Oh man I am so dead. I am so sorry guys. I have been so busy with Christmas and school and all that I haven't had time to update my blog. Lets see, when I left off it was the beginning of October...Ah, I remember, when I left off we had just gotten finished with a typhoon and I had lost our first of many soccer games. I would have a schedule of our games and their scores, but my mom just had to throw away my schedule. I don't even remember my scores! All I can remember is that we lost most of our games and when the tournament came, it was single-elimination, we got out in the first game. I was the goalie when they scored the winning goal. So please don't rub it in.
For Halloween we all got a lot of candy, not as much as some years though. Tanner was an artist, Rachel was a 50's girl, Jessica was a cowgirl, and I was Fonzie. It was fun, but the base has some weird rules: You have to be under 16 to go trick-or-treating, you can't be out past 8:00p.m., you had to wear reflectors, and they had Military Police walking around. You can pretty much get the idea what Halloween is like on base. After Halloween we didn't have anything big, just school and soccer; which ended on December 1st, until Thanksgiving.
For Thanksgiving we went over to some friends house and ate dinner. We had turkey, ham, rolls, Jell-o salad, green beans, Grandma's dip; for those of you who don't know what Grandma's dip is it's cottage cheese, onion, cream cheese, and worcestershire sauce all mixed together and you dip Frito's and Tortilla chips in it, we also had sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes; no gravy, don't be so surprised Joe. Anyone that is reading this most likely doesn't understand this so I will enlighten you. My mom is not a very big gravy fan; she says that it is too fattening, and so she usually doesn't make gravy. We usually go to my grandma and grandpa's house every Thanksgiving and my grandma usually is nice to us and spoils us by making us gravy, but since this year we are in Okinawa, my grandma isn't here to save us, and we didn't get our yearly supply of gravy. After Thanksgiving dinner we watched the movie "Elf."
After Thanksgiving, soccer ended and then the Christmas festivities began. We got our tree. It's fake because the trees here are super expensive. A couple weeks ago my dad went up to Tokyo for a training and my mom went with him. We all stayed at friend's houses and while they were up in Tokyo my parents were going to buy a Christmas tree, but they didn't buy a tree because one that was on sale was (huge drum roll please) $315!!!!! Shocking, I know. Something even more scary is that the highest price that they saw was $339!!!!!!!! So we decided to settle for a fake tree. Fortunately, with all the decorations, the tree looks real. Just the other day Jess and Rachel had a piano recital. That same day we also had a Branch Christmas Party. It was at the Futenma Church Building. I can't think of anything else to write so if you have any questions then leave your question on my blog with your e-mail, unless you know that I have it, and I will try and answer you questions as soon as possible and as best as I can. I PROMISE.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Reed
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
October 2007
When I left off we had just had a typhoon. For those of you who don't know what a typhoon is, it is a really big rainstorm with a ton of rain and wind. A family in our branch came over and we played on the computer, watched T.V., or played in my room all night. After the the typhoon (which wasn't really a big one) we haven't done much until this last Saturday. This last Saturday I had my frist soccer game. My team is the Storm. Unfortunatly we lost 3-1, but we have another game this Saturday the 6th and hopefully we'll win. Two weeks ago I was called to be the Deacons Quorum President in our branch and this last Sunday I was set apart. We are going to have a campout on the 12th and 13th. An overview of this month is; I have soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have Mutual on Wednesdays, on Columbus Day our branch is going to have a party at one of the beaches on the island, and we get to watch General Conference two weeks after it shows in the States. Other than that it's a pretty quiet month. Check in regularly.
Wishing you the best of luck,
Reed (a.k.a Agent Dragon)
Wishing you the best of luck,
Reed (a.k.a Agent Dragon)
Monday, September 17, 2007
From landing to the Present
It all started when we landed in Yokota Air Base in Japan just outside of Tokyo. It was so humid and hot, but the heat and the humidity were not near as bad as it was in Okinawa. After we got off the plane in Yokota we had to go through customs. After we got our passports checked we had to wait in a big room while the plane got refueled and more food & drinks were put on the plane (it took a little longer than usual, because they couldn’t find the part to hook up the fuel tank to the airplane – minor details). We then got back on the plane and flew to Okinawa. It was raining when we landed, but it was a warm rain, not like the kind we have in Seattle. We were then picked up by my dad’s principal and taken to the Hamagawa Lodge, which was our temporary housing for the next two weeks. In those two weeks we got military ID; you have to have it because you can’t get on base, go in any stores, and basically can’t do anything without it, registered us for school (which started on Monday the 27th), got a car, and got cell phones for my parents.
