Olivia had been sick (vomit & diarrhea) for a day and a half when they arrived. I put the kids to bed (Wyatt in mine, since Tommy was in Thailand, so that G&G could sleep in his bed) and had my neighbor, Ivette come over to hang out while I ran to the airport. A few minutes after my departure, Wyatt woke up and vomited all over himself, my bed, and finally the bathroom. Ivette handled it like a pro and threw him in the tub, but Wyatt's crying woke Olivia up... I felt so bad for Ivette! And nothing like a little vomit to welcome the Grandparents to town!
Anyway - Wyatt recovered very quickly but Olivia battled the diarrhea for a solid 10 days. There was also another puking incident on a small Japanese road that involved us stripping her down naked while parked on what could be considered a sidewalk, while we cleaned up puke, changed out car seats, and dug through a trunk full of stuff to find clean clothes for her. Fun times!
Now - on to the good stuff. They arrived just in time for Olivia's 1st birthday, so we had a little birthday cupcake celebration for our little girl!
We visited some of the gift shops on base and took them to our favorite restaurants. We had a great time teaching mom how to use chop sticks and both mom & dad were great sports about trying sushi, sashimi, seafood salad, and all the other Japanese foods we threw in front of them!
Tommy got home from Thailand just in time for a great dinner with Kyle & Jen at Sushi Zen... but apparently gave Jen the flu, which then led to the birth of beautiful baby Everett...sorry about that, Jen.
We headed up North and explored EXPO park a little bit. It rained on us before we could get to the Tropical Dream Center, but we did get to see an old Japanese village and play at the two-story playground first. Mom got to experience peeing in a Japanese "squatty potty" which she really loved and is thinking about installing at their home in Iowa. (Ok not really).
Here are the boys who got ambitious and climbed up into this hut house thing at the top of a tree in the Japanese village! For the life of me, I cannot get the picture to rotate correctly! Sorry.
Then we headed to our beach cabin on Oura Wan Bay for two days. The weather was beautiful and we got a little sunburnt at the beach. It was a nice couple days of relaxation!
Here we are at a random Japanese restaurant that was somehow French and Spanish. Our original restaurant that we drove 30 minutes to for my birthday dinner had a sign posted in Japanese that they were closed 2/23 so we drove down the road and this is what we found. My dad ordered the "fish of the day" and this is that is exactly what he was served... fish head and all!
We went down south to Naha (the capital of Okinawa) and tried really hard to find this amazing Thai restaurant that we had gone to one other time, but after driving around for two hours on top of and around a mountain, we gave up. It was a beautiful drive with some breathtaking views, though, and all was not lost because we found Shuri Castle just fine.
We toured the castle, which was the site of rule of the Chinese emporers a way long time ago, and a group of high school girls took pictures of Olivia for about 5 minutes, creating quite the commotion in the gift shop! Dad made 'friends' with a Japanese guy during the traditional dance show. He was filming some sort of documentary on Shuri Castle and was very interested in what Americans thought of the show, so dad got to be on film :)
I took my mom for pedicures at Cocok's by the sea wall and we got to have our toes painted in cute St. Patrick's Day designs! She also came with me to Bunco night with my girlfriends where we drank quite a few Hurricanes during our Mardi Gras themed party. After a fun night of dice, my friends now think my mom is quite 'cool.' :)
We continued to eat our way through Okinawa and ended their trip with brunch on Sunday at the Butler Officers' Club, which is always amazing. It is quite the spread and it was a good way to wrap up their last full day on the island.
2 comments:
Choas hell...it is true life living, and memories are made. LOVE YOUR POST. I am soooooooo glad they took this trip. It is an experience of a lifetime. In younger years it is how we lived in the US..before all the rules and regulations. I think the food is always so fun, we are so limited. The beauty, people and weather of these countries are so unique.
Hug the kids, they are getting so big. Olivia looks like she is having total enjoyment of that cake.
Great pictures. Enjoy
What an adventurous time y'all had! Glad your parents were there for the sick kiddos though -- respite care is always needed when you are flying solo! I continued to be amazed at how much fun and how much awesome stuff y'all do!!!!
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