Staying Busy during Typhoon Goni- Random Pictures

8-23-15

 We are now in TCCOR 2

What do you do when you're stuck inside because of a typhoon? You post random pictures!!
I was taking lots of pictures while we were out yesterday (from the car) so I would have this to do today. They ended up in a random order. Enjoy...

Kayden's BOYS only clubhouse

The Clubhouse Makayla made. Something doesn't seem fair?

Just wanted you to experience some Okinawa Traffic!

The Blue sign says Nitori...the ikea like store, a favorite

Love the pit stop, where we got our cars

This is a furniture store we never need to go back to.

I haven't been to this store yet, but I am curious to see what "American Decor" is

Yes, this is Blue Seal!

This is the Eagle Lodge where we stayed for a few weeks...we were on the 4th floor, the ground level is where the two restaurants are located.  

This is Preston's Car

The back view from our house/condo/apartment

This was taken at noon...Our view with a typhoon coming!

The little ones watching all the rain come down. I wish you could see the rain in the picture.

Thank goodness we picked up some crafting things. Already had to pull it out!

You pay a yearly road tax. When you have a yellow plate that means you pay the least and also get discounted expressway toll fees too. However, yellow plate cars tend to be blown over during typhoon winds. They must put sand bags IN their car and even make sure they have a full tank of gas.


Random Pictures from inside the house:

Yes, this is the toilet handle. Just wanted to show how efficient things are here. You either flush up or down depending on, well... either #1 or #2 hehe. Can you figure out which way is what? The reasoning is one way takes less water.

 This is our front door. Why does it have two door locks? The bottom black circle is the second door lock. That one is McKinley's job!

Ahhh the Japanese dryer, I have finally figured this thing out! However, I will be getting some drying racks soon.

Getting ready for Typhoon Goni- Typhoon information

8-21-15

It was the fridge!!! With our new fridge, the power never went out. You know what that means? I got my first good nights sleep! It did take me a little while to finally fall asleep. I was basically just waiting to get up. I was in such a good mood this morning, funny how sleep will do that.

Makayla had her new school orientation this afternoon and then we HAD to get to the commissary to stock up for the typhoon coming. The orientation was kind of a bust. The school itself was preparing for the typhoon, so there was a lot of commotion and people running around with sand bags and things, which made it very hard to hear the principle. He tried, but you could tell he was a bit stressed. So after a quick tour of the school, which is huge by the way, we headed out a few minutes before everyone else to get to the commissary.

I really didn't know what to pick up for the typhoon. There is a possibility of us losing power so does that just leave snack foods? Well that is what I got at least. The guy on the radio just kept saying make sure you have your Oreo's so I made sure to get two packs of those. hahaha

Preston was released from work early too because of the coming typhoon. Weird how I didn't find that out until AFTER I got back from the commissary WITH the kiddos. lol

We even stopped by the 100 yen store on the way home as well to pick up some crafty things so the kiddos could stay busy. There is only so much school work I can make them do.

Typhoon Readiness:
This is what I need to know now. Right now we are in TCCOR 4, but from Jun1st-Nov.30th we are also in TCCOR 4 since this is considered typhoon season. However, we know typhoon Goni is approaching so this will likely change soon.

Tropical Cyclone Conditions of Readiness (TCCOR) Definitions and Responses
TCCOR 5: Destructive winds are possible within 96 hours. (Only used outside of established typhoon season)
TCCOR 4: Destructive winds are possible within 72 hours. (1 June to 30 November)
TCCOR 3: Destructive winds are possible within 48 hours.
TCCOR 2: Destructive winds anticipated within 24 hours.
TCCOR 1: Destructive winds anticipated within 12 hours.
TCCOR 1 Caution: Winds of 35-49 knots sustained are occurring at a particular installation.
TCCOR 1 Emergency: Winds of 50 knots sustained or gust factors of 60 knots or greater are occurring at a particular installation.
TCCOR 1 Recovery: After the passage of a tropical cyclone, when destructive winds have subsided and are no longer forecasted to occur, survey and work crews are sent out to determine the extent of the damage and to establish safe zones around hazards (e.g. downed power lines, unstable structures). Until the recovery process is declared complete (TCCOR All Clear), or the risk of injury and/or damage to personnel and property has been mitigated to a safe level, the general base population would normally be asked to remain indoors. In some instances, it may be necessary to return to TCCOR Storm Watch from this TCCOR level if the storm is not currently forecast to return to the area, but is in close enough proximity that should it change course, it could likely impact the area again.
TCCOR Storm Watch: The winds are not forecast to exceed 50 knots sustained (the criteria for “destructive winds”) but there still exists a probability of high winds due to the proximity of the storm. High winds may include gusts exceeding 50 knots and/or sustained winds meeting TCCOR 1 Caution criteria. The storm is also close enough to the area that a heightened alert status is necessary in order to rapidly establish elevated TCCOR conditions should the storm deviate from the forecast track. Personnel should follow Standard Operating Procedures for TCCOR Storm Watch and stay alert f or any changes to TCCOR status. In some instances, it may be necessary to return to TCCOR Storm Watch from another TCCOR level if the storm is not currently forecast to impact the area, but is in close enough proximity that should it change course, it could likely impact the area.
TCCOR All Clear: The storm is over and not forecast to return, and recovery efforts are considered complete by the Installation Commander.



