Tuesday, August 19, 2008
My BIRTHDAY!!!
Hey everyone! I forgot to mention this in my last post, but my birthday was last Sunday the 17th. I am now 14 YEARS OLD!!! I also forgot to mention this, but we are in Utah for this week so I spent my birthday in Salt Lake City. Also, if you leave a question or suggestion, I will either answer it in my next post or try and find some way to contact you and answer whatever you may need.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
We're back!!!!!!
Hello everyone!!! We are finally back in the USA!!! After 11 months of living in Okinawa we are finally back. I'm not complaining or anything, but it is GREAT to be back. We have been back for almost one month exactly. I'm really sorry that I haven't had time to update my blog because I had been busy with school and finals and family, and for the last almost three months we haven't had our computer because they packed it, but we finally got it just last Monday.
Ok, I have the most earth-shattering, wildest, amazing, scariest, drop-dead craziest thing has happened to me...(drum roll please) I GOT MY FIRST HAIRCUT IN A YEAR!!!!!!!!! (GASP!!) I don't have any pics downloaded yet, but when I do you will all get to see the amazing haircut! I actually looks really good. Props to my aunt's hairdresser, Lacy, who did a marvelous job!
Ok, I have the most earth-shattering, wildest, amazing, scariest, drop-dead craziest thing has happened to me...(drum roll please) I GOT MY FIRST HAIRCUT IN A YEAR!!!!!!!!! (GASP!!) I don't have any pics downloaded yet, but when I do you will all get to see the amazing haircut! I actually looks really good. Props to my aunt's hairdresser, Lacy, who did a marvelous job!
Last week my grandpa took me, my dad, and my brother also went this really cool ranch called the Bar 10 Ranch. It's a two hour drive from Saint George to this little old fashioned one room schoolhouse in the middle of the desert, and then another hour and a half four-wheel drive to the Bar 10. From the Bar 10 though, it's about a half an hour drive to the edge of the Grand Canyon. While we did this my mom, sisters, and pretty much all the girls in my family went to Vegas. They shopped till they dropped (literally). We stayed at the Bar 10 for about a day and a half and then...I GOT TO DRIVE HOME!!!!! It was a two hour drive and I had a lot of fun. When you're on dirt road in the middle of the desert and there aren't a lot of cars passing you, you tend to be little bit more relaxed, but when you get to paved road, it's a whole different story. I almost gave my grandpa a heart attack because when I finally had to drive on my side of the road. We pretty much spent the rest of our time either swimming or at our grandparents store.
After Utah we came back for about a month. In that month, Jess went to Girls Camp for the first time, I went to scout camp (more details to come), my cousins came up, and Tanner had his baptism.
On to Scout Camp. For Scout Camp this year, we went on the longest, bumpiest, hardest bike ride ever! We rode 75 miles in four days! Stopping only to catch our breath or eat lunch on the trail and then we got a relaxing respite at the end of the day when we stopped for the night. On the first two days all we could feel was the pain in our butts, but eventually that went away. All I know is that I'm going to have buns and legs of steel by the time school starts. I know that may give you a very odd mental image so please disregard it, I was just kidding.
My cousins also came up from California and have been here for the last two weeks. They just left last Thursday. While they were up here my uncle bought a new jet ski, a new boat, and a bunch of new stuff for the boat; wake boards, water skis, tubes, etc. We have had so much fun on their boat. The only thing is is that the lake that the lake that their house is next to only lets people use jet skis on even days :(. So on the odd days we just spend them on the boat.
More stuff coming up with school starting (I'M STARTING HIGH SCHOOL!!), so be sure to check often. I'll try and include pictures in my next post of my haircut and cousins. If you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to post them. Until then, later.
After Utah we came back for about a month. In that month, Jess went to Girls Camp for the first time, I went to scout camp (more details to come), my cousins came up, and Tanner had his baptism.
On to Scout Camp. For Scout Camp this year, we went on the longest, bumpiest, hardest bike ride ever! We rode 75 miles in four days! Stopping only to catch our breath or eat lunch on the trail and then we got a relaxing respite at the end of the day when we stopped for the night. On the first two days all we could feel was the pain in our butts, but eventually that went away. All I know is that I'm going to have buns and legs of steel by the time school starts. I know that may give you a very odd mental image so please disregard it, I was just kidding.
My cousins also came up from California and have been here for the last two weeks. They just left last Thursday. While they were up here my uncle bought a new jet ski, a new boat, and a bunch of new stuff for the boat; wake boards, water skis, tubes, etc. We have had so much fun on their boat. The only thing is is that the lake that the lake that their house is next to only lets people use jet skis on even days :(. So on the odd days we just spend them on the boat.
