Are you ready for some football?!

WE'RE ready...rain or shine!



Troy is number 68. These pics are from Kubasaki's first home game against Kadena.


Does this look familiar?
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How about now?



Hit 'em hard, Troy!


Patrick was recruited to help with the markers. (If you look back at the second picture, you can see him up in the upper right corner.) We were imagining what he was saying to Troy at half time here..."Did you see me with the orange flag? Did you see me running up and down the line? Did you SEE how I staked that marker into the ground? You can totally tell I've been working out."


And these are pics from Kubasaki's first away game at our rival, Kadena High.


Love the green on green...(is it wrong to care about fashion in football?)


Way to hustle, Troy!


That's Troy, crouched down in the green right in front. I discovered it's really hard to get defensive line action shots...


They all just come out looking like this.
(This pic was taken right after the shot above it...all you can see is Troy's legs, as his torso is buried in the guy's chest in front of him.)

We have been having LOTS of fun watching Troy play...and we are so proud of and amazed by the progress he has made. He has been so dedicated to the team. He started in April with Spring training...and went from not thinking he could do it after ten minutes had gone by on the first day, to being able to do most everything the other players did (maybe some of them a little slower) in June. He worked out at the gym 2 1/2 hours every weekday over the summer for football conditioning, with no one but a friend (a fellow player) and himself to be accountable to. I never had to remind him of anything (quite the other way around actually) and he never complained.

Official practice started (with full gear in the hot and humid Okinawan glory) on August 10th, and his coaches were so pleased with the progress he'd made over the summer. His hard work has really paid off.

Troy will have the opportunity to do at least 2 off-island games this year...a privilege the Varsity team looks forward to.

Go Dragons!

Flashback Friday...Suave Sunbathers

1996 Joliet, Illinois

Today I came across this picture while looking for some others and it made me smile BIG.

I remember that little red Speedo...just like I remember trying to beat the Illinois humidity.

Taming of the Shrew (and friends)...

Not only did Susan and Andrew come help our kids secure everything during the typhoon warning...they came back and helped put everything back together before Cliff and I came home. Aren't they awesome?

It took us a week to make the connection between our missing garbage can (we have the heavy, metal old-school cans) and the securing of outdoor objects that took place in our absence. I just thought someone forgot to bring it back from the curb or maybe was using it in the backyard or something. Upon doing a more purposeful search, I found it stowed behind the A/C unit and put two and two together.

Not even giving it a second thought, I grabbed the can's metal handle and gave it a good tug, uncovering the following:






FIVE of these things! Shrews are everywhere here, by the way. It's not uncommon to see several cross through your headlights, while driving through the neighborhood on any given night.

Here's a little shrew story (you know, so that you don't feel TOO jealous that we live in paradise). Remember the night that Cliff and I came home and the A/C was out and we took the kids to get something to eat? When we we pulled the borrowed van up to our house to load it up with kids, we saw a sight that still makes me throw up a little in my mouth when I think of it...a swarm (I mean thousands) of little black beetles devouring an adult shrew. So violent was their feasting, that they were moving this entire carcass INCHES per minute across the ground...TINY beetles were doing this. I could not even bring myself to take pictures it was so horrid. In the few minutes it took us to gather the kids and bring them out, the horde had moved the shrew from the hill in front of our house and onto the pavement by the passenger side of the van. By the time we got home, the horde of beetles had disappeared, and only a stripped, white, perfect shrew skeleton remained...several yards from where we last witnessed the carnage.

Anyway, we wondered if it was possible that the above shrew belonged to these babies. We didn't think so, but just in case, we gathered them up in a critter keeper, Jake dug them a little shelter near where we found them (since I was taking my trashcan) and we put them back and covered them up, to give them the best possible chance. We left them alone, but several days later, we saw one of them wandering around the bushes where we left them, so at least one of them was still living, and it was developing more mature fur. It seemed to be hunting for insects, so while we don't know if mom was still in the picture, they may have made out OK.


It was a banner day, because then look what Jake spotted in our front tree:


Luckily (or not) Jake has no less than 5 critter keepers at his disposal for opportunities such as this. He kept this guy for a couple of days, fed and observed him, and then returned him to his tree.


And these guys are SO yesterday, I don't even get excited about them anymore. It is evidently their birthing season, though...because babies abound in our abode. The above illustrates why we wash our pans before AND after we use them.

Hey, if I have to choose between geckos or spiders...I'm sure you can guess which I'd choose!

Male Bonding

An all-male Saturday afternoon in the boyz room...



Well, OK...with one exception...but she gets called "he" all the time, anyway...even with her pink rhinestone collar.



Dad was taking this opportunity to make up for lost time by schooling Troy in football...



Madden Football '10, to be exact!



"Psst...Jake...Make me a sammich"

SCUBA, SCUBA...Scooby doobie dooba...Here we go SCUBA...Come on!*

OHHHH YEEAAHH!

Tsunami Scuba on Camp Foster ROCKS! As part of the Deployed Spouses Program, they offer one free tuition to the spouse of a deployed service member (about $120 worth...I only had to pay for my books...about $70). Originally, I had no intention of learning to dive when I got here, but after being on top of the water snorkeling, watching the divers below going around to look at whatever they wanted...I was totally jealous! I HAD to learn to dive. As soon as the weather warmed up, I tried to get into a class, but in vain. It was PCS (moving) season and as a result, there was a shortage of instructors. By the time I was able to get into a class, Cliff was almost due home. By the time the class started, Cliff WAS home. So this is how we ended up taking SCUBA together, two days after he returned to Okinawa.

