Life with the Otis Family

Peppy signing off until next year

2011-12-25T13:18:00.002-06:00

Christmas Eve was a busy day for us. Devon and Corey went to the church and cleaned, as it was our Saturday to do so. Amy and the girls went over to a friends house for a few hours to have the girls blow off so steam. Once Corey and Devon finished cleaning they did a little Christmas shopping and then went with a friend to go shoot some shot guns. It was fun although Devon had more fun pushing the button that sent the clay pigeons flying. I guess he didn't care for the recoil of the shotgun.
When we got home all of the kids were ready for bed by about 630 which was fine by us. They opened their Christmas Eve packages and then got dressed. It wasn't until about 9pm when the kids actually got in bed and feel asleep. Then the work really started. We had several packages to wrap and then had to think of something for Peppy to do. In Peppy's last night of practical jokes he simple wrote a letter to the kids and explained that he couldn't wait for next year for more tricks.
All in all it was fun planning fun things for the kids to see. They really enjoyed finding Peppy in the morning. We've got 11 more months until Peppy comes out to play again. It's going to take us that long to think of new things to do next year.

Peppy sitting on the wreath very close to were he started this month off.

Peppy was so tired of moving around that he found some place easy.

Sticky Situation

2011-12-24T18:58:00.002-06:00

This year we tried to get the majority of presents for the kids wrapped earlier than waiting until the last night. Well....it doesn't look like this is the year for that. I did manage however to wrap a few but really didn't put a scratch in what we are having to do tonight. Oh well. As a ploy to trap the kids in their room, Peppy realized the importance for my late night privacy and decided to try and barricade the kids all in one room. Peppy got a hold of some tape and taped the girls room door closed. Luckily Devon has been sleeping in that room all week. I guess he is super excited for Christmas. Anyway when they woke up this morning, they all screamed and laughed so hard that I could hear them on the opposite side of the house. They thought this was the funniest thing Peppy had done thus far!

Peppy got a little stuck after he tape up the room.

The damages Peppy did.

Luckily I had a wide angle lens to capture Peppy close up and this taping job.

Sugar coma

2011-12-23T19:51:00.000-06:00

One of the things our kids love is sugar. It doesn't matter if it is in the form of gum, candy or the white granules. They love it. We are always being harassed by our kids for candy. We've even caught them in bed with candy trying to sneak it so we wouldn't know how much they have ingested. Last night after the kids went to bed, Peppy decided to OD on sugar. We took some of what was left over from one of the many Christmas parties we have been to and gave it to Peppy. When the kids came out this morning they were really peeved at Peppy for eating all of the candy. Oh well. There will always be more candy for them to rot their teeth out.

Nom, Nom, Nom....

Underwear Raid

2011-12-22T18:27:00.000-06:00

When the kids woke this morning they went, as usual to find what Peppy was up to. When they found him they were surprised to see that Peppy was up to no good again. He stole all of their underwear and diapers and flung them on the tree. Yes we inspected them to ensure they were clean! Peppy was caught in the act red handed. He was climbing the tree with a pair of the girls panties in hand.

Peppy had a wild night. The tree was covered in underwear.

Caught red handed with a pair as Peppy was climbing to the top.

A very festive pair of underwear. Green striped goes very will with all of the Christmas decorations.

It's not Christmas yet!!!

2011-12-21T20:48:00.002-06:00

The other day Grandpa and Grandma's package arrived at the house and in it filled with gifts for the kids. They were all very wide eyed and very excited to see soooo many presents under the tree. Christmas has finally arrived...or has it. Of course Reagan, found a gift with her name on it and immediately started to shake and wonder what the heck was in it. She wasn't particularly sneaky either, and with us in the room, she decided to start opening the a gift. Of course we caught her and took the gift away and had to partially re-wrap it so as not to allow her to see it.
So last night, Peppy seeing that it was ok for Reagan to open gifts decided to open one from under the tree. Ooohhhhh, naughty elf! The kids promptly told on Peppy letting us know that he was opening presents and he wasn't allowed to. That should teach them the lesson!

Breakfast food

2011-12-21T20:42:00.002-06:00

Just about everyday before school the kids eat cereal for breakfast. 2 nights ago we thought it funny to see if Peppy would like to spend the night in the cereal box and when the kids got up for breakfast and wanted cereal they would get a laugh out of seeing Peppy stuck waist deep in the Fruit Loops. Wouldn't you know it, the morning Peppy was in the cereal the kids didn't want anything to do with it for breakfast. Instead they wandered around the house looking for Peppy and wondering why they couldn't find him. This was perhaps the hardest find for them. Finally, Devon decided he was going to eat some cereal and got out the Capt Crunch and spotted him. Amy said when they finally found him they all screamed with laughter and thought that was totally funny of Peppy.

This one took the kids awhile to find Peppy. No one wanted to eat breakfast cereal that day!

Hard to find

2011-12-19T22:13:00.002-06:00

So up until now the kids have had no issues finding Peppy. Normally it is within 5 minutes that they find him hiding out or doing some activity. We have even placed him in some pretty not so easy spots for the kids and those have seemed to be the easiest for them to find him. Well last night Peppy decided that the warmer weather we have been having in Mississippi, was too much. He needed to cool off and so he locked himself in the refrigerator. While he was in there Peppy decided to dye the milk red, but it really turned out pink. The plus side of this was that the kids couldn't find him for a long time. You see when the kids wake up they are very fast at getting into the milk and cereal, sometimes before we wake up. Well this morning that was not the case and so they wandered throughout the house wondering where Peppy had go to. By the time Corey left for work they still hadn't found him and that was about 20 minutes worth of looking. Ahahhhh! Stumped them finally. We're sure that will be the last time they get stumped.

Peppy was very hard to find this morning.

We hope we don't pee red because of the dye.

Octoberfest

2011-12-19T21:50:00.003-06:00

2 nights ago Peppy decided to hide out and be a fly on the wall, kind of that is. Peppy preferred to hide out in the German Beer stein that we picked up in Munich about a year ago just prior to Christmas. We thought for sure the kids would have a hard time finding him, as the stein is up on the top shelve in the family room and the only thing was his head that was peeping out of the top. The kids pretty much woke up and spotted him with 1 minute. We guess they "sensed" that the beer stein had moved and the lid had been propped open. So much for hard hiding spots. Oh well.

Peppy hiding out in the stein.

Date night

2011-12-17T22:21:00.002-06:00

Peppy is of the dating age we have come to find out. Last night he and one of the girls Barbie's got in the pink beetle and set out for a movie. They were perched on the kitchen table over looking the blackboard that we made on the kitchen wall. The move...Elf of course. It is a very funny movie. As for the Peppy, the only question we have is, Was there a good night kiss? I'm sure an Elf never dishes on his late night escapees.

Peppy and his date.

Nice Ride Peppy!

What else would they go see. What a perfect movie!

Midnight snack

2011-12-16T23:01:00.002-06:00

It appears that Peppy too has the need for some midnight snacks. Last night it looks like Peppy got into the potato chips. Ok, so it was a pretty lame idea but we forgot to "place" Peppy last night and we had to do it before all of the kids woke up this morning. It was a close call too because less than 5 minutes after Peppy got into the chips, the kids were up. Cutting it a little too close! I'm glad Christmas is around the corner because our ideas are running thin, as you can see from this morning's adventure. The kids laughed as usual but then for breakfast they of course wanted chips. How do you get that out of their minds when Peppy is allowed to do it. If he can do it then it must be ok for them to eat chips for breakfast. And so they did! Not to mention that Corey was feeding them and it required no effort on his part. Way to go Dad!!!

Head first into the chips. Nice.

You all know that you wish you could do this!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

2011-12-15T21:15:00.000-06:00

If you know your Christmas specials or even your Christmas music you would know that those were the first words Frosty the Snowman said when they put that old silk hat on his head. Peppy however didn't have a silk hat or even really good snowman building supplies but because he was feeling the need for some brotherly love he built himself a couple of snow buddies to hang with last night. We didn't have the best snowman building supplies as mentioned so the spaghetti arms had to do. So they were weak snowmen but that is besides the point. Peppy had something to hang with and talk about good times. Peppy seems to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen. We can't seem to branch away from that room.

Peppy and his 2 new make believe friends.

All 3 look so happy and they place nice together.

Little man here needs to hit the gym.

Late Night out

2011-12-14T15:18:00.001-06:00

To the kids amazement this morning when they woke up they couldn't find Peppy. They kept asking "Where's Peppy"? I told them I didn't know. I said maybe he hasn't gotten back from talking to Santa about all of the things the Otis kids had been up to both good and bad. They thought I was joking but after about 5 minutes of looking for him they looked at the front door and saw that Peppy was peering through the window from the outside! Somehow Peppy got outside and was trying to get back in the house where it was warmer. The kids all thought that was pretty funny. What Peppy was doing outside though, we may never know.

Where did he go??

The real question is what did Peppy do on his big night out?

Go Fish...

2011-12-13T21:18:00.003-06:00

So the other night Peppy got tangled up with the wrong crowd and pretty much his Jedi friends didn't take to kindly to the reports back to Santa about the Otis kids not behaving. In an effort to smooth things over with some of the other toys, in hopes to get in on their good graces, he offered to play some cards with the stuffed animals and dolls. What you didn't see in the pictures was that Peppy pretty much cleaned house in the 5 card draw, so they moved on to something a little more child friendly...Go Fish!

As things are shaping up nicely for Christmas, there may be a slight pause in Peppy's nightly excursions. If you have been following we may take tomorrow night or Thursday night off from posting but we will eventually post those pictures. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are pretty busy days for us here in Mississippi and the nightly post may suffer. We will see how tired we are from the days events. Pictures below, enjoy!

Peppy holding his own in a rousing game of Go Fish!

Dora looks roughed up! What's up with that hair girl!

We've got our eye on the shifty looking guy in the red outfit. And I'm not talking about Santa in the background.

Movie Night

2011-12-11T22:55:00.001-06:00

Peppy has it hard here in the Otis household. He never gets to watch any TV what with 4 kids and something like 15 channels of cartoons, it leaves very little time for Peppy to get one on one time with the tube. So last night after the kids went to bed, Peppy popped in a movie, microwaved some popcorn and relaxed watching his favorite Christmas movies. First it was A Christmas Story followed by National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. We could hear him laughing from our bedroom in the wee hours of the morning. Must have been a good night.

Peppy in firm control of the remote. No stopping him now.

