July 2006 Archive

7/30 - Well, as you can see I have made yet another flower creation.  I will be honest, this time I did not write down anything about it.  All I know is that the tall stalk type flower is some sort of grass.  It can be seen in the Carolinas and other parts of the US.  One other student said they can be seen at the beach.  There are some Bell flowers also in the arrangement.  I signed up for another 4 weeks of classes.  I think  we are going to start working on table arrangements.  These are arrangements more like we would get in the states when we order flowers from the florist.  We were in a hurry to leave class on Friday, my Sensei (teacher) had plans for my afternoon.  We went to lunch at the local Mexican place.  The sign says  "Mexican food made by real Mexicans".  Most of you know I don't like much Mexican food so I wouldn't know if a real Mexican made it or not.  We ordered taco's and yes they were pretty good.  The big excitement came after lunch.  We went to the Urma City Exhibition.  This is going to sound real cheesy, but I got to meet and mingle with real Japanese people.  I know, they are all Japanese but this was the locals in their own culture.  The other Sensei's were in their traditional Kimonos.  I was was able to see many other variations of Ikebana flower arranging, water color pictures, individual photographs and hand made pottery.  I was welcomed with open arms and even got to sign the guest book.  I was given a program but of course it is in all Japanese.  The memory will be there at least.  This week I will be going to class on Thursday since Riley has a field trip on Friday.  I will post pictures from that once we go.

Riley is growing up so fast.  Yesterday in the living room she walked up to Monty, shook his hand and said "Pleased to meet you".  We don't know where it came from but I guess we should be happy that she is learning some good manners somewhere!

Starting Friday afternoon we promised Riley that on Sunday she could go to the park.  Of course like any 2 year old she can't remember where she put her shoes but at 7:00 this morning she hopped on the bed between Monty and I and asked if she could go the the park now. We slathered on the sun cream grabbed our bottle water and headed out.  Riley still has not learned true fear.  I suppose that is good for her, but I lose 10 years every new obstacle she climbs. That first picture was the beginning of about 30 years taken off my life. Monty and Riley tackled the wooded log bridge together.  Again, no fear from Riley even though she could only reach one side and it swayed back and forth.   The picture of the big white thing is actually a super-sized sliding board.  It was too hot for Riley to try, but I couldn't resist.  I climbed to the top, waited for the traffic to clear and screamed the whole way down!  Be very careful I don't want anyone to pee their pants trying to get a visual on that one!  I have to admit though it was FUN.  Next time I am taking a towel to help reduce the friction.  My cheeks were pretty warm by the time I got to the bottom.  I think this is something anyone who visits should try.  We ended the afternoon with lunch from Mc Donald's.  Today was was a dream day for Riley.  The park, McDonald's, an afternoon full of all the coloring she could handle ( which included part of a wall, by accident) and watching Monster's Inc. with a big glass of milk and her daddy.

Monty has added a few new pictures to Riley's artwork today.  Monty is also teaching me how to update this site.  We never know when I may want or need to do the updates myself.  I tend to get a little wordy sometimes so just scan through if I get long winded.  Have a great week everyone and try to stay cool.

7/28 - Well I just want to say Happy Birthday again to my mom! I didn't get a chance to post it on her Birthday (26 July), so this song playing is for you Mom!

This is Genghis Khan by far in my opinion the best Mongolian BBQ I have ever had. If you come to Okinawa, eating here is a must. It is an All You Can Eat for about $14 a person.

It's official, both dogs are free and clear of quarantine!

Website additions: Three new pictures at the top of Picture Mania
                             Two new Artwork pieces from Riley

7/23 - So no one gets confused, the black type is Monty and the blue type is Samantha. Meet Lola! Riley's daycare said that Riley loves to play with Barbie dolls, so we decided to try her out with one and maybe get more for Christmas. When we got to the car I asked Riley what her baby's name was and she said Carla but as the day went on it became Lola. Lola has already proven her toughness by flying out of the window of my truck at the gas station. Hang in there Lola, its going to be a rough ride living with Riley.

I  put these together at Friday's class.  The one on the left is just extra flowers my teacher gave me to arrange as I wanted.  The one on the right is Ikebana Slanting Style #1.  I think there must be a thousand ways to arrange flowers and each one is called  variation with a number added.  It really gets confusing sometimes.  My teacher  is very pleased with my work.  We have become friends. Her name is Kimiko and she is married to a retired Marine.  That just means she understands the military life.  We have started going to lunch after class.  I get to go to the "off the beaten path" restaurants and they are so GOOD!  Next Friday we are heading to lunch then an Ikebana Exhibition so that I can see how other people arrange as well.

