Tropical Dream Center

Tommy had last Monday off for the Christmas holiday and it stopped raining and the sun came out!  It was a beautiful 70 degrees so we headed up north to the EXPO Park area (about an hour and a half drive) to see the Tropical Dream Center.  I absolutely loved this place!  This is one of the best kept secrets on the island!!

Tropical Dream Center is hard to explain - there's a lot going on here! It's a botanical garden with tropical fruits and flowers and some very cool water features.  It starts out with this amazing gift shop and information center where the ceiling looks like this (above).  Then you wind and weave your way through huge areas of orchids and habiscus displays, and then an area with lots of different tropical fruit trees.  I wish I had taken more pictures!

Beautiful purple orchids

 

It has fish to feed and some very nice water features - large ponds, a river, and an aquarium with cool fish to look at.  There were also several exhibits indoors that looked very interesting (although in Japanese) including art and other "nature-y" things.  It also has a YUMMY little cafe with awesome taco rice to sit down and eat at outside overlooking the Sea.  

The layout is wonderful, winding and weaving in such a way through bridges and tunnels that you hardly notice you've just spent two hours at this great place!  The highlight is a cool castle (at the very top of the post) to climb up with an amazing view of the East China Sea!

Views from the top of the castle's observation deck.

Afterwards we walked toward the beach and discovered a two-story play structure on the beach and spent another whole hour there playing.  Wyatt and Olivia were in their glory and it was fun for us to relax, play, and let the kids blow off some energy!

Big girl on the slide!

Wyatt loved this maze!

A small roller slide from the top floor to the bottom. It has rolling metal bars to "assist" you in sliding down the slide faster.  These are famous in Okinawa - there are roller slides at parks where we live that are enormous! 

Livy maneuvering one of the flat cargo nets.  They also love cargo nets here in Oki. They have some near where we live that are shaped like Christmas trees (vertical) that are 50 feet high!

And last but not least, the "kids" bathroom.  I absolutely ADORE this!  It is in the middle of the beach and it's so incredibly cute (and clean!) It has 5 stalls with animals on them and the cutest, tiniest little squatty-potties you've ever seen! 

All in all, a wonderful, fun family day.  Oh how I wish we had more of these kind of days!! :)

Professional Pictures

I have been waiting a looooong time to get family pictures done. There always seems to be something preventing that.  Pregnancy, a move, a husband who is gone for a month (or two or three), a newborn, life in general....

But I finally decided to do it!  And just in time for the holidays.  We had these done in mid-November after Tommy got back from the States so that I could get them printed in time for holiday gifts for our parents.  Turns out this is sort of a lot of work.  And what are the chances that it won't rain (especially in Okinawa), both kids and adults will be healthy at the same time, will have taken naps and be in a good mood?!?  Actually, it was so warm that day I had to change our outfits at the last minute!

They turned out so great, though - I was very pleased and the photographer was so wonderful and easy to work with!  Here is a sampling of some of the ones I love!

We sent this one out with our Christmas card. I just love this shot!  But as Tommy says, you should have seen us next to the photographer hoping and praying that Olivia didn't go tumbling down those stairs!!  We had arms out, extended and shouting "Be careful, Wyatt!!" the whole time!

Love that smiling face :)

Such a big girl!! And so pretty in her party dress!

I sure do love our little family :)

Christmas Pics

Just wanted to share a few Christmas pictures.  The kids got to see Santa twice - once at the Officer's Club Sunday brunch and once at the unit's holiday party.  Olivia wasn't quite so sure about the jolly guy dressed in red...

Unhappy baby girl :)

 Loving Santa!

Olivia is tolerating Santa because big brother Wyatt is sitting there too, but may burst into tears at any moment.

Exciting new development in the Parker household: I *think* I have finally found a church that might be a good fit for our family!!! More on this at a later time. Anyway, here is our family dressed and ready to head to Christmas Eve candlelight service:

 Do you like the pink socks and new headgear that Olivia is sporting?

3 out of 4 looking at the camera; I'll take it!

The kids in their matching jammies on Christmas Eve - a new Parker family tradition!

In Case you Missed It....

...one of the five thousand times it was on TV!

Here's our 15 seconds of fame:

For our Richmond family & friends:
http://www.nbc12.com/Global/category.asp?C=156132
We are the family on Page one, Top Right... It says 1st Lieutenant Parker.  Click on the video to watch!  This one is *much* better than the Iowa video below! :)

For our Iowa family & friends:
http://www.whotv.com/community/greetings/

We are Troop Greeting #5!  Click on it to watch... just don't laugh at the food on Olivia's face or my windblown hair.  They caught us going into one of the stores on base so we weren't exactly "prepared" to be shooting a commercial!

Also please never mind the part where I get choked up on the Iowa video. For some reason it sort of hit me then and there that we live 8,000 miles away from everyone and I almost started crying.  I used to watch these commercials on TV growing up and admired the families so far away from home, serving their country.  I guess I just never thought I'd be one of those families :)

Happy Holidays!!

