June 30, 2010

Torii Beach with the Amelia's

For our June out with the Amelia's (a Spouse's Travel Group), we had an outing to Torii Beach.  The weather was great- meaning not unbearably hot and muggy!  We did a potluck lunch which worked out well-  BBQ hot dogs, fresh sushi, delicious brownies (thanks Margy!) as well as other goodies.  This outing was for the family (since the the kids are on summer break) and we were encouraged to bring along friends as well.  Louise, Steve and kids attended, with Steve manning the grill (thank you Steve!)

David at lunch in the water after playing water football with Steve.

Louise and Emmy cooling off at water's edge. 

Margy, Queen of the Amelias, just floating around!

We tried to do some snorkeling, but there was not much to see.  I stayed our for a bit and did find a few fun things.....

This looked like a baby sea snake...not sure if it was since the sea snake are black and white as adults.  He was only about 10 inches long...just a little guy!

This thing (hint: looking in the middle, going down and to the right) looked like a cross between a sea horse (especially the head) and a fish.  

From what I looked up, this is a Synaptid Sea Cucumber.  The lumps on it are called "bobbles".  It looked like a chenille bedspread to me!  When I went to lightly touch it, it shrunk down to just a few inches long in a split second.

Such Happy Happy Faces

Smile, Please!

I drug the boys out to take some pictures the other day. They were less then willing...the high humidity and empty stomachs were not the best combination.

Regardless, it at least gave me a chance to try out a new place to play around.
The same picture can look very different- here is the same picture of David in color, Black and White and Antique.
















I liked the wooden background here. Notice how sweaty David is- you can see the sweat beaded all over his face!
I liked the look of the stone steps.The boys had dashed off, otherwise I would have put them right under this arch. I love the rock formations in Okinawa!
The beach was very littered due to the recent storms, but still very cool looking.
Matt not too thrilled- the water just washed over his foot.

David was favoring me with smiles at least!



There's the smile- because he knew mom was about done! :)

Thanks guys- having a mom who loves to take pictures is just a curse you have to bear!!


Okay- the story behind the picture.... As we left the car to wander around David took the Burger King cup with him to throw away. We quickly realized there was no trash cans in the area so i suggested to David that he take the cup back to the car. He declined- even though the car was only about 50 yards away. Well, no skin off my nose...if he wanted to carry it around, so be it! So he carries this cup all over the place. At the final area (with the cool rock arches) he had set the cup down. As we were leaving I happened to notice and sent him back to get it. He went back down to the beach, retrieved the cup and came back to where Matt and I were waiting. When he got to the fence, he tossed the cup over and climbed over. Just as his feet hit the ground the wind kicks up and starts blowing the cup...right back through the fence. Matt and I cracked up!! It was just too perfect. David just stood there for a long moment "You have got to be kidding me.". So back over the fence...the look on his face says it all!

I was the first down the roller slide. Not one of the fastest ones we have gone on...not to mention stopping midway down.

Here Matt is sad- he just stopped going. My standing at the bottom with the camera wasn't encouraging him to come down. The other photo- he just looks so tall and grown up! (as he is waiting to harass David as he comes down)







David was really a sitting duck here...







Better go faster David, Matt is going for the ball!
David thinking he is out of danger...but not yet! Silly boy to turn his back on his bro. (Matt missed...but not by much!)

A Day of Wandering with the Boys- part 4

The Beach at Sunset

As the day was drawing to a close, we finally decided to head for home. Little did we realize that half of Okinawa must have decided the same thing at the same time. We got into Nago and sat in traffic...seemingly forever! Felt like we were back in downtown LA on the 405 or coming through Seattle at 5pm. After I thought about it, it made sense...there were several festivals up in that area of Okinawa and Sunday night is apparently a heavy traffic time anyway. Traffic finally cleared up after the turn off for the Express Way- whoo hoo! open road ahead!

On the plus side, the fast approaching sunset promised to be a beautiful one. I debated pulling over but had pretty much decided just to push on for home as it would be too hard to pull off (if you live here you realize what I mean- not always easy to find somewhere to stop). Just as I made up my mind, fortune smiled on me (and frowned on the boys...well, Matt at least!)- I was stopped in traffic for a red light and low and behold, there was an entrance to a actual parking lot on the beach! And traffic was clear to pull across into it! I whipped into the parking lot amid Matt's groans of "Why are we stopping??". David cheerfully got out with me and we walked down to the beach...Matt opted to stay in the car (again!).

