Regular Internet only a few days away!

Okay, so really I don'tknow if this worty of a blog update, but I am excited, so I thought I would share.

We had signed up for fiberoptic, but after awaiting our 3 weeks with no word, we called and found out that they ran out of fiberoptic cable in our neighborhood, so they need a new line put in - and they have no idea when they are doing it.

SO, I signed us up for DSL. We will be happy new owners of a Japanese landline and DSL modem come next Tuesday. Hopefully we will have no problem hooking up our vonage line as well as our computer.

Happiness will ensue when I feel more connected.

Fancy Fish Toes, Flightline Fair and Food

Olivia and Alessandra last night after some Okinawa Noodle and playtime at the park!

So here Monday has gone by already (for me anyway) and I have yet to do a post from the weekend.

Here is a recap:

Kelly (that's me) got to go to a local highlight of a place called Cocoks (said like Coco's) for a pedicure. The great thing about this place (and what they are known for) are the amazing leg massages they give you and the fancy nail art. SO, I went full fledged and had some Koi fish painted on my toes. This is no lie people - this artwork is really amazing and the nice woman who took care of my feet for the morning, was well worth the time and money!

My Koi

That afternoon/evening we headed down to MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Futenma (about 10 minutes from us) for the Flightline Fair. Since we missed the Ohio State Fair - this was about the closest we were going to get! They opened the base to everyone and had a great number of aircraft and other Marine Corps vehicles around that you could climb around in. Olivia was especially excited about the airplanes.


Fair Food - we really have no idea what it was, it was sort of like a frittata, but we aren't quite sure. It was, however, super delish!


Pilot Olivia

Climbing aboard the back of a CH-46 - Olivia said it was like a BIG MOUTH

The girls at theFlightline Fair

Hope you all had a great weekend!

This week's produce. I won't even tell you about how ripe the mangos are!

Hello everyone!

So, today's post is a bunch of random stuff. We have had a few pretty low key days, spending time indoors when it's hot and trying to get out a little, but the reality is - I am ready for school to start. It seems like this summer has gone on FOREVER, and we are in dire need of some routine. We are doing relatively well with this, but school will aid in less arguments between the girls and hopefully offer Olivia some well deserved social outlets (without her sister around), brain action and will hopefully allow Alessandra some time solo with mom and doing some of her own activities. Almost there.

Yesterday I ventured out with the girls to the Jusco (department store and more!). My intent was to purchase curtains for our bedroom, but that part didn't happen. We actually did have a pleasant time (with Alessandra's 2 year-old-ness, you just never know) and just browsed through so many fun things. (if you like Hello Kitty, this is the place for you!!)

Ah, I almost forgot the highlight to the day: Mister Donut. Inside the Jusco thre are a number of different places to eat including stands to pick up smoothies, octopus balls, rice snacks, a Starbucks, a McDonalds just to name a few). We parked out by the entrance to the Mister Donut, so on the way out Olivia said "mom, maybe we should get some donuts" (does she know what to say or what?). So, we stopped, it was right before lunch time, so I was planning on getting a couple of donuts to go, and then we found out.... THEY SERVE LUNCH. Noodle Bowls and Donuts. What could be better?

One of the things I like about Japan is all of the crazy organizational doo-dads that they have everywhere. There seems to be a tupperware container or bento box for just about everything possible, and although I haven't been in a Japanese kitchen yet, I would imagine they have the organization down to a T. Which brings me to what we purchased yesterday... Now, our kitchen, although nice and decent number of cabinets is a lot smaller than what we came from. It has taken me some time to adjust to cooking in a small space again, and since our dishwasher still isn't hooked up (we have a hot water pressure problem at the moment), we are doing a lot of handwashing. We are also lacking counterspace (and we don't even have a microwave yet).

So, here is what I found:

This contraption was actually 1 item to begin with and then you add the elements that you want. I love it! It isn't so pretty, and Brad REALLY doesn't like it, but it works for the function, and it makes me feel happy. SO, it will stay.

