better?

Maybe this is a bit better?

Skeletor

Here are pictures of the ultrasound I had earlier in February. In the first picture it's like the baby is staring straight into the ultrasound wand. The black spots are its' eye cavities and you can see the mouth cavity area. The white thing on the top is his/her left hand up by its head. This is the picture that has inspired the current nickname of Skeletor.

This is a profile type picture. I'll work on getting better quality photos and posting on the ole' blog. Again, the hand is up like it's twirling its hair or protesting to having a picture taken of it.

You can take the boy out of the country...

But you CAN'T take the country out of the boy.

Ay yi yi. We finally have a grill, a nice little Weber that screams " Take me tailgating, please!" although it is on our little balcony overlooking Okinawa City and the Pacific. Jared is so pleased for devising a plan (which I refer to as a deathtrap) for adding some height to said grill.

I think I may like it here

The weather was A-W-E-S-O-M-E late last week; it was like Muncie in mid-April. I felt like putting on my spring clothes and ridiculous shoes and walking to the bar(s) in the Village and ending the evening by hitting up Carter's Hotdogs. Alas, I have like 3 pairs of shoes here, I can't exactly enjoy the libations I did during that time, and my spring clothes are way tight. Hotdogs also make me swell.

So, what did I do? I sat on the porch, I'm sorry "balcony" in city-terms. It was awesome. I *think* I may like it here. Sometimes I really like Okinawa. Shh, don't tell!! The whole brooding thing doesn't really work for me (my voice has way too much intonation to pull that act off), plus it's too hot here to invest in an all black wardrobe. It's so humid that if you always wore brooding glasses they would fog up everytime you sulked in and out of air conditioning. Not street-cred worthy.

Don't worry, this is just a temporary duty station. I miss my nasty winter weather far too much to choose this. Cold weather builds character, and patience. I have students who have never seen snow; I would hate for my kid to not know the pleasures of bundling up for 15 minutes before going outside, only to have to come back inside to go to the restroom after only 5 minutes. I think that's why Midwesterners have such great character.

XYZ, Mrs. Sawin!!!

You remember- eXamine Your Zipper! My fly has been caught down many times and thank goodness I work with kids who don't consistently notice details, because I'd have lots of egg on my face. My pants are getting tougher and tougher to button. I don't have a baby belly yet, but I guess my insides are expanding for the now 3" long fetus. There is this supposed "secret" to help pants last longer-hook the button through the eye with a hair band. Well, it's comfy, but I can't keep my zipper up. No one mentioned that part on babycenter.com

I consulted with my good friend Mandi, who in the not so distant past was in the same clothing situation as I currently am. I decided to break down and order some maternity clothes. Old Navy appeared to have a nice selection, and they ship rather quickly to APO addresses (some places take a month to get here-O.N. around 2 weeks) and I used a gift card from my in-laws for a couple of J.C. Penney's finds. I hope these new clothes are somewhat complementary and not looking like something from Omar the tent maker.

Since we can't go shopping together, (but Jessica and I browse together on line) here are a couple of items I've ordered (which will NOT be worn together, for obvious reasons):

Vehicle Shopping

Okay, this isn't normal. I think this Corvette has been on this island since I was born.


A mini-SUV

Now that all members of the Sawin family are employed (minus Skeletor, but his/her job is growing and learning to move their digits at the moment) we are in the transition of moving from a one car to two car family. Oh, I can't wait to see this day. The majority of vehicles here look like toys. You know how the Honda Element & the Scion vehicles look way out of place at home? Here they are like normal vehicles.

Cute restaurant alert!

The day before Jared's birthday, he kept begging me to go to this new restaurant he discovered courtesy of our landlord. He kept raving about this place, how it was so different than other Okinawan places we've discovered. Blah blah blah. Well, I just got paid so I thought this would be just as good a time to go as any.

He drives me literally across the street, down a scary "street" with crazy Okinawan drivers and up a steep driveway and says "here we are!" Yeah, I didn't see anything. I have no idea the name of this restaurant, but take a look at our four course set menu lunch that was like a visit home with a twist of English and Italian influence. It really reminded me of what Company's Coming (Jeeve's) would be like if it introduced more Italian influences, and was a treehouse. Enjoy!



You walk up these stairs to the restaurant, which appears to be in the tree tops. Once up there, you are lucky enough to have the most gorgeous view of the Pacific through the leaves of the trees. I'm not making this up-it is like an instant vacation from the business of Okinawa City.




Desert course! It was last and awesome. They do a great job here of serving the perfect portions-enough for a taste, and to cleanse your palate, but not enough that you go hog-wild and lose any and all willpower.


Okay, somehow I messed up the sequential order I was so proud of. Here is course 2 of 4-the risotto. Wasn't a big fan of the fatty meat in it, but other than that it was delicious!


I'm blaming this on being a Midwesterner, but I'm not a big seafood person. This was red snapper, caught the same day (!) seared and underneath a big slice of tomato and the best cabbage I've ever eaten, with pesto garnish. SOOOOOOOooooooooooo good!

The salad: starting from the six o'clock position and going clockwise: steamed green bean type bean with vinegar, egg salad w/ cucumbers, charcuterie (didn't touch), assorted greens with mustard vinaigrette, assorted pickled vegetables, seafood assortment like squid (again graciously offered to my spouse.)

Very good, lots of fun, different menu each meal. Can't wait to bring people!

The castle ruins across the bay

We were trying to find White Beach earlier in January when we stumbled upon this old castle. We can see it out of our window, which is way cool.

I'm so bad

I've basically ignored the computer since Jared started work. I am sorry. We leave around 6:40 every morning and don't walk back in until after 7:00 and I go straight to briefly check facebook and on to bed. I've been a terrible blogger!

I'm alone now, as Jared is at an izkaya with co-workers, so I'm going to catch you up since the last time we spoke...