Yellow Belt Girls!

Big news on the home front today. Olivia and I tested for our Yellow Belt, First Stripe (degree) in our Karate classes. We belong to Nix Dojo. It is Okinawan Style karate, the entire name is actually: Ryokoku Seidokan Karate Kobudo Renmei (you can check out their site at: http://www.ryokokuseidokan.com/ if you are looking for more info.

Here is Olivia during the first part of her test. The first section is what is known as a Kata. This particular kata is Kihon Kata. It is the first that we learn.




The best part of the kids test was that Sensei would yell out the commands to the kids so that they got it. As the belts get higher, the instruction during the test becomes less.

Here is me during my Kihon Kata. I know it doesn't look particularly difficult, but I can tell you that it took me a couple of months until I got it. And now, as I watch myself, I still see MANY things I need to work on (like bending my knees more, better turns etc.). Also, please note that I went FIRST out of the whole testing series this time. I don't know if it was a compliment or not, but I will take it as one. :) (and for the record, this is the first haircut in many years that I am totally unhappy with... blech).





The next part of the test is a series of Self Defense Moves that we learn in our class. They are done by the numbers (in Japanese... ichi=1 ni=2 etc.) I got pretty good video of the kids doing it. I didn't get the adults (as the nice husband who took the video of my kata was filming his wife at the time!). When the adults test we are with a partner actually doing the moves. As your belts get higher, these too get more difficult and you need to do more in the series. For this test we had to know 1-6 (or ichi - roku)



Today was a highlight. First off, as a parent, I loved seeing Olivia up there working hard. She was so nervous when we got there and I took her up on the stage to feel it out. She looked like she had seen a ghost. But once she got started and the other kids were there, she relaxed and had a good time. I caught one photo of her excitement about getting her yellow belt. And one of the black belts (who help with testing) told me afterwards "boy, she was REALLY excited about that". It was nice to see her accomplish something that she has put a lot of time into.

Secondly, since I took on this new hobby/sport back in November, I have enjoyed every moment. I enjoy the sport, I enjoy the people, I enjoy the Dojo. All in all, it has been a positive part of my life here in Okinawa thus far. And, now, I too have accomplished the first step in this process of bettering my stealthy skills. I hope to look back at this video in 2 years and be able to see just how much better I am then. But, for now, I am very happy with my accomplishment.

I think one of the things I love about this Dojo and this experience is the vast variety of people who participate. I wish I had been able to video the entire day, because showing you the "beginner" aspect is such a small part of the talent and hard work that is part of it all. Another highlight today was watching the high level belts test. Brandon (Sensei and Ms. Akemi's son) tested for his 3rd Degree Black Belt. Sensei Toma (our head Sensei over Nix Dojo... ohhh, its a whole hierarchy in the Dojo world thing) was there. I think he is something like 80 years old. It was like being a part of the Karate Kid. I tell you. Just something about taking Okinawan Karate in Okinawa. ANYWAY... Brandon was amazing. There were other high belts too, and it just made me thankful that I get the experience something that I would likely have not done back in the States (and who knows, now maybe I might...).

There is also something to watching the people that you "study" with succeed in their goal. I enjoyed watching my classmates do their Kata. Being in class together, you see where people struggle, where they do well and what happened only yesterday in class as a hang up. It was a proud moment for me to watch these people (mostly women) who I have only known for a short time, but see work so hard physically to obtain their next goal. Way to go ladies! (and Sean and Kenny too).

This is Olivia with Emily and Christopher. They all started Karate back in the fall together. It was fun to see them accomplish this together.

The Past Couple of Weeks...

I realize that I have been lax in posting anything as of late. We have been busy, nothing too out of the ordinary, just life stuff. But it is ALL good.

2 weekends ago we went up to the Air Force Base (Kadena) (and really, it is 10 minutes from my house, so not a big trip). We went to watch our friend Caden in his first tennis tournament. It was great (and he did great!). On the way back we decided to stop at the static display of jets that we pass EVERY time we drive onto the base. Here is Olivia in front of one of the grand jets.

And here is Alessandra, who would not pose in front of a jet to save her life. Ahh, the spirited child that she is...

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for one of Alessandra's friends Kai. I didn't take enough photos, but I thought this one was cute. Alessandra wanted a balloon animal from the clown and Olivia offered to help her out.

I took this 2 nights ago. The girls and I sat out on the porch and had dinner (yes, you should be jealous... it is THAT nice here right now). It was a lovely sunset.

On Thursday Alessandra had a field trip for school that I got to go on too. We went to NEO park. I still can't figure out what the NEO stands for, but there were a lot of birds to feed. The above photo was Alessandra reacting to thebirds coming over near her. It didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but she was pretty freaked out at the beginning.

This one came out a bit blurry, but it was cute of her in her school shirt and ready to go!

