Nago Cherry Blossom Festival

My favorite.



The ever-present shisa... guarding the bathrooms... I thought it was such a pretty picture though, so I cropped out the toilet sign.




Yes, that squid on a stick... in case you were wondering...


Yummy things... I have no idea what some of them are, but we ate 'em!


Can you believe it?!? Good ol' corn dogs! With mustard! (As if there were another way to eat a corn dog!)



Emerie loves beans... pinto, black, white northern... whatever ya got. So she especially liked the fried fish shaped pies filled with sweet bean paste.


She's not saying "Cheese." She saying, "Beans!" For real. That's bean paste on her chin.


Noah enjoyed his strawberry lollipop. Shaped like a strawberry. It was really pretty; sorry I didn't take a picture. Okinawan desserts are often very pretty... like tiny works of art.


These poinsettias were just growing. Right there. Out of the ground. I've never seen them like this before... I've only known them sold in pots at Christmastime... you know, the pots with the shiny foil on them. Aren't these amazing?!?

We decided that the white shorts weren't necessarily the best choice. These guys seemed to be enjoying themselves anyway.


One of these lovely ladies is the Cherry Blossom Queen... I think...


And here's the girl who gets to hold their coats.


I love this one.

An afternoon at White Beach...

Christmas at Southeast Botanical Gardens

Happy Halloween?

Yes, I know Halloween is over... really over... But for us, Halloween never really came in the first place. The kiddos had super cute costumes courtesy of Uncle Darin and Auntie Abbey. I was super organized and had everything including props all packed up to go with our "Express" Shipment. That way, we'd get everything soon after our arrival on Okinawa and be able to don our costumes and Trick-or-Treat! As it turned out, the "Express" Shipment wasn't so... express... and we didn't receive our shipment until Halloween had come and gone.

Well, as any parent knows, with kids the ages of Noah and Emerie... Halloween isn't so much about the Trick-or-Treating as it is about the photo ops. Noah and Emerie are still young enough that they don't care much about Halloween. They don't even know they missed it. So I put them in their costumes a few weeks ago and made my own photo ops... See for yourself!

Happy Halloween!

Being a fairy is exhausting!

Our little "Handy Manny." He had a cool jacket too... but he was too busy being handy to go put it on.

Noah and his trusty Phillips head screwdriver... appropriately named... Felipe.

Sweet little "Tinkerbell."