Big Shisa, Cape Zampa and Japanese People

Cape Zampa

First off, a big "shout out" to Granny (aka Ruth) to wish her a Happy Birthday. We love you!

Our weekend has been great so far! After a sleepy morning (these girls get up way to early on the weekends), we decided to do a little venturing out. We hit a local Cafe for some lunch and headed north. We made it to Cape Zampa, Maeda Point and to most of Onna Village. It was a gorgeous drive (and it lasted as long as Alessandra's nap in the car, which was long, so we just kept going!). We stopped for some ice cream along the way and then went back to Cape Zampa and walked around. Our first stop was at this giant Shisha dog statue. Shisa's are EVERYWHERE here (if you aren't sure what a shisa is click here )

Alessandra hopped right up under the statue and wanted her picture taken (Olivia was more weary of the whole idea...)

Eventually Alessandra persuaded Olivia to join her and here they are under the big shisa.

We walked around for awhile and enjoyed the gorgeous breeze (okay... WIND is more like it) and the sun covered by cloudiness (which kept it nice a cool). Here are the girls with their dad near the lighthouse.


Here are the girls - at some point I am actually going to get a good photo of them both smiling...

We came home and decided to head across the street for dinner. We weren't sure what type of restaurant it was over there and we got there and it was one of the hibachi grill places. We were hungry and decided to stay.
One of the things I haven't mentioned much is how often we get stopped to have the girls take photos with people (especially Alessandra). Okinawa is a pretty big tourist spot for people from Mainland Japan. Since the Japanese (in general) don't interact with Americans (and other white European types) too often, they are pretty enamored with light haired, blue eyed kids.

Dinner tonight was no exception. Alessandra was being her usual well behaved self and visiting many of the other tables and this group was pretty excited she was hanging out with them. They hugged on her, took her photo and we decided to get a couple of shots too (someone out there mentioned my lack of photos with Japanese people in them... so here you are!)
Oh yes, and to note, I am not sure what it is, but Japanese people ALWAYS hold up the peace sign for photos. I need to learn more Japanese to ask about that. AND, you can tell these are mainlander's due to their light skin color. They look a little different than Okinawan people do.



Oh yes, and dinner was good too. Can't wait for you to join us!

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to Kelly, Happy Birthday to me.

We had a great evening of celebration with our friends the Colvigs (Nicole, Cameron, Cooper and Caden). The girls LOVE the boys (they are older and Caden is Olivia's 3rd grade reading buddy) and it was just really nice to have dinner with friends to celebrate the big 34.

They grilled out for us and I brought a cake (not too pretty as you can tell by the photo up here, but it sure did taste good - note to self: butter cream frosting only works SO well in humid/hot climates!)

Our little family!

Thank you for all of the cards, phone calls and emails. You all made me feel not quite so far away!

Potty People in the House....

What would a family blog be without a photo of one of your kiddos on the royal throne?Alessandra has taken on potty training (mostly on her own, with a little help and encouragement - and lots of cheering from big sister, mom and dad). She has happily made diaper changing MUCH less messy and not nearly as stinky (thank goodness). We still have a long way to go, however, she seems motivated and excited about it... and who am I to stop progress?
Oh yes, and please note: She has finally decided that books ARE for reading (and not just for turning pages, throwing and coloring in). It is going to be a big year.

Another Sunset

This was from last week sometime (when I was having technical difficulties). It was really amazing outside and the wind was incredible. We also saw a number of whitecaps (which is rare right where we are due to the sandbars and erosion control stuff in the water).

Buckeye Fan's are EVERYWHERE!

When we had been here about a week or so, driving up the highway and coming into Camp Foster a crazy looking car caught my eye. It looked like a....

Well, an Ohio State Buckeye Football Helmet! Now, that is not something you see every day! (Particularly here in Okinawa).


The funny thing was, on the first day of school for Olivia, I ran into another Kindergartener and his parents and they were decked out in Ohio State gear. I said the secret Ohio password ("Go Bucks") and then asked if they were from Ohio (duh Kelly) and then said "hey, have you seen the guy with the..... OH IS THAT YOU WITH THE CAR?" They laughed, said yes and I said I would stop them someday and snap a photo for all of the crazy Buckeyes in my family.

Shimijiro

So, as I was searching for potty training pants that might actually fit my small fry child, I came across this...

Happy Japanese Potty Training everyone!

there is more to come...

hello nice and loyal readers...

I have a few posts in the works, but for some reason the site (or my fantastic computer savviness) is keeping me from getting my photos on here... argh!!

Be patient - and thanks for reading...