Back to School Night

 All 3 schools had their Back to School events in the same week.  It made for a busy week.  Somehow Rylee is the only one I got any pictures of.

She has a brand new school.  It has an open floor plan and I thought I would hate it.  But it looks like they are using it really well.  There are 4 classes in the "Neighborhood", split into two halves.  Rylee's class meets with another class and the teachers share teaching and each teachers what they are better at while the other assists and makes sure the kids are getting it.  

Here is Rylee at her desk.  She is enjoying school so far this year. 

You can't see it, but they have lots of seating choices.  It is pretty cool. And I do love this cutie pie!

Birthday Boy

Josh had a birthday.  It was a really good birthday.  He had a good day all day and a lovely evening.  I made him lemon cake, as requested and it was delicious.  I even ran out to the commissary at the last minute to get ice cream, which I had forgotten to get earlier.  Callie took a lovely video of the cake and singing, but I can't find it now that I have downloaded all the pictures.

Rylee, after the candles were blown out, and waiting for cake.

Delaney enjoyed the cake.

And Marian had to ham it up.

 Callie was too busy being silly.

 Having fun with his gifts.

Reading his cards.

He was delighted that we found some super-spicy sauce for him.

But this was the best gift of the night.

 Pretty sweet!

 I found this little gem later.  I love this kid and her awesome selfies!

And this was Delaney, trying it on.  She's way too short for it!

Just one more little trip!

So, my good friend April is leaving Iwakuni on September 24.  She asked if I would come visit one more time before she left.  And of course, I wanted to, but couldn't figure out how to squeeze it in after my Philippines trip and before Dan left town for a week 2 weeks later.  Plus I needed a Command letter to fly Space A, and then I needed a flight!

So.... Josh and I got back Monday night.  Wednesday at 10:45am, Dan called and said, "I have your Command Letter and I just got off the phone with the Terminal.  There is a flight arriving in 30 minutes that will turn around and go back to Iwakuni.  If you can get there in the 30-45 minutes, you can get on the flight!"

What?!!  I sent Josh a message that I was running away, packed my bag and was almost ready by the time Dan came to get me.  He drove me to the Futenma Terminal and they were super nice.  I checked in they gave me a thumbs up and I was good to go!  The pilot was a friend of my friends Steph, and was very nice as well.

Goodbye Okinawa!  I was on my own personal private flight on a C-17 to Iwakuni!

Hello Iwakuni!!

Steph, April, Char and I went to Miyajima on Thursday.  It was a perfect day with perfect weather.

We went to the iconic Torii to get a photo.

We were suppose to get a nice selfie, but got this instead.

A sweet girl passing by got a good shot for us.

And then I got photobombed.

I still got my selfie though!

I got to do all the things I wanted!  I saw lots of friends, and got to hang out with most of them.  I got to go to my favorite thrift store and I bought gorgeous kimonos that I mailed to myself.  I got to eat yummy things and see places I like.  If I could have planned a perfect trip, that would have been it.  (Except I'd have eaten at Sako's and Devi's!)

My friend Hope introduced me to this awesome little bakery with adorable desserts.  I may have gone there twice and gotten cakes each time.

Friday evening I went and checked in to catch the weekly Rotator back to Okinawa.  It was smooth sailing with plenty of seats to go Space A.  I got ticketed and then just had lots and lots of time to wait.

But I got on the plane and got home.  Just a lot later than expected. (At 9pm Friday night)  But I had a wonderful trip and I have the best family that supported me to be able to do this.  They did a great job taking care of themselves without me and were just fantastic.  I am so lucky!

A little trip to the Philippines

Josh has a best friend who use to live across from us when we lived in Iwakuni.  Her family moved away a few years ago and then retired to the Philippines.  Josh wanted to go visit her.  We thought this was a fine idea, so we said yes.  We made a tactical error in that all communication went through the friend and Josh.  I had zero communication with the parents, despite sending FB messages to the mom, Emmy.  Still, Dani (Josh's friend) assured us that all was well, and we went full steam ahead. Given the choice, Josh said he would rather I accompany him.  I think Dan would have had more fun, but maybe not, since he likes a good long trip and this was going to be over Labor Day weekend.

Tickets were purchased and we were committed.  A week before the scheduled departure, I finally got Josh while FaceTiming with Dani and had the chance to visit with Emmy to make sure she really was aware we were coming, and that we really did have a ride from the airport.  Emmy seemed a little surprised.  Apparently she really did not know we had purchased tickets and really were coming?

