Labor Day Adventures

 

We spent Labor Day Weekend up at Okuma and it was WINDY!!! There was a typhoon blowing somewhere towards mainland Japan, but we were experiencing the effects down in Okinawa! So . . . no snorkeling or diving, but we did get to ride some "wicked" waves on North Beach! Sydney preferred flying the boogie boards like kites, because the waves were too much for her. We decided to boycott the sandblast area of the beach on Sunday and went for a hike up some limestone formations. It was very interesting and exciting! We saw a wild boar (scared the pants off of me, of course which caused a ripple effect down to the kids) and we saw some monster spiders. That is Dan's hand in the background, so you can see how big they are! It was an exciting day with a beautiful vista of the northern most point on Okinawa - Hedo Point.

School Days

 

 

 

Another school year begins on Okinawa! Everyone was excited to start school this year! Brenna has a full schedule as a 7th grader at the Ryukyu Middle School, Morgan has Mrs. Janiga the 3rd Grade Japanese Immersion teacher, and Sydney got Mr. Ishikawa the 1st Grade Japanese Immersion teacher! We are very happy with everyone's teachers and look forward to another great year!

Ears Are Pierced

 
 
 
 
Well - our first ear piercing happened August 29, 2009 immediately following Brenna's last softball game of the season. She had a big support team: Emma and Reece (my friend Melissa's twins), and of course her number one fans: Morgan and Sydney. It was a fun afternoon and Brenna loves her new look!

Summer Recap

Well - I guess it's about time that I make a post. I have pretty much taken the summer off, partly because I didn't have much to say, after our visitors left, and partly because I have been lazy!!! I will get back on track now. We had a great summer first with visitors, then with all of the daily activities we did. The kids did golf camp, tennis camp, swimming, gymnastics, softball, Japanese classes, and lots of playing and beach activities. We helped several new families get adjusted to Okinawa, said goodbye to many friends, and have had some time to relax with old friends. We are all looking forward to starting school - mostly because we will still have summer and beach weather for at least 2 more months! Hope everyone had a great summer!

Okinawa Visitors

Lucky us! We have visitors! Stacy and her family came all the way from Oregon and are on a 3 week visit to Okinawa. We are having the times of our lives - not wasting a single moment - it's go, go, go with no rest for the weary. We have been sightseeing from the Northern Tip to the Southern Coastline and everything in between. For the most part, the weather has cooperated, but it is hot and humid, so we are pretty stinky by the end of the day. Everyone is enjoying our time together and unfortunately, time is flying by. I want to encourage everyone to visit Stacy's Blog, which I have a link for in my link section. She has done a fabulous job documenting their stay here and has some beautiful pictures. I probably will just refer to her link for this visit, because her blog is so AWESOME!

Spring Piano Recital

With the theme of "Favorite Songs from the Silver Screen," the Spring Piano Recital was a huge success. Brenna played the opening song of the recital, the theme song from the movie Titanic, and it was flawless and beautiful. She also played songs from The Little Mermaid and Dr. Zhivago. Morgan played songs from the Lion King and Sound of Music and did wonderfully. Sydney played very well for her very first recital. Nerves got to her a little bit, but she played "Tomorrow" from Annie and "You'll be in my Heart" from Tarzan. She did great and we were proud of all three girls!!