Peppy doesn't even have to share his popcorn with anyone.

Peppy the Jedi Knight

2011-12-11T17:04:00.001-06:00

Long, Long ago in a home found in Mississippi, Peppy Bing-a-Ling a young Jedi wanna-be was doing battle with Lego Storm Troopers. Ok maybe not but Devon has a thing for Star Wars. Who wouldn't, right! Possibly the coolest Sci-Fi space story every made besides Space Balls. Anyway Devon has a ton of Lego Star Wars figures and last night after they went to bed, Peppy tried out some of his Jedi moves on them. Of course the figures rebelled and hence Peppy got surrounded and was tied up. When the kids woke up this morning Makenley was the first one to see Peppy tied up. Peppy was in the kitchen in the china/cookbook cabinet. I was surprised that they found him so fast as it wasn't in the most obvious of locations to put Peppy.

The location of the Jedi doing battle with the Storm Troopers.

The intense battle scene. Peppy was all tied up but still has his Jedi powers that will enable his escape when the kids are asleep.

More battle scenes.

Peppy if you haven't noticed always has a good attitude about some of the precarious ideas we put him through.

A Storm Trooper with a missile rocket launcher.

Some of the Storm Troopers didn't have Star Wars weapons but found a pitch fork and wrench to do battle with. More a mob style army.

Tree House

2011-12-10T16:33:00.001-06:00

So last night we had a work party to go to and by the time we got back we found Peppy playing hide and go seek in the Christmas tree. Really however we were so tired when we came home last night that we didn't have anything creative to set up for Peppy. So into the tree he went. It was actually very difficult for the kids to find him. It took them a long time to see him buried in the tree.

Where's Peppy?

It snowed

2011-12-10T11:09:00.001-06:00

A couple of days ago here in Columbus Mississippi, it snowed! It blew our minds that it could get that cold and actually snow. There is one caveat however, and that is that it didn't stick and that it wasn't snowing very hard but there were definitely snowflakes in the air. It was neat to see down here and the kids thought that was cool. So in keeping that that snowy theme on Thursday night after the kids went to bed, Peppy got the idea to make a snow angel. Now the pictures are that good but you can tell he played in the snow and attempted to make a snow angel. The girls as usual thought that was fun and Makenley even dropped and pretended to make a snow angel in our livingroom. My guess if we can get to see real snow this year they will be super excited.

Peppy in front of a cottage making his snow angel.

Back to work...

2011-12-08T21:01:00.001-06:00

The whole reason Peppy is around is to keep an eye on the kids and then when they are asleep Peppy reports back to Santa all of the good and bad things they have been up to for the day. Last night Peppy was busy keeping up the job however instead of meeting with Santa, he decided to write a note and mail it to him. A lost form a communication I know but the kids don't know that. Anyway Devon was kind enough to read it to the girls when they woke up this morning. It didn't really change the fact the kids still acted up and drove Amy up a wall today. I guess they aren't scared of a lump of coal for Christmas.

Peppy signing his name to the letter for Santa out the conduct of the Otis kids.

Read for yourself...

Another shot with the fake tree in the background.

Must be thirsty

2011-12-07T21:19:00.001-06:00

Lately the kids have been on a pancake and waffle terror for breakfast and dinner. So what better way to incorporate that into Peppy's morning antics. So last night we hung Peppy upside down and allowed him to take a couple of hits of syrup. I'm surprised the kids didn't try and also get some sips in when we weren't looking. We wouldn't put it past them though. Drinking syrup straight. Gross!

Hanging around for something to drink! Gross...

Mischievous Peppy

2011-12-06T20:42:00.001-06:00

Up till now Peppy has been a nice and somewhat well behaved elf. Last night, however that changed when Peppy found a roll of toilet paper and decided to redecorate 1 of our Christmas trees. Luckily it was just one roll unlike the many rolls of toilet paper we used to use on one person's house. The kids this morning actually couldn't find him. It was pretty funny because they were looking in all of the hard to look places vice right in front of their eyes. They finally did find him and laughed at the toilet paper mess that he left. I told them their bathrooms looked like what Peppy did to the tree. Enjoy the pictures.

Caught red handed! Peppy redecorating our tree.

He is trying to look his most innocent.

How can you get mad at an elf with that look on his face?

From a distance.

4th Wise man

2011-12-05T19:34:00.001-06:00

This past week Peppy has traveled far and wide throughout our livingroom. Last night he made another stop. This time he was acting the part of the 4th wise man. 4th Wise Man?? Yes, the 4th wise man. He even came bearing a large gift, one that the girls immediately were jealous of because they wanted to know what was in the wrapped box. It was actually a building block the we found and wrapped.

In the coming nights we may have to expand our locations to hide Peppy. I'm not sure where he will stop. I'm running out of ideas.

Can you tell what's wrong with this picture? Hint look at the animals!

Who says small gifts are good. Bigger is better!

I wish I had used different wrapping paper on the gift. You really can't tell it is Christmas wrapping paper.

Tired of all the fun

2011-12-04T16:59:00.001-06:00

Last night after the kids went to bed, we again moved Peppy to another location. This one was gutsy because usually the kids want to play with him and take him and hide and or just destroy everything they touch. Last night Peppy found himself cuddling on a couch in front of the fire place. Again this was down low where the kids, including Kymbal and free access to him. Much to our amazement, they didn't to too much playing around with him. He actually stayed on the couch. Makenley and Reagan this morning wanted to give more to Peppy so they built him a house with a kitchen and some other chairs so he could be a little more comfortable while he was keeping his eyes on our kids and reporting back to Santa Claus during December.

Peppy catching some Z's in front of the fireplace.

After the girls woke up they created a studio apartment for Peppy. He had chairs, kitchen, bed. I'm surprised they didn't get a Barbie and hook him up an a date. We will see that in a later post though...

Winters best activity

2011-12-03T21:39:00.001-06:00

Ok, so we know it is not quite winter yet but we have had some really cold temps and it even snowed just north of us. So with that I think we can say Winter is upon us. Peppy also is along the same thinking as us. Last night he got some of the girls sleds they have for their Barbies and decided to go sledding. He found some snow and piled it all up and away he went. When the girls saw him this morning they ran into our room and woke Amy up and were so excited to tell her that Peppy is sledding. They got a huge laugh out of it.

Peppy getting his fun on. Hopefully we will be able to take the kids for real this year to go sledding.

Another shot of Peppy. What's different with this picture than the next one???

The kids all thought this was pretty funny.

A little Japanese Peppy Doll...

2011-12-02T22:20:00.001-06:00

On the 4th day of Peppy's travels, he decided to stand with all of the Kokeshi dolls that we got from Japan. He blended in pretty well but the kids caught on pretty quick. It's pretty fun to see the kids wake up and immediately start looking for Peppy instead of getting ready for school. When they do find him they usually scream out loud that they have found him and are pretty excited for the next day for the whole thing to start again.

Peppy trying to get in some world travels with the Kokeshi Dolls from Okinawa Japan.

Day 3 of Peppy...

2011-12-01T21:38:00.001-06:00

So again last night after the kids went to bed, Peppy Bing-a-Ling Otis played around in the house and landed in a new location. Today's location gave the kids a minor run for their money. It took them about 3 minutes for them to find Peppy. Once they found him, they immediately asked how the heck he got up there and what the heck was he doing up there. I told them, it looked like Peppy was trying to go for a ride. They all laughed and thought it was pretty funny.

Peppy up in the ceiling fan. I did turn the fan on and took some video but I'm not sure it turned out very well.

Better shot of Peppy hanging on for dear life.

Peppy! The somewhat new Christmas Tradition...

2011-11-30T21:31:00.001-06:00

A couple of years ago, Amy's mother gave us a gift for Christmas. It's called Elf on the Shelf. The kids really seem to enjoy it. After we get the house all decorated with Christmas stuff Peppy comes out to play. Every night Peppy goes to a new location for the kids to find in the morning. This year we decided to chronicle the hiding places. As a side note, this elf has been given a name by the kids. We had a naming ceremony where the kids all agreed upon his new name...Peppy Bing-a-Ling. That's right Peppy Bing-a-Ling Otis!

We've had Peppy up and around the house now for 2 days and this is where he has been...

Day 1 found Peppy sitting on the Fireplace hearth. He is sitting next to the stocking anchors that spell SANTA. This was an easy find for the kids.

Day 2 Peppy found a extra string of colored Christmas lights and used them to climb up into the rafters of the living-room. Unfortunately he found himself hanging on for dear life.

Just another shot of Peppy and the string of lights that he used to climb up into the main beam of the house. Again this was an easy find for the kids.

Leaves, Leaves and holy buckets more Leaves!

2011-11-28T21:39:00.001-06:00

As we all know with fall comes the awesome colors that all of the trees produce. This is perhaps one of our most favorite time of year. The cooler temps, and reds, yellows and orange colors make for being outside one of our family's must. This year was/is no different. We didn't expect Mississippi to have a fall at all. For the last few years our fall has consisted of slightly cooler summer temps and not true fall temps of 50 degrees or lower. Anyway we have truly enjoyed the weather as Mississippi has had exceptional fall weather with 60's during the day and mid to lower 50's and even in the 30's at night.

There is one huge BUT, and that is with our new house we have several trees, unlike the homes that we have lived in previous. Not to mention with a little over an acre lot all of these trees create some raking for Corey and the kids to do. A couple of Saturday's ago, Corey and the kids went out and attempted to rake but to no avail! The wind and nature won that battle, until Corey purchased a lawn sweeper. Corey say's it was the best $300 he has ever spent. Within a couple of hours our lawn was in tip top shape. The by product of that however is we have literally over a ton of leaves and pine needles that need to be discarded. Pictures below on the mass amount of leave piles. With still many leaves on our trees, Corey will be at it again for several Saturday's until they are all down. At least Corey just gets to drive his John Deere with his attachment on the back to do the dirty work and the kids get to play in the huge piles.

Leaf pile number 1. This pile was about 12-15' long by about 5' wide and about 3.5' high.

Just another shot at leaf pile number 1.

Kymbal by leaf pile number 2. As you can easily see, the pile was over Kymbal's head.

Another shot of the 2nd leaf pile. This one was bigger then the first pile.

One of the trees in our yard produced these leaves that were such a deep red.

Ray playing in leaf pile number 2. She and Kymbal were the only ones willing to play in the pile. Right after this shot Ray lost her shoe. We never found it. I ended up burning this entire pile but I replaced it the day before Thanksgiving with another one just as big.

