No Sign of Stopping

Kombanwa again! Two days after my last post, I signed up for Space A (a military space available flight) in order to make it home to Oregon for leave. While waiting for a flight, more lunches and dinners with friends were had and after several attempts to get on a Space A flight, I made one without much difficulty this time around. The last time I flew on a Space A flight, it was on a C-130, which was not the best way to travel. This time, I flew on the Admiral's plane. True story. I even got to check out the cockpit and of course, Snapfish pics to come. From the cockpit, I got to see the moon rise as we headed east for Honolulu. And yes, I would have to say flying in the Admiral's plane was a step up from that C-130. Whereas the C-130 had jump seats, the Admiral's plane had leather reclining seats. Just to name one of the many differences!

After getting to Honolulu at 8pm, the next flight out wasn't until 6am. Turns out there's no lodging nearby on base but at least the terminal doesn't close and there I was, spending my first night in a terminal, waiting for the next flight out. Unfortunately for me, after my night in the terminal, I didn't make it on that 6am flight. On the other hand, I was able to get a commercial flight and get to Honolulu Airport in order to make it back to Portland. I have such adventures when I travel Space A! It's true what they say, you just have to be flexible.

I made it to Portland on June 6, just in time to make a surprise entrance at my little cousin's 5th grade graduation party. I don't remember 'graduating' from 5th grade...do you?!? While at home in Portland, I tried to be good and continue with working out. Runs were ran, tennis was played, weights were lifted, yoga classes were attended and even golf was played. On June 11, I got to go to my little cousin's school to check out her Powerpoint presentation (she's 11 and working on Powerpoint presentations!), along with some other presentations from her classmates. June 12 was their last day of school. Goodbye elementary school, hello middle school!

On June 13, my parents and I found our way to Cannon Beach for the annual sandcastle festival. Funny thing is that I was expecting bigger sandcastles and instead found a lot of little ones. I think I brought a little of the less is more Okinawa attitude with me when I came home. One of the sandcastles was a Nikon camera which I thought was very cute as I took pics of it with my new Nikon camera.

Funny thing is that it's not just me that has a new camera, so does my aunt, and so does my little cousin. Which would lead to many a photography field trip, the first of which was the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge on June 19. Gotta love outdoorsy Oregon where a banana slug close to the size of my size 6 foot was spotted. I appreciated being inside the next day at my little cousin's piano recital.

The next weekend, I took my parents on a field trip to give them a slice of my every day life when I took them up to McChord Air Force Base in Washington so that I could sign up for a return Space A flight. In the end, that turned out to be just an excursion because I ended up having to fly commercial back to Okinawa. We did a lot of driving that weekend. The next day, Mom and I went cherry picking on our way to pick up Dad in order to continue west to Lincoln City and Newport. Since cherry picking wasn't enough, we also went raspberry picking the day after. There was a lot of fresh fruit, among other food, to be eaten while I/we were at home!

The next photography field trip we went on was to the Chinese Gardens on July 1. It was a nice excursion, though I could have done without the blue jay attacks to my head. Three of them. True story. The first time nobody saw. But the 2nd and 3rd time I had witnesses, so it wasn't just me going crazy thinking I was getting attacked. At least he didn't poop on my head, right?!? We enjoyed tea at the tea house and also got some Chinese artwork done for us. The trip to Saint Cupcake after our field trip made the blue jay attacks more bearable. Best cupcakes in town!

The next day, our field trip continued at the Japanese Garden. Yes, I came home to go to a Japanese Garden! LOL. We also went up the Rose Garden that day...all before going to pick up Jabbar at the airport. After training in California for a month, he finally joined me for leave in Portland. We spent the remainder of leave visiting more friends and family, eating more lunches, and even watching a movie. That was the first time in a long time since moving on island.

All in all, leave was good. Lots of food was made and eaten. My family even tried to surprise me with a birthday party/going away party. Though they weren't very sneaky because I knew something was up when Jabbar brought out the camera and I could see candles being lit on what appeared to be a cake behind a paper screen. Nice try fam! I was going to surprise them all by singing happy birthday to me...but I didn't want to spoil their surprise for me.

Before heading back to Okinawa, we got in one last photography excursion to Tillamook Forest Center on July 10. Of course, all these pics to come. And on July 12, I was on my way back home. I spent 5 weeks at home and I don't know where all that time went! On July 14, Jabbar headed back to California where he was previously training in order to catch his flight back to Okinawa.

I arrived back home in hot and humid Okinawa on July 13. And since arriving, the action has not ceased. Two days later, I spent my birthday getting more shots than I care to remember and nearly passed out as a result. I am hoping I am now all up to date and don't have to get any more for a long time to come!

Jabbar made it home on the 17 or the 18th. I can't remember any more. He then deployed on the 23rd. He was a busy bee before he left and I know he has been keeping busy on his mission. As for me, I have been keeping busy as well, but with much different kinds of things - baby showers, trying to find a jujitsu class, going to yoga class, lunches/dinners/and other activities with friends, and family unit events. Things are about to pick up for me though as I am also going on my own little 'deployment' and leaving in about 2 weeks on a volunteer project for the next 6 months where I will be living and working at a resort and eco-lodge. I will be teaching English, helping out in the office, working on marketing/photography/and tours in order to help out around the resort. I have never done anything like this before and am both excited and nervous to be doing it. Of course, there's much to be done before I leave. But to chronicle my adventures, I hope to get better at this blog thing. Wish us luck in our deployments! We hope that all is good and well in your corner of the world!