On Wednesday Riley's daycare decided to go to the beach.  Since there are 5 children in the daycare and Ms. Tomy (the daycare lady) already has 4 of her own children I was asked to go along and chaperone.  Another parent went as well and we all had a great time.  This weeks lesson at daycare was the ocean and what is in it.  That is why they went to the beach.  The children enjoyed looking for shells and playing with seaweed.  If you notice, Riley is not wearing a diaper...what a big girl she is.  We have lots of other beach pictures but since other children from the daycare are in them we can't post them.  If you want to see them just email me and I will send them to you.

Potty Training News:  It looks like I have bought my last package of diapers or pull-up for Riley.  She is now telling us when she has to go the bathroom.  She is  sleeping at night and at naptime and staying dry.  We went out on a panty shopping spree for new Pooh and Care Bear panties.    Who knew they made them so tiny.  I guess it is safe to say that our little girl is not a baby anymore...never mind...she will always be my baby!

Riley on the move. I pull Riley in her wagon all the time but it is normally on base and we don't go very far, but today was different. While Samantha went grocery shopping, me and the girl went outside of the base and around the block. You can take a look at the pictures by clicking on the link to the right under the pictures section I think you will know which one it is. Anyway no one really pulls their children in wagons anymore. I know this because I get one of two looks when I walk down the street pulling her in that wagon. 1. How cute! 2. Get a stroller or something she can move herself. Oh well if it is one thing that I have learned from being a parent is that sometimes to spend quality time with your kids it will cause you some pain! As you can see from the pictures there are a lot of hills on this island! Until next time...

7/18 - Our Vonage phone is here! For all who don't know what I am talking about, having a Vonage phone here gives us a North Carolina phone number so instead of paying international phone price. Its just like calling us when we were in North Carolina. If you don't have the number yet email Sam or myself and we will give it to you.

Website additions: New Artwork by Riley. I reorganized the pictures so the new pictures are at the top. I got tired of scrolling to the bottom to see the new stuff. I know if I got tired of doing it others would get tired of doing that as well.

7/15 - This is Sam's latest flower arrangement is Ikebana freestyle using Palm, Birds of Paradise and the third flower Sam couldn't understand her teacher so we will call it "The Mystery Flower".    Website additions: New artwork from Riley. Also for all of you who can't keep track of what time it is here I have added a link just for you.

 7/13 - As you can see we got new furniture. We ordered it about 2 months ago and it is finally here. Bigger news is that Riley is up to 2 days using the potty with no accidents! Those 2 days included trips to the store, daycare and the library. She is doing great!

Website additions: A few new pictures in Picture Mania and Riley's Artwork.

7/9 - We have received the all clear and the typhoon in over. Well it wasn't as bad as we expected in our area. We got a little bit of rain and a lot of wind.

As promised, here are the pictures of Sam's latest arrangement called Slanting Style. The flowers included in this arrangement are Hidden Lily, Color Lily and Leather Fern.

What do you do during a typhoon in Okinawa? You make a drive in movie in your house, of course. The movie of the day here was Heffalump.

7/8 - It is currently 4:15 pm Oki time (3:15 am East Coast time) an no rain yet. The wind has started to pick up and we are expecting the rain and thunderstorms to start about midnight our time and run into tomorrow morning. So if we are going to lose power or internet it will happen then. Until next time...

7/7 - Mommy and daughter purses. Riley wanted a purse really bad and now that she has one it goes everywhere with her. Sam did another flower arrangement but we haven't taken pictures yet so standby for those. With the Typhoon headed this way I am not sure if we will lose power or internet service. If we do lose either of those I will update the webpage as soon as possible to let you know how we faired through the storm. Oh I have my first set of running pictures up, go to Monty's page and click on the running man.

