Okinawa Hai!

CONTRIBUTED BY KELLY MULDER Stroller Group 1 When I was a teenager I thought it would be cool to one day be in a running club (never mind that I didn’t actually LIKE running. I still wanted to do it). When I became a mother I assumed my dream of running in a running club [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY LAURA COSTA Joy Balloon Birthday Joy Company provides balloon decorations and so much more. My favorite thing about Joy Company is not just the quality of their work, which is great, but it is the kind and loving owners. Islaine and Maulo, also known as Alex, make the company so great. They love [...]

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I always wanted to adopt but was never able to. I was a single 24 year-old female serving in the United States Marine Corps and adoption is expensive. I got by but let’s face it, I was no Angelina Jolie. I didn’t make the movie star paycheck and with the hours I worked, child care [...]

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MOPS Cards CONTRIBUTED BY MEGAN PARKER Your three-year old spilled his orange juice, and while you are on your hands and knees cleaning it up, you notice the stale Cheerios from days gone by hugging the floorline that meets the wall. You crawl farther under the table, promptly bang your head, and eventually pick up [...]

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Several years ago, Lucia wrote a post for us about packing for trips.  You can find it here.  For those of you who want the advanced tutorial, keep reading. Lisa takes us on an Organizer's Dream Trip with her post!  May I someday be this organized! CONTRIBUTED BY LISA D. I’m a Girl Scout type [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY HEATHER GELORMINE Unless you've spent your entire life in a region where there's no such thing as Daylight Savings Time, you know that adapting to a time change quickly and effectively can play a major role in how well you begin adjusting to a new duty station, or even just while on vacation.  [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY HEATHER HANSEN Twice a year MCCS offers an International Adoption Workshop through the Marine and Family Services Center. The workshop covers issues pertaining to both international & domestic adoption (don’t let the title fool you!). Adoption is possible while living in Okinawa. Before my husband and I were married, we discussed the possibility [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JANNINE MYERS   I did something a couple of weeks ago which gravely reminded me that my Japanese language skills are in dire need of attention. I was on my way out with both my daughters, when my youngest daughter’s two little play companions raced over to see if she could play (you [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY HEATHER GELORMINE Maybe it’s just me, but I love Thanksgiving.  It’s probably my favorite holiday, even moreso than Christmas or the 4th of July (the latter sliding in there because it’s so close to my own birthday, I always believed that the festivities were in celebration of me).  I love the food, the [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY HEATHER GELORMINE For me, one of the hardest parts about being a military family isn’t the constant moving, or the long separations from my husband, or even the lack of control over our very existence.  Rather, it’s the fact that we live so far from our families. Growing up, I lived a mile [...]

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