Carolyn's Kindergarten Graduation

Congratulations our Bechtel bumblebee on a successful completion of kindergarten! Hard to believe next year we'll have a kid in first grade and another in kindergarten!

Happy 5th Birthday Meghan

Happy Birthday Meghan!! Meghan relished the week long attention in celebration of her birthday. We celebrated her actual birthday by going out to dinner at Jam's steakhouse, a teppanyaki restaurant. It is one of her favorite restaurants because "they cook the food in front of you" and "its fun". I have to admit the food is good and it is fun. The restaurant celebrates birthdays by presenting a bottle of champagne (or apple cider) in an ice bucket strewn with sparklers by a masked monster or clown. Our kids (and the adults) loved it but the poor little Japanese boy on the other side of the table was terrified. We all had a good time and too much to eat!

We had so much fun treating Meghan to her 'princess for a day' routine we just had to keep it going. On Saturday we had a Bowling Party at Kadena's very psychedelically lit kids lanes. If you have not been there it is a real treat. Lots of black lights to make everything glow, kid music (no barney thank goodness), they even have retractable bumper and a rail system to help kids aim. The pizza isn't too bad either. Once again we broke out the princess cake mold with the barbie like top, really simple but very effective cake.

Afterwards I went and had a very relaxing facial, while Karl took the kids and their friend Ode to play back home. When I got back they were coated in black (something from the playground rubberized matting), sticky with candy (left over b-day goody bags) and all very tired from playing monster hunters and chasing Karl all round the 7th floor. :) After a good scrubbing to get the black gook off it was off to bed. It had been a lot of fun.

Hong Kong

Ah, Hong Kong at night, Erica and I set to head out to enjoy our first night in China. It is really our second night but we had an overnight lay over in Taipei, Formosa the Other China. We did not see much but the Airport was nice; the Nationalist Chinese restricted us to our hotel. Darn trapped in a four star hotel overnight just Erica and I, hope we could find things to do... Thank you Chang Kai Shek! :)

Once in Hong Kong, we settled nicely into our Hotel the Marriott Renaissance of Kowloon. Swank place, the view from the water front right behind our hotel was spectacular.

At night the view is great as well. I think Erica is stunning in her lowcut little black dress don't you?

From Kowloon in the day you can see the mountains above the city and the bustling traffic on the bay. Here, behind Erica, is one of the famous tourist Junks that ply the waterways. Behind the Junk, you see the Hong Kong Convention Center. We were walking to the Star Line Ferry to ride across to the Island. It is a pleasant and short boat trip to the far side. From there we headed out to explore. We headed out to the market streets, Queens Road is basically several blocks of 'pharmaceuticals' if you think of deer horn, shark fin, lizard on a stick, dried seahorse and cicada shells as Aspirin and Viagra substitutes.

Chinese Viagra company: Hang Cheng Ginseng Deer Horn Medicine Company LTD.

Dried seahorses anyone?

Or how about some crunchy cicadia?

FRESH food, note 'sleeping' cat.

Typical Market Street. Erica hunting for another 'deal'. She is a deadly shopper, I barely escaped with my life, and the poor little old lady who sold us silk dresses for the girls was SO scared when Erica said we were over charged and demanded a refund, she threw in three purses, three fans and a fourth purse for Erica just to save her skin.

We wandered around to the Antique areas after the Oriental Exotic foods and medicine markets. We were presented with many different items, from 3000 year old bronze daggers to 'woolly mammoth' tusk Ivory carvings (since elephant ivory is illegal, there is now a decent trade in prehistoric mammoth tusks. It was really nice stuff. Though it does seem somewhat suspect since they did not allow photographs. Plus just how much prehistoric ivory is there?)

After the ivory and ancient weapons, we found a story specializing in more recent history. In this photo you see the Chairman and his minions as they spread the good word of communism. If you look closely you can see the Proletariat Workers waving their RED BOOKS with their feet on the backs of the disgraced bourgeoisies. I like the fact this is an antique market.

DID I mention the food? I have been to the Iowa State Fair, they eat everything on a stick there. Porkchops, corndogs, corn-on-the-cob, etc, BUT I am not sure they are ready for dried lizard on a stick.