2010 Parker Holiday Party

We try to have a holiday party every year as an annual event, but with all the moving we've been doing we had taken a hiatus for a couple of years.  It was nice to get back into the groove this year with our annual party!  We had a great time celebrating with our friends.  We wished we had been able to invite more people but we were at max capacity with 16 adults and 7 kids! 

As a fun addition, this year we had a contest for "best secondary use" of the Marine Corps Ball party favor.  Every year at the Ball they give away a party favor.  This year's item was the talk of the island during ball season.  Here is this year's pick:

Looks okay at first glance, but looks can be deceiving.  It's pretty hard to screw up a keychain, but leave it to the powers that be to do just that!  First of all, while you can't tell from the picture, the keychain is ENORMOUS and weighs roughly 12 pounds.  And I am not exaggerating by much.  It's heavy!  Which renders it sort of useless as a key chain.  Paperweight?  Yes. Key chain? Not so much.

Secondly, just looking at it practically blinds one.  It has to be made of some type of supersonic stuff.  Add to it the super-powerful Okinawan sun bouncing off the bling, and I'm guessing that more than one Ball guest was blinded by it this November! LOL.

Thirdly (is that a word?), I'm not sure they really thought about the practicality of the keychain.  Junior Marines are not permitted to drive or own vehicles on Okinawa, which wipes out the necessity of well more than 50% of islanders to actually possess a keychain because they have no keys in the first place! 

But I digress.  So the point is, people have been making fun of this keychain for the better part of a month, and I haven't seen one person actually using it as a keychain.  Enter the contest.  We invited guests to come up with another use for the keychain.  While most had already thrown the thing away located a more permanent home for their beautiful keychain, some chose to participate, and I could kick myself for not taking pictures!!!

Personally, I chose to wear mine as a centerpiece for my chest (a.k.a. necklace, but that doesn't do it justice!).  Tommy rigged his up to be a redneck belt buckle, as did our friend Joel.  Alli and Matt hung theirs as ornaments from our Christmas tree, Yvette sported hers as extra-large earrings, and Nate won the grand prize by sewing it to his miraculously matching, gold-plated military cap.  You can catch a small glimpse of it in the picture above (bottom right) but I wish I had gotten a close up!

Anyway.  It was a fun time and Nate won a glass rooster filled with chicken-noodle soup ingredients for being "King of the Roost."  I mean, who wouldn't want to win that?  Plus, he can regift it at their next white elephant gift exchange :).

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Jingle Jog

Tommy's base hosted its annual Jingle Jog 5K on Friday.  They encouraged "holiday spirit" so here is waht that looked like for Tommy... and Wyatt :)  Can you imagine running a 5K in this?!?  Wyatt loved "helping" dad wrap the present!

The biggest present under the tree!

Wyatt's Christmas Concert

Today was Wyatt's Christmas concert at his preschool.  He was so excited for Daddy to come (Daddy was gone for the Fall Festival).  Last night he said,  "Some of the other daddy's are going to be there... you can come if you want, daddy!"  This morning when I dropped him off he told me that Daddy was already in the chapel waiting for him.  "You can just wait inside if you want to," he said - never mind that the concert wasn't until Noon and it was only 9:30!

Here is a video of them singing Jingle Bells!

So we went to the concert and the kids were all so cute dressed up and looking sharp.  They sang "Jingle Bells" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain," a few others and then we all sang "Oh Come all Ye Faithful" together.  We had refreshments (i.e. sugar!!!) afterwards and then headed home.  He is excited to hang out with mom and Livy for a couple of weeks while preschool is on winter break, and I am excited to have him  home for awhile and do some fun things for the holidays!

Another "Wyatt" tidbits - after we read books, before we go to bed we always sing a couple of songs.  Lately they have been Christmas songs but before this I had taught him the Star Spangled Banner, which he then "performed" for his preschool class one day.  His teacher was very impressed!  Whenever he asks to sing it, he says, "Can we sing the "Old Banjo"?"He has trouble saying "Star Spangled Banner," so I guess it got shortened to the Old Banjo :)

Christmas...the "Local" Way

So my mama san was here yesterday cleaning and she had said she liked my Christmas tree.  I asked her if she had one, and she said no, and that "Christmas big for Americans!" but not Okinawans.  I asked her what they did to celebrate and here's our conversation...just imagine a very thick Japanese accent in the mix!!

MS (Mamasan): "Chicken...We get chicken, and CAKE, and go outside. We celebrate outside."
MP (Me): "Chicken? Really?"
MS: "Yes, CHICKEN.  How you say... Kentucky!"
MP: (Confused): "Kentucky?"
MS: "Yes! Kentucky Chicken!"
MP: (Laughing hysterically): "You mean Kentucky Fried Chicken? Like KFC?"
MS: "Hai!" ("yes" in Japanese)
MP: Still laughing!
MS: "Mmm...is good, no?"
MP: "Umm... yeah!"