Here are a couple of photos here of our drainage system in the kitchen. We have no disposal (no one does) so there are these cage type things that catch all the goop. THANKFULLY someone told me about these bags you can buy to put in your "trap" to catch the goop and that way, you only have to pull out the bag and not the icky stuff all over your hands. Needless to say, since I cook so much, I am using at least 1 or 2 bags a day, but they make me happy too. So, they will stay.

And, lastly, some photos of our girls outside 2 nights ago with Alessandra on her "new" tricycle (it used to be Olivia's) and Olivia sporting her new helmet (complete with elbow and knee pads which cracked me up).

I like them both too, so they will stay.

That Star Spangled Banner

This actually happened on Alessandra's birthday, but I figured it needed it's own post.

One of the great things about living close to Camp Foster is that we can actually hear when they post Colors for the night (bring down the flag). Olivia was standing on the porch the other night and opened up the door and said:

"Come on guys, put your hand on your shoulder, come out here and listen to the trumpets"

Oh, how patriotic we are.

2 year old birthday's are the best!

So we finally have a 2 year old in the house! Happy Birthday to Alessandra!

(sticker courtesy of big sister)

We decided that since it was the weekend (and her birthday was on Monday) that we would celebrate the big day on Sunday (since in reality, she is still quite unsure of which day is which) and then we wouldn't be rushed for time after Brad got home on Monday night. The BIG celebration included: Mom, Dad, big sister and the birthday girl.

Mom made fancy chocolate cupcakes (with a little help from Betty Crocker's boxed recipe), and note here: Alessandra DID pick out which flavor, it went a little like this at the commissary last week:

"Okay, Alessandra (as I hand her both boxes of cake mix), do you want the yellow cake or the chocolate cake" her response:

"mmmm, choc-ate" (while hugging the said box and throwing me the yellow cake mix box).

A girl knows what a girl wants.

(the idea for the "2" shape of cupcakes, I totally stole from Sara - although I did forget the food coloring, so white buttercream frosting it was)

The day was pretty low key, Olivia and Brad went shopping and mom worked on making dinner (we figured that Alessandra would love Indian food for her birthday, so I made a yummy eggplant curry and homemade Naan bread). She did enjoy the naan, not the curry so much.

Celebrated with singing, a candle and cupcakes, a few presents and fun was had by all.

Getting a little adviceon the best opening strategy from Olivia

On her actual special day, I took the girls to a playgroup meetup at one of the local small waterparks. This place is located about 5 minutes from here and we had a great time (well, they did, I was watching to make sure theyu didn't drown, thus, it was not as much fun for me). Thankfully, one of Olivia's friends (marissa) made it and her mom renee helped me quite a but with the daredevilish 2 year old who has NO FEAR. You think I am saying that, but she truly is terrifying to be with - just jumping right off the side! (and she loved the big waterslide too)

Marissa, Olivia and Alessandra at the water park


The birthday girl enjoying another cupcake on her actual special day.

The sunset last night - it was quite brilliant, so I think I may need to change the settings on my camera

The Monkey Store and Fast Food with Style!

In honor of our friend Kevan, today's blog post is more photos, less verbage.

MAKEMAN - aka "The Monkey Store", like Home Depot, only smaller and with more gagety type things

And they had REALLY nice flowers.... (note Olivia's new haircut - she wanted me to make sure you noticed).

I mentioned vending machines before I think, but they are literally EVERYWHERE. Someone in one blog I read said that you can totally survive in Okinawa, as long as you have yen in your pocket, because there are vending machines on every corner... no lie. We especially love the coffee drinks and lemon water.

Tonight for dinner we walked down to the beach and went to Okinawa Noodle. I don't know if you can read this sign or not:

But the gist is this: Put your money in the machine (below) and pick what you want. It spits out a little ticket, which you then drop by the food counter and they fix your food for you. (Noodle bowl), which you then top with a huge variety of items (i.e. dumplings, hamburger, cabbage, spices, green onion, veggies, sliced beef, chicken, tempura fried things, seaweed, spam and more!), then you eat.

Here is what the girls and I ate (Brad was much more adventurous let me tell you). Olivia loved the noodles and well, Alessandra, loved it all.