8-22-15

What a great night sleep, who said you couldn't catch up on sleep? I think I just proved them wrong. However, I did wake up to find out we are now in TCCOR 3. This just got real! We are still able to go out and about in TCCOR 3, but doesn't mean the weather is going to be all that great. We did have to run a few errands. Preston wanted to make sure he got a haircut just in case he would be called into work on Monday. He also wanted to pick up a few things that I 'forgot' and the commissary.

Now I know why the commissary was so quiet yesterday, everyone waits until the last minute to stock up! The stores were just crazy, the rain was crazy, and the distance we had to park away from the store was crazy! No better day to buy an umbrella or two, when your walking into the store dripping wet. For some reason Kayden seemed untouched by the rain???

It's raining cats and dogs!

Street were already flooding. This is on Kadena AFB

 

So we got the few things we needed. We had our umbrellas in hand and walked outside to a nice sunny sky-no rain. lol At least we will be ready next time! 

One of my favorite trees we always drive by. It must have been the trip to the redwoods that has me obsessed with trees.

 

Preston wanted to make sure he had a fully belly of curry before being put on lock down, so we stopped at Coco Curry on the way home. I have decided that the pork curry is my favorite. The beef is good as well, but pork...yummy. This was the hardest decision I've had to make on the island so far!

She cracks me up!

Picking out what plate she wants

Look at the size of that plate! This is just the second biggest!

This way to happy tummies

She took her sister's bib (comes with the meals)

I am out and about

8-19-15

The moment of truth. I had to take a trip down south to Camp Foster so I can register my license, now that we have two vehicles. You can only have 1 vehicle per license. I was a little nervous since I wasn't 100% sure where I was going, but we made it there and back. The registering process only took a minute so the kids didn't even have time to start going crazy.

First stop on the way back was...The 100 yen store. Which is just like the Dollar Tree in the states, but much, much better! This store is amazing and I didn't believe all the items were only a dollar so I had to verify before loading up a basket.

The kids bunk beds were delivered today. They fit perfectly, phew! Now it looks like a barracks room-sleeping quarters ONLY. No toys are allowed in their room, only in the playroom. No more sleeping on the floor either, I am sure that part doesn't matter so much to them though. McKinley loves to go and just lay in her bed  (she picked one of the bottom bunks) and maybe I will even be able to bring back nap time?! *It's written in the journal now, so journal do your magic!

She also likes her brother's bed. We will be getting another mattress soon.

8-20-15

I only had to get up 4x last night. Not only did the power go off, but when it did I had Makayla screaming to tell me it was off. Once that a/c goes off it get warm very quickly in the house. Another night of not getting much sleep because of this power issue. I don't think I am going to last much longer.

Once I was able to get up and motivated we went to check our PO Box and figure out how that all works. Then we headed to the library to exchange our books for some new ones. On the way home I felt like exploring a little bit so I kept on driving past our house. We have never driven more north on the road we are off of. I found a lot of great beach sites! All that driving sure made me hungry so I felt like I needed to stop at Coco Curry to get lunch. I cant get enough of curry now!
We made it back to the house just in time for Preston to call and let me know the fridge guys were on their way back out.

Finally the maintenance guys okayed for us to get a new fridge and within the hour, another two guys were here with the new fridge. Now that is service. Not sure what Preston said in that phone call to them this morning, but it worked! lol This fridge is a bit smaller, but we shall see if it does the trick. I will gladly give up my cheese drawer to be able to sleep through the night!

Typhoon Goni is now expected to hit Okinawa. Well it is either going to go directly over us or out by 75 miles. Either way we will experience strong winds and lots and lots of rain.

This fridge has to go!

8-17-15

Why are there so many Mondays? Ugh today is another one. Let the count down to Friday begin!

