7 April 2015 - Tee House

7 April 2015

Tuesday was a quiet affair for the most part. The morning started off like every other day has so far here on this beautiful island. I got up early and would grab a cup of coffee, Facetime with my Dad and sit outside and talk with Mary.

Then when the kids got up, I had Cheerios for breakfast and then we relaxed and played the Wii for a bit. Then around 1100 we headed off to have lunch with some friends of the Thomases at the Tee House on Kadena AB.

The drive as usual was through the village of Yomitan to Kadena then to the Air Base. It was as usual a very beautiful drive. I am always intrigued by the local shops, car dealers and other bits of the scenery as we drive, so I  never bored. Oh and don't forget the turtleback tombs for which Okinawa is famous!

The Tee House was a beautiful place to have lunch. It was a nice building with a slanted roof that overlooked the airfield. Which was really cool as I got to watch planes taxi, takeoff and land! What a blast that was! And the friends of Mary were really nice and kind and the conversation was lovely!

We then headed out to run an errand for Mary and then returned home and relaxed the rest of the day. We had Japanese spaghetti for dinner and meatballs which were delicious! All in all it was a really epic day!  

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Easter Monday- 6 April 2015

Easter Monday

6 April 2015

Today was a very quiet day. I got up at 0620 this morning and before I even had my morning coffee I Facetimed with my parents to wish them a Happy Easter. How wonderful technology is! I managed to not only talk to them, but to Aunt Robie, Uncle Tuck, Uncle Bruce and Scott my martial arts instructor! How great it was to be able to talk to them!

We then left after breakfast and playing the Wii a bit, to drop off one of Jaiden's friends who had spent the night. We then stopped by the Kadena ITT and reserved a spot for me on the Exploring the North tour for his coming Saturday from 9 am to 5:30 pm! It should be a blast!

We then came home and had a nice walk out on the beach at low tide. It was so low that we could walk a ways out! We rescued a small octopus who was suffocating due to being washed up! We then had to fight the starfish that were attacking him off! We also saw a lot of sea slugs and sea urchins and crabs too!

As I am relaxing at home now and waiting for dinner, I cannot help but think I am incredibly blessed to be here on Okinawa, a beautiful island with the Thomases and their wonderful friends who are now my wonderful friends!

It was a quiet but wonderful day today all in all!

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5 April 2015 - Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

The result of a wonderful nights sleep can do wonders as I found out the previous night. Now that I have my bag with all my supplies, I am really having a blast here in Oki. Today was a joyful day, even with the fact Kurt was leaving today. For one this is Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus and two I was spending it with one of my favorite families in the world, the Thomas Family!

We began the day with opening the Easter Baskets and drinking coffee. Once the whole family was awake, we moved to the patio to do the SonRise Easter Service. It was truly a wonderful time with a wonderful Christian family.

Then Kurt left the house and while it was sad to see him leave, at 12 we would be going over to a friends house for an Easter Brunch. In the mean time, Jaiden, Nyah and I took turns playing games on the Wii. Once Mary and Wayne got back, we had a little downtime, then we headed off to Easter brunch.

The Easter Brunch truly was a magnificent gathering with a bunch of lovely people, Kurt's co-workers and their wives. Not only was the company superb, the food was truly very wonderful! I loved the fruit plate with pistachio cool whip dip! That stuff was addicting! The chocolate cake and the strawberry cake was also superb as well!

It was a good time, I met some people I had not previously met before, heard some interesting stories and received some excellent diving tips from Shannon on fixing dive cramps. Also I got some good ideas on what to see and do around Okinawa that hopefully we will be trying in this coming week!

All in all, when we left, I truly felt like I had been at a gathering of a second family. As I relax here with Mary and the kids, I have come to think that this Easter was one of the best I have ever had. Though I miss my family and friends back home, I am really enjoying it here in Okinawa with all of the friends I now have here.

Have a Happy Easter

He is Risen!

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3 April 2015 - a relaxing day

Yesterday was relatively uneventful day. Here is a summary of what went on yesterday:

In the morning, we awoke and had coffee (or in my case none). Then we went to have lunch with Kurt at his office then returned back to our house by the way of the grocery store. After returning home, Mary and I went to the beach to look for the goggles. Then we came home and relaxed then when Kurt got home, we went down to the beach and swam in the ocean. 

Jaiden and I had a blast snorkeling and swimming in the waves. It was a bit choppy that day. But we enjoyed ourselves. We came back home, took a shower then we went downstairs and played the Wii, had dinner then went to bed. I read the propers for Good Friday before I went to sleep to remind myself of our Lord's Sacrifice and how grateful we should all be.

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2 April 2015 - Epic Dive!

Today, Kurt, Mary and Shannon (our Divemaster) went on an epic dive!

Clown Fish

It was a long surface swim! And a bit of a walk! I had 20lb of weights which made it a challenge.  I had a little leg cramp during my swim but it went away. We went down to about 15 ft, made sure my ears were okay. I took t slowly and adjusted my ears to the pressure. We swam down to 30 ft. We saw clownfish, angelfish, sea snakes and more! When we came back, it was low tide, so we had to walk quite a ways back!! It was not easy with the weight of the BCD and the weights and not slipping! Oh and Mary's BCD had a malfunction that Kurt had to fix, then Kurt's air hose was leaking so he had to fix both before we dove! All in all it was an epic dive!

And, we found Nemo!

It was an adventure and a half!

It was great once we got to the dive spot. Shannon(the divemaster lady) thought the surface swim was too long, Kurt and Mary disagreed. The tough part for me was walking back to the shore and not falling!!