Olivia and Brad climing the stairs at the Araha Beach entryway. It's sort of like the "Rocky" stairs in it's own way, yet way easier, and not really like it at all.

And here is my little family tickling their toes in the surf in the dark before heading home for bed. It's nights like these that we feel like we are on vacation.

All this and a bag of fruit!

Happy Day everyone!

All is well on the home front here. Today (Wednesday) was a pretty low key day for the Aiello clan. Yesterday we registered our KINDERGARTENER for school and today we had to go to the bus office to make sure she had her bus id. The bus stop is a few blocks away, but I am sure once we get started on a routine, all will be well. Olivia is very excited about school - she will be attending EC Killin elementary here at Camp Foster and they are the THE GECKOS. SO, once she found that out, she decided that everyone at one time in their life, should be a gecko. AND, thanks for LL Bean, we ordered a new lunchbox with a gecko on it. What could be better?

We are getting more and more settled every day. There is still SO much to do. The main minor changes are that our kitchen is a lot smaller than our house in Oregon and we don't have any linen closets. Other than that, the space itself doesn't seem to different in size. We also have an apartment with a dishwasher (well, space for a dishwasher). We bought one from another kind soul last night (gently used, they moved and coupldn't use it anymore), I haven't hooked it up yet (due to cowardly home-improvement issues and no time without small children underfoot). Therefore, a nice person from the Furniture store on base will be coming out to hook it up next week. I never realized how lazy I had gotten, but I really do NOT like to do dishes by hand. Argh.

Today I also took a plunge and bought some carpet squares for the living room. The carpet options on base are limited (be forwarned people who may come here). We brought every carpet/rug that we owned, BUT, our whole home is tile... thus needing more rugs. It already has made a difference in the look of the space (and the feel on the toesies). Brad will be surpised when he comes home.

And, last (but certainly not least). FRESH FRUIT AND VEGGIES. One benefit to living in tropical island paradise has got to be that you have the ability to have great produce. Now, living in Oregon made me a bit of a produce snob (man, do I miss those blueberries) and coming here I was excited about what we would find. At this point we have been to a few Japanese grocery stores and bought some local stuff, but time and kidlits have impended me from shopping at any markets yet. I found this great service that another spouse of military person had started called Fresh In Oki (http://www.freshinoki.com/). You email in your order and viola:

Gorgeous and fresh produce. How happy am I?

Getting Settled

The view RIGHT NOW from our back door! Another beautiful day in paradise!

Greetings once again!

Unfortunately we are still NOT online, however, through the magic of WiFi, I thought I might drop a quick note on here to let you know that we are, indeed, alive and well!

The move in process has been busy, chaotic, exhausting and happy. There never seems to be enough time in the day to unpack things and we hve come across MANY things and said "why did we bring this?". It seems that in most ways, the "less is more" concept would have done us well. Fortunately our little home is only about 200 square feet less than our house in Oregon (although we also are down a garage and a couple of closets). The furniture that we recieved from the Govt. Lot is actually pretty nice, very durable and not as ugly as we thought it would be. SO, all in all, things are getting settled.

This is photo of the pathway by our house - our apartment is in the photo too, but I didn't have time to doctor it with an arrow to show you where - sort of straight back the path to the right of the tall reddish building (ours is only 5 stories)

The highlight of our week was actually sitting down for dinner, at the table in OUR OWN HOME! That first night we ate here, we had a rotisserie chicken, sushi (made fresh at the commmissary) and couscous... not a particularly normal meal, but hey, we were all here and in one place. The girls are getting accustomed to us harping on them for their manners again (so much of it went out the window the last few weeks). And sadly, Alessandra's habit of walking while snacking, it getting squashed as I write this!

Their have been some interesting things to learn about living in Japan. Wehooked ourselves up with Satellite cable. We opted for the regular satellite (and will add the AFN (Armed Forces Network) later this week. I think with so many options and ideas going around, well, I don't know why we made this decision in this order, but we got our tv hooked up and wow, we have cable - granted, most of it is in Japanese, but we have cable nonetheless. I think next time we willnot be quite so anxious.