Two guys from housing maintenance came to look at the fridge, but nothing is wrong with the fridge itself. I think its just to big for the outlet. They even checked our washer since those are the only two American appliances we have. Then they left after telling me both were good. It was very difficult to explain to them what was happening when 1. they didn't speak English and 2. I do not speak Japanese. Again, a lot of hand gestures were used. Although I did get excited that the power stayed on all the way until 10:00pm. Then OFF! I don't understand and this needs to be fixed asap. Other that that it was a very uneventful day. It rained pretty hard for a bit and looks like a storm is coming in.

Poor Preston is still running around  trying to get everything done-just so he can actually work a normal schedule. He was exhausted when he came home to say the least.

While checking my email to verify when a few deliveries were coming this week. Like the kids bunk beds, I noticed I had an email from DMO (base moving) and our household goods are on the island! I swear my journal has magical powers because as soon as a vent about something, something positive about it has been happening. I wonder what I should write next?! haha I called them immediately, but the soonest they had available for delivery was next Tuesday. So next Tuesday it is! I am now thinking this could be either one of our shipments. I honestly do not care which one it is, it will be something. Almost feels a bit like Christmas too since we don't know what we are getting. 

8-18-15

OMG!!! The power went off 6x last night-I just couldn't sleep. I am trying everything to problem shoot this power outage problem. I have unplugged the washer, tried unplugging the fridge for a little bit, maybe it is the dehumidifier? Must fix this problem!

Other than trying to figure that problem out, which I didn't; I was also productive by finishing an entire search and find book! I will add too, with little help from the kiddos. haha Now what am I going to do during the day?

Preston's car was ready today-much earlier than expected! So we made the trip back down south to the pit stop to pick it up. My first time driving on the express way. I did it. It feels so good knowing I am mobile now. Watch out Okinawa!

The Express way:

Okinawa's ONLY freeway. There are only 9 spots where you can enter/exit and you pay based on the distance traveled. So you collect a ticket when you enter and pay where you exit. This is also the only road where you can actually drive some what fast. The speed limit on the express way is 80km/h converts to 49.71mph. Yes, about 50mph is the fastest you will drive on the island. All the other roads are either 40km/h or 50km/h converts to 25mph or 30mph. That is why they say the island is not that big, but will still take you a long time to get places. Plus you have to throw in all the traffic.   

Adding another member to the family

8-15-15

Today is the day I got my blog online. My mom gave me this wonderful journal that I have been documenting our adventures in. I love that I can share it online with you all!

Today also starts another weekend and there is so much we need to do.

#1 Preston needs to get a car.

We went back to good ole pit stop and found him a Toyota 4 runner type vehicle. It was really the only vehicle besides a van that he would fit in. They will take care of all the registration and paperwork for us so we won’t be able to take it home until Thursday. I am excited to be able to venture out on my own soon. (pictures to come)

Even better, while at pit stop the own noticed Big Blue’s little accident and buffed it out for us! It looks almost like it never happened…almost.

 

Funny thing: On the way over to pit stop Preston said if anyone asked about the scratch he was going to say I did it. lol What?! But when he was asked how it happened, he owned up to it.

 

Just a few chips out of the paint left

extra racing stripe gone. I know you want some of those window visors too!

 

#2 We need to find some curtain for our bedroom

I love the view, but I would like to choose when I wake up and not when to sun comes up! We went to a store called Nitori which is just like Ikea. There are so many fun things there to look at, but we were only there for curtains. Since we are on the metric system the curtains are measured in cm. It’s not like we have a tape measure to figure out what size we need either. It went more like, Preston standing next to the window and guessing from there. Lol So with guessing and then not using my handy converting app on my phone, like we should have, we ended up picking up the WRONG size. I guess I know what we will be doing tomorrow?

The rain, thunder and lightning rolled in again tonight. For about an hour straight I was asked “did you hear that?” ah I love those kiddos. The storm did keep me awake into the wee hours. If only we had those curtains to block out the lightning! Hahaha

 

8-16-15

Sunday Fun Day…after our long and exhausting day yesterday we really weren’t up to much today. We did have to do the commissary trip. The commissary closet to us is being remodeled and half of it is closed off so we have to drive down south to another base to get our groceries.

Never again will we go on a Pay Day weekend! I don’t know why I forgot how crazy it gets this time of the month. Omg so many people. We were already committed though and stuck it out. What should have only taken maybe 45min turned into almost 2 hours!

Preston made our first dinner tonight…pork chops and mashed potatoes. Boy were those potatoes good! We had to be very creative by figuring out how we were going to measure out the ingredients without having any measuring cups. I know it wasn’t exact, but we did it and the food turned out good.

