Yummy Thai and Peace Prayer Park

We spent President's Day at the Southeast Botanical Gardens where the flowers were out in full bloom:

We'll Never Get Lost with Denver Around

Saturday we went to explore the southern part of the island. We started with lunch at a yummy Thai restaraunt called Cafe Caracuma and it has an awesome view (aka Thai in the Sky):

Not Your Typical Waiting Room
Denver and McCall really enjoyed the "waiting room" at Cafe Caracuma. There was a fossil/dinosaur musem, art gallery, cultural museum, botanical garden, walking trail and an ocean viewing area. It definitely beats waiting around in a cramped 10ft x 10ft waiting room. Denver's favorite was the replica of the T-Rex cranium (see background of above picture).

To Our Surprise the Food was Even Better than the Waiting Room
Everything was VERY flavorful. All of the herbs and many other ingredients in the entrees are grown in the gardens and greenhouses right outside the restaraunt.

A True Seafood Salad does not just Contain Canned Shrimp and Imitation Crab

Nothing tickles the taste buds like some fresh baby octopus legs, mussels, and various other unknown sea creatures. To our shock McCall really liked the mussels.

We ended our Saturday of exploration by visiting Peace Prayer Memorial Park. The Battle of Okinawa occurred near the end of WWII and was the largest Battle of the Asian Pacific war. Over 200,000 people died in less than 90 days and more than half of those were innocent Okinawan civilians. Unlike most war memorials which only honor their country's fallen soldiers, Peace Prayer Memorial Park honors all of those who died including civilians and the U.S. soldiers who died in the Battle of Okinawa:

The Names of the Fallen Soldiers and Civilians are Engraved in Stone Walls (see picture background)

The Eternal Fountain and Flame of Peace

McCall is contemplating how she can disturb the peace.

This Week...

Denver Discovered the Joy of Cross-Dressing,

Denver Scored some Sweet Valentines,

Denver Participated in his First 5k Race,

We all Went to the Circus,

and, We Celebrated Valentines with an Excellent Curry Buffet at Sunset near the Sunabe Seawall

Denver may have missed the family memo on smiling for pictures, but McCall definitely did not miss it.

Cherry Blossom Festival

This Saturday we traveled with a sizeable delegation to see the cherry blossoms at the Nago Castle Ruins park and on Mt. Yaedake road. There is a three-week festival during the end of January / beginning of February to celebrate the end of winter and the frigid lows in the mid 50s. The weather was beautiful - the highs were in the mid 70's.

McCall's Day at the Park (click above)





Denver Rollerslide Demo (click above)

Pizza in the Sky with Diamonds
After the castle ruins park we recharged our bellies with some delicious grub from Pizza in the Sky. The view from here is amazing.

Gelato Love

Beware of Large Bird Droppings

Dance Fever

After such a stressful day, Denver and McCall decided to unwind by dancing the night away (click above).

Mt. Yaedake Road at Night

During the festival, the cherry-blossom lined Mt. Yaedake road is also lit up with lanterns at night.

A Blogesborg of Events

This week contained a smorgesborg of events which I will attempt to summarize in the following "Blogesborg":

Friends Abroad Farewell Photos

One day this week Holly hosted some Friends Abroad students, which involves taking them around and giving them some exposure to American culture. There are not any Wal Mart or 7-11 stores here so we can't give them a true glimpse into American culture, but Holly did her best by subsituting bowling and baking cupcakes instead. Each Friends Abroad day ends with a half-hour farewell photo session (see picture above).

The Primary Colors are 1, 2, 3 - Red, Yellow and Blue

Meet the Raptor Day

Friday was "Meet the Raptor Day" and Denver finally had an opportunity to see an F-22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22_Raptor) up close. Since moving here, Denver has decided he wants to be an Air Force Pilot. After diligently researching different Air Force Planes online, he decided he wanted to be an F-22 pilot. Ever since then that is about all we have heard about in our household. In the above picture Denver is quizzing the pilot about what he needs to do in order to become an F-22 pilot.

Holly Loves Karaoke

Awase Fish Market Visit
Saturday morning we went to visit the fish market for the first time. The visit was quite fascinating. McCall was mesmerized by all of the different fish, but Denver didn't quite know what to think about it. After watching the fish filleters in action (click in the above video) and getting some fish juice splattered on his face, he turned white and announced that he was "Sea Sick".

You Never Know What Might be in Your Japanese Hot Dog




Hanging Out at Another Park

Denver's Sand Turtle

Izakaya Visit with the Pinnaus

Holly and I had our first visit to an Izakaya. An Izakaya can best be described as a mix between a bar and a restaurant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izakaya). The one we went to was built in the shape of a wooden barrel and was really fun to eat at. Why is Holly smiling so big? -- What happens at an izakaya stays at the izakaya!