Ray on top of the pile with the smoke in the back ground.

Kymbal messing around in the leaves. Yup your nose is clean.

Ray posing in the next few pictures.

This is a classic Otis pose! If you only knew.

Kymbal still playing around. She is such an awesome kid.

She actually let me take a few photos of her.

Fall Family photos

2011-11-20T10:57:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday Amy and I decided we needed to get the kids pictures taken with all of the fall colors, seeing that we haven't been in a location with lots of trees that turn colors in the fall. Amy found a spot in the rural part of Columbus that she just happen to pass by earlier in the week, so we decided to take the kids there. As we were driving we found another spot that was an old train track that had lots of trees covering the path. We brought a bench for the kids to sit on and tried to get some photos of them. They didn't really want to cooperate with us but we were able to get some photos of the. Next year we will have to go earlier when the trees still have most of the leaves on them. We went a touch late this year and most of the leaves were already off, but still made for some good photos.

The girls. We had to bribe them to stay in place with teddy graham cookies.

These two wanted to pose for some pictures. This was the best of the lot and I still got the cookies in Kymbals mouth. Argh!

Kymbal wasn't feeling up to getting in the photo with the 3 older kids.

Not sure there is any resemblance of Corey in Ray.

This was the best group shot. Of course it is of them walking away. I wasn't sure which shot I liked the best. This one above is the full photo.

The ones below are the same picture but cropped and given different color variations.

Halloween

2011-11-12T20:44:00.001-06:00

As promised, we said that we would post some photos of the kids in the Halloween costumes. This year we said that we were going to get everything ready to include carving the pumpkins a few days earlier and take pictures with the kids and their creations. Well we got so busy in Oct. that we didn't have time to carve pumpkins until the day prior and even that had to be fast.
We took the kids "Trick or Treating" on Columbus AFB, as there just isn't a lot of homes in the rural parts of Columbus that we live. At least there it provided a pretty safe environment and lots of homes for the kids to run to and get some candy.

This year Amy had it all planned out that we were going to put our kids up to a theme and each kids was going to play a part in that theme of Halloween. This year our theme was the girls were going to play Superhero's and Devon was going to play the bad guy. As we were purchasing the costumes Ray and Devon decided they didn't want to play their parts and went off script! Ray was a punk fairy and Devon wanted to be the scary bad guy from Scream. So I guess he was still a bad guy. Makenley and Kymbal stuck with the theme and played Supergirl and Batgirl. All of them looked very cute once they were done up.

Cracking open the groud's. Of course one of the kids has to give the cheesy smile!

Hard at work.

Makenley cutting away her Casper the Ghost pumpkin.

Corey showing Devon how to use the pumpkin knife to cut out the mouth.

Kymbal just hanging out acting herself. That is some wild hair that kid has.

Ray with her punk fairy costume. This picture doesn't really show it but she has some makeup on that really made her costume pop!.

This was probably the scariest costume this boy has had. You can see the blood running down his face. He had a pump that would squirt blood down the face of his scream costume.

Never fear, the Batgirl is her. She looked soooo cute with her full costume on. She didn't like the mask and it came with some gloves and shoe stuff but she opted not to wear those items.

The other superhero of the night. Makenley and Kymbal pretty much saved the day with their costumes. Makenley also had makeup on that helped accentuate her costume.

We caught a snap shot of the batgirl without her mask on. This was early on in the night as she was able to carry her bag here. Later on she had to drag it which caused some wholes and a few candy bars missing. That could have also been from Amy and Corey stealing them from her!

Such a happy kid. This was after the night's festivities. The rest of the kids just wanted to go to bed but Kymbal was still ready for more!.

Campfires, Soccer and the Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-30T14:03:00.001-05:00

Just another update on some of the things that the Otis family has been up to. A couple of weeks ago we have several families over and had a fun time cooking out and then topped the evening off with a campfire and did smores. It was fun for the kids and they really like the smores. The weather was nice and cool to where a fire actually was nice and it didn't make you want to go indoors to the A/C.

Devon has been signed up for Soccer and has really been enjoying playing. He has been the leading scorer. He is actually pretty good. His team has improved each game and we are hoping that this next game he can extend his streak with goals.

Luckily we live fairly close to several farms here. About a 15 minute drive there is a farm that has a large pumpkin patch for the kids as well as hayrides, swings, a hay maze, corn sand box and a hopper full of cotton right off the plant. The kids have enjoyed going there and playing with their friends. Again the weather has was brisk but sunny which made the day even more enjoyable.

Kymbal at the fire. She was in the middle of roasting a marshmellow.

Devon winding up to kick the ball.

Devon just after he scored the first point of the game.

Kymbal in the cotton bailer.

Ray getting ready to get lost in the straw maze.

Makenley downing a hot dog.

Ray and Makenley wishing they could really drive my John Deere.

These pumpkins looked exactly like huge granny smith apples. They were awesome looking.

Tonight we are going to carve pumpkins. We will make sure to post the photos as well as tomorrow we will be hitting the streets to ensure our kids can get ample supply of sugar to last at least 3 days. We will post those pictures as well. You are going to die when you see Kymbals costume.

Fall

2011-10-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

So much to catch up on! We'll try and post some pictures in the upcoming days to update what we have been doing for the past 4 months. The biggest news is that we are together again as a whole family. Corey finished his training early in San Antonio and returned home before the end of September. He started work the next day...No real time to get to spend with the family. The kids have been in school and have been really doing a great job. They have been busy with sports and playing with their friends in the neighborhood. We have really been enjoying the last 2 months as the temperature has really cooled off from the summer highs and it has been very, very pleasant.
Corey is happy because he has been able to see some fall colors that he has missed out on the last 4 years. There wasn't much but green in Japan and desert in Turkey. Now that we live here in Mississippi, the trees have really exploded with some great colors. Corey was able to snap some pictures of the leaves at the pond across the street from our house about 300 feet away. We can only hope that these temps stay as the summers down here are brutal.

Kymbal in front of the Fall decorations.

We'll post more pictures of the kids and their activities in the next few days.

Columbus Riverwalk

2011-05-29T17:41:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we decided to do a little Saturday outing and go enjoy a picnic in the blazing sun down by the river here in Columbus. There wasn't much of a park but it was sure nice to get out with the kids and enjoy the outdoors. We didn't know at the time but they had a huge rope swing the the kids wanted to go on immediately but we didn't pack the swim suits and towels. Maybe next time though. The kids enjoyed looking for fish and turtles who would poke their heads out of the water than disappear. It sure is fun being home again with the kids. Being away for a year, I sure missed getting to spend days like yesterday with them.

As usual though pictures were taken and posted below. Enjoy.

Kymbal looking at the birds nest the kids found near our picnic table. As I took the picture I was wondering why the photo was kind of blurry and then I found out that I forgot to unlock the lens from being full open. But it turned out nicer than I thought after I looked at it.

Ray with her new hair do. She got it permed and has really enjoyed it. It wasn't the typical over the top perm but a softer perm. She wanted this done without Mom's pushing for it.

Ray getting a much needed sip of her cherry juice. Hence her lips were slightly more red than normal. This had a blue-ish processing that made the picture turn out with a "dated" feel.

Same photo as above without the processing.

Makenley chowing away on her beloved apple.

Same photo as above but again with that blue-ish feel to make it look "dated".

Otis' kids. The ragtag bunch actually let me sit them down and snap a quick photo. Kymbal however was a pill and had to have a Coke to simmer her down! The irony in that!

Looking at the river. Not much to look at! Brown and more brown. They did find lots of turtles that would come up for air and that kept them entertained.

Kymbal! Pretty blue eyes I couldn't keep those out of the photo.

Same photo above without the black and white processing.

Kymbal eating her new favorite cookie. Ok they are my favorite cookie. The vanilla Oreo cookies are so much better than the chocolate ones. Kymbal has taken after the girls and goes straight for the good stuff and tosses the actual cookie aside.

Ray and the fountain. It was hot out and the kids needed some H2O. I'm not sure she got much down her gullet as her aim with her eyes closed was a little off, but it was fun taking her picture while she was trying.

Devon doing the same thing only his aim is a little better and his eyes were open.

The rest of Istanbul

2011-05-22T23:46:00.004-05:00

It's been awhile since I've said that I would post some more pictures of Istanbul. The reason is that I have been super busy with my parents visiting Izmir and then right after they left I had to pack my apartment in Izmir Turkey and move back to the USA. After 4 long years I get to live in the US. The best part is that now I get to live my my family again. Looking back on the year it flew by but I'm not sure the same could be said for Amy's year. With 4 kids and no help from me I'm sure it seemed like an eternity.

The last 2 weeks we have enjoyed getting reacquainted and I've spent a lot of time unpacking and spending time with the kids. It has been a blast and the best part is that I don't have to go to work until 16 June. The bad part about that is that I have to work in Texas for the next 4 months so this is just a quick reunion before I depart for some training. After that I should be at home for the next 3 years.

As promised in the last post I said that I was going to post some more photos of Istanbul. So here they are.

Blue Mosque at night.

Inside the courtyard of the Blue Mosque.

Obelisk of Theodosius next to the Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque during the day. It was completely packed with tourists and this was the first weekend of the "Official tour season".

Inside the Blue Mosque. Very impressive. You can go in when it is not prayer time.

All of the wires where to hold the chandeliers.

Mom and one of the columns that hold the place up. The column looked like California Redwood. It was seriously like 30 feet around.

Looking at the Blue Mosque via a window of the Hagia Sofia.

Blue Mosque from the park.

Looking from the Blue Mosque to the Hagia Sofia.

Inside the front door of the Hagia Sofia. This was place was truly remarkable. It was completely huge and very ornate inside. Well worth the price of admission.

Huge doors that let into the main chamber of the Hagia Sofia.

Equivalent to the pulpit in the Mosque. The Hagia Sofia was built originally as a Christian church.

Inside the Hagia Sofia. At the top was a painting of the Virgin Mary and the Christ child.

Close up of the Virgin Mary and the Christ child.

A cross that is located within the Hagia Sofia.

Looking down from the second level. Again the place was huge.

Mom and Dad Otis overlooking the inside of the Hagia Sofia.

Mosaic of Christ in the Hagia Sofia.

Another mosaic.

Another shot of walking through the front doors of the Hagia Sofia.

Lots of tulips around Istanbul. They were everywhere.