Looking forward to having our fridge fixed tomorrow! 

There are two tropical storms getting bigger by the day. One is supposed to miss us completely, but the second one has a possibility of hitting us. Of course this is the bigger of the two and will be a category 5 super typhoon by Wednesday!

Moving Day!

8-13-15

Moving Day! We got up early, packed up, and head north to kin (the city we live in.) We had to say goodbye to our hotel room, which I didn’t think was going to be a sad thing to do. I’m not sure what it was, but it was a little hard to leave. Maybe because I knew we wouldn’t have ANYTHING in our house. Lol

We had to be at the house for an appt. with the gas man (hehehe) and luckily the furniture store was able to deliver 2 twin mattress that we bought for the kids and a large area rug. This is what we ended up sleeping on. Family of 5 on 2 twin mattresses!

What did we find right down the street? A Coco Curry House! I see many of dinners here…just like we had tonight.

I am in love with this house…it is really an apartment that I like to call a condo to sound fancy. There is so much storage here. Also, when the kids have to ‘look for you’ that is always a good indicator on space.

Our Building...looks like a resort!

Welcome

I love the arch ways throughout the house. My seat is right there in front of the window. That faint line you see is the ocean.

The view from our balcony/ from all the windows in the house

 

8-14-15

Last night wasn’t too bad with our sleeping arrangement. Those mattresses are quite comfortable! Preston had to head into work and the rest of us waited for our big furniture delivery.

We have a couch, bed and kitchen table now!

Preston was able to get off work a little bit early. He brought home some good news and some bad….

Good news: With him were two pots, a few real dishes, cups, and silverware. We can now cook something at home.

Bad news: He found out when we will be receiving our household goods. Aka All the stuff we shipped here. ***Coming out here we were allotted 2 shipments. An express shipment; all the stuff we need right away i.e. pots and pans, overall kitchen essentials, towels, additional clothing: which is flown here and usually only takes 30days to get to the island.

The second shipment is for all the additional items you wish to bring that might not need right away (there is a weight limit) and this shipment is put on a boat and can take up to 3 months to arrive on island.

While in the states getting all our shipments arranged and packed up there was some miscommunication and BOTH of our shipments went via boat. Ugh 

The news we got was our regular household goods shipment will arrive on Aug. 28^th and our “express” shipment will arrive on Sept. 18^th. To clarify, everything we NEED to start living comfortably is now taking the longest! This usually does not happen. We are in the small percentage of when it does. Yay for us!

It is even more frustrating that we have to go out and buy a few things that we know we will have in a month, but need now. Like the simple bed pillow, towels, sheets.

I’m thinking something is wrong with the relocating overseas process. They shouldn’t send you 5,626 miles without first having a house for you and guaranteeing your stuff will be there shortly after arriving! Is that is too much to ask?!

On the bright side we will have our TV soon so we can at least watch some movies.

There was also a huge thunder storm that came in late today. I guess I have been ‘sheltered’ when it comes to bad weather, but a few times it almost sounded like it was about to shatter our windows! We went out onto the balcony for a few minutes to watch the sky light up, but the humidity was even worse and we quickly retreated.

I almost forgot, even with very limited items in our house we already found our first issue. American appliances do not always like Japanese outlets! Every time our fridge runs the motor to keep cool it blows the power out. About every two hours this happens. We have to go to the breaker box and turn everything back on. Just a little frustrating…someone will come out and hopefully take care of the problem on Monday.   

 

Getting Closer to Moving Day

8-11-15

We had our military furniture appt. today. We met with the furniture rep and chose what loaner pieces we need. They provide the furniture including delivery and return. The best part is the Marine Corps gets to keep the loaner furniture the entire length of stay, unlike Army or Air Force that only get to use for 3 months or maybe only 30 days, I can't remember. I am not sure why the difference or do I think it’s really fair. Our furniture will not be delivered until the day after we move in so we will have to go one night without any furniture in our place. I hope we can make it!

After our meeting I took Preston to work and kept the car to explore our new home area. I feel so much more comfortable driving around now. I found my route and the short cuts that I can handle going to base and then to the kids school. As long as I can get to those two places I am set. Everything else McKinley and I can figure out since it will be just the two of us once school starts. We also got our library cards and I was able to sign up with the PTO and prepay for all the kids school events for the year, yearbook and everything…I am done! So much time for extra activities now.

***I will admit that I did drive on the wrong side of the road today, but quickly corrected myself. At least it wasn't on a busy street. It IS only my second day of driving!

