Peace Prayer Park

A visit to Peace Prayer Park has been on my list since arriving in Okinawa, but the historical things seem, for whatever reason, to be last on my "Okinawa bucket list" to get crossed off.  Since Christy was in town and the weather was strangely less humid than usual on Wednesday, we took a drive down to Naha to see this historical landmark.

The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest of World War II.  Peace Prayer Park is a memorial to the more than 200,000 soldiers (Okinawan and American) and civilians who lost their lives during the 90-day battle in March 1945.  Set on a large expanse of land, Peace Prayer Park is located high on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Cliffs like these are where many Okinawans - in some cases entire families - took their own lives by jumping to their deaths upon news of being taken by Americans or the death of a loved one. 

When we first arrived at the park, an Okinawan woman sold us a bouquet of flowers with a scroll/lump of pencil lead.  Christy quickly deduced that you were to find the name of your loved one and use the lead and paper to create an imprint of the name you were there to find.  We saw the rows and rows and rows of names and quickly felt overwhelmed.  Since we had no person to memorialize, we dropped our flowers at the general park memorial that explains the spirit of Peace Prayer Park.



The thing I most loved about this park is that it truly exemplifies the Japanese spirit of peace by acknowledging not only the deaths of Okinawans, but by Americans as well.  For a people who lost so much - their people, their land, their independence - their generous spirit of acknowledging the American loss is truly touching.

 Afterward, we drove to the top of a mountain and found an elusive cafe called Thai in the Sky.  The restaurant has beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and we were able to let the kids burn off a little steam outside that had come to a head during dinner... :)





This place has quite an extensive dinosaur collection.  I've always wondered what the story is behind it, but my Japanese is definitely not up to par to ask that question!


Another great day in Okinawa made even more special by the addition of family!

Butterfly Garden & Tropical Dream Center

Aunt Christy is here! Aunt Christy is here! :)  My sister in law (SIL) flew in on Friday night (after Bunco - Tommy was able to go pick her up) and we have been busy showing her around the island.  On Saturday we got right to it and took two carloads up to the northern part of the island.  Since we can't all fit in one car anyway, we had to take two, and then my friend Greta and her friend Jayzell came along.  Greta was one of my Cyclone Aides (orientation leaders) when I worked at Iowa State is here doing Camp Adventure for the summer (the program that I did when I was in college when I met Tommy in London).  We have been showing her around the island when she is free on the weekends and were happy to have her and her friend come along!

First stop was the butterfly garden.  Wyatt has been wanting to go to the butterfly garden since day one on Okinawa.  For some reason it just hasn't happened yet. So we were very excited to take him.  The butterflies LOVED my bright pink purse and the kids thought it was funny that I was carrying around two or three butterflies with me! 

They had the flower bouquets that must have been sprayed with something to attract the butterflies to them.  You would hold one of them and then the butterflies would flock to you!

We took a stroll through the gardens and sampled some of the foods in the gift shop and called it good.  Next up was the Tropical Dream Center at EXPO park. I wrote about the Tropical Dream Center back in January when we went there so I will spare you the details but I wanted Christy, Greta and Jayzell to see it too.  I've included some pictures though.  This time the fruit were in bloom which was fun to get to see.

Funny story for the day: as we were walking thru the botanical garden, there were some workers giving "rides" to the kids and taking pictures of them on these fake lily pads.  They asked if Wyatt wanted to ride and he did!  We told him not to move or he would fall off, so he sat very still - so still, in fact, that he wouldn't even move!  He just sat there very stoic-like.  At the end of the 'ride' they gave us a printed picture of him and asked if it was okay to use his picture on their website, because it is very cute :)  Of course we were happy to oblige!

Another great day on a tropical island in Japan!

P.S. My friend Marianne just booked her tickets to come see me in February!!  Who wants to sign up for the October/November slot?!?  The weather is BEAUTIFUL then!! :)  Need I remind you that we have less than one year left in Oki????  Come on, what are you waiting for?! :)

Bunco Luau!

Our July bunco was last Friday and we had a Hawaiian luau this time.  The food was amazing - we definitely outdid ourselves this time!  Sarah was our host and she made pineapple chicken, hawaiian meatballs, and a hawaiian shrimp dish - all of which were to die for.  Combined with everyone else's great eats, we were stuffed before we started playing!  Yummy!!

The highlight of the night involved coconut bras...lots of coconut bras :) Some of us wore ours over our 'regular' hawaiian clothes...but one of us, who shall remain nameless, took it a step further and just plain wore the coconut bra, which I have to admit takes some cahones even amongst friends. Loved it!  She of course won "best dressed" of the night.  I was on a birdie roll and took home an awesome bamboo platter for winning most birdies!  Always fun to win.

Another great night of Bunco with great ladies.  Fun times!

Japanese Children's Pool

Summer is in full force in Okinawa and the heat and humidity are overwhelming (like most of the Midwest, I hear!).  We have been laying low indoors lately because it is just. too. hot. and I do not want the kids or I to have a heat stroke.  But finally it was time to venture outside- there is only so much inside time you can have with a four year old BOY!

I have been wanting to go to this pool for over a year now, but had never been until yesterday!  It's really hard to find - tucked out on the sea wall by the East China Sea with no access by car.  You have to know where to look and finally, my friend and I were able to make it there! 

This is the best kid's pool - two shallow areas, a one-foot area with what Wyatt calls a "volcano" on top (it spews water out the top) and a small "drop" slide.  Okinawa is big on these drop slides at parks...they are painted cement and have very steep drops!  I usually don't let Wyatt go on them - but this one has a short drop so I let him.  Then I caught he & Kaitlin KISSING at the bottom of it!!! :)  And so it begins!

