Happy Mother's Day 2009

I had a great Mother's Day!

Actually got to sleep in a bit and then had breakfast in bed prepared and served by David (a fantastic Breakfast Burrito- David is turning into quite a good cook). Willie and Ty stayed close by....just in case some of the breakfast fell (or was slipped to them while Mike wasn't looking!)

After breakfast we loaded up the Delica, stopped for coffee at the shoppette and hit the road headed North. The boys are not thrilled with my love for road trips (heading to "Chipmonk Rapids" as they call it), but having a DVD player in the van certainly eases their pain.

The weather was glorious and the roads clear so we made good time. Our destination- Hiji Falls towards the north end of the Island.

We tried a shortcut through Nago, taking Highway 71 instead of staying on 58. Seemed to save a bit of time, and was a nice change of scenery.
On the way up Highway 58 we saw lots of locals out on the beach and in the water. Not sure what they were collection off the beach- crabs, shell fish??

I had seen this Veggie/Fruit Stand on the way to Okuma last time we were up in this area. I jumped up and down in my seat until Mike agreed to stop (of course we had passed it by then, but he was able to back up- there was actually parking along the road)These are Daikons, or Asian Radishes. The look lovely all piled up. We tried one a while back and I wasn't too thrilled, even though I like radishes. We will have to try one again. They are very popular here.
The pineapples looked too good to pass up so we bought one (only 250 Y) and carved it up right there on the side of the road. Simply delicious!

The Watermelons they had looked good too, but not willing to shell out 1200 Y ($12) for one...

This sign for "Crab Crossing" cracks me up every time I see it.
At the junction of 58 and the turnoffs for Okuma and Hiji Falls is this sunflower field.


It was in full bloom last weekend, but still enough blooms this week to beg to stop. I had fun wandering along taking a few photos (of course, the boys opted to stay in the van and watch the movie- flowers is not exactly their cup of tea!).










Part 2- Hiji Falls

An Okinawa Favorite

New Toes!

Ask any woman living in Okinawa what one of her favorite things about living here is, and topping the list would be "Going to Cocoks! (for you trivia people, cocok is Indonesian for "harmony") I will forever remain grateful to Rebecca for introducing me to this wonderful place (thanks Rebecca!) For you non Okinawa folks, Cocoks is the local nail/spa/salon. For 3990 Yen (roughly $40) you can go have your feet soaked, filed, rubbed, and pampered (it feels so GOOD when they wrap your feet in those hot towels!). You also get a leg and foot massage with scented oil of your choice. While you relax in the big comfy recliners drinking delicious iced tea, you browse through books of artwork trying to decide what artwork you want the lovely ladies to paint on your toes. They call it "Toe Art"- and Art it truely is! The choices seem endless. It's absolutely amazing what they can paint- flowers, beach scenes, shisia, holiday themed artwork (including shamrocks, candy canes and pumpkins), abstract designs, Hello Kitty....it's so hard to decide! There are close to 100 pages of designs- and LOTS of designs on each page. And the colors! Reds, pinks, purples, oranges, greens, white, blues, gold, silver, black...between the designs and the colors the choices just boggle my mind (granted, that isn't hard to do).

Rebecca and I went on Friday- we waited until May 1st so we could take advantage of the 20% off they offer during your birthday month (and then we almost forgot to ask for the discount!). We had such a great time relaxing, drinking tea (lots and lots of tea....which meant by the time we left we really really had to go pee!). The ladies who work there are amazing- they work with tiny little paint brushes and put incredibly detailed designs on even the tinniest toes. On the design I choose, they even blended the nail polish (I didn't know you could even do that!). On Jena's latest design (picture to the left), she said the put glitter on- one flake at a time. I had a terrible time deciding on a design...when they last for a month or so it is a big commitment! A lot of the designs I would enjoy for a week or two...but a month? Maybe not...

The picture below is the first design I had done. I loved the gold accents. After pulling up the photo I realized I these done in mid February...and they removed the last of the design when I went in (so they were on my toes for over 2 months!).

So here's to Cocok's- a place I will continue to enjoy during our time here...and maybe I will be brave enough in the future to try a really funky design!

You can check here for more photos of Cocok's toes... Cocok's on Okinawa Hai