Sushi and Shisa

Two of the Great Wonders of Japan -
1) The Zakimi Castle Ruins
2) The space between Denver’s top teeth

Chillin’ by the Old-School Urns

Curiosity…
…it killed the Cat, but luckily McCall is still alive.

Holly LOVES her Sushi!

Shisa Statue

Many of the buildings in Okinawa have these Shisa statues outside the entrance to serve as protection from various evils. However, I believe that their presence is more symbolic than practical – because the Shisa have never actually stopped McCall from entering a building. For more information on Shisa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shisa

Everybody Dance Now!

We had our first Okinawan cultural dancing experience. It was loads of fun and it was similar to a high school stomp except without the lettermen jackets, flashing lights, pimply-faced teenage kids, annoying chaperones, or people teasing me about the clothes my mom bought for me at Mervyns.

Ferris Wheel Ride at American Village

Yes – Denver was Excited

Enjoying the Hard-Earned Prizes from Family Fun Night at the Community Center

Cape Zampa Lighthouse and Sign

We visited this beautiful area on Saturday. The scenery was great. The Japanese inscription on the rock sign reads:

“I'll be your candle on the water

My love for you will always burn

I know you're lost and drifting

But the clouds are lifting

Don't give up you'll have somewhere to turn

I'll be your candle on the water

'Till ev'ry wave is warm and bright

My soul is there beside you

Let this candle guide you

Soon you'll see a golden stream of light”

…well that is what I would have written. I actually don’t have a clue what the sign says.

Hairdo, House, and Hike

Slide or Child Abuse? You decide.

Tweedles
This picture was taken especially for Aunt Heather. She has been waiting a long time for McCall’s hair to be long enough to be put in to tweedles.

Wilderness Campout
This weekend Denver and Jason braved a night in the wilderness at the district father and son campout at Okuma Beach recreation area. The conditions were rough and the hike to the campground was grueling, but they managed to make the 20 ft. journey from the trailhead to the campsite without any major incidents.

Collecting Building Materials for a Seaweed Castle
No trip to the beach is complete without doing so.

Hike to Hiji Falls
After the father and son campout, Denver and Jason hiked 1.5 km each way through a nature park to view the remote Hiji Falls. The hike featured many bridges, walkways, stairs, and Japanese tourists from the mainland hiking in designer clothing and high heels.

Nature Shot

Hiji Falls
Nathan (left), Denver (right)

Our House
… is a very, very, very fine house. This week we moved into our sweet pad in Base housing. We are now the proud occupants of this fine peace of 1950’s-era government housing. All joking aside, we are really grateful to have a house and we now feel like we are living in a mansion compared to our one-bedroom temporary quarters.

The Back of our House

Welcome to the Jungle

The view from our back patio.

Denver-san and the Botanical Gardens

Denver’s Karate Tryout.

After much researching, we were able to find a dojo that could help Denver meet his full karate potential. Luckily the tryouts went well and the sensei is allowing Denver to join the dojo. Denver’s karate apprenticeship will take place twice a week for one hour. If he focuses and practices hard then he may be able to earn the coveted yellow belt within four months.

Denver Perfecting his Karate Form.

World’s Largest Mosquito Net.

Okinawa parks are home to the world’s largest artificial tree net huts. They also specialize in zip lines and various other hazardous park play structures that kids love!

McCall’s First Artificial Rock Wall Climb.

Don’t let the person in the background standing on the ground fool you. McCall made it at least 40 inches up the wall.

This Saturday we went to the Southeast Botanical Gardens. Great flowers, great weather, great company, great pictures...

Chillin on the Hammocks.

Feeding the Carp.

What trip to a botanical garden would be complete without feeding the trash carp? At least McCall also liked the carp food, so the money spent on the vending machine carp food wasn’t totally wasted.

Mother’s Day Flowers.

Instead of bringing flowers to Holly for Mother’s Day, I brought Holly to the flowers.

Aren’t they Beautiful???

The flowers look pretty cool too.

The Locals call this Palm Tree Alley.

I don’t know how they came up with the name.

Two Kindred Spirits.

Though the goat is not quite as stubborn as McCall.

Another Relaxing Meal with McCall.

She really loves it since we figured out to add our own ‘safety’ belts to the Japanese high chairs. I just have to be careful not to drop my shorts if I am required to walk around during our meals.

Slides, Sea, Sun and Surf

Slides on Steroids!

We have already noticed that Japanese parks are much like parks in the United States used to be before safety standards or civil lawsuits were invented. This rollerside provided Denver and McCall with lots sliding enjoyment, warm rear-ends and extreme wedgies.

Dinner at the Kadena Marina Seaside Inn Restaurant.

Jason and Holly enjoyed the seafood and the begging garbage fish below the deck enjoyed Denver and McCall’s kids meals.

Swings with a View!

Who’s that handsome stud on the middle swing?

I Like Rice!

Coming Soon to a McDonalds in the U.S – the MEGA-MAC!!!

Like the Japanese have done with many commodities originally developed in the U.S., they again taken an invention from the U.S. and vastly improved upon it. I don’t know what we are going to do if they ever find out about the bean burritos from Beto’s.

Pleasing the Great Okinawan Pineapple Warriors!

We are standing on what the Okinawan’s refer to ask the great pineapple altar. In olden times, newcomers to the island were required to come to this altar and plead for the approval of the two great pineapple warriors of Okinawa (piney-san on the left, and apple-san on the right). If the pineapple warriors did not approve of the newcomers, they would take the youngest child in the family into servitude for a life of slavery in the Pineapple Fields. Unfortunately, our pleading must have been acceptable because they didn’t take McCall away. A fun family Jason met through work took us to the pineapple factory up north. The tour was good, but the gift shop was awesome!! Unlimited sampling of about 100 different treats made with pineapple ie; drinks, cakes, chocolate, pastries, gummies, jellies, etc…. and then when you think it couldn’t get any better, you enter another room where workers spend all day cutting up different kinds of pineapple and piling it on platters for you to sample to your hearts content.

Habusaki!

From the very informative Okinawa yellow pages: “Habu is an indigenous venomous snake on Okinawa. They are known as one of the most deadly snakes in the world. Habu has a triangular head, white belly and thick, firm tail with the normal length of 2 yards. They are nocturnal reptiles that are active from April to November. They inhabit damp, secluded places such as sugar cane fields, bushy tombs, road sides, between stone walls, and in caves. Every year approximately 250 people become the victims of habu attacks. The major symptoms are paralyzing pains, swellings that are caused by internal hemorrhage.” I need to tell the yellow page company that people from the U.S. prefer pictures of lawyers in the yellow pages rather than valuable information.

Anyways, I digressed a little bit. In order to curtail the increasing size of the Okinawa habu population, the locals decided a few hundred years ago to satisfy two basic human needs (i.e., the need not be bitten by a venomous snake and the need to feel manly) with one solution. The result was habusaki. Saki is Japanese rice beer and from the picture you can probably guess where the first part of the word comes from. Lucky for me, I don’t drink and I will therefore not be tempted to prove my manlihood by downing a bottle of this stuff.

A Saturday Wouldn’t Be Complete without a Beach Visit!

For the third Saturday in a row we spent some time at the beach. I don’t know how long we can keep up this grueling trend. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at the Okuma Beach Festival. Okuma is a military recreation facility on the north part of the island.