My honest opinion of Okinawa thus far

Honesty. I believe it is always the best policy. But to what degree? Would Jeff had been so excited to come here if everyone had been honest about it here? I don't think so. So this is my honest opinion of Okinawa thus far. It is not a place for a young growing family. All the activities we've come across, restaurants we ate and even the house we live in shows this to be true. It seems most of the 'family' activities are geared towards school age children not toddlers. Sure you can go to the beach as a family, but at what cost? It certainly isn't a relaxing trip to the beach. Some restaurants are not child friendly. No highchairs or booster seats is a perfect example of this. Our home....oh my I can go on and on about this. But in short a 16 month old who hasn't mastered steps yet has a hard time just getting to the front door. Not to mention I'm pregnant. It is such a hassel to do anything by myself while Jeff is at work. I can't go grocery shopping....walking up and down stairs in the heat while my 16 month old is inside by himself isn't a comforting thought. I just wish more people were upfront with us about what exactly we were getting into with being stationed in Oki. I think it would be a pretty nice place if your kids are 7 or 8 years old at the minimum. Or you are a single person. Or married with no kids. There seem to be tons of bars around.

2 months down 46 to go!

We have been living in Okinawa for 2 months now, it has been a hard adjustment, but we are doing our best. We moved into our home the beginning of June and just last week our household goods arrived. So we've been slowly digging our lives out of boxes and finding places for things. Which is more difficult than it seems. The house we were living in had adequate closet/storage space, here nada. We are finding that we may need to downsize more just to be able to fit everything in our home.

We also found out that we are expecting baby #2 March 4, 2011! It was a nice suprise, we had planned on having another baby while here, but I didn't expect it to happen right away, but I'm sure everything will work out for the best. That being said we are on a waiting list for a 3 bedroom home now. Which leaves me at a crossroads, I want to make this house feel like home, but I don't want to unpack everything if we are eventually going to move within the next 8 or so months.