Kodomo no hi

Driving to the skate park yesterday, we saw these streamers. They are so pretty. I wasn't sure what they were for, but with a little investigation found out they are in preparation for Kodomo no hi, Children's Day [originally known as Boys' Day :)]. Children's Day is the day parents to pray for their children and their futures. I think that is a great way to spend a day.

I love the little handprints on these ones.

Skater Dudes

A little over a week ago, Jerry took the boys to a skate park near our house. Of course, every time kids skate, bike, heck, go outside, moms worry that they might get hurt. I suppose broken bones are part of growing up. Well, the kids are fine. They had lots of fun.
It was the husband that came home with a hurt wrist and hand and needed x-rays!
I am certain he will never grow up.

Easter, yeah, I KNOW!

Remember, it is the thought that counts. I often THOUGHT, I needed to get some pictures posted. Time is my enemy!

The boys started the morning with an egg hunt. Since our backyard is the size of a postage stamp it did not take long.
Steven is now too cool for baskets or bags. Geez, teenagers.

We also created a treasure hunt for the boys. It think they had 17 clues total they had to find.
Here's one picture of them discussing where the next clue is hidden.

Garrett knew just where to go when the clue involved poop bags. Garrett's current goal in life, well, besides giving me gray hair, is to get big enough to walk the dog by himself.

Ah, the loot is found!

Later in the day there was a neighborhood egg hunt. It ran a little behind schedule, it was on "island time". So once the go was given they were off.

Man, that was fun!

Only Vaughn and Garrett took part in the second egg hunt. Seth had gone to the beach with a friend, and Steven was not interested.

Under the Sea

Welcome to the Churaumi Aquarium! These botanical creations are the first things you see when you get there. Actually, even before, they have smaller ones in a few spots along the road on the drive up. At least that way you know you are not totally lost!

Of course, we could not get past this play area without playing for awhile. Last time Garrett was here with the school he couldn't play, so there was no way he was passing it up again. As he was running away he was yelling "Oh, we are sooooo going here!"

This picture is to try to show you how soft these blue areas are. Walking on them is like walking on marshmallows. Very cool, and safe. :)

I've got nothing to say here.....

So, we walk in and see this.....

Weird exhibits they have here.

The touch pool, very busy area. We moved on pretty fast.

The whale shark tank. This is one of the coolest parts of the aquarium. I could sit here and just watch for a long time. There are three whale sharks in the tank. Huge rays and skates.

This ray was sitting on the top of the viewing room glass, he was getting a lot of laughs as people rounded the corner and walked underneath him.

We ate lunch in the Cafe Ocean Blue. It is situated next to the whale shark tank and looks into it. This was the view from our seats.

Just a short video from lunch. The view was really rough.

Let's hope the only time we are seeing these guys is from behind the aquarium glass and not while swimming this summer.

This is one of my favorite exhibits. The Garden Eels. They stick up out of the sand and eat passing plankton. They are just so funny. Some are spotted and some are striped. I feel like they should be in a Dr. Seuss book.

Waiting for the dolphin show to start. The boys, except Steven, are in the front row. They were hoping they would get wet. Steven didn't want his hair to get wet, hahahahaha.

Man, they can jump so high.

And, so gracefully.

We had a really fun day.
And, you know, when in Japan....

Now, come visit us so we can take you to the aquarium too!

Urasoe Dai Park

Two posts in one day, woah! This is part two of our day. The beach was before lunch, this was after. No fun pictures of lunch, we didn't have a lot of yennage on us, so we opted for on base, Macaroni Grill, yum.

Getting to this park was not nearly as easy. Directions like "turn at the second light" can be so subjective.

There's the park down there, and lucky us, while we were out looking at it, a parking spot opened up. So, down the hill we go.

Them's my boys.

Here's the park from below instead of above. The really cool slide was closed. Not sure why. I'm sure the sign explained, but oh, the language barrier.

And the even cooler slide on the other side of the playground that was also closed. All the more reason to go back later when it is warmer. Both of these slides have rollers on the bottom, so no getting stuck. I am sure they are very fun to go down. We'll update you once we get a chance to try.

Kids are such monkeys.

Oh, a normal smile, so cute too.

The corkscrew thing-a-ma-jig at this playground was really cool. Seth is at the top and Vaughn is on the side.

Is that Steven playing, having fun, and wait, wait, even SMILING! Holy cow, maybe acting perpetually bored got tiring.

There is a rhino head sculpture. Don't ask me why, go ask your mother.

Such a photogenic child. And his front teeth are finally coming back in! He can eat an apple again, hooray!

Garrett going up the loop de loop and Steven coming down.

Boo Boo, are you stuck?

We got ice cream from a vending machine. Even though the day was not sunny and a little chilly they were still tasty. Except for the green one Garrett picked, it was not so tasty. He threw it away and we got him another. Sorry,I didn't think to take a picture of those, too busy with my own ice cream.

Since we had come down the hill, we had to go back up. Coming down was much easier....as it generally is.

On the way home, Jerry saw this crazy little drive and just had to go down it. We were trying to get to the road at the other end, but jeez.

Yeah, we ended up having to back out and find another way. I am kind of partial to the top of the van as it is.

Even though the weather was not very beautiful, we had fun. We saw more of Okinawa and that is always fun. Tomorrow, the aquarium.