Okinawa to Jacksonville

I have to say that, I thought that we were never going to leave Oki. The reason I say that is because they kept telling us, that our flight was leaving on Saturday, but never giving any kind of time. Friday evening is when we found out what time we were leaving Okinawa. Our flight was to leave Naha at 11:50 am. So, Denise drives us to the airport(Because she is just that awesome of a friend!) and we get there about 2 hours early. The line was PACKED with all kinds of American's. We journey on to the gate and say our goodbyes and head on. The flight from Naha to Narita wasn't so bad. I had a window seat and Brian had the aisle right beside me. We land in Narita and search around for our gate, we find it and we are looking for a place to eat. What do we have....ummm...Sushi!!! We eat and wait. Now, the flight from Narita to Chicago is was just miserable. I had the window and Brian was stuck in the middle between me and a Japanese man. There were so many crying babies on that flight, it was just insane. Once landing in Chicago we are told that we have to get our luggage and go through customs. We do that without any problems...but the problem came after that. The people that had connecting flights to other places had to recheck their luggage. Well, OHare had an awesome system going....NOT They told everyone to just sit their luggage with all of the other luggage and it will be placed where it needed to go.

Now, the flight from Chicago to Jacksonville was AWESOME, we were able to score 1st class tickets for FREE!!! Because there were not that many people on the flight. We land about 30 minutes early and everything is going good..until we get to the baggage claim. Mind you we checked 4 pieces of luggage, only one of those bags made it to Jax. We were not the only ones who didn't get all of their luggage. EVERYONE on the plane had pieces of luggage missing. So, we all file into the United room and put in our claims. Sunday the 2 suitcases arrived and then on Monday the other seabag arrived.

To Leave or Not to leave?.....this is our question

Wednesday night was our last night in our Mansion in Kanna-Ginoza. We had our last dinner from downstairs on Wednesday night too. Such a sad last meal.

Thursday the movers came and I tell you it was a whirlwind..4 or 5 guys come in and start packing the house up. I had to make sure that I had all of our items that we were keeping were out of the way and some of the things that we were going to keep out were packed away. Oh well......Brian should have been home on his day OFF. The movers were not there that long. By the time Brian decides to show his face, they were almost done. Once all was done, we cruise down to Foster to turn in our propane tank and to also do the Vehicle registration with Bestie. Once that was done we went to Cash Sales to look for a poncho liner, which they are out of stock until August.

By the time all of that was done, it was time to where we could check into our hotel room. We lucked up with our room. We are staying over in the WestPac Inn and our room is great! King size bed and leather furniture for only $30.00

So....we should be leaving tomorrow heading home, but the closer to 4 it gets. I am thinking that we are not going anywhere tomorrow. Brian called the PS2 over at PSD and she told him that our flight is leaving tomorrow and that it is a commercial flight, but that was it. He told her that he would be over there, but there were other things that are a bigger than that. Our housing inspection was at 12:00. I have been waiting to hear from Brian, but I have nothing. So.....we may be leaving on Monday or Tuesday.....who KNOWS!!!

Cape Manzamo

Today was the day the Brian and I decided that we needed to go ahead and turn in our trusted mailbox key and start our check out process of the things that we need to do around base. After we did all that we could do for a Saturday we just went riding down Highway 58. I told Bri that we needed to check out Cape Manzamo. Denise, the kids and I went there one day while B was on the Mercy last summer.

So, we head on and make it there and there were so many people there. It was beautiful, just as it was the last time that we were there. Brian was glad that he had a chance to get out and see the sites from there.

Lucky Cider!

I found a fantastic soda when we are on the verge of leaving Okinawa! Yesterday, Brian and I were leaving the apartment and we decided that we would pick up a drink from the Boss Machine in the lobby. I notice that they have added a few new items to the machine. Brian gets a C.C. Lemon and I pick the Lucky Cider, one because the dolphin stood out on the can and because for the huge can it was 100 yen. I also bought a lemon tea, just to be on the safe side, incase the Lucky Cider was a piece of crap drink. Turns out it is not a bad drink!

And so it goes.....

We are into our 7th day before we PCS out of Okinawa. I am happy to be going home, but I am also sad. I have met some wonderful people while here in Okinawa. It's kind of like a song called "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" by Billy Joel. He says

Moving on is a chance that you take. Anytime you try to stay together, say a word out of line. You'll find out that the friends that you had are gone. Forever....Forever.

So many faces in and out of my life, some will last, some will just be now and then. Life is a series of Hello's and Goodbye's. I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again.

I have been truly blessed to have the small amount of friends that I have here in Okinawa or that I have met here in Okinawa. These are the ones that I don't want for it to be just a now and then kind of thing.

Thank you for being my friend.

10 days to go!! and Buttons

I think that today is the day that it all starts! We had our government furniture pick up on this morning and that was an adventure in itself. The movers arrived around 9:30 and they buzzed up to our apartment. I didn't hear the bell until the last ring. I ran and tried to press the button to let them in. Well I pressed the wrong button, I pressed the alarm for an intruder. Yes....that button. So, the movers eventually make it up to the apartment. The guy is asking me questions and we converse and all of a sudden a woman appears and she ask me if I am ok. I tell her yes, she starts to talk to the guy in Japanese and they go back and forth it was kind of like she was yelling at him. I guess he told her that he was there to move stuff and that I accidentally pressed the help button. She ask one more time if I was ok. I let her know that I am fine and she goes on about her business.

The movers were in and out. They were out of here before 9:45. Even though we only had 2 chairs, a sofa and a dresser.

The ball is starting to really roll now, Thursday we have the movers coming to see how much stuff we have for them to move with out Household Goods.(HHG) On next Tuesday, we have our Express shipment pick up. Thursday is our HHG pick up and our first night over in the WestPac Inn. And I have to say that we lucked up with the lodging. Like I said before we are going to be in the WestPac Inn, since the WestPac Lodge is booked up until the 17th. So, instead of paying $110 a night for our room, we are getting to stay in the Inn for $30 a night. We should be out of there by the 13th and on our flight to Florida.

Yay!!! It's starting!!!

Wago Park!!

Wago Park has the greatest SUPER SLIDE EVER!! It is so much fun! It is a concrete slide that you have to use a sled to go down it. The sled has a break on it to where you push it forward to go fast and pull it towards you slow it down.

Thanks to park finder Cordova for finding such wonderful adventures!!