The Basilica Cisterns across the street from the Hagia Sofia. When the Hagia was built they also built the cisterns to house their water supply. They also shot a James Bond movie in here.

More of the Cisterns. There were fish swimming within the waters.

Inside the Topkapi Palace within the Harem. Very ornate ceilings.

This was called the wall of blue tiles. All of the art work was done on tiles that they plastered all over the place.

Another ceiling within the Harem. There were several rooms. The Sultan had many women.

Hagia Sofia from the ferry boat that we took across the water way.

Random building at the ferry dock were we landed.

Maidens tower in Istanbul in the Bosphorous River.

Istanbul

2011-04-25T14:28:00.002-05:00

So one day I was bored and decided to take a look at the block to see if I could even load the page, seeing that I was blocked here in Turkey. To my surprise I have been unblocked and therefore I can post more photos. So off I go.

The last few days have been very busy. My parents have been in town here in Turkey to visit before I leave to move back to the USA. We've been exploring and seeing some of the sites. One of the things on my "To Do List" was to see Istanbul. This past weekend for Easter we caught a flight up there and saw the sights. What a place that is. First off, it has something like 14 million people. So the place is freaking huge!!! We mostly stayed in the Sultanahmet area which is where a lot of the things Istanbul is famous for. There are a lot of photos to search through and I will have to post more in the coming days, when I'm bored of packing my house for my move.

The trip was great. The only draw back was that it was slightly chilly out the entire time we were walking around. The first day we spent the time exploring Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque and the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum and the Basilica Cisterns. Day two we spent 4 plus hours exploring the Topkapi Palace and the Harem that the Sultan had. He is my new hero!!! After that we took a ferry boat ride across the waterway to see the area from a distance. Day 3 called for a shopping spree at the Grand Bazaar which was super crazy and very neat to see. Anyway below are just a few photos of what we saw there in Istanbul.

Lamps in the Grand Bazaar.

The Blue Mosque at Night. It was quite an impressive sight. It was pretty impressive inside as well. The inside was tiled over 20,000 blue-ish tiles.

Some tulips right next to the Hagia Sofia. There were thousands of all different kinds of tulips all over Istanbul. This one has a texture background.

Couple that was enjoying the night looking at the Blue Mosque.

Blocked

2011-04-05T14:31:00.001-05:00

This is a quick ditty about why the blog hasn't been updated in such a long time. Amy has been super busy with kids, school, dancing, and well being a mom with 4 kids wanting to do stuff. I on the other hand have been blocked from accessing the blog from Turkey. Yep! The Turkish government has blocked all of Turkey from getting blogs. I don't know the reason why but I can't update the blog with my adventures here in Turkey. So for the next month or so, unless Amy updates it, it will be somewhat "sleepy". The only way I'm accessing this is because I'm on an American base in Turkey (Incirlik) and was able to get on and drop this message.

The biggest news that we have is that we will be moving this month! Most of you know this already. We will be moving to Columbus, Mississippi! Not our first choice but at least we will be together again in Oct. That's right, I got hit up with a 3 month TDY on the backside of my 1 year remote. I will be in San Antonio for training from June until Oct at which point I will be able to be at home with the family once again. Thank goodness. I will be teaching Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals, just like I did in Georgia before we left for Japan. We are waiting for orders right now that will make it official but I've gotten a few emails from the assignments people telling me that it is a done deal. It better be a done deal because shortly after we heard Amy flew to Columbus and bought a home there. She will have to post pictures of it later. We close on the 21st of April. Needless to say she will be busy for the next little while.

Ok, sorry for no pictures but I didn't have much time to post them. Amy will post some of the new house later.

This Saturday's Excursion

2011-02-27T08:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I did another exploring trip with some of the guys here in Izmir. This week we went to some off the beaten path ancient cities. These ones are not as well know and not as well kept up as some of the other bigger sites. Nevertheless, it was a fun time and one of the cities Nysa (Nisa) was actually pretty interesting and had some pretty good ruins. It was a really nice day out and a lot of the wild flowers were blooming. In some of the parts of the city the ground was covered in wild daisies. It was kind of neat to because we were roaming around in the proverbial forest, olive tree forest, and you would run into some more ruins covered in flowers.

The other two sites we went to was called the Trellais, which was a huge gate for a city. The only part that remains is what you see in the pictures. It is kind of hard to get the scale of these things but they were over 100' feet tall. There wasn't much there for us to see so we took our photos and left and we drove to the middle of nowhere Turkey. This place was really out in the boondocks and the ancient city was in really poor condition. In fact there wasn't much there but you could tell where the city was only due to some of the columns that stuck out of the ground about 2' or so. We hiked up the auditorium and it had a pretty good view of the valley below. This city was called Alabanda. We spent about an hour there and then started the long trek home. All in all it was another good Saturday exploring the old piles of rocks here in Turkey.

The Library at Nyse. It was in the middle of several wild olive tree fields.

Same library with the focus on the daisy.

Field of wild flowers in the mix of wild olive trees next to the library at Nyse, Turkey.

I caught a bee on this really red flower. I thought I would take a photo of it. I guess I took a lot of pictures of flowers. It was a nice day out and the wild flowers were all over the place.

Stadium at Nyse, Turkey. It wasn't the biggest or the nicest but it was neat to see nonetheless.

The Agora (shopping area) at Nyse, Turkey. There was fairly large fields of daisies around the agora.

One of the field of daisies that I was speaking of.

I thought the contrast was interesting.

The Trellais in Aydin, Turkey. This was at least 100' tall and the center opening was about 30' across. It was pretty big.

The stadium at Alabanda. It was the most run down stadium of all of the ruins that I have seen. You can kind of see the view in the background. The other neat thing about this place is that you can see the village below has intertwined into the ruins. There were homes, and pastures mixed in with the ruins.

Abandoned home at the top of the stadium. This is actually the upstairs of the house. There was no floor as it was gone. I'm on the stairs taking this photo. I just thought it was somewhat interesting.

The view at the top of the mountain that the stadium was built in. Nice view, and this wasn't a very clear day out due to the cold air there was a lot of coal in the air from everyone trying to stay warm. Just below the water in the center of the photo is where the majority of the ruins lay, with the ancient city extending quit some distance.

Flower overlooking the view on the top of the mountain in Alabanda. You can kind of see the water in the background.

Norway Trip

2011-02-13T14:20:00.003-06:00

So awhile ago (December) I had the chance to go to Stavanger, Norway for a big NATO exercise that was going on. I jumped at the chance and was super excited to go. My trip there was perhaps one of the worst experiences that I have had thus far traveling. As I left Izmir they told me that I wouldn't make my connection in Munich so I got to Munich and had to spend the night without any bags. The next morning I had an early flight going through Copenhagen, then onto Norway. When I got to Norway I found out that my bags didn't make it. This was super bad due in part that all my uniforms and warm clothes there in my suitcase. All I had was a short sleeve shirt, a wind breaker and the pants and shoes that I was wearing, survivable if the weather is 50 to 60. But when the weather is 15, that posed a bit of an issue for me. After about a week my luggage finally got to me and I finally got warm.

The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. I had some time to walk around Stavanger and visit some of the sites there. I went to an oil drilling museum and some of the old fishing village. Otherwise there wasn't much there to see. After I was done in Stavanger, I took a train overnight with some friends to Oslo, where I was able to spend some time walking and seeing the sites there. Oslo was really nice. Clean, friendly and everyone speaks English! What a bonus! I wish I had more time to visit and see some of the sites. Of the sites we did visit we walked downtown and saw the state buildings, we visited the WWII Norwegian Resistance Museum, the Viking Museum and the Oslo's Art Museum which was really cool. This was the first art museum that I'd been too and it was well worth it.

Pictures below are of both Stavanger and Oslo.

The main church in Stavanger, Norway. This is in the center of town there.

Same church just Black and White.

Me on the train from Stavanger to Oslo. I look weirded out because I just spend 9 hours on the train and didn't get an hour of sleep. It was a long night.

Old Catholic church in Oslo. This was right downtown among a shopping mall and lot of other shops. The place was really neat and clean. A place I would love to visit again.

This is taken right outside the train station. Oslo is or was known as the city of the Tiger. I'm not sure why but that is why they have this statue of a tiger.

One of the state buildings. We were able to watch the changing of the guards outside this building. It was super cold, snowing and very windy. I'd hate to be the guys standing guard during the winter there.

One of the old Viking ships that was found here in Norway. They found 3 of them and this one was in the best shape of the 3. The other ones were heavily restored and still not in this good of shape.

This is the bow of one of the Viking boats.

Same picture just in Black and White.

"Scream" by Edvard Munch. This painting was in the Art Museum that I visited. Other big name paintings were done but Van Gogh and some other people that I can't remember.

Oslo, Norway in December

2011-02-06T10:52:00.001-06:00

I'll post this picture as a preview for what will be coming in the next installment of the Otis Gang.

More Christmas Pictures 2010

2011-02-06T10:47:00.000-06:00

So this is a little late but when I was back in Florida the last thing I wanted to do was waste my time messing around on the computer because I wanted to spend the most amount of time with the kids. After I got back to Turkey, I thought I would have had a lot more time to get some more pictures posted but, work has been somewhat busy, and this past week I've been dog sick. So my enthusiasm to post pictures has really lacked. These are some of the pictures of Christmas morning and of the Christmas tree that was 10 feet tall. Amy put it up all herself and decorated it however after about a week it died so she went back to the place she bought it and told them and they replaced it for free. So when I got there I had to decorate it. It took me like 3 hours just to get the lights on the beast, let alone all of the decorations. It was a pretty tree after it was all said and done though. I'm not sure we will do another 10 footer again. That was a lot of work.

Ray holding up her Polly Pockets.

Devon trying to contain his excitement. He was a typical boy on Christmas morning. All thrust and no vector.

Makenley and Reagan were a hoot to watch open their gifts. Especially their twinkle toes. They love them!

I'm not sure how Amy and I got so lucky to get a baby like Kymbal in our family. She is so easy on the eyes it is incredible.

The 10 Foot beast part 2. This was the finished version and the last time we get a 10 foot tree.

Christmas Pictures

2011-01-29T12:53:00.000-06:00

So here are the kids Christmas pictures. This was the Sunday after Christmas actually all dress up ready to go to church. In the past it has always been a total pain in the butt to get the kids ready and sat for pictures. This year was different as they got right into place and were actually quite easy to get photos of. The girls all had the same dress on and Devon had on a wintery sweater on. We had such a great time on Christmas as I was able to go home and enjoy the kids. It was actually quite nice to be able to talk to the kids face to face than via the computer. I think they missed it as well. We were sad to see it come to a close at least for the next 4 months.