Also, while we’ve been here, my dad had his birthday, on the 16th, and I turned (drum roll please)…13!!! Yes folks, I’m 13 – officially a teenager now!! We ran errands all day on my dad’s birthday, and that night we ate at a restaurant called Okonomiyaki. It’s an extremely tasty and really cheap restaurant in American Village. American Village is a bunch of American style shops (very big and very crowded) that sell Japanese products. We thought it was kind of funny that it was called American Village, but we were the only American’s we saw there.
For my birthday we went to Churaumi Aquarium & Emerald Beach. It’s on the northern part of the island and it takes about an hours drive to get there. The aquarium was crazy AWESOME! It’s split into different levels, like the different levels of the ocean. When you first enter you’re in the coral reef. Then you go to deeper into the ocean and you finally get to a HUGE three-story high tank that’s full of giant fish and manta rays that are so big that Jess, Rachel, Tanner, and I could sit on them Indian-style! It also has, not one, not two, but three whale sharks! When we got out of the aquarium we got lunch and then walked to Emerald Beach. Emerald Beach has some of the whitest sand I have ever seen and the water feels like bath water. You don’t have to slowly go out into the water so that you can get used to it like in Seattle, you can jump right on in. That was on the 17th and we really didn’t do much until the 23rd when we moved into our house.
Our house is a duplex on the corner about a block and a half from the elementary school that Jess, Rachel, and Tanner go to. The street we live on (it’s actually a cul-de-sac) we call “Mormon Hill” because six families in our branch live on our cul-de-sac. Four days after we moved in (scary music) SCHOOL STARTED! I was so freakin’ scared because I knew nobody, and when I say nobody I mean nobody. I only knew a few of the deacons in our branch. We started school on Monday and on Friday a couple of the guys in our branch had a “We Just Survived the First Week of School” party at one of the deacon’s house. It was awesome! We played Super Smash Bros. and Naruto from 7:00pm to 11:30pm, and we got PIZZA! Then we had another week of school.
On Saturday for the Labor Day weekend we went snorkeling with my dad’s boss’s family to Zanpa Beach. Zanpa Beach is a really cool beach where the water is about the same depth for couple yards. There is one spot in the water where there is a big patch of seaweed with a big rock in it that had three sea urchins and a couple of fish living in it. As your swim farther out you get to see some other cool fish. Zanpa Beach was cool, but on Labor Day we went to Maeda Flats and that is more awesome than awesome. We also went snorkeling there with a family in our branch. We swam out about a quarter of a mile and under you is a huge drop-off. If there were no water it would be a big cliff, but since there is water it feels like you are flying over a canyon. There are tons of brightly colored fish and urchins and if you look off into the distance it just melts into a blue nothingness. As you look down, the water is crystal clear and you can see some amazing coral. We also walked over to Maeda Point and snorkeled there. When you get in the water you swim to a cave that’s a few yards away, and as you swim you can see scuba divers swimming under you. When you get to the cave it has a low entrance but then it opens up into a cave that has a lot of scuba divers and people snorkeling. As you go farther back it stops and you can get out of the water and walk up a path. I’m guessing that it leads up to the top of the cliff that the cave is under, but I don’t know that for sure because we didn’t go up the path. Later that night we went with a couple of families to a park that’s off base. It has two really cool slides; one of them is like a conveyor belt, it has little rods that spin as you slide down them, and the other is really fun because you hold onto a bar and drop about six feet and then the slide catches you and you slide down it.
On Tuesday we had to go back to school and on Saturday we saw “Aga-Boom.” Aga-Boom is a live performance that has clowns in it. Some people don’t like clowns, but these clowns are super funny and I can’t begin to describe how funny it was. It is based in Las Vegas and it’s a Broadway production so I’m sure it will be easy to find a video of them. Today is my mom’s birthday and we are also being hit by a typhoon right now. So she’s had a fun birthday. That’s it for now, check in later.