OUCH that's a hot one! Get ready for the DIM SUM, yum yum. After eating, we headed up to Victoria Peak. The mountains overlooking the city are gorgeous and the flowers beautiful. Plus it was nice to get up to the cooler, less humid air of the mountains.

WE LOVE OUR PRESENTS! and so do we all. Beautiful Girls.

Daddy's Home

Yeah! Karl arrived safely home from Afghanistan late on Memorial Day. We are very excited to have him home. Karl will have about two weeks off before he reports back to the realities of life. In the meantime, we are making up for lost time by taking him to all of our favorite places such as the aquarium, RoundOne, and the beach. The poor man has been home almost a week and has yet to unpack!!

Our Welcome Home Banner

Carolyn and her friend Oliver waiting for their dads to arrive

Karl and I are also very lucky. We leave tomorrow for four days to Hong Kong, while Mary watches the kids for us. We're looking forward to exploring the city; especially, all of the restaurants and the nightlife. Hong Kong sounds very similar to NYC with an Asian vibe. In addition to tasting some dim sum, we both are looking forward to some good pasta and red wine. I guess we'll have to go on some hikes to work off all of our eating!

Okinawan Art

A visit to Okinawa is not complete without an Okinawan pedicure. You know how when your finishing your pedi and the little Vietnamese lady asks you if you want a flower on your big toe. You like the idea of it, but there is no way your spending an extra $5 bucks for a silly flower! Well, imagine paying the traditional pedi price and receiving the most beautiful, intricate toe art. That is an Okinawan pedicure. While relaxing in your chair sipping tea, you pour over hundreds of designs trying to decide which one reflects your mood, the season, your outfit, etc. I took Ange and the girls to Coko's, an Okinawan institution. Being virgin Oki pedi gals, they were overwhelmed with the choices. At first Ange was leaning towards the conservative side, something simple, no wild colors or designs; then it clicked. This is a fun removable way to express yourself! The artist in her emerged. Here are a few pics from our day.

In celebration of Karl’s pending return this weekend, the girls and I updated our looks. Ella chose flowers after switching mid painting from hearts. After three consultations with the employees, Ella’s choice was honored. I’ve learned you are not supposed to deviate from directions, written or unwritten. It just throws the whole order of things off. You can only follow one path and one path only. For instance, you can’t add more people to your table or you’ll food will come two hours later. Maybe that is what makes Americans so successful; we support creativity, thinking outside of the box. The Japanese are all about order and tradition.

Anyway, back to toe art. Carolyn chose cherry blossoms. Meghan and I got hearts. I have an added personal touch, with “I love Karl” written on the big toes. Can you tell we missed him? I can’t wait to share homecoming pictures!

Mother's Day Race

What a fantastic mother’s day! The Courtney Girls (Amanda, Misty, Chris, Elisha and I) competed in a 25K relay race sponsored by the MCCS Futenma MCAS. We each had to run 5K except for myself and Elisha who ran an extra quarter of a mile at the start and finish. It was a grueling course. The second mile was continuous hills; where in many ways the race was won or lost. We saw several seasoned runners struggle with those hills. I started us out, ending with a decent position in front of every woman’s team but one. We spent the remainder of the race ticking off the seconds. We all ran hard; there was even puking involved. Elisha brought victory home with an amazing final leg. Our finishing time was 2:07:46. We were the first in our division and 6th overall. Not too bad! Ian, Amanda’s husband, helped us toast our victory with a frosty beer for each of us. It just added to a wonderful experience. Not only did we win, but we were brazen enough to bring beer to celebrate! I almost enjoyed that moment more than the awards ceremony—almost.

I wish I could say I had a relaxing day afterwards. But there was no rest for the victor. We went to Mother’s Day brunch with our families still sweaty from the race, wearing our race shirts and sporting our trophies. I had about an hour down time after my shower before the kid’s bickering lead to a couple of hours at the beach. Either I could pretend I would get some downtime but really settle squabbles or give into their wishes and take them swimming. It was a wise choice. I hope all you mom’s had just as wonderful Mother’s Day.

Before race photo

Our time

Victory beer