Here is the latest information on the Typhoon:

Low pressure is located over the Korean Peninsula. Low pressure is located east of Honshu, Japan, with the associated frontal boundary extending to the southwest across the East China Sea and over southeast China. Typhoon Ewiniar (04W) is located approximately 325 NM south of Naha, Okinawa, and has tracked northwestward at 03 knots over the past 06 hours. Typhoon Ewiniar has maximum sustained winds of 100 knots with gusts to 125 knots. Typhoon Ewiniar is forecasted to pass 102 NM to the west of Okinawa on Saturday at 2300L. Okinawa will experience wind gusts of 50 knots or greater from midnight Saturday through Sunday morning. Rainshowers and scattered thunderstorms will occur from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning. The 18 OWS will upgrade TCCOR as appropriate. High pressure associated with the Pacific Ridge continues to influence the weather throughout the remainder of the Western Pacific region.  Click here for the latest Tropical Cyclone information from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

7/5 - Well today Riley said goodbye to her best friend, Kiana. She was our next door neighbor and she and her family are going back to the states. You can see Kiana's picture in Picture Mania. I don't think Riley fully understands that she won't see Kiana anymore. I have added some new artwork from Riley on her artwork page. We currently have a Typhoon headed this way. Here is a clip I took from the III MEF Okinawa Weather page:

Low pressure is located over the Sea of Japan. Low pressure is located east of Tokyo, Japan, with the associated frontal boundary extending to the west. A stationary frontal boundary extends from central Honshu across the East China Sea and over southeast China. Typhoon Ewiniar (04W) is located approximately 570 NM south-southeast of Naha, Okinawa, and has tracked northwestward at 08 knots over the past 06 hours. Typhoon Ewiniar has maximum sustained winds of 125 knots with gusts to 150 knots. Typhoon Ewiniar is forecasted to pass 99 NM to the east of Okinawa on Saturday morning. Okinawa will experience winds of 35 - 45 knots, rainshowers, and scattered thunderstorms from Friday evening to Saturday morning. The 18 OWS will upgrade TCCOR as appropriate. High pressure associated with the Pacific Ridge continues to influence the weather throughout the remainder of the Western Pacific region.  Click here for the latest Tropical Cyclone information from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

We will keep you posted as things progress.

7/4 - Happy 4th of July! Well for our 4th of July the Quailes Family went to a place called Fruit Land. It has a Fruit Zone, Butterfly Zone and a Bird Zone. If you click on the Fruit Land link you can see pictures from the park, you will also see pictures from the drive. I decided to just start taking pictures along the way so you will see some shots with parts of the car in them. We also celebrated the 4th by going to McDonald's (just as American as apple pie) for lunch. I hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July wherever you are in the world! Turn your speakers on, the Star Spangled Banner is playing. Until next time...

 7/2 - And we're back!!!!  Well let me bring you up to date since the last update. Shortly after my last update my computer started to do some funky stuff so I spent the next week getting it working again. I got some comments that the words on my page were not fitting within the lines I had on here. That is from where everyone has different font settings and the words would be bigger but my lines wouldn't move. So I got rid of the lines. And now let's get down to business.

New things to checkout on the site: New artwork from Riley, Picture Mania, and a new comic section on Monty's Page.

Day at the beach: We went to "Trash Beach" which is less than a mile from the house. It use to be trashy, hence its name, and now it is clean and has lifeguards. It is not a big beach but here are some pictures.

This picture I took just because of the Japanese girl's shirt.

Most of you may know Samantha and my hometown underwent a massive rain which resulted in flooding. Here are links to a few articles and some pictures from Sam's parents.  Click here for flood pictures

http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?s=5075485
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200899,00.html
 

This is the picture I took the day of Brandi's release from quarantine. One down and one to go! Maggie gets released 24 July. Later that week Sam took Brandi back to the Vet and found out that she has Arthritis. She hasn't been showing signs of pain but just has a hard time getting up. The vet put her on some medicine and she appears to be doing better.

  This is me and Major Mike Samples, he is hands down one of my best bosses ever. We worked together at 2nd Marine Division and now he works at my higher headquarters in Hawaii. He came to Okinawa for a conference and stopped in to say hi and have some of Sam's homemade cookies.

Here is Riley making pancakes with Mommy.

Here are Samantha's latest floral creations. The first arrangement is basic tabletop and the second arrangement is Ikebana freestyle. Sam has signed up for another month of classes so standby for more arrangements.

Samantha has completed Red Cross orientation and in about a week she will begin volunteering.

June 30th was Ralph's Birthday! Happy belated Birthday from Okinawa!!!! We love you!

Well I think that is all for now, until next time...