Catching up

2011-01-23T14:34:00.001-06:00

We haven't had the chance to post any pictures and happenings lately due to the fact that we have been super busy. Since about mid-October, I have been traveling with my job. I spent some time in Germany, than came back to Izmir for a couple of days then went to Norway for almost 3 weeks and then came back to Izmir for 3 days and then I left for Tampa for the last month. It was the best month of leave I could have ever wanted. I will post more pictures for the trips to Norway and Tampa as well as some more of Germany. The last 2 months pretty much flew by. And of course during those months I snapped some pictures of course. I only managed to sit down and fiddle with a couple of them. But as I said before I will post some as I have more time to look at the photos.

I took these series of shots of Kymbal one morning while she was eating mom's famous eggs, or were they dad's, as I got to play Mr. Mom for the month that I was there and had a good time doing it. Anyway Kymbal was such a doll to shoot that I had a really fun time just watching her facial expressions and the like as she ate her eggs. I tried something new this time. I wanted to try a collage on Photoshop to see what I cold do. This is what I came up with my first hack. Hope you like it.

More of Germany

2010-11-30T13:15:00.007-06:00

Here are some more photos of Germany. Some were taken in Oberammagau and some in Munich. I'll post more when I get the chance to look at them.

Oberammagau with Kofel Peak behind. You can't see but on the peak there is a cross. A lot of the peaks here have cross on them. This home is a typical home here in Bavaria with mural painted on the side of the home. This one looked liked like "Little Red Riding Hood". Not sure?

Neuschwanstein Castle close to Fussen in Bavaria. This castle was built by King Ludwig II. This was one of his castles as he spent most of his time at another castle about 10 miles away. I took a tour of the inside of it. It had a huge throne room, a huge bedroom with a secret doors leading to the bathroom and his dressing room. He also had a church built in his room so he didn't have to go far. Throughout the castle there were swans that decorated everything from paintings to tapestries, to vases. Sorry I don't have pictures of the inside as photos were VERBOTEN!

Night time shot looking back at the castle. It was snowing out by this time. You can barely see the mountain behind the castle.

More of the Marienplatz in old Munich. For whatever reason the Glockenspiel didn't go off when I was there. Bummer as it is definitely a show.

Germany

2010-11-27T14:20:00.010-06:00

With work comes some great opportunities. One of which was a chance for me to go to the Southern part of Germany. Bavaria is perhaps one of my most favorite places to go. Mountains, trees, iconic Germany homes, snow, skiing and I can go on and on. The last time I was in Germany was back in 2003 to go skiing with a friend for a week. This time wasn't going to be as fun but still it is a week in Bavaria. I spent most of my time in Oberammagau, Germany, which is famous for the Passion Play which is put on once every 10 years. This is a big deal and this year was the year they put it on. I wasn't able to go only because well they end the play in October. It's just too cold to continue to do it. Speaking of cold, when I rolled into town it was freezing cold. My body just isn't used to the cold as the last 6 1/2 years I've lived in some pretty warm locations. While I was there it snowed a lot! I only wish Amy and the kids were there to be able to enjoy a pretty cool little town and play in the snow. I was able to take a little trip to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. You'll see the pictures. It was cool, however that was not my first time seeing the place. I was then able to spend 2 days in Munich. This is perhaps my most favorite city besides Seattle, of course. I must have walked over 10 miles around the city just looking and enjoying the atmosphere. They are in Christmas overdrive mode! Very neat to see. Pictures posted below. I will post more later when I have some time.

Taken at the Nymphenburg Schloss Castle gardens. There was a part where about 20 trees were all decorated. The night prior it snowed very heavily and gave a fresh coat of snow on the Christmas trees.

Nymphenburg Schloss Castle. This is a huge castle on the western part of Munich. There were lots of huge swans in the lake. What the picture doesn't capture very nicely is that it was f...f...f...freezing cold!

Swan that thought I had food for it. This was taken at the Nymphenburg Schloss Castle.

Downtown old Munich. This was taken at an open market much like Pike Place Market in Seattle. The big item for sale were wreaths and Christmas decorations.

This was taken when I was walking around Munich. It was pouring snow when I took the picture. Not to mention windy and very cold. Within the city there are several trees that the stores and home decorate. It's pretty neat to see how they decorate. Especially when I live in a city where Christmas isn't celebrated.

Marienplatz, Munich. This is the famed Glockenspiel. Just outside there is a huge courtyard that has tons of these little shacks that sell decorations, food, and warm wine which made the places where they sell the wine smell pretty bad. On the other hand however they also sold freshly candied nuts, which made the air smell awesome. You didn't want to leave those areas.

Another shot of the Marienplatz along with a huge tree that was cut from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. On the far left are the towers from the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche). You can also see some of the Glockenspiel between the towers and the tree.

Just outside my hotel in Oberammagau. During the snowstorm of snowstorms. I thought it was interesting with the snow and the red. Kind of Christmasy.

The main church in Oberammagau. I was walking around at night and saw this shot. It was really foggy out. It had kind of a cool shadow.

Another shot in Oberammagau. Again it was super foggy and dark but I was able to get a picture of the trees and the stream that runs right between them. I looked better in B/W as it was kind of grainy due to kicking up the ISO setting to get some more light.

Turkish Ball

2010-11-21T10:31:00.006-06:00

I had the great pleasure about a week ago to attend the Turkish ball on the NATO garrison here in Izmir. It was a chance for all of the officers and enlisted who work on the garrison to get together and have a pretty good celebration for the 87th year of the Republic (Turkish Republic that is). They put on a huge spread and had plenty to go around. And then their were the deserts. Those were pretty good as well. Part of the deal was that we had to get dressed up in our Mess Dresses. Luckily I had been forewarned and ensured my uniform was 1. with me and 2. up to date. That required about $100 worth of upgrades to the uniform. Man stuff is expensive. Anyway I had a really good time. There was a live Turkish Army band that played and after them, a local university put on a show with the customary Turkish dances. Pretty cool to see the "Whirling Dervish". The only down side of the night was Amy wasn't able to attend with me as these things are always pretty fun to have your wife with you.

Col Lucki Fank (German AF). He is perhaps one of the coolest dudes here at Izmir. He is my boss, non-US business that is.

Major Osman Sirin. He is with the Turkish Air Force and fly's an F-16. Usually we give each other a lot of crap (jokingly) about which fighter is better.

Lt Col Pieniek and Me. He is the only Polish officer here at Izmir. He and I work together in the Operations branch.

Old Pictures from vacation in VA

2010-11-19T13:25:00.005-06:00

This week in Turkey has been what they call "Bayrami", which is a huge holiday (the equivalent of Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one week). Anyway, this week I had nothing planned as far as get aways to exotic locations here in Turkey. So in my boredom I was looking through some photos that I never got around to posting. These are of our family vacation to Va to see Amy's family. Devon so badly wanted to go fishing with Pepe and I, so what's a good Pepe to do but take his grandson out for a day of fishing. Unfortunately the fishing was light on the fish. As it turned out Devon was the only one that caught a fish. Beginners luck??? Regardless we had a good time, and Devon was a happy fisher!

Pre-departure. Scouting out the good fishing spots from the dock.

Right Pepe, we are going to catch a fish with a fake worm.

The prize! It was a keeper. It was a fine specimen for the fish tank in Pepe's home.

Fall Festival and Pumpkins

2010-11-07T15:59:00.004-06:00

Science Musuem

2010-11-07T15:48:00.002-06:00

Sea World

2010-11-07T15:39:00.005-06:00

My Dads Visit

2010-11-07T15:35:00.002-06:00

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-07T15:34:00.001-06:00

Macedonia Trip

2010-11-07T13:20:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago one of my bosses asked me to go to Macedonia for a conference. Of course I couldn't refuse the opportunity to serve my NATO friends so I quickly told them I would go. I got to go to Skopje which is a fairly large city towards the North Central part of the country. I was only there for a few days and the days that I was there I had to go to a conference but the last day or so I had off and I was able to do a little sight seeing. Unfortunately, the time that I had off it was raining and extremely cold out so I only ventured out for a few hours before calling it quits. Needless to say I didn't get many pictures. Oh well at least I can now say that I've been to the Republic of Macedonia or in some places FYROM (Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia).

The Mother Teresa memorial church. She was born in Macedonia and there are several sites within the country that are dedicated to her.

The Church of Saint Clement. It seemed like an interesting building so I snapped a photo of it.

Looking at the Old Stone Bridge towards the Kale Fortress. Kale is equal to Castle as you may be able to tell. They're a dime a dozen around this part of the world.

Another picture with the entire bridge. There was a lot of construction in the main town square. It was pretty hard to get a good photo without all of the construction stuff.

From inside the castle looking towards the mountains. The day that I left these mountains were covered in snow. Like I said it was cold here.

Gallipoli pictures from the Halloween weekend trip

2010-11-07T07:34:00.012-06:00

As promised some more pictures from the weekend trip up to the Gallipoli peninsula. Lots of WWI history here. The biggest surprise to me was the total time that it took from the landings to the evacuations and how many people were killed. I had no idea that many people were lost here in Turkey.

Overlooking the Suvla bay where the British landed during the campaign. The Brits didn't really do much in the campaign on the peninsula. Once they landed they took the point and that is about it.

A huge Turkish soldier. This signified the mighty Turkish soldier and the desire to deny the attackers a victory.

Part of the trenches that were used during the vicious trench warfare campaign. I know it doesn't seem like it but once you were there you could really tell it was part of the trenching system that both sides used during the war.

At one of the several cemeteries on the peninsula. This one was at what is called ANZAC cove which is where the Aussies and Kiwi's landed during the campaign. This is looking towards the Northeast and the Sphinx.

This was known as the Sphinx. This was a site of one of the ANZAC base camps if you will. The Sphinx served as an important landmark for the armies.

Lone Pine cemetery. This was one of the battlefields on top of the mountain that the allies tried to take. It was called "Lone Pine" because after the allies laid waste with several barrages of fire from the destroyers off the coast, there was only 1 tree left. This tree was not the one that was left. It was destroyed somehow (I forgot) and it was replaced by a descendant (got the seed from a pine cone) and transplanted from of all places Australia (long story of how this happened).

