Rodney rides on a PHROG

Late September 2013
Due to retirement, the iconic Vietnam era PHROGs were being prepared to be flown off-island.

As the Flying Tigers transitioned from being the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262 (HMM-262) to the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (VMM-262), a chosen number were given the opportunity to take a flight! Needless to say, Rodney jumped at the chance!!

They took a quick, yet view-full, flight over the area.

Osprey lined up on the flight line, ready to take the watch.

Recognize that little island??

It's the one right out in front of our apartment!

And there's a boat coming in to the fishing dock.

This photo is a great one to show the compact living of the island.

Looking from the old to the new....

...the tiltrotor, Osprey.

Good flight!

Our beginning of the end....... on-island, that is....

In August 2013, our days on island became (short!) numbered. With so much to do before leaving the island, from military checklists to our own bucket list, my head began to swim with all the deadlines and to-dos.

So, I proved I am my grandmother's granddaughter and posted my lists!
(Day 0 in January was on the flip-side.)

The to-do lists grew lengthy and the days of those months quickly filled with things like Rodney taking a flight on a PHROG before it was phased out; us attending a transition class; scheduling our pack out; a final ball or two; and farewells. Not to mention some of those bucket list items like another giant tug-of-war and a couple more trips off island, one to the mainland to Kyoto and Osaka and one to Hong Kong!! All of which are upcoming posts....

I'm just annoyed that I didn't take an 'after' pic before it was taken down for our pack out!!

LUCKY Okonomiyaki Bar

One lovely evening in September, Rodney and I headed out to meander Kadena Gate 2 Street. This is a popular area for shopping during the day and other stuff the darker it gets. We had no intentions of being there much after dark. But, we did decide to stay long enough for dinner when we discovered LUCKY!!

In true Oki fashion, this little place held a variety of options. To your right when you walk in the door was a bar, straight ahead, where Rodney's sitting, is the food part, and beyond that is a tattoo parlor!! (Which also seemed to double as a 'sleep-it-off' space, currently in action during our visit! The waitress apologized profusely when the guy started talking quite loudly in his sleep.)

The decor was quite eclectic, yet entertaining.

Our friends in Iwakuni had introduced us to this dish during our visit to that area of the mainland, specifically Hiroshima. I since learned different areas have their own version of this noodle dish, kind of like different versions of BBQ in different parts of the US. This wasn't exactly Hiroshima style, but still quite tasty!

The owner seemed honored (and surprised) that we knew okonomiyaki and chose to dine at his establishment and took our picture for us in front of the diner next to the outdoor seating.

Chaplain Spouse Fun

In September, I had a couple of extra opportunities to enjoy some time with my fellow Chaplain Spouses. The first was the annual Welcome Aboard shindig for both Navy spouses and Marine spouses.

 This sweet lady, Carrie, was known as our lucky rabbit's foot. She was absolutely the LUCKIEST lady we knew when it came to door prizes. She literally won something every single time!! And often, just like this day, her ticket was drawn twice!!! (She legally had tickets in both the Marine spouses pot and the Navy spouses pot.) Not only that, we determined that if you "rub elbows with her", her luck rubs off on you.... and guess what--- it did for me!!! I pretty much never win door prizes, but that day I did!!! (Not to mention 2-3 of our other Navy Chaplain spouses!!)

 And I didn't just win some measly little door prize, I won a seriously coveted terracotta jack-o-lantern from the Navy Gift Shop!!!

After the Welcome Aboard festivities, we did a practice run of flying SCREAMING sock monkeys in preparation for our Religious Ministries Team bash!!

Later in the month, a few of us adventured to lunch at a local coffee shop and planned to do a little shopping at Uptight India, but it turned out to be closed that day. We settled for Plan B and did some shopping at the neighboring San-A grocery store/shopping center. Regardless of where we went, it was great company!!

Manzamo Point

Saturday afternoon we were able to cross off another bucket list item, thanks to a group outing to Manzamo Point!

We were greeted by a quaint shopping area equipped with a cute picture spot....

...we just had to take advantage of!!

From there, one simply follows the path to the overlook with a pit stop to make friends with a banana spider!!

(BTW-- this guy was about as big as my whole hand....!!!)

And there it is!!

The crags along the overlook were quite a sight.

This double banana-boat is homed at this beach playground. Actually it's a water playground as all the inflatable climbing equipment is on the water!

A cool sign pointing out the highlights of the area.