Which brings me to the internet. SO, we opted for Fiberoptic (supposedly super speedy and wonderful). I signed us up and a day later got the call that the phone company actually has to drop another line into our neighborhood (not just our building). SO, we are on the wait. I am going to see if I can keep trying this WiFi thing in the time being and we may just wait it out until the phone company gets it together. It is tough, I feel disconnected and out here, but I know it will happen ALL IN DUE TIME! :)

On the positive note, we have gone on MANY walks. We live(literally) right on the walking path to Araha Beach. The path goes all along the ocean front, beach front. fishing front... etc. (you get the idea) and it is all brick and paved. Olivia enjoyed riding her scooter (and it shoud be a great place to ride a bike). Alessandra actually enjoyed going in the stroller - something I couldn't beg her to do in Oregon. The girls and I took a walk the first morning we were here and we put our feet in the water and saw a cute little crab running around. They also played at the big Pirate Ship Park. AND ALL THIS, within a few moments from our doorstep!

Today, we walked about a 1/2 block down and had breakfast at a little cafe. They serve pancakes there (which I guess is rare in Okinawa or Japan for that matter). It was so yummy and again, only minutes to pancakes - on foot. Life is good.

So, I am going to stop writing for now (still more boxes to upack), but I will share more soon!

Love to you all!

We have a home!

Hello everyone! A little shot at the view from our casa for you - a little cloudy today. That is the East China Sea - right outside of our house! (Oh yes, AND when we were leaving today there was a man with a truck of BAKED GOODS - you all know how I enjoy good bread products. Well, the Japanese don't have ovens, therefore they don't bake...but everyone needs good baked products, so this nice man brings his truck by your street and you buy yummy things. As Sara noted earlier on skype - we must have rented the right place!)

We finally have a home! Our new apartment is located in Kitamae, Chatan-Cho, Okinawa.

Not only that.. but we have our stuff! Brad spent some quality time in our place today (while Olivia was at a friend's and Alessandra and I came back to the Lodge for naptime and lunch). By the time we came back later today, a sea of boxes and most importantly TOYS met us! Olivia hasn't been back there yet (since it was empty this morning) so we can't wait to let her loose with her own goodies.

Here is a photo of our living room: Alessandra yelling "cheese" as she gives me a smile!

The other new thing of note: A photo of our new van. We really like it (but terribly miss the automatic doors on both sides from our Odyssey). We will just have to get used to it!

Interesting new license plate eh?

We are SO ready to be in our new home! We are NOT looking forward to unpacking or organizing (I mean, we sort of are, but things like BATHROOM DRAWERS are a lot smaller here.. argh! I am going to have to get creative!) The other thing we are not looking forward to is trying to find Japanese curtains to cover all those big windows at the back of the house! They have some at the Exchange here on base, but MAN are the ugly! So, I have to try and figure out the whole metric measuring thing - in CM and how to read the Japanese curtain containers, but I think we will make it.

ALL in ALL, the good outweighs the bad. OH NO, there is one more bad thing. We are going to go to fiberoptic internet (apparently it is WAY fast), and since our vonage works off of internet and I am addicted to this whole blog thing, we have to wait a little while until they can install it (I think 3 weeks or something, we will find out details tomorrow). SO, in the time being, Skyping and blogging will be at a minimum (yuck!). I will be stopping by the many WiFi places on base and checking email and trying to get some blogs on, so be patient and in due time we will meet again! In the meantime, if you do NEED to call me (and please feel free to), my new cell phone here is: 080-3516-9070 (I am not sure how to dial Japan, so you may need to figure that out!)

Otherwise we are all well. We feel every day by 6:00pm that we have been run over by a truck, but hopefully those feelings too shall pass and some sense of normalcy will enter into our world.
Olivia went with me to check out the 2 Montessori schools nearby. We liked them both, but didn't love either of them, so we still aren't sure of how we are going to proceed with Kindergarten. We will sort that out very soon. Also, Alessandra is starting to talk more.. in Japanese. She loves to say moshi, moshi (greeting for the phone), Konnichiwa (Good Afternoon) and Arigato (thank you). She especially loves it when she can say it to the gate guards on base. Brad checks in on Friday (officially). Not sure when the true work will begin, but our little vacation world will end soon enough (except for me, I am on permanent vacation - except for that parenting and house-managing thing).

