What started out as a frustrating day...

We start our weekdays out at 5 AM here. That's what time the LDS high schoolers have to get up to go to early morning Seminary class for an hour before their school starts. Luckily they are given classroom space at the high school to do this, so instead of having to drop them at the church and then sleep in the car until it's over to then drive them to school, we just have to drop them off once. At least there is that!

Yesterday at 5:30 AM, Troy informed me that he needed his casual photo for the yearbook "today", and he had stayed up late going through iPhoto and had found nothing he really wanted to use. I asked him about the photos we had done for Mothers' Day in May. He reminded me he was not a Senior then. So then I said, "Tell them we'll send in something tomorrow...one more day won't kill them." To which he replied that it was actually due yesterday, they had already given him one more day. Nice. At this point, I'm groggy, cranky, thinking of all the shopping to do and packages I have to get to the PO today, and say, "Troy, I don't know what you want me to do at this point. I've got nothing. If they can wait until tomorrow, we'll come up with something this afternoon." So Troy leaves for school (love it when it's someone else's week to drive the carpool) and I laid there thinking about how much I hate last minute stuff...especially on this island where resources can be limited as BX shelves get picked over. ("Mom...I need to turn in my display board today...did you get me one?" "Mom...I'm supposed to bring in *fill in the blank* for science today...do we have any?") Then I have to get up to get the younger kids off to school. I wrapped and packaged boxes, addressed labels and made my strategic list of where I needed to go when, and then I start thinking....

What if I pull Troy out of class at lunch and take him somewhere and snap a few pics? Then he could turn them in by the end of school. I consulted his schedule online, and he happened to have study period after lunch, which was perfect. How to get the pics to his thumb drive, though? So, I packed up the camera and my laptop and headed out in the rain, praying we would have at least a few dry minutes to get the job done. I needed to go to Apple Co-op right around the corner to get some more candies for some of the packages I was mailing first before heading down to the school. It was there that I saw this, and started drooling:



I had initially thought I'd just take Troy through the Taco Bell drive-thru on the way back to school...but Troy loves Japanese food more than I do, so I decided to build our own bentos for a van picnic...


LOVE these veggie tempura patties. LOTS of sweet potato in here. Yum!




I'm still trying to get the hang of these rice ball triangles, which are found at every convenience store (they're like the 7-11 $0.99 chili dog of Okinawa).


They are SO yummy! Seaweed wrapped around rice with a filling in the middle. I've taken to collecting the labels and taping them to a card so that I can get the ones I like (salmon or tuna) and avoid those that I don't (roe or nato). It's easier than learning Kanji. Luckily, Troy eats anything, so I knew I couldn't go wrong here.



This pic is for you, Dad. Wouldn't it be lovely to pick up a tray of sashimi vs. hamburger at the supermarket? It rocks!



Then I couldn't resist stopping by the inhouse bakery and picked up some yummy, fresh rolls. Grabbed some drinks out of the cooler, and headed toward the school.

Troy was surprised to see me...but VERY appreciative. I actually had no idea where we were going to take these pictures, but we headed toward the ocean and the sky was clearing over the water! It was still pretty windy, so conditions weren't ideal, but we managed to get a few good ones:











And then had a very nice lunch in the warmth of the van while we uploaded pics to his thumbdrive. Was I happy this morning at the thought of adding one more thing to my to-do list today? That would be a no. Did I have a great time sharing an impromptu lunch with my son who will be leaving home in the blink of an eye? Absolutely!