Weekends are not wasted...

Before I move any further, a note must be made to Suzann (aka Susu) to wish her a happy birthday. I hope that your day went well (even with the really awful ending to the OSU game). We love you!!

Okay, now the important business out of the way.. onto our weekend...

Friday night was Olivia's Fall Festival at school. Our first elementary school event. It was a lot of fun (complete with bounce houses and games) and the girls had a great time. Our friend Angela came down and joined us with Sage and Sophia too! It was a busy and fun experience. (Although it is a little scary that the Sponge Bob Squarepants song was sang for karaoke and the WHOLE crowd seemed to be singing it... what is wrong with America?? (for those of you who didn't know that, I am NOT a SpongeBob fan))

Halloween is in the air in Okinawa. One might think that Okinawa wouldn't get hit with all the mania that associates itself with this crazy "holiday" but thanks to the thousands of American's on the rock here, Halloween is local. We always have tried to keep a low profile on Halloween, and we are again keeping it low, but wow, it is the first year Olivia has caught on truly to what is going on, so we are trying to oblige somewhat, without overdoing it.

We went to a Halloween Party on Saturday afternoon that was hosted by Olivia's Sensei's (Ron and Akemi Nix). They do a party every year for friends of the Dojo. They held it at the middle school on the Air Force Base and did it up well. They had tons of games for all the kids and the whole thing was just really nice. Here are some shots of the kids for you:

This is Olivia with her friend Marisa, Olivia is Tinkerbell this year (she really wanted to be "a big orange sock" but my creativity was stumped on how to make a costume). Nana sent her a new Tinkerbell costume for the big week. She loved it!
Alessandra we coaxed into a fairy costume also (nana sent her one too, and a friend sent this one over for us to borrow (in case Nana's didn't get here in time). She opted for the "puple" one and we will check her out in other wings in a few days. Suprisingly though, she did actually leave it on the entire party (nudity is definitely Alessandra's M.O.)
Here is a shot of Olivia's Sensei Ron with her. She was TERRIFIED of him the entire party. He sounded the same, but normally he is bald and not a freaky looking. He even went into Karate stance for her and everything. She wasn't so keen on him being dressed up. We finally coaxed her into a photo with him.

AND THEN... Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...

Our original plan was to head south to Shuri Castle for a festival and a parade on Kokasai Street, but after some thought about how .... well... unpredictable Alessandra can be, we decided on another option.

We headed to the Southeast Botanical Gardens (which is funny, since we have to drive north to get there.


I must say this was one of my most favorite days in Okinawa thus far. What a gem of a place. Gorgeous, lovely, wide open spaces, just wonderful...

Alessandra and Olivia on one of the "Parade of the Cows" Cows... Aunt Shannon - don't you love these guys?

This is the craziest thing I have seen in a long time. A carp pond where the carp were actually jumping to get the food. There were so many of them, we bought another box of food just because we couldn't get over it...

I think in all actuality, I should have filmed this section. These photos just don't show you the whole picture...

A shot of one of the many ponds and lakes in the gardens...


The girls running to the playground area. It was SO very Laura Ingalls Wilder (without the tall grasses of course)(hi Halfpint). They saw it and just took off. It was so lovely to be able to have so much freedom!

One of my artsy tree photos...

Another artistic shot of a Lily or Lotus (truthfully, I do not know which is which, and I couldn't read the signage since it was in Kanji, so thankfully I did know it was one or the other...)

What you can see: A nice picture of Olivia and her daddy
What you can't see: Alessandra telling us "no, no,no, Mommy picture... no, no" as she is running away because she does not see the need for a photo op. with dad.

For those of you who do not know Alessandra yet, she is quite the sprited "small, but mighty" child. Here she is running on the wooden walkway (as we are yelling at her not to) and she is laughing hautily at us the entire time... for real, who is in charge here?

Where do 5 year olds learn the hip shift to the side for sassiness anyway?


From one of the overlook areas.

Small But Mighty, right amidst a small meltdown (it was just about time for lunch)

Olivia on the palm tree climb - she felt pretty groovy after being up so high.

We can't wait to go back. We enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch and more walking after lunch. Through rows of palm trees, jungle forest and butterfly gardens. It was just a lovely weekend.
Love to you all!