I already know what I would change for next time to make them even better.

Dan was also able to finish putting together the taller cat post this week. He wrapped the entire thing in twine so the cats can climb the pole or jump from the lower level. They seem to love being up so high!

Thursday night, the 15th, we hosted small group, so we spent Wednesday and Thursday cleaning and grocery shopping and preparing for a little sub sandwich bar. Then, on Friday, we were invited to someone's house for dinner. The great thing was being able to walk to their house. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and then they refreshed our memory on Euchre so we played several rounds until we both won a few. :) Great night!

Saturday, the 17th, we went to visit our friend in the hospital as she just had her baby on Friday!!! (If you remember me writing about a baby shower a few weeks ago, this is the same girl.) It was so great to visit them and meet little Archer! The last time I held a baby that tiny was in March when my nephew was born! After that, we headed out to do a little Christmas shopping. I can't give too many details on that though. :) But I will say that we were successful! That night, we went to a little surprise birthday party for one of Dan's coworkers and enjoyed another homemade dinner. I always enjoy seeing other people's houses and getting inspiration for ways to decorate our place. We ended the night by going to The Fray concert! It was a little rainy during the whole thing, but that didn't stop them from performing and a few hundred people showed up. Overall, it was a fairly busy day but a great one!

Baby Archer!

Sunday, we were able to see Archer dedicated in church. Everyone was surprised to see a 2 day old baby up there on the stage! Then, we went home for lunch, and then had to pick up a few things at the BX including our Christmas tree! Pretty excited about that. We dropped that stuff off at home then went to check out the Danaher's apartment for the first time. What a great view of the water they have! That would definitely be nice at times if we lived off base. Then, we went to a little shopping center called Naval Kadena. My favorite part was the giant Christmas tree they had decorated next to some palm trees!

Monday, it was back to school and work for us! Tuesday night, Dan had a soccer game and they won! He even scored the first goal! Rock on.

Wednesday, November 21st, Dan's squadron had a nice PT run in the morning. I guess to burn off the calories they would consume for their Thanksgiving feast that afternoon! Dan had to make a turkey, so we had to do a little research online beforehand to figure out what we were doing. But I think he pulled it off, because it was gone before he filled his plate! For school, I decided to make the kids a healthy morning snack and thought this turkey idea was adorable, so I made my own! The kids loved it. Then, we had our Thanksgiving feast and program for the parents. I know you are all wondering what my costume was this month, so drum roll please.....I was the pilgrim! Of course. So we did our photo shoot in the morning with all the kiddos dressed up in little Native American dresses and costumes, my teacher had her own authentic dress, and then I was the pilgrim in the group. Good times! That night, we made dinner for baby Archer's family and then just relaxed that night.

Thursday morning, I made my first pumpkin pies ever. I think I'll have to keep practicing throughout the year to be better prepared for next year! We dropped one off at the AMMO dorms for their Thanksgiving feast and then headed to a friends house to meet up with our small group. We enjoyed appetizers, good company, a few games of Mexican train Dominos, and a wonderful meal! Then that night, we went to the Danahers house to hang out with them for a bit. For being our first Thanksgiving in Okinawa, it was a great one!

The Ammo Crew

Friday, for Black Friday, we slept in! Oh yeah! I haven't slept in on a Black Friday in so long, but it was definitely nice. We did check out the BX around noon, and found this lovely shirt. You just never know who will end up with it ;). Then we enjoyed some delicious pizza for lunch and a relaxing afternoon watching reruns of "How I Met Your Mother". That night, we went out to Sushi Zen for dinner with the Ammo crew, and then Dan had to go do courtesy patrol again. He did this once before back in July (he had to walk the streets and make sure people were out of the bars by curfew). Well this time, they took the group down to Naha and he didn't get back til 5:30 am! Pretty crazy stuff.

Saturday, November 24th, we decided to check out the Okinawa International Carnival festival that was going on right outside our base. I was glad we made it in time for the parade. These are the things I love about living in a different country because they are full of culture. That night they were doing a giant rope tug of war (like the one we saw a month ago but this was about a fourth of the size!). We were there for about an hour and then we saw a 4pm showing of the new James Bond movie, and ended with dinner at a place we haven't been to yet called Capitals Steakhouse. It was a delicious teppanyaki steak dinner!

Sunday, we went to the first service at church so we could do a little shopping before we went ice skating! When I was at the travel center booking our IE resort stay a few weeks ago, they told me about a special discount on ice skating tickets that made them more than half off. We met up with one other couple and drove down south to find the Southern Hill Sports World. It was pretty easy to find and get everything we needed, and then we did a little skating! I love the little kids police car that people can push on the ice- so cute! There were tons of kids on the ice and even one girl who looks like she'll be in the Olympics someday. Apparently my students get to take a field trip here in February so I'm already looking forward to that!

Monday (November 26th) after school, I went hunting for a wreath to hang outside our door. I found a few cute inserts and just wanted one already wrapped in the green garland and I remember Crafty Things having one a while ago. Sadly, they just had a pre-lit one that was a little expensive, but I got it before they had absolutely nothing left, and decorated it when I got home! I'm pretty pleased with it. :D  AND on another exciting night, we finished Christmas shopping that night--well for our families at least. Just need to buy some priority boxes and get them in the mailed and hope they make it on time!

So that catches you up on a few busy weekends. Sorry I took so long to post making this ridiculously full of fun times. Hope everyone is doing well!

--Krista