I know what an awesome opportunity it is to learn to dive here. The base classes are CHEAP, and some divers live their whole lives wishing to come here to dive just once. And we LIVE here...for three whole years! Knowing that, I wanted the whole family to take advantage of the opportunity. Jake was totally eager...and he's old enough, but only if we can find 3 other children 10-14 years old to take the jr. class with him, as he's too young for an adult class. Coree said NO WAY, NO HOW! That eel just did her in. Patrick was in for sure, but since football season is the time and season for only FOOTBALL, Troy would have to miss out until next year.

Cliff, Patrick and I started our week long course with a night of classroom work, followed by a night of fun in the deep end of the pool, more classroom work (including a final exam), ANOTHER night at the pool, and finally, time for our first 2 dives in the actual ocean!


Here's the first group, about to disappear into the deep...



While Patrick (still healing from a broken collar bone, mind you) practices his Parkour on the jacks...



under mom's watchful eye.



"Yeah, I still got it!"



"What?"



Chillin' on the seawall, waiting for our turn.



Finally, it's our turn to go...



The sign for "Everything's good". I had to keep reminding myself not to give the "thumbs up"...which means, "Let's go up now".



Patrick demonstrating his skillz



And he wouldn't be Patrick if he didn't ham it up.



This guy is my favorite. I love blue.



This deadly poisonous sea snake swam right up beside us as he headed to his hidey hole in the wall. I wasn't afraid, he didn't look like he cared that we were there, but it's still a little scary to contemplate.


Here's some other friends we made:








This guy seriously would not leave me alone. It's like he was in love with my fins. Doesn't he look like he's trying to tell me something here?

Conditions were actually pretty bad that day...so the water was very choppy and murky, which really interferes with visibility. Even at that, I was pretty excited by all that we saw. I couldn't believe I was actually SCUBA diving!

Unfortunately, Patrick and I woke up the next day (the day we were supposed to do dives 3 and 4 to finish our certification) with heads so soggy and ears full of so much pressure, we knew there was no way we could go back into the water safely. Patrick's ear even started bleeding a little. We each saw our doctors and although there was lots of visible pressure, neither were too worried, but even still we were cautioned to stay out of the water until we could be medically cleared.

Can't wait until we get to finish our certification, and we can go whenever we want! My partner in crime, Susan, took a refresher course so that she can join me, too! snorkeling was fun, but taking the kids SCUBA diving? Priceless!

*Bonus points if you can tell me where this title comes from.

Flashback Friday...Happy Birthday Troy!

Troy turned 17 yesterday! Can you believe it? I can't! Makes me feel OLD! In just 5 years from now, he will have already been home from his mission for a whole year!



Contrast that with just five years ago (5 years that have just flown by!) and Troy was just turning 12. Here he is with the Kitty-litter cake that he just HAD to have! It's made with vanilla pudding, vanilla sandwich cookies chopped up in the blender (some of them mixed with green food coloring to get that authentic look of green crystals in the mix) and microwaved tootsie rolls shaped "just so". Served in a NEW litter pan, with a NEW litter scoop. Good times! Funny thing was, even though all these tough boys talked about how awesome it was, NONE of them could eat more than a bite or two. BTW...this was not Troy's "real" birthday cake. We made this one on his actual birthday just for fun (right before Cliff got home from deployment) but he had a traditional birthday cake at the laser tag place where his party was held (right after Cliff got home).



Just five short years before that...here's Troy's 7th birthday party, where he received his first deck of Pokemon cards! He's speechless! Oh, the allowance that was spent on those things! Not to mention the money I spent on binders, page protectors, other misc. paraphernalia...not to mention the Black Friday of '99, spent in the line snaking around Toys R Us at 2 AM, just to get a limited edition playing mat (that turned out to be folded paper!) and a limited edition code to unlock a character in the Pokemon game for Gameboy Color (the character which he promptly "lent" to a friend--by beaming it over to his game, however that works--and never got back...not that I'm not over it by now!).



And five years before that...here he is turning TWO! Oh what I wouldn't give to squeeze that two year old some more! Not that he'd let me...he wasn't really big on being held and squeezed.

So this year, we celebrated Troy's birthday at a Teppanyaki joint called "Jack's Place" on Kadena. It was very good! Definitely worth doing again.

Here's the anatomy of a birthday dinner:


You know it's gonna be good when there's a tower of butter involved!



And in the "the grosser, the better" category...Troy decided to try Escargot. He thought it was good. I'll take his word for it.



Shrimp cocktails all around (except for Troy, who chose that other stuff...bleck!)



Look at all this yumminess! Kobe beef, shrimp, scallops...something for everyone!



Everything's more fun when you light it on fire!



When we were sufficiently stuffed, it was time for cake and presents...



Was this for Troy...or Dad? Hmmm...suspicious.



Well, at least we know this was really for Troy...Dad already has one.



It was a terrific night, in celebration of one terrific young man!

Happy Birthday, Troy!