But they did receive our itinerary and did agree that yes they would pick us up.  However, they rescinded their daughter's offer of a room, so I had to find a hotel.  It worked out fine- they gave me some suggestions and we got one a few miles from their house.  So we were set!

We left Thursday after school and caught a 5:30pm flight to Manilla, via Hong Kong.  We had a tight connection, but arrived on time, about 11pm.  We did have a ride, but to my surprise, we went to their house, rather than directly to the hotel.  We visited for a bit and it was lovely, but we didn't get to the hotel till 1 am, which made for a long day and late night!

The night view from the hotel.  We were on the 27th floor.

The day view.  That is the ocean in the very distance.  And a mall across the street, where we ventured for breakfast. Since Dani had school on Friday, we entertained ourselves by sleeping in and meandering over to the mall.

After school, Dani and her mom picked us up with several of Dani's friends.  We went to the shopping center across from their compound.  Dani and her friends attend an all girls Catholic school, so Josh was quite the novelty.  He enjoyed being adored.

Emmy and I went to dinner and I tried authentic Filipino dishes.  They were different.  

I tried the Buko.  It was straight-up coconut water.  They cut the top off the coconut, gave you a straw, and that was it.  It was not delicious.

After enjoying the mall for a few hours, we went to Dani's house so the kids could watch a movie.  We weren't up quite so late that night, thank goodness!  Saturday morning they picked us up around 9am.  They had hired a van and a driver for the day. 

Emmy brought me a little banana from her mom's garden.  It was tiny and delicious.  

We drove over an hour into downtown Manila.   I understand why she wanted a driver because traffic was crazy!  The lines are just suggestions and people do what they want.  It is chaos that everyone else apparently understood since there were no accidents despite the apparent insanity and lawlessness.

We parked and rented this adorable carriage for an hour.  The horse's name is Sylvester. Sylvester trotted us around for a historical tour that I very much enjoyed.

Josh and Dani needed a photo.

We rode in the carriage to here.  It was a gorgeous cathedral.  

With a gorgeous door.

Yeah, I took this photo to remember what the place was.

We rode the cart to another area and checked out some cool historical stuff.  I liked the tour a lot.  You can see that Josh thoroughly enjoyed it as well.

Maybe a little too much!

Emmy, Dani, Josh and me.  It was a really neat day.

We went to a museum about this guy who was a revolutionary for the Philippines.

Then we went to lunch at a yummy place called "The Aristocrat".  The Mango smoothie was the most delicious thing I have tasted.  It was like eating a mango.  Maybe because it was essentially a frozen and pureed mango?!

The BBQ chicken was also the most delicious BBQ chicken I have ever tasted.  It was amazing.

Josh had the skewer.  I went with no skewer.  It was SO YUMMY!

After the amazing lunch we went to a stall market.  It was an indoor mall with stall after stall of stuff. I wish I had gotten a photo, but I was so busy looking at everything! And then I couldn't decide what souvenirs to bring back.  We finally headed back around 6:30.

They have the most interesting things on the road! This truck had stuff piled high on top, and people sitting behind the cab on top.

This motorcycle had a roof and three people on it.  The ladies are riding sidesaddle. 

These bus-cars are everywhere.  Dani said they are called Jeepney's and they are like a bus.  They only fit like 15 people, but are super cheap.  They only have bench seats along the side, and no AC.  They drive regular paths like a bus and work like a bus.  But are way more colorful!

Night traffic was just as crazy as the day traffic!

Sunday was a little disappointing.  We had hoped to spend the day with Dani, but she messaged in the morning to say her parents were going to a work thing and she had to stay home and have tutoring.  We hoped to get together by noon.  Then 2. Then 3.  Then at 5 she said maybe 6.  Sigh.  Josh and I ended up being total Sabbath breakers.  We went to the mall to watch a movie and then took a hired car to the shopping center near Dani's house to meet up with her around 7:30pm.  She brought her siblings and took us to Shakey's pizza for dinner.  It was loud,  And expensive.  But they enjoyed it and I really was just there to let Josh hang out with his friend.  

Josh and Dani.  Dani's feelings are mock-hurt because I teased her about always having her eyes closed in other pictures.

Of course we had to get mango smoothies again.  They are amazing!

It was so sad when they had to say goodbye.

We caught a shuttle back to the hotel at 10pm.  We packed as much as we could and went to bed. We had to be up at 5 to head out at 6.  The hotel had a car to drive us (for a small fee, of course!).  We to to the airport in plenty of time and despite some delays, we made all our flights and arrived home about 6pm.  It was a good trip and I'm glad I went.