Dragons or Beds?

The older I get, the more my bed and I become friends. I long to be with her through out the day, and she (yes, it's a she) has a difficult time releasing her grip on me in the morning. It would basically take something big to break us apart. One day my friend said, "Hey, you should join our dragon boat team this year!" I thought it was a splendid idea until she told me they meet at 4:30 in the morning to practice. She reassured me it would only be for 2 1/2 months. Hmmm...me and my bed are pretty close. I wasn't fully committed until I learned that another friend of mine (who just had her third baby and her husband was deployed) was going to join. I'm a sucker for competition. If she can do it with all that going on, surely I could. So I woke up before the roosters, stood in thigh deep ocean water, and paddled my little heart out for 2 1/2 months to race in the Dragon Boat Race. With only two practices in an actual boat, we raced for 5 minutes and won our heat. We out sprinted all the women's teams and came in 9th out of 50 teams (mens, womens and co-ed). It was a fabulous experience, but until next year, me and my bed will stay best of friends.

FYI: The Dragon boat race is an annual event, taking place during Golden Week--the biggest 5 day holiday in Japan. This particular race marks the beginning of dragon boat season, which lasts until late summer. This festival is observed to give thanks to the sea God for sharing the ocean's bounty. The U.S. military is fortunate to be invited to participate in such a sacred event.

The U.S. Navy Women's Team.

My friend with the new baby and deployed husband. She

had the baby, got scuba certified, became a Pampered

Chef consultant, and did Dragon boat while he was gone. These

military women are seriously TOUGH!!!

The coaches.

Team mates.

Getting your toes painted in Okinawa is tradition.

Almost every lady has their toes decorated year round.

We had dragons painted on ours. Mine were black

with gold dragons.

Starting gun guy.

First race of the day.

The best part of the race was knowing

that my family was watching and cheering for me.

This is my friend who

introduced me to Dragon Boat.

Our time: 5 min 30 sec

The festival before the crowds.

This is where men go to the bathroom--right up close to

the sidewalk for all to see!

Almost better than the race itself was this race. I was so

surprised by Taylor's innate driving abilities, I laughed so hard

I peed my pants. She was even leaning in on the turns. Her goal was

to bump Landon and Audra's car.

Yes, these were pretty fast cars. Yes, they let Audra ride behind

Landon. And yes, they didn't require helmets.

This was the last thing we did at the festival.

Can anything be better than strapping your

3 children into harnesses, attaching them

to bungie cords, and bouncing them as

high as you can on trampolines? You should have

seen how high Audra went. Afterward, she asked if she

could do it again. Lil' daredevil.