Houseguest

Before some of you start getting excited, let me tell you that this is temporary.  A friend of ours was sent to Hawaii, with his family, for some medical issues and we are cat-sitting while they are gone.

Meet Clark.  Looks a bit like D’Artagnan but is about 1/3 the size; she really is a tiny little thing.  We were with the friends when they found her at the park; she was hanging out near the roller slide and was super-friendly and completely irresistible.  Her name is from Dr. Seuss’ One Fish, Two Fish: “Look what we found in the park in the dark.  We will take him home.  We will call him Clark.”

She’s a great little kitty, very friendly, with a surprisingly loud purr.  Both the kids love having her here.

And she is very, VERY tolerant of them!

Mini Aquarium

Technically this is a coral farm, but as you’ll see, the tanks where they grow the coral are very well supplied with fish.

We had a small amount of trouble finding the place, but on the way there we did run across some other fun sights.

There are many benefits to getting lost on a small island: 1. it’s impossible to go too far astray because you run into ocean and 2. if/when you do run into the ocean, it may very well be a lovely secluded stretch of beach like this one.

On the way back from the same little beach, there was this unusual, evidently Christian, family tomb.

Ah, now we are getting closer! This picturesque pier was mentioned in the directions we’d been (poorly) following.

This is the place!  In case you are wondering, the unusual architecture is meant to resemble pieces of bleached coral, like what you find washed up on many of the beaches here.

They had LOTS of touch tanks!

This is part of their big tank where, apparently, most of the growing is done.

I plunked my handy little underwater camera into the tank and snapped a few shots at random.  

They also had an area that descended into the tank so you could take a closer look.

Logan and Naomi were fascinated by the view.

We topped the morning off with ice cream (I haven’t done that quite as much since Naomi was born) and a quick visit to a small nearby play area.

Good smile; happy day!

Mini Mini Zoo

Apparently the Japanese call this the “Mini Mini Zoo”.  It’s written up in Okinawa Hai as the “Zukeran Zoo and Egg Shop”.  Either way, we thought it was worth checking out.  So I picked a Tuesday (when the regular zoo is closed) and we went adventuring.

This fellow greeted us with a cheerful “Ohayo” (pronounced Ohio"), meaning “good morning”!

Outside they had a llama, several emu, a couple of ostrich, a horse, a few pigs and this bull.

Inside we found several small birds, lizards, turtles, and various small mammals including mice, hamster, guinea pigs and a monkey.

Also among the small mammals was this flock of brightly-colored school children on a field trip.

 
We thought we were done and I was reasonably pleased by the success of our outing when we rounded a corner and found . . . a whole lot more than I expected.

Naomi seems a bit puzzled about the rabbits.

Logan was very amused by the goats.

As for the “egg shop” part of its title, this place certainly exceeded expectation.  That whole back wall is full of fresh eggs (although we didn’t see any chickens while we were there).  Even better, they have a cute little bakery.  I picked up a little cup of custard for Logan for 110 yen and snitched a spoonful—that was THE BEST custard (like a creme caramel) that I have EVER tasted!  They must make a killing off their eggs and baked goods, because the zoo part was absolutely free.  Honestly now, how cool is that?

Bonus Round

I just like the way this picture turned out.

And I feel guilty giving you a picture of one child and not the other.

So there you go . . . bonus post.  Back with more soon!  (I’m intent on getting caught up.) 

Party Time

Logan’s friend, Daniel Kai (the one who is moving), turned 3 and the celebrations kicked off right after church.  Low-key festivities in the front yard made for a perfect, classic birthday party.

Party dress—check.

Fun toys and entertainment—check.

Friends (Melissa and pregnant Crystal)—check.

Oh, you mean Daniel’s friends?  Well, they were there too.  Left to right: Logan, Daniel, Connor, Isabella with Carol supervising.

And Max.  Can’t forget Max.

The gang eating cake and ice cream.

The frosting aftermath.

Party streamers!

Fun for everyone!

Jake got some time off in the middle of the day (the day I am posting this, not the day of the party) and was able to Skype for a while.  He got to see both of the kids, which was great for everyone.  The weather is beautiful and currently the kids are both napping.  Life is GOOD!  Hope you are well and, if not, then I’m praying for your health issues—there seems to be quite a few of those recently!  Take care of yourselves!

Caption Contest

My brain is not functioning properly, so I’m going to let you guys take over this one.  Give me some captions for the following pictures . . . or you could just enjoy them.

N1.

N2.


N3a + b.
N4.

L1.

L2.

L3.

L4.

L5a + b.
(For reference, Logan and Daniel are holding a wrench, screwdriver and hammer.)

Waiting for Summer

This is the part where I have to admit how far behind I am with the blog, because there are a couple of pictures of Jake here and he’s been gone for almost three weeks now—oops!  But the pics are too good to pass up . . .

Like this one!  A gorgeous view from a hike that we took.

At this point in the hike, Logan was going on about his “hurt ankle”.  He hadn’t really hurt it but the way he kept going on about it made us laugh.

Clean up time.

Evidence that her first tooth was on the way.  (It’s in now, but you can still barely see it.)

Mmm, solids.  Thus far, she doesn’t seem to be a big fan of traditional mashed/creamed baby foods; she prefers finger foods and spirited, if ineffective, attempts at self-feeding.

  I think she may have inherited a bit more of her parents’ stubbornness than Logan did.

Speaking of the boy, here he is perfecting his social skills.  Unfortunately, Daniel Kai (his friend pictured here) is moving soon and it is going to be rather heart-breaking for both Logan and I.

Naomi, on the other hand, is all oblivious infantile innocence.  Friends, even dad, can come and go and it’s not going to phase her. 

In other news, yes Jake felt the earthquake but he’s fine.  No, we don’t know when he’s coming back but we’re also fine.  We may or may not be getting paid and, honestly, that’s fine too.  Life is good.