More stuff coming up with school starting (I'M STARTING HIGH SCHOOL!!), so be sure to check often. I'll try and include pictures in my next post of my haircut and cousins. If you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to post them. Until then, later.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Pictures of me and Okinawa
Hey everyone! How's it going? In reply to your many questions we are coming home this summer and I can't wait to see all of you and tell you what it was like here because words can't explain it all. I am soooooooooo excited! I'm already counting down the days till we get back. We leave here on Saturday, June 14th so mark your calenders. There are less than 10 weeks of school left!!! Ya it's been fun here, but I really miss it back in Washington. If you want me to post any more pictures or add anything in my next post, just leave a comment on my blog and I'll try to put it on. See ya this summer!!!
Reed
Reed
These are the two different fountains. The one on the left is where the mouthwash comes out and the one on the right is where the water comes out. The mouthwash is a milky kind of color.
In case you're wondering, that does say "Gargle" and "Water." What it is is a fountain for either taking a drink of water or washing your mouth out. You're supposed to get some of the mouthwash in your mouth and then swish it around a bit, spit it out and get a drink. I tried it and it is really weird. I think we have a picture or a video of me trying it out.
This is our family at Shuri Castle. We went a couple of months ago.
As you can see in English, it says Kamakura. Kamakura is a city that has a statue called the "Daibutsu." In Japanese it means Great Buddha. The Daibutsu is a huge hollow statue of a Buddha that you can climb inside of. I've heard that it was really cool but i have never gone inside of it.
Tanner is "surfing" on the roller slide. He must take it seriously, can't you see that look in his eyes?
No that is not water, it is, yes, sweat on Tanner. That is 100% pure sweat. Yes, I covered my nose when I took this picture. (Just kidding, the lenses zoomed in enough that I didn't have to get that close to him.)
These are our friends the Becks that came with us when we went to Tokyo. They are standing in front of "their" coffee shop. It's not actually theirs, they're LDS and don't drink coffee.
This is me, my mom, and Rachel on the beach at Okuma. Do you like my shoes? I have black ones just like them.
This is me at Hedo point on Saturday afternoon. It was really windy out. Hedo point is the most northern part of the island and it is where you can see the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea meet. It wasn't much to see, but it was just nice to say that I've been there.
This was at Okuma when we went there on Friday. Tanner looks like he was having fun jumping off the sand dune.
This was taken just last week with our exchange students. Our students are the the girl sitting in front of me and the boy sitting next to Tanner. The other ones are our friend's students.
I like this one because it looks like the picture of Spiderman when he's climbing on the wall.
These are two pictures of a gecko that came into our house at night. It was HUGE!
This is me on my last campout, you can tell it is early morning because I have bed hair.
This is my friend's baby brother. He is really cute and fun to play with - he is easily distracted.
This is what some of the parks in Naha look like.
This is me at Araha Beach
This is what the cherry blossoms in Nago look like. Pictures don't do it justice- the colors of the blossoms were amazing.
This is the plane my dad and I flew in. It was a Cessna.
This is honestly the actual color of the ocean when we flew over it - no color enhancements. It's definitely not Puget Sound - it's about 30 degrees warmer.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Sorry!!!
Shoot, why do I always do this!!! I get really busy with school and life that I don't have time to update my blog! Aw well, it's kind of late but, HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! We were in Tokyo (if you want it in Japanese it's: 東京) with our friends, the Becks, for Christmas Break. We have taken so many pictures that I'm going to have to make another post with just pictures on it. While we were in Tokyo we got to see so many cool things. Like we got to see the Emperor of Japan! He only comes out twice a year, on his birthday and on Jan. 2, and we were there. It was our first day in Tokyo, and we had just checked into our hotel and had taken a train downtown. When we got out of the station, we followed this huge crowd of Japanese people, and as we walked towards the castle we were handed a Japanese flag. When we finally got to the courtyard of the castle there were a couple hundred people, but by the time it got full there were thousands of people. When the Emperor came out with the rest of the royal family, the Japanese people and we (is that what you would write? The Japanese people and us or the Japanese people and we?) anyway,we all waved our flags and the Emperor spoke to the people (in Japanese of course) then we left and took another train to Askusa.
Asakusa is an area of Tokyo that has a bunch of shops. The street we went on had some really cool and cheap shops. While we were there I got two keychains, a ninja star and a dragon. Together they cost about about 800円. While we were on that street, we saw one of the weirdest things ever. It was like a human intersection. Two police officers would pull yellow tape across and one side would move and then after a while they would switch and the other side would move. We had just barely gotten across and they closed the tape so that the other side could go through. The next day we went and saw even more of Tokyo.
First off, we took a train and went to Shinjuku. The only thing we went to at Shinjuku was "Tokyo Hands." It's this huge 13 story department store that sells everything! If there's anything that you want you could go to Tokyo Hands. In fact, thats were my parents got a lot of our Christmas presents. While we were walking to the Tokyo Hands building we saw an hour long wait at a Krispy Kream Doughnuts! I know, it crazy! After Shinjuku we took a train to Harujuku.