And we found a little pig to feed. She liked him a lot.

This photo cracks me up. These two little guys (Marius and Jaren) are in Alessandra's class. They wanted to go on this robot thing and Alessandra was in there already. They jumped in with her and their dad put in 100yen to make it go around. They all loved it (although I could never get Alessandra in the photo, their smiles were SO big! :) Such cuties!

Alessandra looking over the side of the train car. She liked the train the best.

This is Sensei. He takes time before every class to say hello not only to the kids in his class and their parents, but to the little siblings as well. Here is Alessandra and her friend Sophia with their favorite sensei in Okinawa.

More to come ...

Brad and Duncan... need I say more?

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Video Crazy

I love posting videos, now that I have actually learned how to do it!

Here is a little video I caught of Alessandra in one of our dancing modes (we do this pretty much daily).

Enjoy!

A couple of sunsets, a moonset and some cute girls.

So, I have been accidentaly not putting my camera in my bag. Which really means that it hasn't been leaving the house with me.
Therefore, there aren't any neat-o photos of our latest adventures, however,
since we live on the water, I thought I would hook you up with some recent sunsets.

This was my favorite this week. YES, all week we have had nice sunsets... If you need a month to get away from the winter weather - February in Okinawa is NICE!

This was last night. It is a close up, but gorgeous.

This is from this morning when we woke up the moon was setting behind some clouds. It was really lovely (the photo does not do it justice).

And, here are the cute girls. They both picked ALL pink outfits today. Who ever knew that one day I would be doing one laundry load of only "pinks"?

A little Olivia

The other day Olivia and I were working on her Valentine's Box for school. I got the camera out and took a little video of her. I thought it was pretty cute - and just wanted to start the Valentine wishes headed your way (because with 25 classroom Valentines to do, you probably aren't going to be seeing one in the mail!)
Also - I know it is HUGE, I can't get it any smaller, but hopefully you will enjoy it anyway!

Morale Booster

A message from Brad:

Today was a particularly exciting day. The Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Amos, and LtGen "Fighting Joe" Dunford came to visit all the Marines at MNSTC-I. It was a big morale booster for me, as you can see in the photo's. They flew in on an MV-22 Osprey, which was also exciting. I have photo's and video of it landing and taking off, I will send next time.

For those of you who don't know about General Dunford. Brad served under him in OIF-1. His wife was also quite helpful to me through the process of some casuality calls. They are great people and he is a wonderful Marine. Happy to see Brad had the chance to say hello again!

Al-Faw Palace

Thought you all might enjoy a shot of Brad-Dad in front of Al-Faw Palace.

He wrote "Here is another photo of me in front of the Al Faw Palace. It was taken this afternoon before I got back on the armored school bus to go back to the IZ. The sun was low in the sky, and the light was reflecting just right off the stone facade. There were ducks and geese on the lake, and it was nice relaxing for a few moments before going back to work."

He'll likely LOVE that I am putting his words on here, but I felt the need to share nonetheless.

Pedal, Pedal, Pedal!

In reality I think that Alessandra learned how to pedal tricycles at preschool. HOWEVER, yesterday was the first time I saw it in action and caught it on film. Thought you all might enjoy a little glimse of her. (oh yes, and her sister too!)

Enjoy!



And, in reality, she really was only motivated by the fact that Olivia was MUCH faster than her.

Oh, Sakura...

It's Cherry Blossom (or Sakura) season here in Okinawa. The weather turned lovely this weekend, so we decided to head up to Mt. Yaedake for a little tour of things lovely...

We stopped at a pull off to get some photos with some pretty buds... too bad my little buds weren't into the posing so much! :)

Higher up on Mt. Yaedake, a lookout point. It was lovely and you can see the Cherry Blossom trees all the way down the road. Just lovely.

Yep, that's the ocean way out there...

The drive up and back was PACKED with people. I think the nice weather and the fact that it was a Sunday made people come out to check the trees in full bloom. This is a shot on the way down the mountain.

Another shot from the way down, the trees were sometimes hitting the top of the van and the windows.

About halfway up there was a park. They had festival type food set up and a playground. We of course had to stop. That's Alessandra making her way back to the "big kids" playground.

Alessandra after climbing up a big hill to get to yet another roller slide.

Look! It's me! A self photo with some blossoms...

Olivia took this of Alessandra and I

And Olivia and I!

They had this little carnival ride set up there, so after much begging, I agreed to let the girls go on it. (who needs nature when you have mechanical fun?)

On our way out of the park, we passed Cameron, Nicole and the boys coming in.

On the way home (it was a long drive) we stopped on the side of the road to get our tootsies wet. It was a gorgeous day and the girls squealed with delight at the water. Alessandra kept saying "where my swimsuit?"

I just thought this was a nice shot of where we stopped today. I love the hills in the background.