Sunrise at the Beach

This morning I nudged Pete and the kids out of bed and we headed to the beach. It's sad that it took me 6 months to realize we had yet to see the sunrise over the ocean. After a restless night, I decided to remedy this and my wonderful family was good enough to humor me.

I guess at this point it may be prudent to mention that I neglected to notice the clouds in the dark sky until we were close to the beach, therefore we didn't actually get to 'see' the sunrise, more we got to see the lightening of the clouds and sky as you can see in the pictures of us on the beach. It was still a great morning. We started out with donuts and chocolate milk on the boardwalk then the kids and I collected seashells and dried coral.
Yes, I know. Becca has her own unique sense of style. At least she matches today ;)

Becca had to go to the bathroom. Fortunately they had a public restroom. Unfortunately, it was only Japanese style toilets which she hates because she thinks the toilet is going to swallow her so she spends the whole time she's going to the bathroom telling the toilet not to eat her.

While the girls were surviving the toilets, Pete and Alex decided to hide from us by some of the old Tombs. When they finally emerged they were covered in sticky seeds. Kind of like those stickers that get on your socks back in the states, but these stick to EVERYTHING as you can tell by the way the stuck to Pete's leg hairs.

While Pete was de-stickering his legs the kids played at the park. This is one of the kids favorite parks because there is so much to do here.

Because it was overcast and early we had the park all to ourselves. Great times.

A perfect Date

Pete, sitting at the very edge of this cliff that dropped 100s of feet before ending in the ocean.

This morning was overly discouraging. After talking with the AMC terminal we were frustrated with the whole idea of trying to plan a trip and not being able to. Pete and I hopped in the car and went for a drive. It was wonderful. Perfect weather for it, we opened the sunroof and rolled the windows down an just drove up North for several hours. Up North (Nago) is the ubber pretty part of the island. Before long we were singing our hearts out to the music (just like old times), stopping at the beach and watching the waves, exploring bike stores and a not-so-Italian bakery. We had a great time. completely carefree and not stressful. Loved it.

Out exploring

We found these kit-kats we assumed were cheese flavored, only when we opened them we found:

That's right, Cheese you are supposed to eat WITH the kit kat. I thought a was a yummy combo, Pete didn't.

And finally, a nasty picture of Pete's sprained ankle he got in the middle of his last PT test. Over a week later and his ankle is still swollen and purple. He's seeing a physical therapist for it who said he has loose joints... not fun.

We're looking forward to the possibilities of this week although each day, some of the possibilities we were most looking forward to are not looking as good as we'd hoped but we'll keep hoping. Hopefully all works out well.

Alex and Mom Ice Skating

Alex's class went ice skating and I went with them. The first couple of minutes were hilarious as ALL the kids feel. It was funny, seriously like all these kids falling and crawling around. Alex did really well because its similar to roller blades. He kept riding around helping the other kids out. We had a great time. Alex loved the hot chocolate vending machines that plopped your cup down and then filled it up.

Drinking our hot chocolate. Notice the steam, this is the coldest we will ever be in Okinawa.

Alex after a spill. I feel once when Alex pulled me down :)

The vending machine that pours the hot chocolate for you.

Okinawa Zoo of strange Creatures

So, you all know I'm not the biggest fan of zoos. Don't really like them. Always the same sad looking animals just standing around while we point and stare at them. That said, I took the kids to the zoo this past weekend while Pete was studying.

The zoo itself is really pretty this time of year with all the flowers in bloom, it's not too hot- just perfect weather. It does have a lot of the same old animals but there are also so many animals that we have not seen before (yes, they still had the same sad expressions on their faces but at least they were different sad faces than we have seen in the past).

Ironically, Alex loved the giraffs.

I know he's seen them before, but he liked them. Lalee and Becca liked the lions and monkeys, espeically the one with the red face that looked like a mask and swung from his

tail. (You can kind of see it in the background).

Personally, I think the coolest thing we saw was the giant ant-eater. I didn't realize that this was an actual animal. It was big- probably 5-6 feet long, and its face is primarily a really long funnel-like snout. Sorry for the poor picture.

It's the one flower on the hat that makes Frosty come alive- don't you know?

I logged on to post a couple of times lately but I can't find the cord to the camera, thus no pictures. Oh well. Not a lot has happened in our lives lately. Last weekend we had an amazingly beautiful day here- very pretty. We went to Comprehensive park, rented a paddle boat and feed the fish. The kids loved the playground but talk about crowds! Today and yesterday have been COLD. Maybe not Utah cold but cold for Okinawa. Throw in the humidity and it feels a lot colder than it is (54*). I know, I know! I can't believe I, a Utah native, am calling 54 degrees cold. But have no fear, we are supposed to be back up in the 60s by the weekend and by this time next week we are supposed to be close to the 70s. Very Weird weather here. I started school again. It is an interesting set up and I'm still getting used to it. The whole job thing is a wonderfully, discouraging adventure that must go on. We have spent our fair share of time at the dentist lately. Lalee had a check up two weeks ago, Alex and Becca had checkups this week. Both of them are returning to have cavities filled in a month. Lalee went to her first ortho appointment this week. She is missing a couple of permanent teeth, has a big over bite and some spacing issues. They won't put braces on until she stops sucking her thumb. We'll go back in a month and hopefully we will be able to have mastered that obstacle. Alex got 85% on his spelling test this past week. I know that doesn't sound like much but even with studying, Alex typically only gets between 40-60% on his spelling (not his strong subject) so that was reason to celebrate at our house. Yesterday, after her class watched frosty the snowman, Becca announced, "We have to go and get on three airplanes and take 2 days to fly to Utah so I can build a snowman and put a hat with just one flower on it and then it will come alive." To which I replied, "Really? It will come alive?" Her. "Yep, and the movie said the hat has to have just one flower." Me: "And we have to go to Utah for this?" Her (with a "duh" look on her face. "There's no snow here, mom. Just in Utah." It probably doesn't sound all that cute but I about bust a gut laughing. Poor girl, she honestly believes she will have a live snowman friend if she can only find a hat with just one flower to put on its head. I am still writing a weekly article for the local blog OkinawaHai. I write the "To Mingle" piece each Tuesday. This has been a great way to met people and become familiar with the island. That's about all the news from our corner of the world for the past week or so. Here's hoping the rest of January smooth and positive.