Okuma for the day

So this weekend we decided to drive up to Okuma.  It's about an hour and 20 minutes from our house.  The Military has a resort area up here and we wanted to check it out so that we could maybe rent a cabin or camp up here sometime.  

 Reagan enjoying the amazingly warm water.  We forgot the snorkel gear this trip, but it was still fun.

We probably border on crazy, over-protective parents sometimes.  For example, Brock is wearing a rash guard shirt, hat and sunglasses and was in his shaded float while we were in the water, and if not in the water, then he was in our beach tent.  At one point Brandon looks over and sees this baby that is younger than Brock wearing only a swim diaper and eating sand on the beach.  Yikes!

You can almost hear him saying "Ahhh, this is the life!"

I told you that I'm obsessed with these pictures - This is at a different beach - Torri Station.  We went up there for a Pirate party on the beach.   

This is the broken coral beach at Torri station.

I clearly need to work on my photography skills.  Putting them against the setting sun wasn't the smartest idea.

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

I forgot to include our trip to the aquarium on my Labor Day weekend post.  We ended up going up to the museum with our neighbors and their kids, which turned into a really fun day.  It took about an hour and a half to get up there, but was a nice, scenic drive, so we didn't mind at all.  We opted to get the year membership, so I'm sure there will be plenty more trips to the aquarium in our future.

Reagan in the aquarium entrance area.  The building was beautiful.

Reagan holding a blue starfish in the "petting" area.  They also had sea cucumbers, which she described as "squooshy" - that's all I needed to hear to leave it laying at the bottom of the tank!

They had 3 whale sharks that we noticed.  Absolutely the biggest fish I've ever seen in person.  

Brandon hates these photos, but for some reason I feel a strong urge to take one every time he's wearing Brock :).  

This one smiled at me, how could I not take its picture?

In the museum area, this petrified fish caught our attention - lame pun, I know. 

So, I mentioned that we went with our neighbors, they brought along a little friend of their daughters, who is Japanese.  I think her name is Sacura, or something like that, but anyway, she turned into our translator for the day.  She stumbled on this free craft area, so we all made a shell creation.   

This is the outside of the aquarium.  

The dolphin show at the aquarium.  It's no SeaWorld, but it wasn't bad.  
They also have a manatee and turtle exhibit, but we didn't make it to those attractions this visit. 

Ok, I know this one looks bad...  We went to American Village one day to just walk around and check it out.  It was HOT outside!  We stopped for Shaved ice and felt guilty eating in front of a melting Brock.  I dug to the inside of my shaved ice to find the pure ice and he was in heaven!   I should have taken video of how fast his tongue was licking my spoon!

Labor Day weekend

Brandon had to fly to Hawaii the week before Labor Day to take his written board exam.  The timing stunk, but they only offer the test once a year, and Hawaii was the closest testing center that he could take it at.  So, off he went for a week in Hawaii, I'm trying to lay it on thick so he feels guilty.  I'm sure he would tell you that he would have rather stayed here than take the test.  

Anyway, he was supposed to get home Thursday night, but his ANA flight was canceled so he was put up in a hotel in Tokyo for the night.  It all worked out fine and he was back on the island by 3:30 on Friday to kick off our long weekend.  

We are doing lots of exploring and driving around trying to find places we've read about online.  We are also looking for things for the house, like a big area rug and a dining room table, so we hit a few Japanese stores in search of those items.  We didn't find either, but had fun looking. 

We also ventured over to White Beach, which is the Navy base on the island.  They have some cabins and trailers to rent right on the beach for a camping weekend.  Here are a few pictures that don't do the water justice at all.  It reminds me of the Caribbean, with the different shades of blue.

The beach itself is fairly rocky and there wasn't a jelly fish net, but it looked shallow enough to be able to go out pretty far.  I'm not much for camping, but with this view and a camper/trailer with air conditioning, I could probably learn to suffer through it.   

Reagan claims that she's never been on a teeter-totter, and quite frankly, I can't remember if she ever has either.  Maybe they've been banned from playgrounds, who knows.   Anyway, we had to give it a go so that she could cross it off her bucket list.

Moving in...

So, we've been on Okinawa for a month now.  We were offered housing and were able to move in 2 weeks to the day we landed on the island.  I think I told you in the last post that we picked the single family home in Stearley Heights.  Here are a few of the before pictures and the movers.

 This is one of our Express shipment boxes.  None of them were in good shape when they got here.  This was the worst packing job that we've had in our 5 moves with the military.  

 We had a weight restriction on this move and were only allowed to bring about 1/4 of our stuff.  The furniture you see is loaner furniture from the government.    It's nothing fancy, but will work just fine.  

 Here I am "febreezing" the house with the loaner furniture included.  Brock's along for the ride.

I'll post the "after" photos in a few days.  We are getting rugs for the living room, so I want to wait until I have those.

In the meantime, we've been busy.  Reagan had her first day of school and that went well.  She was pleased with the third grade teacher she got.   

Here's Reagan on the first day.  We are able to walk to/from school, which is a first for us and a nice treat.

Up next, Labor day weekend!