David and I spent a wonderful 20 minutes playing at the water's edge watching the sun go down.

David found this neat "Heart Rock". We brought it home to put in our Shell Garden (next to our walkway we have part of the flowerbed filled with sand and this is where we put our sea shells, sea glass and interesting rocks we find).







The sun had set and our wandering was done for the day. Next stop- home and dinner!

A Day of Wandering with the Boys- part 3

The Churaumi Aquarium

Next stop on our day of wandering, and our original destination, the Churaumi Aquarium. The Aquarium is located about 1 1/2 hours north of us and sits right on the East China Sea. The buildings are beautiful- very striking architecture.

David and I had been to the Aquarium during a school field trip, but this was the first time for Matt (Mike has still not been...that work think just keeps getting in the way of having fun!). The indoor part of the Aquarium itself is huge and you have to pay to get in (well worth it- it is AMAZING!) . However, there is enough outside, which is free of charge, to keep you busy for hours. Since Mike was not along and it was so late in the day, we opted just to wonder outside.

Right now there is a Flower Festival going on, so there are glorious flowers everywhere! These stairs lead from the parking areas down to the main parts of the Aquarium and park. There were designs made out of the flowers, all so carefully arranged. The boarders were living flowers, but all the flowers in the middle were cut. The mama bird and baby bird were neat- the little girl in the picture loved them too. Our first order of business- lunch (it was after 3:30 and we had not eaten yet). We had packed a picnic lunch so we decided to eat while we watched the Dolphin show. While we waited for the show to start, Matt actually went back to the car for his jacket. In the sun it was nice- but in the shade, being blasted with the wind it was down right chilly.

The Dolphin show was fun and featured several different kinds of dolphins. The main feature of the show were the False Killer Whales. They did a lot of interacting with the trainers.
In this photo I'm not sure if he was sticking out his tongue at us...or playing dead! Since all the announcing was in Japanese, we weren't sure.

The stars of the show where these guys- the Common Dolphin They definitely had the WOW! factor with their incredibly high jumps (and personally, I thought the False Killer Whales looked just a tad sinister!)

After the dolphin show we saw the sea turtles. The breed several different kinds of turtles there at the aquarium and we got to see adults as well as babies. You can view them from the top, then go downstairs and see them under the water. Next best thing to diving with them.

Since I take such great delight in dragging the boys around, we had to check out this little beach. We kicked around for a bit. I made them pose for some pictures then turned them loose to play. The had a blast throwing rocks into the water (do boys EVER outgrow this??)Here is Matt putting his shoes back on as we left the beach. The story behind the photo- he was giving me a hard time about taking pictures of EVERYTHING "We're at the beach- let's take a picture. Oh, hey, he's putting on his shoes- lets take a picture!" Since he was being such a smarty pants I just stood there and took pictures the whole time he put on his shoes- me laughing and him grumbling the entire time.

Hey, anyone want a soda?? Pick a machine, any machine! (just a note here- Matt does not have his hand on David just being nice...he is actually pushing him away from the soda machines so he can't check out what kinds there are).
The boys discovered their new favorite drink- Melon Cream Soda. I am not much of a melon person, but it is surprisingly good.

Matt was uncooperative for pictures after the shoe incident, so David was the only one agreeable to pose in the pictures of this cool dragon like guy (Thank you David!).

Another fantastic feature at the Aquarium is the net play area. This statue is right outside the entrance to the nets.The nets cover a huge area and are very popular (and definitely not something you will find in the states since the potential for injury- ie: lawsuit- is there).Unfortunately, the play area is for children 12 and under...although Matt tried to play, but I made him get off. No way he can pass for 12- especially around all those little Okinawan kids. David had a blast jumping from net to net- we had to drag him away. I will admit to being jealous- looked like ton of fun and I would have been out there in a heart beat!

For some obscure reason, David was really taken with the walking escalator ramp and wanted his picture taken as he came up.

Last stop of the day: The Beach at Sunset