Last night's sunset

1 April 2015 - Made it to bed time!

Jack made it through the end of the day, snorkeling and all!  The Thomases' house overlooks one of the Okinawa invasion beaches.  What a difference 70 years makes!

From Jack - 

I woke up at 0530 and had coffee and oatmeal with the Thomases for breakfast. It was very yummy and delicious way to start the day. Then we went for walk on the beach which was a hop skip and jump away from the house.

We then returned to the house and got snorkeling gear and wetsuits and kayak ready. We then returned to the beach and went snorkeling for 1.5 hrs. We did not find much, but an item of interest was a .50 cal shell casing. It was appropriate as it was the 70th Anniversary of the Battle for Okinawa and was at one of the landing beaches.

 After we finished snorkeling, we went to BX Kadena acquired supplies and got a haircut. Then we headed to Kadena Marine to rent scuba gear for our dive on 2 April 2015.

After our activities down the hill were concluded, we went home, relaxed then went metal detecting on the beach. Then went to park with kids and hung out there.

Then I went to supermarket with Mary, which was very interesting to see the different varieties of food even though I could not read the packaging. They also had a section of products imported from Costco! Very cool! We then returned home  then had dinner with very nice neighbors. Dinner consisted of sushi rolls, shishimi (salmon and red smacker meats, both of which were very good).

We then had green bean like things and I had some pineapple the neighbors brought. The biggest news of today is the bag I left on the bus at Haneda was found and is being shipped back to us.

A big thanks to the Thomases' neighbor who helped contact the bus company and Mary who arranged for the return!

Okinawan Donut!

I got to have a sample of an Okinawan Donut while we were out and about today! It was dry and not as sweet as American Donuts! It was very delicious!

1 April 2015 - The Rodent is in Okinawa

Jack made it to Narita on time.  His follow on flight to Naha in Okinawa was in a different terminal and he missed that one.  Sadly, that was the last Narita to Naha flight of the night.  Flexibility kicked in and he hopped a shuttle to Haneda which had another flight to Naha!  Success!  Jack made it to Naha just a few hours late and to the Thomases by 2300 on 31 March 2015 (local time)!  Not so bad.

Up and operational (sort of) by sunrise, here he is with Kurt and Mary!

30 March 2015 - Coast Out of the Aleutians

Time is marching on and Jack it getting ready to leave US airspace over the tip of the Aleutian Islands, veritable garden spot of the universe.  The Global Command Center (Rodent Ops) is getting ready to go into the reaction mode (you call, we wake up and react).

30 March 2015 - 1900 PDT - Jack is halfway there!

Exactly halfway to Narita!

30 March 2015 - about 1/4 of the way to Narita

Jack is moving along, just off the coast of Canada!

30 March 2015 - Airborne out of San Diego

Jack got Seat 45H, an Emergency Exit Row Aisle seat.  Does not get any better than that!

Airborne on time for Narita.  Then, he will make his way to Naha in Okinawa!

30 March 2015 - Off to Okinawa, at least we hope!

Jack is attempting to make a non-rev flight on Japan Airlines to Narita today.  He is at the airport right now, it will be about an hour until he knows if will make the flight.  We will see!

They are almost full.  So, if not he has a full fare tomorrow on United via Denver.  Either way, he will make it.  The JAL is a lot better schedule, however.  Stay tuned!

Wednesday morning in Kisumu and Jack is awake!

Early morning call from Jack on the Satcom.  Yesterday they had breakfast at the hotel, then off to see the local bishop.  After that the trio visited two different churches and met lots of great great people.  

Seems Jack is a bit tired, to be expected after the long long trip and by the way, NO AIRCONDITIONING in the hotel.  Jack is not used to being hot while he tries to sleep.  In addition, while there is WiFi in the hotel, it is not actually hooked up to the internet, so it is USELESS.  

More church visiting today, hopefully more sleep tonight.

Tuesday in Kisumu and Jack is awake!

We got a Satcom call from Jack about 0700 Africa Time.  He had gone to bed at 1800 and was pretty well rested. He was happy to learn his bag had been found and was enroute to him.



He is meeting Bishop Jerry and Betty for breakfast.  Then, off to the local bishop's home, then to a couple of local churches. Hopefully the bishop's son can point Jack to the Safari.com store to get a SIM card.

All is well in Kenya!

Bob is LIVE

As you can see, Bob - the GPS Satellite transponder in the right side bar, is LIVE.  Here is Jack on the East end of Lake Victoria!

The case of the missing bag, which once was lost, but now is found - AMAZING GRACE

Got a call from Jack on the Satcom this morning at 0700 Pacific Time, 1700 Africa Time, they still had not found the big suitcase which went missing before Nairobi.  He was concerned, but more than that very tired from his trip.  We told him that we would work it from this end.

The good news is after querying Delta and KLM, they found the bag and it is on its way to Kisumu!  That is good as it has all the Church Basic Course materials and the Satcom charger.  Anyway, hopefully Jack will get a great night's rest and all will be great on Tuesday!

On the ground in Nairobi, Kenya!

KL 4141 has landed safely in Nairobi. Now for the intrepid trio to get though Customs and Immigration, then find a SIM card and on to the next flight. With luck, we should see some posts from Jack soon!

Turns out they got through Customs no problem, but Jack's big bag did not make it.  The good news is Bishop Jerry's phone works great.  We will check on the bag first thing in the morning.

On the African Queen!

Jack, Jerry and Betty survived their stay at the Yotel in the Amsterdam airport!

Heading for Africa!

They boarded Kenya Airlines Flight 4141 with non-stop service to Nairobi, Kenya.  About four hours there, then off to Kisumu!

Right now they are feet dry over Africa!