Castles in the Sand

This weekend, despite the fact that we had a long weekend, we managed to accomplish NOTHING.  Logan has a slight cold and I’m just generally exhausted these days, so we stayed home and relaxed.  But that gives me a chance to catch up on some yet-to-be-posted adventures that we’ve had recently.  First up: Katsuren-jo and Ikei Island beach.

Katsuren-jo must have been mighty impressive in its day because only the inner portion is left and, even after seeing several similar castles, I was still pretty well blown away by this one.  Sitting atop a hill, it commanded an incredible view of the surrounding area and the Pacific Ocean. 

This little fellow was quite friendly and very cooperative about having his picture taken.

The view from the second level of the castle, where the seiden (throne room) was, looking up towards the top.  Notice Logan trekking along, carrying his cup.
 

And a portion of the view from the top.

  Then we traveled a bit further and got off the island for the first time since arriving here!!!  (Well, except for Jake who went to Korea for work.)  Not that we made it all that far, but there are several out-lying islands on our list to explore this year.  Ikei-jima (“jima” means “island”) is accessible by car and had several gorgeous beaches.

Check out the color of the water!

Did you know morning glories grow on the beach?  No kidding.  Sarah G can back me up on this, because we saw them on the beach in Hawaii too.

Hope you are rested up and relaxed from your long weekend as well.

Earthquake!

Quick update: Magnitude 5.3 earthquake about 8:00 tonight.  The epicenter was 90-ish miles west of us, in the middle of the ocean somewhere, so it didn’t feel like much here but I definitely noticed it.  Only lasted about a second.  No damage.  In fact, I feel a little bad saying this in light of the mess in Haiti, but it kind of made me smile.  Haven’t felt anything like that since I was a kid in 29 Palms!

Logan-speak

A quick update on our quickly-changing boy.

lie dis—“like this” because apparently Mommy says “Would you like
             this?” instead of “Do you want that?” and Logan has picked
             up on Mommy’s version. 

hi and bye—sometimes require prompting but frequently these are
            spontaneous; said to objects and places as well as people

yess and no

socks—refers to both socks and shoes

something that I can understand as “outside” but which I have no idea how to spell 

car—this word appeared earlier, but then was replaced by “bbrrrrr”;
           recently the word “car” has reappeared. 

per—diaper

moo-moon

hug—Mommy’s favorite new word :)

Hats have become fun,

as have shoes.

Logan can also indicate a large number of body parts on command.  Here he is responding to the line “Yawn, stretch, touch your toes”.

  He’s becoming quite skilled at building/stacking.  (Yes, I was handing him blocks—the OCD color pattern is mine, not his.  The dinosaur on top, however, was all his idea.)

I know I’m biased, but I think he’s a pretty cool little guy!  Makes me even more curious about what the next one will be like.

Hope you’re having a great week!

A Few New Things

Here I am, once again playing catch up.  Wow, a lot has happened in the past week!!!  The Nakamura house will need it own post . . . eventually.  But the rest can be lumped together, so here goes:

Jake’s promotion to Captain.  (Jake left, Col. Ramey center, Lt. Col. Burke right, holding promotion warrant)

Pinning performed by myself and Lt. Comm. Jim Roche.
Edit: Jake has informed me that I mis-abbreviated Jim's rank; apparently it should LCdr.  Silly Navy!

I, Jacob Wilde, do solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole tr . . . Wait a minute, what’s going on here?

Let this be a lesson to you . . .

By the way, I feel great and hope to be able to keep working out all the way through this one like I did last time.  I’ll post belly shots here too when I get to that point.

Another new park.  If you’re starting to get the idea that this island is covered in these things, you’re right!

Fun with Mom and Dad.

As well as fun with local kids.

That’s all for now, folks.  Have a good one!

Blessings

So I know that Thanksgiving is the time for gratitude and New Years is supposed to be all about resolutions, goal-setting and good-but-quickly-forgotten intentions.  Perhaps I’ll get around to my annual to-do list later, but right now I’m feeling remarkably blessed.

This island has so much beauty to offer! 

I take back what I said quite a while ago about my becoming better at floral photography; I’ve realized that hibiscus are just plain photogenic no matter which way you shoot them.

Seriously, look at this!  Husband and son doing dishes.  Without a doubt, I am blessed beyond measure :)

My son, by the way, is a cutie who makes me smile every day.

Not only is Jake an amazing husband and father, but we have every reason to expect that he’ll actually be HOME for most of 2010!

Another island bonus: this was the weather today, Jan. 1.  Cool by our standards, but still perfect for a walk along the beach.

Aahhhh . . . the beach!

And this little guy again.  He may be the only thing on the island more photogenic than those hibiscus!

I hope each of you are aware of the goodness and beauty that surrounds you and that joy and love become and remain your focus through the coming year.  Know that I also count you among my blessings—I have a pretty good idea who reads this and I’m thinking of each of you individually—you have been and continue to be a blessing in my life and I cherish you, even from a distance. 

Happy new year everyone!