Oki Adventures

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Our New Favorite Park

Just another random day in Okinawa for us....

Noah the little devil....

Tim the big bad bull...

We found a cave that we all were interested in...until we got up close and looked in. Too scary!!

The 3 Wise Men...

Or should I say the 3 Muskateers...

My babes and I...

Climbing trees and scaring the ones below...

"Look at me!! I'm big and strong like Incredible Hulk and I can climb tall things like Spidey!"

Tim was going to Tarzan down but then the vine broke...

He doesn't look like a devil here. :)

"Just the two of us"

"WHEEE!!!"

"YEAH!!"

Now for the big roller slide. For those of you not familiar with a roller slide, it's a slide with rollers...duh. This just happens to be the biggest one we have found so far...30 feet high.

Gotta bring cardboard to sit on or you will burn your butt...trust me. It also makes you go 10 times faster!!

Climbing up the winding staircase...tried to get Noah in the pic but he was too fast...

Noah having a blast!!

And now it's Elijah's turn!!

Noah on another playground toy. What I should of taped was the wobbly walk he did when he got off because he was so dizzy. And then he blamed it on the wind for him almost falling over...and it wasn't even windy. LOL :)

This is a view down the slide. Tim is in the cockpit.

Whale Watching

On Saturday, we went on a whale watching tour. We all took dramamine. (A motion sickness med) We made the kids take it too. It was safe for Noah to take 1/4 pill and Elijah 1/2 of the pill, so we tried to make them swallow it. It was funny to try to teach a 3 and a 4 year old how to swallow a pill without chewing it. All I could think of was my 13 year old sister still takes liquid tylenol because she can't even do it!!! Of course, if anyone knows their personalities well enough, they would know the kids reactions. They both were actually successful. But...Elijah cried and freaked out and Noah asked for another one!! And thankfully no one got sick... not even me!! We had a bag packed of goodies and were off to ride into the East China Sea surrounding the Kerama Islands. Also part of the tour was eating and going to the Main Place shopping mall in downtown Naha. Now why none of my friends told me there was an actual mall here has still got me a little baffled. Although it may not have a New York and Company, Dillards, Hecht's, Express or Banana Republic...it did have the Japanese versions of Forever 21, Express, American Eagle, or Gap. Their prices are VERY expensive but there are still some good deals. I am very excited to go back without a time limit and really look around and shop!! Anyway, on to the whales!!

The big boat we were on was called the "Sea Chateau"

Looking back on Downtown Naha. As you can tell, the weather doesn't appear to be the best: cloudy and dreary. But it never rained. :)

The man...the myth...the legend...

My baby and I...

Kids are ready for the whales!

We had to ride out about 45 minutes before we slowed to watch them...

Since Tim and I forgot to bring a couple toys for the kids, they became very creative with the binoculars. Here Noah is actually doing what they were made for.

There were many other smaller boats around us doing their own whale watching tours.

Ohhh...Noah finally saw one!!

Notice the very middle of the picture: one of the whales is blowing out water. This is their form of breathing.

Caught the picture just at the end of him going back under...

Again at the end...

Noah "flicking" at a fly. This may have been the highlight of his day! LOL!! He did it for like 15 whole straight minutes...which is like 3 hours in Noah land!

Actual footage of a whale's tale. We were saw them blowing and doing this a lot. We were hoping to see a belly flop or something, but this was the best we got. Still good and plenty of fun though. Nothing like "Sea World" in real life, up close and in their natural habitat!!

Okuma

We recently revisited Okuma. It was a blast as usual. I had to post these pics of the boys playing putt-putt. (And a couple of my other favorites.)

This was at a restaurant called Ufuya (a traditional Okinawan noodle place) The food is okay but the views are awesome. It is surrounded by waterfalls!!!

Noah enjoying the signs of spring!

And here he is with one of his new "mean faces".

Noah and his best bud.

Noah playing putt-putt.

Tim trying to teach Elijah the ropes...

And here is what he made of it. Gotta say he's persistent!!

And just an extra video clip of the many things Elijah likes to do in his spare time. He thinks he can kick Incredible Hulk's butt...epecially because he eats all his broccoli...

Neo Park

Neo Park is a tourist attraction on the Northern end of the island. Probably not worth going to if you aren't already up there, but totally worth a stop on the way home from Okuma!! It's sort of like a small version of a Japanese zoo.

For 200 yen (about 2 bucks) we got a bag full of bird feed and they flocked to us like crazy. They would just pick it right out of your hand before you even got the chance to throw it!!

A peacock in all of it's glory.

A pretty pink flamingo!!

Striking a pose....

Looking out...

Elijah begged me to take a picture of this. He said it was Lena the Llama from Diego!!

Poor Noah wanted to take a pony ride so bad. But they weren't doing them today :(

Elijah just sittin' around...

Posing with the tortoise...

(Sorry for the sideways view.)

The turtle decided to take Noah's sitting fun to a whole new level.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Weekend Getaway

What do we do while Tim is deployed?? Well, we try to make the best of every weekend to make time go by fast. On this adventure it was a long fun car ride to the Pineapple park and then a stay at the Okuma Resort!!! One word....awesome!!

Yes...this is a real sign along the interstate: Wild boar crossing!! Sort of like deer crossing or duck crossing but not quite!!

And here are the wild boars...

The kids and I in front of Pineapple Park. Noah was afraid of the weird looking Japanese person I asked to take the picture.

Inside the wine cellar....

The machines that make the pineapple wine. And let me tell you...I do not like wine or pineapple juice but bought a bottle!! They have a place where you can sample and taste all the different kinds of wine and juices....and all the bread, pie, pineapple cookies, candy...I mean you could totally have a "unhealthy" meal AND get drunk on the samples!!

Staci and Penelope

A museum that had tons of stuff. I didn't see the relevance with pineapples, but the kids had a blast looking at everything. Thank goodness we were the only ones in the place...the kids went wild!!