Panoramic view of where the British landed on Gallipoli. This is on top of one of the main hills that the allies tried to take.

Self explanatory!

Turkish memorial on Gallipoli Peninsula. The table top memorial was huge, standing at least 200ft tall and approx 75ft across. It was located right on the coast over looking the Dardannelles which leads to the Sea of Marmaris which in turns goes to Istanbul.

Same Picture as above but again with some different rendering that I thought made the picture interesting.

Turkish Halloween Weekend Trip

2010-11-06T16:05:00.014-05:00

During the weekend of Halloween in the US, here in Turkey it was also a holiday, called Republic Day, very similar to our 4th of July. Anyway we had a 4 day weekend and some of the guys here in Izmir decided to take a trip up to the Northwest section of Turkey, namely to see Assos, Galipolli (site where New Zealand and Australia was born) and Troy. It was a pretty fun trip as the guys and I all got along and had some good laughs. The first stop on the agenda was Assos. It is another ancient pile of rocks but at one time housed the temple of Athena. There isn't much left of the temple but the site that the city lays on is pretty impressive. It is on top of a big cliff overlooking the Greek island of Lesvos. In some of the pictures you will be able to see the island. Anyway it was extremely cold and super windy that day. We stayed in a small little hotel at the bottom of the hill that overlooked the city of Assos. Right next to the hotel was a super old bridge that was used back in the day.

The next day had us traveling to Cannakale Turkey where we took a ferry across to the European side of Turkey. Izmir is located in the Asian side of the world. We spent the day taking a guided tour of Gallipoli where during WWI several battles were fought, namely from the British, French and ANZACs (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp). This is considered a huge pilgrimage place for the Auzzies and Kiwi's because many consider this place the birthplace of those 2 countries. It was very interesting to see many of the battlefields that are located here. It was amazing to find out that over 500,000 people died in just a many of a year there. It was a pretty costly war, and in the end had the allies pullout. This is also the place where Kemal Mustafa Ataturk got his name. This dude is seriously famous here in Turkey. It is the equivalent of George Washington or Abe Lincoln for us.

The last day of the trip had us swing by Troy. Again just another ancient city with lots of rocks. This place was made famous because of the Trojan horse and the battle of Troy, which some scholars think might not have even taken place. Of note not everyone in the world thinks Troy is the actual ancient city of Troy. It is still being debated. Ok enough of the history lesson. Enjoy the pictures. I'll post pictures of the WWI site tomorrow along with Troy.

This is known as Skull rock.

Sorry about this picture. The sun glare was right on my melon or rather my face. All of my pictures had the sun glare right on top of my nugget which made my bald spot even more blinding.

What's left of Athena's Temple. The flag in the background was really whipping as it must have been a steady 30mph winds that day.

The minaret from one of the mosques on Assos.

The Old Stone Bridge.

Old Stone Bridge with some different rendering. It's more of a retro style.

Some rose hips by the Old Stone Bridge.

The Old Stone Bridge with the ancient city of Assos on the hill top in the background. Picture was taken during the sunset that day. On top of the hill towards the left the round dome building is a mosque that has a cross in the doorway. Not very often you will ever see that here in Turkey.

Girls School

2010-11-01T13:09:00.009-05:00

Back when we lived in Japan, the girls went to a school off base. They really loved it and were really sad to leave their teachers and friends. Prior to leaving however we got the girls photos taken at their school. They school offered to dress them up in Japanese Kimono's. Well, I finally got them scanned and had some time to get them on the internet and post. Below are their pictures.

More Photos of Amy's Visit

2010-09-26T01:35:00.010-05:00

Below are more photos of Amy's visit to Turkey.

Our Hotel in Bodrum, Turkey. It was a really nice little hotel that was really quiet and within walking distance to the old part of town and the old castle in town.

Amy in the cabana by the pool. After a hard days work of sightseeing she crashed. It was the perfect temp to put on some long pajamas and just cuddle up and sleep. Nothing to disturb like kids shouting and yelling. Peaceful!

One of the beaches on Rhodes Island, Greece. Yes it was topless and if you look real close you might be able to see some...well you will have to figure it out.

Rhodes Old Town Castle (or at least some of it).

The Candy Stripped Mosque in the center of the Castle.

Rhodes, Greece.

Amy's Visit to Turkey

2010-09-25T13:50:00.012-05:00

After a long awaited time, Amy was able to leave the kids and fly to Turkey for a week and a half of a much need break away from the daily stresses of motherhood. We were so lucky to have my Mother and Father as well as Aunt Steph fly in from Seattle to stay with the kids. As soon as Grandma, Grandpa and Steph arrived the kids were totally excited to see them and I'm sure they were bouncing off the walls. I'm sure that made it even more difficult for my parents to tend to the kids. Anyway, Amy got on a plane the very next day and arrived into Izmir. I had planned out a couple of things during her trip over here. It initially started off with a trip to Istanbul for 3 days, then travel over to a city called Pamukkale to see the white travertines, then drive to Bodrum to stay and relax in a really nice hotel. From there we were going to drive over to Marmaris Turkey and catch a ferry to Rhodes, Greece. This part of the trip was a surprise for Amy as really the only thing she wanted to do on the trip was to go to Greece, of which I told her there were too many things to see here in Turkey. Regardless we were going to spend 2 nights there and then catch the ferry back to Turkey and then spend the last few days in Izmir just relaxing.

All in all it we had a lot of fun seeing some of the sights and just being able to relax without the kids. It was a sad day when Amy had to leave but, I'm sure she was really excited to see the kids again, particularly Kymbal. It was unfortunate that the morning after she got home my parents had to return home to Seattle, so Amy was right back in the thick of things without any "easing" back into the stressful life. Below are some pictures of our trip. There won't be any pictures of Istanbul because of a slight oversight on my part. I booked tickets from Istanbul to Izmir then back to Istanbul. No worries though I got my money back. Afterwards the trip went off without a hitch.

Pamukkale Turkey.

Pamukkale, Turkey at sunset.

Amy on a 4 wheeler. We rented one of these things after causing an international incident at another rental shop. Amy was eating some watermelon and spilled some juice on the floor and the guy in the rental shop flipped out and started calling us names. So we left and rented this one from another shop. Possibly one of the silliest things we did on island. Driving this on the main road blocking traffic going about 15mph while everyone else was going 35+.

Pulling into Rhodes, Greece. In the background you can see Turkey. This was Amy's favorites thing. She was soooo excited when I told her that we were going to Greece. All in all Greece is very much like Turkey, only way more expensive.

The last 2 pictures were in the medieval castle there in Rhodes. It was really fun to just wander around the narrow little alleyways and see what was going on behind the scenes. We found a really cute old lady that Amy snapped a few photos of. These were just a few of the pictures we took while exploring round the castle.

I'll post more pictures later.

Saturday Excursion

2010-08-07T11:44:00.025-05:00

Last week I had the chance to get out and see some of the old ruins here in Turkey. A buddy of mine here in Izmir named "Big" Buttie, decided to drive to Selçuk, Turkey (pronounced sell-chuck). There was so much history going on that I didn't have time to do a lot of reading up on each site that we went to go visit. Needless to say it was very interesting and cool to see some of the places where "old stuff" is. The only unfortunate thing about the visit was it was so incredible hot that after visiting the first 2 sites, I was completely drenched with sweat. Otherwise it was a fun time exploring.

Old Mosque next to St. John Basilica. Inside it was an actual working Mosque. I happened to sneak in and take a couple of photos. Not much to see there but a lot of rugs.

At the entrance to St. John's Basilica. Pretty self explanatory.

Inside the church. This was one of the walls letting into the Basilica.

The Basilica was laid out in the form of a cross. This was looking at the front of the Basilica. On top of the building it had 6 domes. Not sure of the symbology of that but that is what the plaque said. in the middle of the photo just past the columns is the front of the church.

Baptismal font. Pretty neat they had one in the church. The church had a lot of little rooms and such that let off this baptismal area. Not sure what they were used for. One was labeled treasury but there were several others.

Panoramic of the Basilica and a Turkish Castle in the background. While I was taking the photo some random guy came up to me and asked if I wanted to go in the castle. We passed because he was pretty shady looking. He "claimed" he had the keys to get in. Right! I probably would have found myself in a Turkish prison!

This is what is left of the Tempe of Artemis. Notice the person standing next to the column. From afar it didn't look that big but once you got up on it, it was pretty tall. Not to mention there were like 120 of these columns supporting a massive building. Now it is pretty much a swap and there wasn't much to see. They don't even charge to see this site. That is how weak it was.

On the on of the main drags of Ephesus. This is obviously looking up at the amphitheater. It was pretty big. There is still some digging on at the site hence the crane. About now in the trip I was wishing I had gone to the beach. It was very hot out.

At the mid-way point looking down. There were several tour groups there. Several of course had their best impression of some random European music groups performing in the big house!

This is the Agora portion of Ephesus. This was rebuilt if I remember correctly. It was pretty spectacular to see however. This is were all of the tour groups converge so it was hard not to get photos without random Japanese tourists. Man they are everywhere!

Looking up at the stone work. There were a couple of chips in the stones. Pretty shoty workmanship! Nevertheless it was pretty cool to see.

This is the main drag looking down onto Ephesus. The main road here is made out of marble. It gets very slick. I overheard one of the tour guides say that because of this they made gouges out of the marble to give it some traction.

Archway into the brothel. Yeah!

"Big" had to have some alone time. He was catching up on some light reading about Ephesus. Acutally this was a bath. It had running water below the toilets to wash the unmentionables away. In the other corner it looked like it had some type of shower thing-a-majig.

The front door to the Virgin Mary's house. There were no photos allowed inside as there were several people praying and meditating. I never thought this sight would be so important to people but it is. The house boasted of about 4 windows, no A/C (a bummer this day) and no working water. It was about 200 or so square feet inside. It was rather tiny. Not to mention this house was up on top of mountain. It was about a 10 minute drive from Ephesus. I don't believe she had many visitors here. She lived in the proverbial boonies.

The back side to the house.

This is the fountain the is said has cleansing powers. People would wash the heads and drink some. At the entrance, they sell bottles of "Holy water" from the well here. Only 4 Euro a bottle.

The prayer wall. Thousands of prayers and requested blessings are left on paper and then tied to the wall. Pretty interesting to see what people wanted to be blessed with. The wall is about 40 feet long and I didn't check to see how deep this went. I'm sure it has had to be emptied before.

