Ryukyu Glass Factory

This weekend we decided to head South to the Ryukyu Glass Factory.  Ryukyu Glass is in every gift shop on the island.  They make it right here on the island, but also have a factory in Vietnam.  You can buy pieces from both locations here.   We didn't buy any of the glasses, but plan to get a few before our time on Okinawa is over.  

Brandon and the kids outside the factory

Watching the artists working.    

They were watching a guy making a vase I think.  I liked the mosaic wall behind them.   You could buy the glass tiles in the store.  

 The  inside of the store area

 Here is Reagan with some of the expensive pieces.  Trust me, she got the "look with your eyes, not your fingers" speech before we went inside.

 In the Glass Outlet, you could buy a box of scrap glass pieces.  We filled a box and are planning some craft projects for them.

 I took this picture  in the Museum area, and got reprimanded by the clerk.  Oops, no photos allowed!

 The Japanese love their Ice Cream.  Almost every store or attraction has a stand outside.   We've eaten more ice cream here than ever before!  Reagan and I are debating our options.

Brock and Brandon went with Pineapple ice.  Brock gives it a thumbs up.

Produce shopping

Yesterday I took the kids to a Japanese produce market called JA.  I've been once before with a friend and have been excited to go back.  I've been buying most of my stuff at the commissary on base, but prices are HIGH!  They even have signs up at the commissary explaining why they have to charge so much.   Plus, by the time stuff gets here from the states, it isn't all that fresh anymore.  Most of the time the salad mixes have a day or two at most left before their expiration date.  

Here's a picture that I took at the commissary of the potatoes at Christmas time.  That price per bag is for a 5 pound bag.   

Here's the loot we came home with after our trip, all for 1800 Yen (about $18.00)

Reagan picked out the flowers, the white bundle was only $1.50 and the pink ones were closer to $3.00

 2 Heads of Cabbage for roughly 50 cents!!! Crazy!

Here's Reagan with the celery.  Who knew, right?  Needless to say, we are going to be having celery of some sort with every meal :).  The celery was $1.80

I did learn that I have no business arranging flowers.  I even got to play with them a bit when my sister-in-law owned a flower shop, but clearly I didn't learn anything from Jess.  

I can't wait until my parents come to visit next year to take my dad.  When we lived in San Diego, he loved Henry's, our local produce market so much.  I swear, a trip to Henry's was the highlight of his day.  JA is no Henry's, but it's the closest I've found here on Okinawa.

Easter 2013

Happy Easter!  This post contains all of our various Easter activities.  Here the kids are at the Exchange getting their picture taken with the Easter bunny.  Reagan has had her picture taken with the bunny in Williamsburg for several years and likes the bunny there (My sister-in-law is plays the part of the bunny), but for whatever reason she had no desire to meet this bunny.  It could be her age, or the fact that she thought this one was "creepy" in her words...who knows.  The good parents we are made her do it anyway, because we needed someone to hold Brock :).

Brock wasn't scared, but pulled the same trick he did with Santa, and just wouldn't look at Dad for a picture.

One of our neighbors goes all out for Easter and invited the kids over for an egg hunt on Saturday.  They invited a few other families, and there were probably 15 kids participating.  Before it got started, the neighbor mentioned that there were over 1000 eggs, plus Golden eggs which had special prizes.  It was nuts, Reagan had to come back and dump her basket at our feet so that she could keep filling, as did all the kids.  Such a fun morning and it was nice that the weather cooperated. 

 Here's Brock checking out the eggs.  He wasn't impressed at all with the grass.  Notice below his extra long stretch to reach the egg.   He certainly wasn't going to crawl on the grass to get it. 

Saturday afternoon the base was hosting an Egg hunt at the ball diamonds.  They were advertising 50,000 eggs and had 4 different times for each age group.  The picture below is taken through the ball fence.  You can't see Reagan, but she's out there somewhere.  She cleaned up with 19 eggs and had a good time. 

 Brock, not getting what all the fuss with Easter egg hunting is all about :).

They also had Japanese dancers and other performances going on.  This little guy was so cute to watch.  

A shisha dog performer. 

Reagan decorating our easter eggs. 

Easter morning's egg hunt was indoors since it was raining hard outside.   Here's Brock on the move. 

The kids with their Easter goodies.  Keep in mind this is from the bunny, 2 sets of Grandparents and an aunt and uncle.  The bunny is not that generous!

I love this action shot of Reagan.  You can see her hair flap as she flounced down to grab an egg.

Reagan cracking her eggs to see what's inside.