Flashback Friday...Break A Leg!

In honor of Patrick's upcoming play, I decided today we'd flashback three years to his last play, Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", where he played the part of villain, "Don Jon" and did a very convincing job.


Sorry the pictures are so lousy...it's the best I could do in the dark without flash (and my limited photog skillz).











Here he is during intermission. Doesn't he look evil? In a cute sort of way? On the left side is director, Susan Taylor. She did such a fabulous job!



Just like in Patrick's upcoming play here...many male parts were played by girls. I know who's who...but can you tell?



Patrick is so at home on the stage. He's always been a joy to watch. The rest of the kids went to watch him last night on opening night and said he was fabulous. We had a schedule conflict last night and tonight, so opted for closing night. They should have it down perfect by then, right? Can't WAIT to go tomorrow!

I Can Has Reelijun?

Cliff: "OK, family...it's time for reading and prayer...Coree, it's your turn to read...grab the Book of Mormon."

Coree: "What chapter are we on?"

.........


Charlotte: "We will read when kitty says it's time to read...and that time is not now."



"Nope...not now, either."

Occupational Hazard

I heard the front door open at the usual "activity bus" time, and this face walked down the hall...


Just a day in the life of a Pirate of Penzance.

Can't wait to see his swashbuckling play.

(OK, so I'm teasing...he's not going to wear silver buckle slippers and tight, shiny pants*...He's performing in Treasure Island.)

*Anyone remember that song?

Salad Supremacy

I have always loved salad. It requires a lot of prep work, for sure...but it is SO worth it. And ever since we moved to Japan, I have been LOVING the sesame dressing here (only I think it's a little thick, so I pour mine from the big bottle into a smaller bottle and water it down).

Lately, my salad skillz have gone off the charts. Pretty much anything (plant based) goes.

In this bowl, you will find:

lettuce (3 kinds)
cilantro
cherry tomatoes
avocado
carrots
yellow pepper
green onion
mushrooms
green grapes
celery
sliced almonds
dried cranberries
cucumbers

Sometimes, I might add any of the following:

fresh basil
artichoke hearts
various sprouts
strawberries
spinach
fresh dill
cabbage
black beans
kidney beans
red pepper
Greek olives
edamame (boiled soybeans)
pineapple
carmelized onions
capers
umeboshe (pickled plum)
seaweed flakes
toasted pinenuts

I have yet to make a combination that I didn't love. Maybe it's the magic sesame dressing?

Court of Honor 2010

Last night we had our first Court of Honor since we've been on Okinawa...


As I sat in the back, I couldn't help but admire my awesome boys...
(while someone else admired their nails)



This was Jake's first Court of Honor, so this was the first time all 3 of them were sitting with their troop together.



Troy (as Sr. Patrol Leader) presented the merit badges the boys had earned at camp.



Way to go, boys!



Jake earned his Tenderfoot (and is now only lacking the campouts for Second Class and First Class...so he'll get both of those in no time, too). Each rank is accompanied by a Mom Pin...



And (of course) the coveted kiss!



Patrick earned his "On My Honor" award. It's the LDS religious award which youth can earn through Boy Scouting (each faith group which is affiliates with BSA has their own). It's kind of a big deal.



Here's the whole lot of 'em. Aren't they a good looking group?



This is Jake's 11 yr. old Scout leader, Bro. Petrini. He rocks!



Oh, how I love these Stuart men!



Even if they can be total goofballs.



And here is our most current family photo. Enjoy!

Cliff Canvases Korea

Finally...the post you have all been waiting for...(OK, the post I'VE been waiting for...so I can clear out this backlog of other posts I have in the cue!) I finally got Cliff to sit down with me and pick some pics from his Korea trip and tell me about them. The words here are my own (have to protect the innocent).


The Marine Corps always travels in the lap of luxury. Starting with a 0400 flight in a KC-130J. Pretty posh, no? It was about a 3 hour flight, so not bad.

Cliff was in Korea for about a month as part of an exercise. They got a chance to go out for liberty on the weekends. Sometimes they had stuff arranged for them to participate in, but sometimes they were on their own. Between the other Chaplains and RPs (Chaplain Assistants) he was there with...and the other guys in his Marine unit, he always managed to find company. (Hey, can he help it? If I was there, I'd want to hang out with him, too!)



This particular liberty, he was riding the train into Seoul with some other chaplains and doctors (Navy has to stick together sometimes, right?)



They went to the top of the N Seoul Tower and took a look around.



This is what they saw.



Cliff can't remember for sure, but thinks this is a Buddhist priest (as opposed to Judas Priest? I am so going to hell. Wait...do Buddhists believe in hell?). Anyway, Cliff said he was very nice, he spoke some English and has a brother in California. I said, "Near Anaheim, maybe?" It took Cliff a minute, but I earned a chuckle/eye-roll combo. (Yes, I'm headed to hell for sure...just reserve my non-stop ticket on the bullet train...)



They spent some time shopping, as well. Cliff brought home a very lovely amethyst pendant for moi. They specialize in amethyst in Korea. I like this place already.



Had to share some Engrish. What does one have to do to be an influential force in the vinyl toy world? ("I am a force to be reckoned with! {in the vinyl toy world, that is}")



I would LOVE to go around the world collecting pictures of mannequins. It is SO interesting to see each culture's take on the mannequin. ("Hmmm...we need to make our mannequins appealing and inviting...something people could see themselves in..." "OH, I know! How about Satan in his underwear?")