Kymbal's First Steps

2010-07-19T23:23:00.002-05:00

Our baby took her first real steps today!! She is growing up way to fast. I have tried to keep her a baby for as long as I could. But at 13 1/2 months she has decided enough is enough and it's time to walk!!

Montenegro

2010-07-18T12:58:00.008-05:00

The other week I had the chance to get out of Izmir, Turkey and go on a TDY with some Italians to another country. My itinerary brought me to Podgorica, Montenegro, where I attended a regional airspace and surveillance working group. It was somewhat interesting, ok not really but it got me out of Turkey for a week and into another country that I've never been before. For those that don't know where Montenegro is it is just south of Croatia and across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. It is a very small country with only about 600,000 people. Our travel agent messed up our travel plans so we went to the wrong airport, so the Ministry of Defense for Montenegro sent a van to pick us up and take us to our hotel. It was a beauty country side. Lots of mountains, coast with nice beaches. We were there for about 2 full days and after the conference I had some opportunities to get out and do some site seeing. During the conference the Ministry of Defense took us out to lunch to some pretty nice places. I could get used to this NATO job. Some of the pictures aren't very good because we were in a race back to the airport and the driver didn't want to stop for me to get some photos so, I had to make due with snapping some from the van.

Middle of Podgorica

On the trip back to Tivat airport. The drive back was down a very windy and steep road. This was looking down into the city of Budva.

Another shot of the old part of Budva. This would have been cool if I had time to go and see it.

Old church near the hotel I was staying at.

Old castle that overlooked the Adriatic. It was a really clear day. This is looking off towards Italy.

Swimming hole

2010-07-18T12:34:00.003-05:00

The other day I was walking on my way back from the BX which is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment here in Izmir. I've noticed some kids that like to play in one of the fountains in the middle of the city. The fountain is one of the many that are located within the city in the middle of the roundabouts. Like I said there are several of these roundabouts with fountains in the city and everytime I walk by the one outside the BX I see a grouping of kids trying to beat the heat and play in the water. I decided to take some pictures of them. I wish after having taken the photos that I was on the other side shooting. Maybe next time I have my camera and walking by with the kids playing I will try from other other side of the statue. Anyway some of the kids saw that I was taking some photos of them and they came over and talked to me. They asked if I was American. Of course, I said and then I gave them .15¢ and they ran off hooping and hollering. Anyway here are the pics.

Midnight storm

2010-06-23T12:43:00.007-05:00

The other night Izmir was supposed to get some much needed rain. Well we got plenty with some to spare. I was able to sit on my balcony and watch the storm come right up the Izmir Bay. It was pretty cool to see the lightening bolts strike the ground. I did some experimenting with my camera and caught some pictures of the storm.

The blurry line was the water taxi going across to Karsiyaka.

Roughly the same position just another instance of bolts hitting Karsiyaka.

Early on during the storm.

I couldn't believe that I caught both bolts at the same time. Lucky. This was about midnight the other night.

Izmir Turkey Residence

2010-06-09T13:28:00.006-05:00

The last little while I've been busy with trying to find my way around Izmir Turkey. I was able to stay for about 3 weeks in a very nice hotel however the housing office here said I couldn't stay any longer so I had to go out and find an apartment to live in. There were several that they showed me, not all were what I called livable. I was able to find a couple to choose from and picked this one. It's a roomy 3.5 bedroom (the .5 now serves as my clothes dryer room) with the other 2 serving as a guest room (for those wishing to visit, and an office) and a 1.5 bathroom on the top floor of an apartment building. It is about 2300sq/ft, almost big enough for 1 person. Anyway the balcony is ok. It overlooks the water, Izmir bay. I get to watch all of the cruise ships and boats that come into port. We also have lots of water taxi's to get across the bay to the other side of Izmir. It comes in pretty handy for only about a buck. Beats a taxi anyday. Anyway the other day I decided to snap some photos of the sunset. This is just one of the many we have had in the past few weeks that I have lived here.

My apartment is the top floor where the arrow is pointing.

Water Taxi here in Izmir. It stops just about a 1/3 of a mile away from my apartment.

Sunset over the bay in Izmir. Pretty much everynight has been like this since I've moved into my apartment.

Look who's turning 1

2010-06-05T13:37:00.003-05:00

Well it has been one year since Kymbal Brooklyn was born. Wow! Where has the time gone! This past year has absolutely flown by. It has truly been fun watching her grow up and just having some quality time with her. She has one of the best personalities so far. So happy all of the time it actually amazes Amy and I all of the time. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to celebrate the pool party with bounce house but I was able to snap some photos via the webcam on Amy's computer. Until Amy posts her pictures these are I've got of Kymbals first birthday. Enjoy! Sorry if they are a little grainy but that is all I got. Deal with it!

Catching up from the move

2010-05-21T07:07:00.016-05:00

The last few weeks we have been so busy that we haven't had time to post any pictures or update the blog. I had a few minutes while in my hotel to download the pictures and take a look at them. Needless to say the Otis gang has been adjusting our body clocks back to the United States both Hawaii time and then East coast time. After a week of getting my body back on a time schedule I uprooted again and flew halfway around the world only to have to readjust my body clock to Turkish time. It's been a week and I'm still not quite there yet! Nothing that drugs can't cure!

During the time together we had some family time in Hawaii and were able to do some fun stuff there that the kids really enjoyed. After that we all flew to Virginia to reacquaint ourselves with Amy's parents. It had been a little over 3 years since the kids had seen them. The kids were pretty excited to see Memere and Pepere. They were pretty excited to see the kids as well and to hold Kymbal for the first time. We were able to spend a week there before I jetted off to Izmir Turkey. Amy stayed for a few more days to host a baby shower for her sister. After that Amy drove down to Florida in her new van with all the luggage and kids. Just a quick 13 hour drive. I'm not sure how fast she was going but that seems like was making good time. Anyway Amy and the kids rolled into Tampa and moved into their new digs. The kids wasted no time and made good use of the swimming pool. In fact just about every day they wake up, wake Amy up and then get in the pool! That has been pretty much their day, besides unpacking boxes, setting up the house, meeting new neighbors, and shopping for the new home necessities!

I on the other hand has been living in the very nice Swissotel Izmir. I've gone into work one day in the past week. The rest of the time it has been "holiday" and some workers comp days for the NATO compound. I've used that time to get out and have been actively looking for a place to live. I've been underwhelmed at the places people live in over here. Let's just say I'm not looking to move out of the hotel any time soon. Anyway below are some pictures of Hawaii. I'll post some pictures of the Virginia time in another post. This one was getting too big.

The kids at Narita Airport chowing down on McDonalds. This was the last time they were going to be able to eat Japanese style McDonalds. Some say it just tastes better. I think McDonalds tastes like McDonalds! Moments later we realized that we left a suitcase (carry on) in the Naha airport. Yup just left it at the A & W. Several calls back to Naha over a 3 day period concluded with our lost suitcase being mailed to us. What a pain!

Devon exploring in Hawaii. This place was just to the east of Hanama Bay.

Ray at the Kaneohe Bay hotel.

Reagan a the Wild Waves just north of Honolulu. Ray loved the wave pool. I think the kid in the background loved the food they served there! It took some struggling but we managed to get Devon on some of the slides. Afterwards he didn't want to leave.

Ray and Makenley at the Temple.

Makenely at the Oahu Temple. The missionaries gave the kids some flowers to put them in their hair.

Kymbal on the beach at Kaneohe Bay. This was before she decided that the taste of sand was very yummy! Apparently sand mixed with snot is very tasty!

The kids playing on the beach at Kaneohe Bay. This was just after I told them to try and stay dry. I guess they keyed on the word "try" which meant "dad gave us the go-ahead to get wet". They really enjoyed playing on the beach there. It was quite nice.

Devon at the PCC trying to start a fire from rubbing 2 pieces of wood together. Needless to say Mom and Dad are safe from any fires getting started around the house from this way of doing it.

Makenely at the Polynesian Cultural Center during the canoe ride. I'm not sure if she is posing or putting on the pouting face. My bet is the latter!

The kids and I practiced how to twirl these balls. Normally they are on fire and then the fire dancer whips them around. All 4 of us would have been burned to a crisp!

Battle stations everyone! The kids got a kick out of these WWII helmets on the Mighty Mo. They enjoyed the trip for the first 30 minutes. Then it was just another big boat. I'm sure they were thinking it was not as cool as fighter jets.

Devon thought the guns on the Mighty Mo were pretty impressive. I have to admit even I was impressed. They can do some serious damage!

Moving Time!

2010-05-04T12:53:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, Amy, Corey and the 4 kids packed up the remaining stuff the movers didn't get and got on board a plane to leave beautiful Okinawa for the last time. We leave behind several close friends and will miss them dearly as we head back to the states. At least most of the Otis clan. For those that aren't in the know, Valrico Florida will be home for the next year, as Amy and the kids have found a nice home in that area of Tampa. Corey will be continuing his travels to take him to Turkey for the next year.

This trip started out early Sunday morning with lugging 15 plus bags to the airport (so much for traveling light). Things were going pretty good for such a big move. The airport check-in went pretty smooth as well. We got on the flight and still things were going fairly smooth, until we got to Tokyo. Amy realized that we were missing a carry on bag. Once we put our brains together we figured out it never made it past the security checkpoint in Okinawa. So we left a bag back in Okinawa with no name tags on it in the middle of the airport! We tried several phone calls to the airport which ended up with no results from the search that ensued. After about a day of looking, I guess they found the suitcase. Strange how they never announced a lost bag or even a suspicious bag was in the airport while we were there. Anyway one of our friend back in Okinawa has the bag and it will somehow make it's way back to us.

Currently we are enjoying some time in Hawai'i. I'll post pictures later. Today we plan on seeing some of the sights on the North Shore.

Toothless no more!

2010-04-23T04:57:00.003-05:00

Kymbal has past some very important milestones lately. She has mastered the army crawl, the ability to pull herself up and stand, and most importantly the ability to say "Dadda". As you can see in the photos, she has cut her first tooth and it is pretty funny to see her smile and see the single tooth just standing out there, " Bam!" Her second tooth that is right next to the first one is now starting to come in. I'm still waiting however for the most important milestone of, out of diapers and the ability for her to go to the bathroom all by herself! I'm counting the days.

The lone tooth. Kind of a sloppy eater! Who's feeding this kid?

Still not a big tooth but she's growing into it.

