Wow...it's been a long time!

I really need to get better about this whole blogging thing! Now I have too much to say and too many pictures and it's gonna be huge! Well, It's been a crazy time for us over here in Oki! Juanpablo was in Korea for 6 weeks for training and got back right before Easter. He wasn't supposed to get home until after Easter but he was able to get on a plane and come home early. We were so excited! Juanpablo almost missed the plane. He and some buddies had left to get some food and hang out because they (the people at the airport on base) had told them that the plane had to be fixed and the part wouldn't be there until 4 p.m. Well, around 2 they came out of the USO where they had been hanging out and they see a guy that tells them the rest of the guys are already at the airport and the plane is ready to take off. They have to run back and get their stuff and head to the airport. When they got there the whole place was empty. They thought for sure they had missed the plane, but luckily an airport guy told them that they hadn't, they barely made it. So, thank goodness, he made it home earlier than expected. He got home with only a day or so left of Sam's spring break and so after Juanpablo took some leave we pulled Sam out of school for a week and did some exploring of our beautiful island. There is so much to do here and we can't believe that we've already been here 9 months and we haven't even done half of what we want to. At least we have a little over 2 years left and so we have plenty of time to keep checking stuff out. During our little vacation we saw many beautiful and fun places. We went to these beautiful royal gardens that were used years and years ago for meetings with Chinese diplomats. We got to walk through the house and the grounds where beautiful, they have these stone bridges and a gazebo, and it was just so peaceful there. We also went and checked out the Japanese Naval Headquarters Tunnels. We got to see where the Japanese headquarters were during the Battle of Okinawa. The tunnels were so small. It was really sad too, there is a wall that shows where some of the soldiers shot themselves or used grenades rather than be captured. Sam was a little scared of being in the tunnels because they were small and dark. It was very sobering. After that is when we went to the gardens and then we found a really fun park that had like a mini Ninja Warrior set up. Sam went through it all. He had so much fun! And they have these huge roller slides at a lot of parks here in Okinawa. It's pretty cool and fun for the whole family! We also went to this place called Ryukyu Mura, it is similar to Colonial Williamsburg in VA. We got to see old time Okinawan style dancing and singing and there was a clown type guy, but he freaked Bella out! Then we got to walk around and see the houses and we took a picture with some people in old time dress. It was lots of fun, though it was raining at the time. We saw a 3D movie they have there about snakes and mongooses. It was freaky. We also went to the zoo, Juanpablo had never been but it was like the 3rd time that the kids and I had gone. The zoo here is really kinda sad. The animals don't have a lot of room, the cages are pretty small. They have funny signs on the cages of the chimpanzee, tiger and lion. On the Chimp cage they have a picture of a person with the chimp throwing poop at the face of the person. On the tiger and lion cages it is the same sign, a cat spraying the face of a person and the person crying....hahaha...it just makes me laugh. Funny signs. Not something that you would see in the states!

I just had to put pictures of the signs up here...

We then spent a few days camping at a resort called Okuma. We have been there before and it's so beautiful. It was much warmer than the last time that we went! We went out on the paddle boats on our second day there. It was not a fun experience! There were some pretty rocks and a little island a little way out and so we decided to paddle over there. It only took us 20 minutes to get there. We walked around a little on the island and then got in the boat with 25 minutes til we had to turn the paddle boat back in. Well, everytime we would start going we got pushed back by the wind and the current onto the rocks. Juanpablo had to keep jumping into the water and pushing us off the rocks. The water was cold and he wasn't wearing any shoes. I was the only one with shoes on, so he ended up using my shoes, and his feet are way bigger than mine. And my shoes have little bows on them...it was pretty funny! But they saved his feet from the rocks. I was holding Bella because she was not very happy. We just kept on getting sent back to the rocks. It was so frustrating. And when we finally got away from the rocks we ended up going in circles. The rudder thing(I think that's what it's called, the thing that is supposed to help us go the direction we need to) didn't work! I would turn in one direction and we'd start going in a circle, so I would turn it in the opposite direction and we would just keep going in the circle. It was so crazy! Luckily the water wasn't that deep and so Juanpablo and I would jump out of the boat and try to push us in the right direction. It took us and hour and 20 minutes to get back! We ended up just trying to keep the rudder straight and we used our arms to paddle and turn. By the time we got back we were so tired. We had been paddling for about 2 hours with our feet and paddling with our arms for about an hour. We vowed never to get in a paddle boat again! Well, at least not out in the ocean, on a lake or something it wouldn't be bad I think. We had a lot of fun though. The second day that we were there a good part of the church branch was there, we were having a branch camp out. It was fun! We cooked smores and had a fireside by a real fire! It was cool! We had so much fun. Sam was supposed to go back to school yesterday but he woke up sick and so he stayed home yesterday and today. Hopefully he'll be able to go to school tomorrow. Also, college is going well for me. I already finished 2 classes and now I'm on my 3rd and 4th classes. I'm excited! It took me a while to do it, but I'm doing it now! I've also been getting up at 5:30 every morning to go to the gym. I meet a friend there, which makes it easier for me to go. So, things are going great here in Okinawa!

There is this big ferris wheel that sits on top of the 3rd floor of a building here. I think this picture is funny, Bella is standing and looking at everything and Juanpablo is cringing...both kids were way more calm then Juanpablo and I were. It was very high!
We weren't even at the top of the ferris wheel in this picture. I didn't let go the whole time. I did open my eyes, but I kept closing them again. I wasn't always afraid of heights, now it is different, not a big fan of heights.
This is at the Royal Gardens, it was so beautiful there. You can see the house and lake in the background.
This is also the Royal Gardens, you can see two of the stone bridges in the background. It was just so peaceful there.

This is the Japanese Naval Headquarters, the entrance to the tunnels.This is at a fun park. I just love this picture of Bella.

This is Bella at the top of the roller slide. It's pretty high but you can't go very fast, you have to push yourself a little at some parts, but it's fun!
This is us at Ryukyu Mura. It was pretty cool, we got to see how they convert the sugarcane into sugar and stuff. And we got to see how they made the pottery and stuff. It was fun!
Camping at Okuma, it was pretty dark by the time we were all set up and started cooking. We made steak and we had to use a flashlight to make sure it was cooked all the way.
On the paddle boats, as you can see we are happy...we were on our way out to the island and enjoying ourselves at this point.