Side note: I absolutely detest KFC!! Yuck!  They totally gross me out in the States. They are so dirty! Even the worst restaurant here is cleaner and better than those in the States, but I still cannot bring myself to eat at KFC. Or A&W.  I have eaten at McDonald's only once in over a year! 

MP:  "Do you get presents for each other?"  (She has no idea what I'm talking about)
MP: "Do you get gifts for each other?" (Again, no idea)
MP: "Toys? For the kids?"
MS: "No... no toys... too much toys! More for mamsan to clean!" (Gestures widely around my living room...)
MP: Laughing..."Hai!"
MS: "Cakes...and cookies...we have cookies."
MP: "We give cakes to our neighbors" (Again, she has no idea what I'm talking about, so I repeat and point to neighbors houses)
MS: "Hai... no toys! Too much toys!" Gestures to my neighbors and walks off...

LOL!!!  I guess she thinks American kids have too many toys!! :)  She could be right. That night I had Wyatt go through his toys and choose some to donate to the local orphanage!

Love that Mama San!

Christmas is Coming!

I forgot to mention that we broke out the holiday decorations on Thanksgiving morning.  Our party didn't start until late afternoon so we set to work decorating the house.  I just love putting up the tree. This was one of my favorite things as a kid and I loved going through all the ornaments and seeing my favorites from year to year.  Now I love having Wyatt "help" decorate the tree too!  He is always so excited to help... last year was sort of stressful because he wanted to open up everything right now so this year we had a plan!  First, we made sure to put Olivia down for her nap.  Then Tommy drug all the boxes out and Wyatt helped set up the tree.  Then we bribed Wyatt with a treat from the Shopette, so dad and Wyatt rode bikes there to give me a good 45 minutes to go through and get the ornaments out of their boxes.  Upon their return Wyatt decorated the tree to the 3-foot high level :)  After that point, we gave him a lift up high to reach the top!  I must say, though, that my favorite part of this picture of our tree is the beaming baby girl sitting on the floor!  And, I think it is interesting to note that she hasn't even so much as lifted a finger to the tree!!  Oh, and she finally got her two front teeth in, so she can cross those off her "All I want for Christmas" list. :)

I love the holidays and this year we have resumed our annual Parker Holiday party!  I was a bit sad to see that after making out our guest list, though, that we had to chop it down by 75% because we just do not have much room in our house.  As it is, it will be tight but we are looking forward to gathering with good friends and lots of food!

We also have Wyatt's Christmas program at his pre-school coming up as well as Tommy's unit holiday party.  After that come Christmas itself and then I am hosting a spouse social after Christmas, followed by a Progressive Dinner party for New Year's Eve.  I'll keep you posted on all the activities as time permits!

Thanksgiving Weekend "96"

A happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone!  We had a fabulous 96-hour weekend.  And Tommy only had to go to work once!! :)  We kicked it off at our friends' the Nelsons home with lots of friends on Thanksgiving Day. It was quite the feast - they cooked THREE turkeys in the turkey fryer so that everyone could have lots of leftovers!  They were amazing. Each one had a different marinade injected and it was YUMMY!! My favorite was the garlic pesto. The kids played, the adults ate and drank... everyone was happy!

The next morning I hit the black Friday sales.  LOL!!  They "try" to have black Friday here but... well, it is just not the same!  The BX has a sale on TVs and cameras... the gift shops on base have like 15% off certain stuff... and that is about it... :)  But my friend Amber and I hit up Starbucks and hit the holiday bazaar and the gift shops and had a fun girls morning out nonetheless!

The whole weekend was absolutely beautiful - 70 degrees and sunny, so we took advantage of it and took the little ones to Bios on the Hill.  We had been wanting to go their forEVER but something had always gotten in the way.  I can't really explain what this place "is."  It's part forest, part flowery garden, part river, part playground.  In any case, we had a great time.  Tommy and Wyatt walked across the floating bridge to the Dragon topiary and somehow managed not to fall in...

Then we went on the boat ride and although we couldn't understand a WORD the Japanese tour guide was saying, he must have been pretty funny because everyone around us was laughing hysterically.  Then all the Japanese people would look at us and laugh like we were supposed to know what he was talking about!  It was pretty funny to me.  We were the only Americans there and they Ooh-ed and Ahhh-ed over Olivia, it was very sweet.

Next up we hit the play area.  The fun thing about this place is that I think Tommy and I actually had more fun than the kids!  They had stilts, huge tree houses, hammocks and extra-large swings!  It was so fun to play.


Then we fed and walked the goats.  I don't really understand why, but they want you to go unclip the goats from their posts, feed them carrots and walk them.  Wyatt thought it was hilarious!  Which it actually was.  My goat was very stubborn and kept pulling me over to leaves so he could eat them.  The goat was actually walking me, not the other way around!

Anyway.  The next morning I had a girls' brunch at a restaurant I've been wanting to try and we finished up our Christmas shopping at the BX. We had a fabulous weekend filled with sun, fun, family time, and great friends.  What more could we ask for?