Reed (a.k.a Agent Dragon)
Also, while we’ve been here, my dad had his birthday, on the 16th, and I turned (drum roll please)…13!!! Yes folks, I’m 13 – officially a teenager now!! We ran errands all day on my dad’s birthday, and that night we ate at a restaurant called Okonomiyaki. It’s an extremely tasty and really cheap restaurant in American Village. American Village is a bunch of American style shops (very big and very crowded) that sell Japanese products. We thought it was kind of funny that it was called American Village, but we were the only American’s we saw there.
For my birthday we went to Churaumi Aquarium & Emerald Beach. It’s on the northern part of the island and it takes about an hours drive to get there. The aquarium was crazy AWESOME! It’s split into different levels, like the different levels of the ocean. When you first enter you’re in the coral reef. Then you go to deeper into the ocean and you finally get to a HUGE three-story high tank that’s full of giant fish and manta rays that are so big that Jess, Rachel, Tanner, and I could sit on them Indian-style! It also has, not one, not two, but three whale sharks! When we got out of the aquarium we got lunch and then walked to Emerald Beach. Emerald Beach has some of the whitest sand I have ever seen and the water feels like bath water. You don’t have to slowly go out into the water so that you can get used to it like in Seattle, you can jump right on in. That was on the 17th and we really didn’t do much until the 23rd when we moved into our house.
Our house is a duplex on the corner about a block and a half from the elementary school that Jess, Rachel, and Tanner go to. The street we live on (it’s actually a cul-de-sac) we call “Mormon Hill” because six families in our branch live on our cul-de-sac. Four days after we moved in (scary music) SCHOOL STARTED! I was so freakin’ scared because I knew nobody, and when I say nobody I mean nobody. I only knew a few of the deacons in our branch. We started school on Monday and on Friday a couple of the guys in our branch had a “We Just Survived the First Week of School” party at one of the deacon’s house. It was awesome! We played Super Smash Bros. and Naruto from 7:00pm to 11:30pm, and we got PIZZA! Then we had another week of school.
On Saturday for the Labor Day weekend we went snorkeling with my dad’s boss’s family to Zanpa Beach. Zanpa Beach is a really cool beach where the water is about the same depth for couple yards. There is one spot in the water where there is a big patch of seaweed with a big rock in it that had three sea urchins and a couple of fish living in it. As your swim farther out you get to see some other cool fish. Zanpa Beach was cool, but on Labor Day we went to Maeda Flats and that is more awesome than awesome. We also went snorkeling there with a family in our branch. We swam out about a quarter of a mile and under you is a huge drop-off. If there were no water it would be a big cliff, but since there is water it feels like you are flying over a canyon. There are tons of brightly colored fish and urchins and if you look off into the distance it just melts into a blue nothingness. As you look down, the water is crystal clear and you can see some amazing coral. We also walked over to Maeda Point and snorkeled there. When you get in the water you swim to a cave that’s a few yards away, and as you swim you can see scuba divers swimming under you. When you get to the cave it has a low entrance but then it opens up into a cave that has a lot of scuba divers and people snorkeling. As you go farther back it stops and you can get out of the water and walk up a path. I’m guessing that it leads up to the top of the cliff that the cave is under, but I don’t know that for sure because we didn’t go up the path. Later that night we went with a couple of families to a park that’s off base. It has two really cool slides; one of them is like a conveyor belt, it has little rods that spin as you slide down them, and the other is really fun because you hold onto a bar and drop about six feet and then the slide catches you and you slide down it.
On Tuesday we had to go back to school and on Saturday we saw “Aga-Boom.” Aga-Boom is a live performance that has clowns in it. Some people don’t like clowns, but these clowns are super funny and I can’t begin to describe how funny it was. It is based in Las Vegas and it’s a Broadway production so I’m sure it will be easy to find a video of them. Today is my mom’s birthday and we are also being hit by a typhoon right now. So she’s had a fun birthday. That’s it for now, check in later.
Reed (a.k.a Agent Dragon)
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