They got snow a couple of times during the trip...which was a pretty sharp contrast to the balmy breezes in paradise I was experiencing here in March.



This was another liberty trip. This one was an organized event put on by the Korea-America Friendship Society. This statue really defies description for me, so just click, enlarge and enjoy. This was outside the cultural hall where the event was held.



This was Cliff's favorite act. There were other singers and dancers, including some famous Korean opera stars.



Lunch was served as part of the tour.



Looks very yummy. Cliff says it's called Bulgogi, meaning thin slices of marinated sirloin beef you grill yourself and add veggies and noodles.



The Korean forces base parking lot. Not kidding.
(I've seen similar lots in Tokyo, too... and an indoor bike garage a block long.)



And once again, first class accommodations headed home. This picture makes me smile. Not just because of the gorgeous guy in the middle...but I know both of these guys Cliff is seated with, and they (and their wives) are some of our dearest friends here. We are so lucky to be surrounded by great people. Marines rock!

Junior/Senior Prom 2010

Prom here is just for upperclassmen...meaning you can't even ASK someone from a lower grade to be your date. Man, my sophomore year would have been totally boring if that had been the case!

Anyway...Troy opted to go stag with a bunch of friends to Prom. He just wasn't eager to relive the stress of a date like Homecoming. I'm glad he decided to go, since he had missed Winter Formal in favor of the High Adventure hike with Boy Scouts.


He got a new suit, tie and shoes for the occasion. Thank goodness for the BX...can you imagine trying to find a suit for him otherwise? Sometimes it's hard being a 6'3" guy in a society where 5'6" is tall.



Doesn't he look great?



Here he is waiting in Lopez for the .2 kilometer ride from our house to the Butler O Club. But you can't really WALK to Prom, can you?



He was getting kind of tired of the pics by this point. I even gave him money to get a group pic of his friends taken with the photographer. He said he would only do it if someone else suggested it. Nobody did, DANG IT!



Here's the scene. I LOVE that skyline scene on the dance floor!



The whole thing looked very classy! And they got to bring those swirly glasses home, too. (That'll be useful.)

The time is ticking down. Prom is over, ACT down, next...SAT and AP tests, scholarship app. results, and before you know it...graduation!

Flashback Friday...Abercrombie called...

They want their shirt (and their pose) back.


Jake, Age 4

I swear there was NOTHING posed about this photo. I walked in to find this little boy laying on my bed, watching TV like this. Luckily, I'm never far from a camera.

He HATES it when I show people this photo.

Which is, you know...why I included it in his baptism slideshow...and why I'm sharing it here. I believe it's my parental duty to keep him humble.

Jake's Yoron Adventure...by Jake

I have a guest poster today! Jake wanted to share his pictures with us and tell us about his trip to Yoron Island. He had some technical difficulties with the camera (it was a disposable, waterproof camera that you could reload...only the film would not advance) so he wasn't able to get as many pictures as he had hoped. These are from a regular disposable camera he brought (which didn't have the reloading option....bummer).

Anyway, take it away, Jake!


If you ever plan (like me) to get on another island surrounding Okinawa, this would be the ferry you would be riding. The ride to Yoron Island is about 2 hours.



It may not look so fancy in this area, but otherwise it's like a five story, floating hotel.



This would be the mat that you would be sleeping on, if you wanted to. There are also restaurants and lounges...but most people lay on these mats and rest.



You have a good view of the sea outside and neighboring islands to Okinawa.



These people look so excited because on the ferry, there were three sea-sick kids and the ride was very long.



This is one of the awesome beaches on Yoron Island. Out in the distance you can barely see a coral reef.



This is my team's bamboo shipyard. We were lashing large bamboo polls together so we could have the raft go out to sea. Everyone was assigned to make rafts in teams, organized by minshukus*. We were pulled out by a jet ski on our raft and we had paddles. Basically, we went out to sea and then paddled back. Our team did well...no one fell over.



This is the sugar cane that I carried with me while I was hiking. We went to caves on Yoron and we also went to an ancient Yoron village...and then finally we ground up our sugar cane on this big (yet surprisingly simple) sugar cane grinding machine. This made the sugar cane into juice. They took all of our stems and put them into the machine, and 3 people at a time grabbed the big pole to push, which made a gear in the machine spin, and there were two gears beside it, and that's what ground the sugar cane. We each got about a bathroom sized Dixie cup worth of sugar cane juice.



This is my friend, Mitsuru. He's from mainland Japan. We were together since day one. We didn't speak each other's language, but we used hand signals and showing things to communicate. On the last day, we had a legitimate conversation through a chaperon/translator.

We were also assigned partners for the whole week. My partner was the daughter of the Indonesian Ambassador to Japan. I didn't get her picture or her email address...but she got mine and I hope she emails me.



Yoron Island is mostly farm land...mostly sugar cane crops. This hay is for the cows.



This is from the last night we were there. There was a big dance-off between the American and Japanese staff and the different minshukus*. Our group performed to "We're All in This Together". The orange minshuku did my favorite..."Thriller" and they won. We came in second.

I hope my friends I made remember me. I hope other kids in the future get to experience the wonders of Yoron Island, too.

*a minshuku is like a family-run Bed and Breakfast. The American kids each stayed in a minshuku with several Japanese and/or Indonesian kids for the week. They also divided up into minshukus for the contests and activities.