Last flight in the F-15C

2010-04-17T20:09:00.005-05:00

I had the chance to be able to go to Alaska one last time with the squadron to do some flying. On Thursday, I had my last flight in the F-15C. I was fortunate enough to share the last flight with a maintenance troop, who was getting a ride for the first time. We got the jet started and taxied down to the end of the runway where I asked for a maximum afterburner takeoff and unrestricted climb to 16,000 feet. I lit the wicks and got airborne and because it was cold out the jet accelerated like a bat out of H-E-double hockey sticks! Anyway by the end of the runway we were going about 450 knots and then I pulled straight up. In no kidding about 15 seconds we went from sea level to 18,000 feet where I leveled the jet off and then headed out to take a tour of Mt McKinley. We flew around the peaks and then headed over to some other mountains to fly low and fast through the valleys. The kid in the back seat had a hard time believing that he was doing this stuff. He was pretty blown away. Anyway after that we came back and landed and got a few more pictures of me standing in front of my jet. It was kind of cool because I got to fly my jet on my last sortie. I have to give props however to my wife who graciously said, "Go have fun with the boys one last time!". Ames, your the best. I love you!

"Chester" in front of his jet just after landing from his last flight in the F-15C. The rest of the pictures are really of me flying on my last sortie.

Waiting for takeoff clearance.

Just after lift off. We are about 180 knots.

Leveling off to accelerate. Notice both afterburners cooking!

Pulling through about 60 degrees nose high. It feels pretty much like vertical.

This is about 80 degrees nose high. We pulled about 5G's getting the nose up. Notice the wingtip vortexes that trail the jet. They were about a couple of hundred feet long.

Kymbal's first lollipop

2010-04-03T01:09:00.004-05:00

Somehow Kymbal got into this sucker. I'm pretty sure the kids thought it was a good idea to allow her to get a treat as well. So before we took it away from her we snapped some shots of her and the after math of the cherry lollipop.

Not sure which basic food group this lands in.

Hypnotized by the Lollipop! "MUST HAVE MORE!"

Kids Pics

2010-04-03T00:48:00.006-05:00

I had some time today to sit and look through some of the photos that we took during the month of March of the kids. We had a couple of good adventures earlier on in the month but due to the very busy schedule at work we haven't been able to get out and see much lately. So I thought I would update with some of the other photos that didn't make the blog.

Devon at Comprehensive Park

Makenley eating an Ice Slushy spying on something outside

Ray cooling off with an Ice Slushy

Kymbal at Comprehensive Park in Okinawa

Panorama of West side of Okinawa

2010-03-11T05:18:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we took a trip to a place on the west side of Okinawa and came across a lookout point that gave a pretty good vantage for the west side of the island. Have a look for yourself.

Sunday Drive for Dad's Birthday

2010-03-03T06:30:00.007-06:00

A couple of sundays ago we decided to take the kids on a drive somewhere on the island and enjoy the beautiful day. We had no clue as to where we were heading. Our journey took us to the south eastern part of the island to another tiny island called Hamahiga Island. We found a little area to stop and give the kids some food that we packed. We explored a little and found a Japanese tomb that are very plentiful on the island. We climbed the stairs and took a look at it and of course posed for a picture. As you can see in the pictures there is a pot in front of the actual tomb area. It was full of ashes. Whether they were from a cremated person, wood or from years of incense, the sucker was full of ashes! Anyway, after I walked down the stairs, Ray decided to stick her hands in the ashes and start throwing it up in the air and on the ground in front of the tomb. Whoops!!! Our bad!! Of course, there were several locals looking at us so I quickly took up the broom and swept up what I could of the poor soul who's ashes my daughter just threw on the ground! I'm sure the locals will be happy to get ride of us in 2 months!

The fam posing in front of some cool Japanese grave-site.

Ray eying the pot of ashes, or the beer in the plastic cups! That would go great with her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Ray is probably thinking, "What the heck are you doing taking a photo of me in front of a grave!"

Me cleaning up the aftermath of Mr. Miyagi's ashes that Ray threw on the ground! Sorry!

Presidents Day

2010-02-18T07:44:00.005-06:00

This past Presidents Day Amy and I took the kids to Torii Station to do some sea class hunting. We had a pretty good catch that day. We caught our quota for the day i.e. the kids were done and actually left Amy and I to roam the beach alone. That was kind of nice to be on the beach with Amy while the sun was setting and only having to hear the occasion "I hate you" from the kids in the faint distance. Sometime during the beach combing we snapped some photos of the kids looking off into the setting sun.

It's amazing they all sat still for a few minutes to catch this shot.

Pretty much at this time they were rebelling against Amy and I about looking for glass.

As I was tweaking the above photo it one of the settings made it look like a nuclear explosion over China!

Kymbal

2010-02-18T07:34:00.004-06:00

A little while ago I posted some photos of the other 3 Otis kids. Well Amy and Kymbal took a day trip to the sea wall while the kids were at school one day. She is growing up way too fast and Amy and I already are missing the super small baby days. In fact we are having to baby proof the house now. She has figured out how to do a weak man's army crawl. We've already caught her with several items in her mouth to include lots of magazines and shoelaces. Fun times ahead!

Date Nights

2010-02-07T05:03:00.005-06:00

Amy and I have had the chance to go and spend some date nights down at American Village. Everytime we go down there different street performers sit the street corner and do their thing. It is a pretty interesting time to just go and sit and see what is going one. Plus we usually go and eat at the frozen yogurt place. Very tasty. Anyway I snapped some photos of one guy playing around with fire. I didn't have a tripod so I tried to hold the camera as still as I could. The picture of the ferris wheel I had a tripod for so I was able to hold the camera still.

Some random guy playing with fire.

Ferris Wheel at American Village.

Reagan's 4th Birthday

2010-01-23T22:42:00.009-06:00

Ray at dinner at the Macaroni Grill. Note Amy has become a new budding photographer and snapped this photo.

Ray at her party blowing out the candles.

Reagan doing the "Saturday Night Fever" pose from John Travolta. She is sporting new pink converse hi-tops (which are huge and look like clown shoes), new Hannah Montana pouch purse and a fuzzy pink sweatshirt thingy! I'm almost embarrassed that I have a picture of my daughter dressed like this!

Ray at Comprehensive Park in Okinawa.

Holy smokes! Just 4 short years ago Ray was born. Time has certainly flown by. When we got here to Japan Ray didn't have any hair, and still doesn't because she likes to cut it, and could barely walk. Now she is one of the most active kids I know and runs both Amy and I ragged! She secretly must have a stash of Monster energy drinks because she has endless supplies of energy. Anyway for her birthday Amy took the girls out to get their toes nails done, and later had a birthday party at the USO here on base were they reserved a big movie theater and watched Hannah Montana. Later on that night Amy took the kids to Macaroni Grill (at Ray's request) and ate her birthday dinner. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend due to work. Ray let everyone know that it was her birthday, even when just walking around she kept saying, "It's my Birthday!" Pretty cute. Anyway here are some pictures of the events that happened on or about the 19th of Jan.

Saturday at the Japanese Gardens

2010-01-10T23:31:00.000-06:00

This past Saturday, after Devon's football game we decided to go to Naha and see some Japanese gardens down there. It was pretty fun and the kids actually had a great time looking/feeding the huge Carp they had in some of there ponds. Meanwhile it gave Amy and I some time to just sit and watch how they interact with each other. That made for some interesting arguments between the 3. Oh well, we were able to get some good pictures of the kids in the gardens.

The kids posing in front of a Japanese sign. It reads don't feed the fish! Of course my kids ignored it! They wouldn't be my kids if they didn't.

Otis kids summiting a mini mountain.

Look at the pretty fish!

I saw this and thought it made for an interesting pic. It was the only flower on the bush.

Here is the same picture just highlighted the red flower and dampened out the saturation of the surrounding Japanese hut.

Our Plane Ride to Seattle

2010-01-10T03:30:00.000-06:00

Back in November we took a family vacation back to the states. As we left Okinawa we had the opportunity to take a flight on a military cargo plane the C-17. It was a pretty big jet. Anyway as we got on board one of the pilots came down to Devon and asked if he wanted to sit up in the cockpit. I was quick to say "yes" and then proceed to take Devon towards the cockpit only to get a very upset boy. I thought to myself what could possibly be the issue. Come to find out he had no desire to sit up there. I was hoping that it was because he knows what jet is the best one, but no it was because he was scared. Well after talking him in and partly carrying him up the stairs I plopped his butt into the sit right behind the pilot and quickly belted his butt in. Well after we taxi'd and took off he thought that was the coolest thing in the entire world and then didn't want to leave the cockpit for the entire flight. The girls also wanted in on the act so, I escorted each of them up there to get their photos taken. Needless to say it was a pretty cool experience for each of them seeing as they will never get that chance in my jet.

Ray getting help from our neighbor.

Waiting for takeoff.

Kymbal had to have earplugs taped to her head in order for them to stay in.

The boys chilling.

The older couple came prepared. They brough sleeping bags and mats and laid down on the floor after we took off. If we only knew.

Makenley getting a good view from the cockpit.

Ray ensuring the pilots were on course to Seattle.

Devon making some radio calls as we were somewhere over the Pacific where no one could hear.

Makenley

2010-01-09T23:11:00.005-06:00

The past few posts have been just updating some photos of the kids. Well today was Makenley's turn for looking through some of the recent photos and tweaking them a little. I haven't had time to sit and mess around at the computer for about a week, hence Makenley was left out. But no longer!

Makenley on the Sunabe Sea wall.

Makenley looking west into the East China Sea.

Cheering brother on at the 1st football game of the year.

Devon

2010-01-03T02:11:00.004-06:00

Amy and I took the kids down to the sea wall here close to base and were taking some photos so Devon and the girls. When he wasn't bugging the girls, he was a pretty good kid. He was pretty thoughtful towards Kymbal as he wanted to hold her when we had all of them sitting down for some quick pictures. Anyway some of these photos are hard to get because he doesn't sit still for very long and ensuring we actually get photos of him where they are not blurred can be a tricky endeavor. Nevertheless we got some.

Ray

2010-01-01T09:10:00.005-06:00

The other day Amy took some really good pictures of the kids out in the back yard. I was looking at them and I figured I would tweak some of the settings on photoshop. Some of them turned out ok. I have to admit however that I got some tips from some friends of ours on how to better use photoshop. Anyway here is Reagan. She is turning out to be quit the cute girl, but boy does she have attitude! Must take after her Mom!