Four Tickets to Paradise

Our Thanksgiving trip: Part One.  Yes, it was so fabulous that even though it was only three days, I still have to break it up into multiple blog posts.

A 70-minute ferry ride on Thursday morning took us out to Tokashiki Island, one of a group of islands called the Keramas, west of Okinawa.

The ferry had an area where passengers could lie down and sleep, complete with little box-pillows provided.  Logan tested it out; of course, he didn’t stay there for long.

Naomi also enjoyed the extra space to wiggle.  This being Japan, everyone’s shoes were removed before stepping onto the carpet area so it was really quite clean.

Logan got out to explore the boat.

Tokashiki Island on the horizon. It is about 6 miles long and 2 miles wide and almost the whole island is a national park/nature preserve.  There are only three tiny “villages” on the island: the port, a beach-side community, and our hotel area.

  A shuttle from the hotel picked us up at the port.  The driver stopped along the road so that we could get this scenic first glimpse of our hotel.

The rooms were not elegantly decorated, but frankly you don’t come here to stay in your hotel room.  I was pleased that our room had a third bed in it because it meant we didn’t have to make up a bed for Logan on the hard floor.

We lunched at the hotel right after arriving and then, while Logan and Jake napped, Naomi and I slipped out to the beach for some advance exploration.  What a cute little beach baby!

We found this dragon boat at some kind of youth center site just off the hotel property.

After Logan woke up from his nap, we decided to do a little further exploring.  The weather was a little iffy that first day, not the best for the beach, so we went hiking instead.

Of course, there was plenty of beauty to be seen along the way.

There were some magnificent views.

For example, this view from a lookout point, looking back towards Tokashiku Cove with our hotel on the far right hand side of the picture.

Of course we had to find a playground!  It had a REALLY long, but not particularly fast, rollerslide and a large play structure.

The sun sets on our first day on Tokashiki Island.  Although the weather was a little dreary that first day, it cleared right up for us the second and third days.

A foretaste of things to come!

#235

Self-explanatory . . .

( Because Mom asked how fancy my toes were.)

Happy birthday USMC! 

Smattering

My goofy boy wanted to wear the legs from his Tigger costume.  By the way, this is one of the last pics that you’ll see of Logan in a diaper.  Potty training has been going phenomenally well!

Here Logan shows off his new underwear.  They have Thomas the Train on them!  (So does his shirt--guess what we’re into right now.)

Okay, so this isn’t a spectacular picture of Naomi, but check out the seriously cute socks I found for her.  The Mary Jane shoe pattern is on the socks!  And they were only 179 yen at the Bunny Store!  (I’ll bet your day is more complete now that you know that.)

What do you think?  Does she look like me?

At the park with Daniel.

  Look at the expression on my face.  Yes, this roller slide really is that fast. 
Confession: I meant to take a video for you as we went down the slide but apparently I pressed the record button twice at the top of the slide, meaning it didn’t actually record.  Then when I got to the bottom and thought I was turning the video off, I was, in fact, turning it on again.  And that’s how I ended up with a seven minute video of Naomi’s blanket instead of the roller slide video.  Oops!

Such a funny kid.  Oh, and he also refers to himself as a “funny kid”.

Gorgeous weather for a hike.

Naomi enjoying the ride.

Look again.  I turned the picture upside down.  That’s how clear the reflection was.

Same picture, right-side-up, for those of you with desktop computers trying to mentally turn it around.

All this hiking leads us to . . .

another playground!  This is a cement slide; basically a smooth-paved hill. 

     Back at the car for a diaper change, Naomi was being super-adorable.

A trip to the zoo brought us up close to the bats during feeding time.

Logan had SO MUCH FUN at the zoo.  We’ve been probably a dozen times before but he’s gotten so many more words since we last went and he was SO excited, running around announcing the animals and what sounds they made, etc.  It was great to see and he’s still talking about it nearly a week later.

Maybe it was Logan’s excitement but several of the animals seemed unusually interested in us as well.

Of course, this was also one of Logan’s favorite things at the zoo.  Luckily for me, he doesn’t care that we never put any money into these things; he’s happy just to sit in them and spin the wheel (or pull the lever or press the buttons or whatever).

Naomi was rather less interested in the animals and slept contentedly almost the whole way through.

And that’s about how life is going—I can’t complain.  Hope yours is going well too!  USMC Ball tomorrow night so I’ll be posting pics of that in a couple days.  Check back soon!

Ta-da!

We’ve had Logan in his new room for umm . . . months now.  But my fabulous cousin Meg made quilts for the kids and I wanted to wait for Logan’s quilt to arrive in the mail before I showed you his new room.  Of course, the quilt arrived several weeks ago and it still took me this long to get the pictures taken and posted.  Oh well, better late than never, right?

 
The lawnmower isn’t always in the middle of the floor, but the broken box with the train track in it is, in fact, in its usual spot.

Logan shows off his big-boy bed with his new quilt on it!

The quilt is so much fun—each square has a different fabric in it and it features a lot of Logan’s favorite things.  He and I both adore it!

The artwork above Logan’s bed is an alphabetical tour of world cities: A-Agra, B-Bangkok, C-Cairo, etc.

On the opposite wall is a quilt Grandma Wilde made, representing each of Logan’s great-grandfathers.  His room also displays cross-stitches by Grammie Sharp and Great-Aunt Linda.

A huge thanks to all who contributed to Logan’s room!  Our home and our lives would certainly be dull had you not each been so generous with your talents and your selves.

  And an extra-special thanks to Meg, not only for the quilt on Logan’s bed, but also for this amazing quilt she made for Naomi!

Isn’t that the most adorable fabric?

Naomi certainly seems to enjoy it!

One more thank you is owed: to the Gaffney’s for this handsome new shirt and all the other fun things you sent.  By the way, do we need to send E a dollar for the bracelet? :)

Thanks to all.  As I write this I realize that if it were not for friends and family, our home would not only be poorly decorated but we’d be very shabbily dressed.  It’s true—I’m not a shopper.  So thanks for adding color to our lives!

Cuteness Overload

Isn’t she beautiful?

Photo shoot at a park we went to some weeks ago.  Such a stinkin’ cutie.  (I left out the ones where he had his finger up his nose.)

 

 

The winning photo in Naomi’s portrait session that day.  (Because I can’t have a photo shoot with one without feeling guilty about not doing it with the other as well.)

My goofball son wearing one of my workout shirts (at his request) and his “work hat”.

On a side note: We were walking out of the hospital several months ago—I believe it was after Logan’s 2-year check-up—and Logan said something to me about someone’s “hat”.  A woman in Navy uniform walking behind me took it upon herself to correct him, huffily explaining that it’s a “cover”, not a “hat”.  Are you kidding me?  He’s TWO and you’re going to get offended about this?  Ridiculous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Logan “reading” to Naomi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Certain portions apparently required thorough explanation.  Naomi appears to be paying careful attention. 

Round two of Naomi’s photo shoot.  She doesn’t yet pose and say “cheese” quite as well as Logan does and her mood changes rather more quickly, so we had to give it a second go-round on another day.

Logan, on the other hand, has become an expert at mugging for the camera.  I keep expecting him to start flashing the peace sign in photos—it’s what all the Japanese do.

Last one for tonight and then I’ll leave you alone.  But there is nothing cuter than a great dad with his kids :)