Harujuku is kind of like Asakusa except that it is more narrow and it has trendy shops. While we were walking down the street the girls got excited because they found a Claires shop. When we got to the end of the street we took a turn and found this really good Turkish stand that sold doner kabobs. The were so good! At the end of that block we saw our first big American brand name store, GAP. The girls got extremely excited, but they couldn't buy anything because all the clothes were really expensive. For example, one GAP hooded sweatshirt cost about $128 and a winter coat cost about $300!! After Harujuku, we took one more train to Shibuya.
Shibuya is the worlds busiest intersection. In the middle of the day about 2,000 people cross at a time. All the lights turn red and then everybody walks across and then all the lights turn green and the cars drive through. Right across the street from Shibuya is the worlds busiest Starbucks. If you go up to the second floor you can get a seat and see all the people cross. It's really cool to watch. After that we came back and life went on and then just about two weeks ago we went to Okuma.
On our way there we made some detours. The first place we went was mikan picking. Mikans are pretty much Japanese oranges. They taste really sweet, but when you pick them they look kind of dirty. After that we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Nago. We took some really neat pictures of the cherry blossoms. After the cherry blossoms we went straight to Okuma which is a militray resort on the northern part of the island. It was ok. It was really cloudy, but I have heard that when it is sunny it's better. While we were there, Tanner got stung by a dead jellyfish and I smashed my toe when I tried to kick one of those floats that had washed up on the beach. We also took some pictures while we were there. On our way back we went to the pineapple park. The pineapple is a park dedicated to pineapples. You can take a tour of the park on a pineapple car and when you get off you enter and exhibit that has really awesome shells. As you continue walking you get to other parts of the pineapple park. Like the brewery where they brew pineapple wine. The last place you go to is just a bunch of samples. They have pickled pineapples, pineapple juice, pineapple cookies, pineapple gelatin, pineapple cake, pineapple candy, pineapple cheese, regular and dried pineapple chunks, Jessica also accidentally ate a piece of pineapple wine cake, but spat it out (don't talk to her about it though, she's a little sore about it), and other assorted fruit products. When we got back life has been the same until now. I will try to update the blog as best as I can.
Asakusa is an area of Tokyo that has a bunch of shops. The street we went on had some really cool and cheap shops. While we were there I got two keychains, a ninja star and a dragon. Together they cost about about 800円. While we were on that street, we saw one of the weirdest things ever. It was like a human intersection. Two police officers would pull yellow tape across and one side would move and then after a while they would switch and the other side would move. We had just barely gotten across and they closed the tape so that the other side could go through. The next day we went and saw even more of Tokyo.
First off, we took a train and went to Shinjuku. The only thing we went to at Shinjuku was "Tokyo Hands." It's this huge 13 story department store that sells everything! If there's anything that you want you could go to Tokyo Hands. In fact, thats were my parents got a lot of our Christmas presents. While we were walking to the Tokyo Hands building we saw an hour long wait at a Krispy Kream Doughnuts! I know, it crazy! After Shinjuku we took a train to Harujuku.
Harujuku is kind of like Asakusa except that it is more narrow and it has trendy shops. While we were walking down the street the girls got excited because they found a Claires shop. When we got to the end of the street we took a turn and found this really good Turkish stand that sold doner kabobs. The were so good! At the end of that block we saw our first big American brand name store, GAP. The girls got extremely excited, but they couldn't buy anything because all the clothes were really expensive. For example, one GAP hooded sweatshirt cost about $128 and a winter coat cost about $300!! After Harujuku, we took one more train to Shibuya.
Shibuya is the worlds busiest intersection. In the middle of the day about 2,000 people cross at a time. All the lights turn red and then everybody walks across and then all the lights turn green and the cars drive through. Right across the street from Shibuya is the worlds busiest Starbucks. If you go up to the second floor you can get a seat and see all the people cross. It's really cool to watch. After that we came back and life went on and then just about two weeks ago we went to Okuma.
On our way there we made some detours. The first place we went was mikan picking. Mikans are pretty much Japanese oranges. They taste really sweet, but when you pick them they look kind of dirty. After that we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Nago. We took some really neat pictures of the cherry blossoms. After the cherry blossoms we went straight to Okuma which is a militray resort on the northern part of the island. It was ok. It was really cloudy, but I have heard that when it is sunny it's better. While we were there, Tanner got stung by a dead jellyfish and I smashed my toe when I tried to kick one of those floats that had washed up on the beach. We also took some pictures while we were there. On our way back we went to the pineapple park. The pineapple is a park dedicated to pineapples. You can take a tour of the park on a pineapple car and when you get off you enter and exhibit that has really awesome shells. As you continue walking you get to other parts of the pineapple park. Like the brewery where they brew pineapple wine. The last place you go to is just a bunch of samples. They have pickled pineapples, pineapple juice, pineapple cookies, pineapple gelatin, pineapple cake, pineapple candy, pineapple cheese, regular and dried pineapple chunks, Jessica also accidentally ate a piece of pineapple wine cake, but spat it out (don't talk to her about it though, she's a little sore about it), and other assorted fruit products. When we got back life has been the same until now. I will try to update the blog as best as I can.
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