Went to another place on Preston’s 'to eat at list'. A yakiniku restaurant. This place was a lot of fun too. Same idea with the touch screen menu, but you are ordering meat and they bring it out to you raw. Then you cook it yourself on the table grill that is located in the center of the table. I did some of the grilling, so to say, and had fun. It did get a bit hot sitting around that fire though. I was also able to eat rice with chopsticks. I am getting better.

We did pick up some chopsticks a few days ago so we can practice at home...at least when we move into our new home. Makayla actually picked out the set we purchased, you can only imagine the choices here. She was so excited when the gentleman that checked us out told her it was the same set he used at home. Then he went on to show the kids his rock/gem collection from his travels around the world.  



Why do you take so many pictures mom?!



The base library has a huge children's area

She wanted to take this home with us

Ready to start grilling

The kids are telling me not to burn it hahaha

What was left after!

 

8-12-15

Only one more day until we move into our new place! I am getting so excited. We actually picked up the keys tonight and made a trip with most of the suitcases and other random things we have acquired in our hotel room.

There are some down sides:

(These last few days have been a bit hard. I seem to be getting into a funk, to the point where Preston is bribing me with shopping. What?! It has been a long trip and a long time living out of a suitcase. **We packed up our stuff on July 1st...since then we have been on the road, moving around and living out of our suitcases. The kids will tell you we are homeless, but have remained positive this entire time. 

 Skype has been a lifesaver and Jenn must have sense my need cause she skyped us yesterday. It was just what I needed!!!! I love hearing from you! Tomorrow we will be in our new home so hopefully that helps with a new attitude.  I just really miss my family and friends!)

Big Scoop Day

8-7-15

Poor Big Blue…Preston came home from work today with some bad news. He says, he had no other choice but slide against the guard rail (due to these crazy small roads), but luckily the guardrail isn’t pressing charges and he will NOT be heading to a Japanese jail. It isn’t anything that can’t be buffed out, but as of now, one side of the car has a racing stripe lol.  This actually makes me happy because when I do this, and I know I will, he can’t say anything!

I forgot to post a pic of Big Blue...Here he is!!! Pictures of his ouchie will come later.

 

8-9-15

I drove today! I did it, I did it! We are all alive and I am not in a Japanese jail. It really wasn’t that difficult, but will take some time getting used to. I feel like I can’t see out of the windshield because of the new angle. I got the turn signals down, I never turned on the windshield wipers by accident! We still haven’t heard anything about our household goods. We will be moving into our new place with only our 8 suitcases.

We also made the drive down to Naha area to eat at the Garlic House (this was another place Preston was looking for and we found while trying to hunt down Blue Seal Crepes lol.) We had to park a couple blocks away, but this place was amazing. The garlic pizza mmm mmm mmm. A nice change from traditional Japanese food.

Doesn't look like much, but very delicious.

 

8-10-15

Another Monday… I finally saw a few fruit bats last night. They really are huge. I can see how you can mistake them for large birds. One even pooped on our car! If you would like more information on that, it was like purple jelly. Ahhh. My goal is to get a picture of one! Preston was starving when he got home from work so we set out for dinner right away. ***If you haven’t noticed we pretty much have one agenda and that is to keep Preston happy with food.

We checked out this sushi restaurant we have been trying to go to for the last week, but is always extremely busy. We now know why. First, I have to say this place is awesome and a lot of fun. You get seated at a table that has a touch screen menu. You scroll through and choose what you like. There is a variety from sushi to French fries and fruit. Once you make a selection you press order. The food then comes to you via conveyer belt that circles around the tables. Once your order is getting near your table the monitor informs you that your order is near and you simple take it off the conveyer belt. You keep ordering like this until you are full. Makayla was in charge of pulling all the items off and loved every second of it. Everything is in single serving so it gives you a great opportunity to try many things to see what you like. We will be back to this restaurant!

But of course our meal didn't end there. We just HAD to venture over to Blue Seal...can you tell this is a favorite? Come to our surprise it was Big Scoop day...buy a single scoop and get two free! We really didn't want to give the kids three scoops of ice cream, but it just happened. I thought it was a great opportunity to try 15 flavors at once! However, Preston does not share. rude. I was able to try 10 since the kiddos had to get the same of one flavor.  

It did take us a minute to figure how this worked and we accidently took two plates that were not meant for out table. oops

The touch screen menu

Makayla working hard

Here is come down the conveyer belt

Big scoop day. How many scoops did you get?

How many scoops did you get?

How many scoops did YOU get?