Love to you all!

Pizza in the Sky and Butterflies... oh my!

This is Okinawa!

Today was one of the best days yet. First off a big thanks goes to our new friends Juan and Angela and their kiddos Sage and Sophia. We met these nice people here at the Westpac within the last week or so and were excited to get to know them a little bit. They asked if we wanted to join them this weekend on a trip to Naha and the 10000 Dancers festival and we readily accepted the invitation. In the end, the trip to Naha got cancelled (due to rumors that we needed tickets to get onto the street where the parade was) and we decided to go in the other direction (north) and check out the Butterfly Garden.


Juan started out the drive with their new fancy van. We saddled inside with our 2 kids and the 2 adults and we were ready to party. We took the road north and just enjoyed the amazing sites that this island has to offer. It is truly one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.

We got ourselves all the way to the Butterfly Garden (well Juan and Angela and their awesome navigational skills did the work) and enjoyed our first tourist experience and our first purchasing of entry to something (when we really had no idea what we were paying for). The place was so interesting - there was a section with crawly type things and then a section for the butterflies (and other random stuff). We hit the crawly type stuff first where the kids got to play with hermit crabs and we saw a coconut crab (think big, brown and looks a bit like a coconut) and some other large beetle creatures. Then we moved onto the butterfly garden. It was fun to watch the kids play around and the butterflies landing on things.

It got really hot and sticky while we were there, so we took a few photos and headed to the gift shop and then on out. Here we are at the Butterfly Garden.

The next stop - Pizza in the Sky. Or Pizza Kajinho.

Now this place is another that we had heard of from Patrick and Amy. We knew the view would be gorgeous and that the food would be good (and you know how important food is!)

We left from the Butterfly Garden (and thankfully I had directions - or is it?). We get down the road a little bit and turn off (where the directions said to) and then start up this windey, narrow road. I have no idea which places were the forks, which were the T's and if we make any correct turns at all, but somehow we got high up onto this mountian/hill, found 2 nice Japanese ladies in a car that pointed us in the right direction and then we made it.



We had to wait a little while to get a table that would seat us all, but finally one came available and we sat down, ordered 2 medium pizzas (they only had small and medium), a variety of drinks (juices - guava, mango, orange, mulberry), orion (beer), tea and water (our table looked thirsty). We had salad (incredible yumminess with some sort of soy sauce, rice vinager dressing that made me so happy) and pizza. I didn't think it was possible, but we ate every, single bite.

(The following are really attractive photos of us eating. Nice huh?)

One of the good ones of me huh? Note: Eating pizza with chopsticks... and it really works surprisingly well! Juan and Sage

Angela at the end of the table of yumminess

While we were there, little Sage was a movie star. His blond hair caused quite a bit of attention and people were taking photos with him. We had heard this happens in mainland Japan and also China, but hadn't heard of it much here. After awhile, one group of ladies talked to us and we found out they were from Osaka (mainland Japan), so it made more sense. It was pretty funny.

Here are Olivia, Sage and Alessandra after dinner playing in the grass...

Oh yes, and also - I almost forgot. It rained too - a quick downpour - very monsoon season-ish and very islandy.

All in all, aside from 1 other couple, I think we were the only American's there, and it helps us realize that we are the minority here (which sometimes while on base it is easy to forget). We enjoyed the experience and are getting better at the little bit of Japanese that we know.

On the way back the kid's all fell asleep and we enjoyed the ride back and Angela's first time at the wheel (I have to say, she was braver than I was on the tight roads coming down from that place!) And one memorable thing was that there are these ice cream carts on the side of the road and she stops to get one, and here she is, new driver, with ice cream cone in hand, getting on the highway. :) Oh yes, and here is the ice cream cart sales girl from out the window.

Off for more adventures!

(this is a great family photo - don't you think?)