MEMORIAL DAY

I wanted to wish all of you a great Memorial Day! I wish two things for you all on this day. Number one, please enjoy your time with family and friends today! They are the most important things in your life, and cherish every moment spent together. Two, please remember those who are serving away from their family and especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice so we can all enjoy a day like today and the country we call home.

I started off this weekend by buying a car here in Okinawa! I have waited for almost 5 months to get one, and now I finally have freedom to move around, and to be able to escort my family around the island. I bought it from one of our ER nurses who left to move back to Texas. My car is TINY! It is a Suzuki Kei car. The Kei cars in Japan have to meet certain criteria for both dimensions as well as engine size. The car makes my Honda Civic look like a limousine! It's engine is smaller than our Yamaha Rhino quad. However, it only cost me $1,000 and the insurance is only $25/month! I am sure I will sell it for at least that much in 3-4 months before I leave. It is nice to finally have one and I feel confident driving on the left hand side now (although it will be weird to go back to Arizona and drive on the the right I think!)

I worked Friday and Saturday, then enjoyed a relaxing Sunday, followed by a great snorkeling trip to the nearby Kerama Islands with my fellow ER doc Jason, his wife, their friends, and our PA and her husband. It rained most of the day, but we still had a great time and saw lots of fish, a sea turtle, some sea snakes, and a shark!

The day was capped off with a great dinner at one of our Japanese Intern's place. She prepared a Japanese summer tradition of catching noodles as they slide down a water slide of bamboo (we did not have the traditional real bamboo one, but had the kids version that looked more like the old "Mousetrap" game! It was a lot of fun and the meal was awesome!

I also bought the new "trendy" Fivefinger Vibram shoes to run in. They are more like glove/slippers, but supposedly let you run like you are running barefoot. This gives your calves a great workout and allow you to run in a more natural position. But they look goofy as hell.........:)

I miss you all, and will see you soon!

LCDR Butler

CINCO DE MAYO IN OKINAWA!

Cinco de Mayo in Okinawa. They are obviously not aware of our culture back home in Arizona! Instead of celebrating with Mexican food and Margaritas, they held the Dragon Boat races on Cinco de Mayo! It was fun, though, and a beautiful sunny day. They had a big festival including dozens of foof booths and a few stages with various performances throughout the day. Food was great and the Navy women won their race against the Army and Marines! The men did not fare as well. I also found it bizarre that they had outdoor urinals for the men, and enclosed porta-potti's for the women. I figured the Japanese would be too modest to just "turn around and pee" in public but they did. When in Rome........ (so I did, too! :)

Since it was Cinco de Mayo, we held a food festival at work in the ER that night, and I made 3 salsas and some queso con carne! Someone else brought in rice and chile verde pork and we made burritos and ate chips all night! We even had some "virgin" Margaritas!

I am now officially halfway done. I can't believe it is going so quickly. I am looking forward to seeing Steph, Ben, and Morgan next month when they come out and visit. Hopefully the Space-A travel will go smoothly.........

LCDR Butler

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

To my Mom: thank you for giving me life.

To my Mother-in-Law: thank you for giving me the the love of my life, Steph.

To Steph: thank you for our two wonderful children, Ben and Morgan.

To my sisters-in-law: thank you for my six awesome nephews (I would complain about not having any nieces, but that is your husbands' faults, not yours .............. :)

To all the Mothers in the world: thank you for being a mother, a role model, a shoulder to cry on, someone to wipe away tears, someone to cook and care for all the rest of us, someone to sing us to sleep, and wake us in the morning, someone to put the bandaid on our scraped knees, someone to praise us for our successes, and to pick us up after our failures. Know just how important you are, and how much you mean to us!

For all the Mothers whose sons and daughters are in harm's way, God Bless you and our prayers are with you on this Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM OKINAWA!

LCDR Butler