Odds and Ends

This first set of pictures were actually taken last Sunday, a week ago—but I had already posted several times last week and had other things that needed to be done.  My apologies for the delay!  (Of course, if I hadn’t told you, you never would have known . . . ) 

This one pretty much explains itself, so I’m going to forego most of the commentary.  The place is called Cape Zanpa.

It’s only a short drive from the base, but it’s the first time we’d gotten out there.  Stopped at a farmer’s market on the way up and ate lunch at the cafe/bakery on the second floor of the market.  It was a nice little trip!

 

Logan with a neighbor-friend, Eric. 

Riding his car . . . backwards . . . under the table.

Based on the previous picture, I don’t think you’re quite ready buddy!

 

A more recent adventure found us at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum.  It was small but extremely well done; it also houses an art museum which we didn’t get to see this time around because Logan needed to run and explore.

“Boo”

And off he goes!

That’s all for now, folks!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Parks & Rides

Jake had Tues-Wed-Thurs off this week because of Veterans Day, but the ball was our big event for the week so we kept everything else pretty low-key and relaxing.  It was great family time and a chance to slow down from the normal pace of life and re-connect.

On our way down to Kokusai St last weekend, we passed a park on the side of the road that looked pretty cool.  When we tried to get back to it this week, we had a bit of trouble finding it, because—get this!—they gave different sections of two PARALLEL roads the SAME road number.  Eventually we did find our way though and even discovered an additional park in the process!

Park #1 (which, incidentally, was not the park we were looking for, but was the first one we found) had a pretty cool cement slide.

And an observation tower with a great view.

Park #2 (the one we were looking for) was bigger and had just about every playground amenity you can think of.  Actually, it’s one of the few Japanese parks I’ve seen with swings; they are not as popular here as slides are.

I try to teach Logan that life is an adventure and we should always make the best of things, and this whole bit with getting lost and finding a new park was a great example of that!  You never know what fun might be waiting for you around the corner!

Thursday we wanted to do something different, something we hadn’t done before; so we decided it was finally time to take a spin on the ferris wheel.

The views were (predictably) impressive.

And we discovered that Logan really doesn’t seem to be bothered by heights.  This was the only shot we managed to take of the three of us; Logan wouldn’t hold still long enough for a better one.

Inside, we let Logan run around the kiddie arcade for a bit.  He doesn’t know yet that the cars are supposed to do anything other than sit there, so it’s cheap entertainment.

A quick stop at the beach capped off the day’s activities.  Yes, the beach; yes, it's November; yes, we were all in shorts and t-shirts.  No, I don’t think we’ll see a white Christmas while we are here. 

As always, thanks for reading!  Miss you all and hope life is going well for you.  (Pssst . . . Don’t forget to wish Jake a happy birthday in a couple of days!)

#234

We didn’t do a full-on Gaffney-style photo shoot because of the rain, and apparently Jake and I can’t take a decent picture together anyways.  Oh well, we had a GREAT time!  This was definitely one of the best balls we’ve been to—good friends, good food, good music, the perfect trifecta for a wonderful evening.

  Happy birthday USMC!

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks

“In the air there’s a feeling of Christmas”?  Well, not really, not with the beautiful 82 degree weather and bright sunshine, but we went Christmas shopping today anyways.  The postage deadline is looming for us on the other side of the world, so even though I’m a month or so ahead of most of you, I’m right on schedule here. 

We headed down to Naha (Okinawa’s capital city), specifically the Kokusai-doori area, for some lunch, a bit of shopping and lots of sightseeing. 

It was a great day just to be outside . . . and hey, check out that McDonalds!  (No, we didn’t eat there.)

We were lucky enough to stumble across a group of eisa dancers performing in front of an office plaza.

And then there’s this T-Rex head sticking out of a storefront.  Why?  I have no idea; probably just because it’s Japan :)

There’s a great market tucked into a covered alleyway off the main street that’s lots of fun to explore.

A lot of the stalls in the alley-market look something like this . . . 

. . . but then you look closer and realize that they each have something unique to offer, like these frog-skin coin purses made from real frogs!

And if you need a snack, apparently you can grab some Puffy Snow.  In case you don’t know what Puffy Snow is, the sign helpfully explains “Sweets of topic ‘Dragon ice’”—no, I have no idea either.

Back out on Kokusai, we found some goya-shaped benches to rest on after all that shopping.

Logan made out quite well today.  He seriously was given FOUR cookies by different shop owners who cooed over him.  He loves to make people smile and has almost no fear of strangers right now.  Luckily Japan is extremely safe!

As we headed home, this was our view looking out over the base and towards the East China Sea.  Perhaps I haven’t mentioned this before, but this is a great place to live!

Check back soon; we’ve got a lot going on this week so I should be updating several times.  USMC ball coming next!

All for One and One for All!

A Musketeer in general, or D’Artagnan in particular if you like.  Either way, he’s a handsome fellow!

Hey, check out this cool sword! 
(Sword by Dad, rest of the costume by Mom.)

Not too sure about this hat though . . .  

The hat didn’t stay put very long but then we expected that.  We kept putting it on him to take pictures but most of the time he wandered around with out it.  Oh well!

We enjoyed ourselves at the Harvest Festival hosted by our church.

Logan didn’t quite manage a chivalrous bow to the elegant ladies in princess costumes, but this was pretty close!

Au revoir mes cheres!  Soyez bien et soyez sage! :)