The other area is a two-foot area with a really fun Octopus-shaped double slide.  Kaitlin and Wyatt had a blast going down this slide time after time!  I loved that I didn't have to worry about Wyatt in this pool and could just let them play while I followed Olivia around!


This pool requires the kids to wear swim caps.  This is pretty common in Japan but my kids aren't used to it.  I thought they would whine about it but they were fine!  I had bought a blue one and a red one at the 100 Yen store and they just happened to match their swimsuits!  They ran around for a solid two hours in the hot sun before the pool closed and had a blast.  I had two very tired kiddos on my hands!

Swim Lessons, Part I

Some of you may remember that Wyatt took swimming lessons last year from Camp Adventure, which is the program I did in London, England when I was in college when I met my amazing husband!  Well, Camp A was back this year and Wyatt just completed his first session of swim lessons on Friday.  He did great!  He passed with flying colors and starts his next session today. They had a potluck/family swim party on Friday during the last day of class and Tommy was able to join us after work.  Fun times!  Wyatt really liked his teacher, Miss Chloe.  She was GREAT with the kids and he was very comfortable with him.  This session might have been a little on the easy side for him but I did notice improvement so that is a good thing.  I think the next session will be a little more challenging for him though.

They are also offering a mommy and me class at the same time as Wyatt's so I will be able to get in the pool with Olivia during this same time.  Olivia is a FISH in the water.  She already knows how to do her "scoops" (arms) and kicks and would prefer if you just let go of her so she could try it independently.... not quite ready for that yet though!! I don't think she understands the part where she sinks to the bottom :)  So I am a little nervous about the mommy & me class, because I don't think she is going to want to be carried around for the songs and games...I think she is just going to want to SWIM!

Foreman Wyatt Turns Four!

We had Wyatt's birthday party on Saturday.  We had such a great time and are so lucky to have so many great friends to celebrate these events with.  People here in Oki have become like family because, well, none of us have any here :)

Wyatt wanted a construction theme this year, and Tommy went all out buying stuff online to get shipped over here in time for the party.  This was his contribution since he was originally scheduled to be gone but as luck would have it, we were so thankful that he was able to be here to celebrate too!  Actually, I am not sure I would have been able to pull this whole thing off without his help - he mowed the lawn, set up all the inflatibles (correctly!), filled the coolers, and picked up the cake and food while I was cleaning and decorating!  Oh, and did I mention finding and picking up the GENERATOR for the party? Yes, that too!

Why, you ask, did we need a generator?  To make Foreman Wyatt's birthday party just like a "real" construction site, of course!  :) Just kidding.  Actually, we received word the morning before the party that there would be a day-long power outage in our housing area on Saturday.  AWESOME.  After a brief freak-out spell, I decided power wasn't really necessary for the party since it was all going to be outside anyway.  Except that the "entertainment" (see below... a huge water slide!) did actually need power to keep the slide blown up and water flowing.  Enter the generator... but that is a story for another day.  And that, my friends, is quite the story!

But back to the party.  Wyatt and his buddies had a BLAST on this slide that my friend Lindsey let us use.  Seriously - so much fun!  Up, down, up, down, up, down, feet first, head first, on the belly, on the back, you name it, they tried it!  I bet each kid went down that thing a hundred times!
 
We also had a "make your own hardhat" station, which was cute and fun.  We rolled the dice and won with the weather... it was forecast to rain and it did briefly in the morning but was all sunshine for the party.  WHEW!  Not a lot of options when you have no electricity/air conditioning and it is raining at a pool party, so glad that worked out for us. :)

Next up was the Pinata (shaped like a construction hard hat)... the kids had a great time whacking at it and Tommy's family jewels are still alive and well.  So all in all, a successful venture!

Then it was time for the cake.  Wyatt LOVED this cake.  It was all we could do to keep him from "playing" with the trucks before the party and he begged and begged me to do the cake first.  It was so much fun seeing his little eyes light up when we all sang Happy Birthday.  He had fun blowing out the candles, which were shaped like little orange construction cones, which he insisted on placing on the cake himself!

He tore open his presents in about 3 minutes flat.  Seriously... I was a bit overwhelmed.  So thankful that Beth and Nancy jumped in to help write down who gave what gift!  Then, of course, the kids had a blast playing with all the new toys and yet more sliding in the pool.  Such a fun day with fun friends!!

Drama on the High Seas!

So he WAS gone, but now he's back :)  Due to some complications I am not at liberty to post about, my husband was able to return on Sunday just in time for Independence Day!  What a crazy, emotional week/weekend it was while we were trying to figure out what was going on!  I am happy to report, however, that hubby will be able to be here through the remaining summer and will now only have to go on the Fall & Spring patrols.  So what was supposed to be almost a year-long deployment will now be an 8-month deployment with about a month's break in between around Christmas.  Yay!

I hope you all enjoyed your Independence Day weekends.  Remember my post last year about how it's not the 4th of July?  It's Independence Day for a reason and Independence is the reason for the season!  Just like how you don't go around saying "the 25th of December."  :) 

I took the kids to AmericaFest on Kadena Air Base on Friday with some friends and their kiddos.  I am so upset with myself that I forgot my camera - it was fantastic! This year they moved it to the flightline (which is enormous) and had plenty of space for everyone and everything, a great kiddie land area that the kids thoroughly enjoyed (even Olivia - she rode the Train 5 or 6 consecutive turns! She was thrilled!), listened to awesome entertainment, walked through the Air Force and Marine Corps' aircraft (and got to push all the buttons and drive the 'steering wheel'!), and ate some FANTASTIC grub.  I have never in my life had jerk chicken so amazing.  And my first corn-on-the-cob in nearly 2 years!