Jessica's Homework

Jessica has been learning to count and write her numbers to 100. Her teacher sends home a paper with rows of boxes- 10 boxes on each row. She is to write a number in each box until she gets to the number assigned. Jessica loves doing her math.

(I had to condense this video in order to get it on Blogger, so you can't see the paper very well, but I think you can get the idea.)

I love listening to her doing her homework. When she has an assignment to write her numbers, I can't let her do it in the same room as her sister because she's so loud, and because she won't write them without telling them to "come on down." It's so funny!

Day #5 (the last)- Pineapples and Fish

Saturday we decided to head up to Nago and take advantage of our yearly passes at the Churaumi Aquarium. This time we invited some friends who hadn't been up there yet to go with us. They took us to the Nago Pineapple Park on the way.




There's these cute little pineapple carts that take you on a ride through the park and tell you about flowers, trees, and yes, pineapples. Here is a pineapple field. I didn't really understand how pineapple grew until we visited. Can you see the pineapple nestled in the plants in the middle of the picture?

These pineapples are smaller. They called them decorative pineapples- not for eating.


There isn't a whole lot to the pineapple park. Once you finish the pineapple cart tour, you go through a gift shop, and then to see the seashell museum, and then another gift shop. The end of the tour a series of gift shops where they sell pineapple based foods and drinks. They have a lot of samples and we tried some pineapple juices with various twists as well as a variety of pineapple treats such as breads, pastries, cookies, chocolate, and of course, pineapple. Jason and I are determined to cut back on the goodies, so we just left there with one fresh pineapple. It was delicious. We have done a little bit of research on how to grow a pineapple in a planter, and we've saved the top of the pineapple to give it a try. We'll see how it goes and post about it later if it's looking successful.

After a lunch break at a Japanese A&W, we were off to the aquarium. We've posted pictures from here before, so I won't post a bunch. I was playing around with my camera again, so I got a few nice pictures that I wasn't able to get in the past.

Silhouetted in this picture are my friend Tammy, her daughter Natalya, Cassie, and Jessica.

I just can't get over how big this grouper is. Natalya was impressed, too.

I have never been able to get a good picture of these giant lobsters. Now that I finally got one, I don't have anyone in the picture to give scale. I'll have to keep trying for a good shot.

I love these snakes. They look like they're planted in there.

Carston checking out the sharks. He'll sit at each window and watch the fish for a long time. I'm amazed at his attention span when we're at the aquarium. It drives the girls crazy. They are always in a hurry. I think he was acting scared here. But it's so cute!

My little actors! Dead!

The view of the beach from the Ocean Expo Park below the aquarium. They have a manatee pool, a turtle pool, and a dolphin and whale show in this area.

Waiting for the dolphin show to begin. This is a good time to introduce Tammy and Natalya, who are our bus stop friends. Tammy is in the cap by Jason, and Natalya is between the girls. Tammy's husband, John, was back in the States for some training. It's been nice to have some good friends here.

Some pictures from the dolphin show: (More playing with my camera. I took a bunch, but I'll only subject you to a few.)

We had a nice day. The weather was dry, but cool. I wanted to spend some time walking around Ocean Expo Park, but it was just too windy. We headed home and had some yummy Okinawan food for dinner at Jack's Place on base. I really should do some posting about some of the food here. I'll have to add that to my idea list.

Overall, the week was a nice break from our usual stresses and worries. It was nice to spend some time together, as well. It wasn't as warm as Hawaii, but nothing's better than being with family and good friends.

Day #4- Home

The rain was awful on Friday. We had planned to go to Ryukyu Mura, but since it was outdoors, and we had already all had our showers, we decided not to go. Instead, we just spent the day hanging out at home. The kids played in the girls' room. Jason played video games. I don't even remember what I did, but it was nothing impressive. No pictures. It was really depressing. I wish we'd taken more advantage of the beautiful weather the day before.

Day #3- Araha Beach

Thursday the weather was beautiful. We decided to take Jason to Araha Beach. The kids and I have been there a few times with playgroups, and it's one of our favorites. This was Jason's first time. The sand is soft, by Okinawa standards, and they rope off a section to keep it safe to play in the sea. In the picture above, you can see a fisherman out on the sand bar.

The view of American Village from Araha Beach.

I was playing around with my camera a little bit.

This is why the kids love this beach so much. They love to play on the pirate ship playground behind the beach.

Carston loves the water. He actually loves going to the beach. Anytime he sees the ocean, he asks to go to the beach. The girls don't like the beach so much.

I took a bunch of pictures of Carston and Jason running up from the water. I love this picture of Jason playing with him.

Cassie has this gathering habit. My dad loves it when she comes to his house, because she walks around gathering anything that has fallen from the neighbors trees on his lawn. Here she's getting Jessica in the act, as well.

Land Ho!

Carston, the land is the other direction.

It was a nice morning at the beach. We ended our day early so we could get Carston a decent nap.

Day #2 Shuri Castle

The weather warmed up nicely for day 2 of our staycation. We headed off to Shuri Castle at Shurijo Castle Park. There are a few castle ruins on the island, but only one that has been rebuilt. Jason took control of the camera that day, and he took a lot of pictures. I'll just take you on his picture tour.
This is in the visitors center- a model of the castle.

The first of many gates.

This was the second, I believe.

This is in front of the Castle, on the parade grounds.

Jason wasn't supposed to take pictures here. We didn't see the signs. These are some instruments that they had displayed.

Walking out on the porch around the garden areas.

Inside the castle.

Going upstairs. The sign said that the government business was conducted downstairs and the living quarters were upstairs, although the big throne room was upstairs, so I think I missed something in the translation.

This room must've been some sort of ceremony room:

Some of the items displayed there:

The throne room. Behind the photographer was a second throne that faced out into the court yard. You'll be able to see it on the pictures of the models that Jason took, which are lower on the page.

The crown.

The seal.

I'm not sure what this is. :)

Here is the model. This is a model of the ceremony on the morning of New Year's Day. New Year's is a very important holiday here.

You can kind of see where the king can sit in the castle to overlook the ceremony, but it's a little behind the beam in this picture. We had a hard time getting the angle and none of the flash.

This is the model depicting the Emperor anointing a new king.

The view from outside the parade grounds.

Exiting the castle grounds.

One of the things the Japanese do to keep the kids interested at these historic sites is have stamping stations spread throughout the park. You get a map and at certain locations, you can stamp your map. Cassie and I had to go back because we missed a lot of stamps.

This is the bell house.

The Shuri Castle is actually pretty small. We got through it in a couple of hours. The kids wanted to be out enjoying the weather so I took them to Torii Beach park to play.