Okinawa Day 4: Dreary Sunday

(Audra with a shell that the kids found at the beach the other day)

Sunday, May 3rd--The forecast told us that it was supposed to rain hard all day.  Sure enough, the sky was dark and gloomy when we got up this morning.  No rain, though.  

We were all still pretty tired and worn out from our ocean animal adventures yesterday.  We laid around and had a lazy morning getting breakfast and ready for the day.  We all gathered in Kiyoko San's living room and had our own little church meeting.  We read a few scriptures and those who wanted to bear their testimony of their knowledge and love of our Savior did so.  We all feel so lucky and blessed to be here, and know that it was God's hand that has blessed us with the chance to experience Okinawa.  During our "church", we all took turns sharing how our experiences in Japan has deepened our knowledge of God and our understanding of the teachings of our church.  We have had some incredible spiritual experiences during our Japan journey.  The Holy Spirit came into the home during this time and we all felt edified.

Because it was Sunday, we didn't have a lot planned for today.  We wanted to keep the Sabbath day holy, but didn't want to waste even one precious day on this island.  Our plans for the day included spending time together as a family on the beach.  We would be resting and recovering from the past few days, yet we could still enjoy this island while doing so.

When we were at the beach the other day, we noticed a small shrine built across the shallow lagoon at the edge of the boat marina.  Several of us wanted to go check it out, so after "church", we did just that.  Caitlin is tired of visiting shrines and didn't care to go, so she stayed at the house with Nathan and Kirstin.

 These are the homes that are right across the street from Kiyoko San's home.  No one lives in them.

 We began our walk toward the boat marina.  This picture shows the narrow streets similar to what we find in Japan.  You can also see the tires and sandbags on a roof to protect it during typhoons.  We saw this a lot.

Most of the homes in this neighborhood of Nago looks like this--drab and run down.  It was starting to sprinkle by now.

We made it to the boat marina and walked down the cement barrier toward the little shrine.

The shrine was so small that if it hadn't been for the torii gate, we probably wouldn't even have noticed it from across the lagoon.  Big or small, colorful or plain, we haven't really tired of seeing all the many, many shrines all over Japan (except for Caitlin, of course).  This is the first shrine we have seen here in Okinawa.  They are everywhere in Japan, and we are curious as to why we don't see them here as much.

We decided to explore the rocks surrounding the cute little shrine.

We found several large shells and many sand dollars.  Christopher found a large one that was still whole, but he put it in a place where it accidentally got stepped on and it broke.  He was rather upset.  Attached to these rocks, there was a long cement wall built to block the ocean's waves from coming in to where the boats are parked in the marina.  We walked along the wall.

Standing at the edge of the wall, we could see the small lagoon that the kids had enjoyed the other day.  The ocean water was only up to their knees or waists (depending on which child it was).  Now, with the tide out, the lagoon was completely exposed.

We could also see the beach that we had played on the other day.  With the tide out, we could see that many rocks would be easy to get to.  When we were here the other day, the water was too deep to be able to reach them.  Even though it was cloudy and sprinkling rain, we decided to hurry home and get our swimsuits on so that we could explore the beach before the tide came back in.  We took a shortcut back to Kiyoko san's home on a path that we found through some heavy foliage.  Along the path were shells that were bigger than my hand.  So big! 

Even though it was stormy, we were sweating from the heavy humidity that was in the air as we walked back.  It was stifling.  Here is another picture of the neighborhood.

Love this house!  It really stood out from the rest of this neighborhood because it was tidy, colorful, and cheerful. 

We all got our suits on and got to the beach as quickly as we could.  The tide was still out!  Logan is in this picture.

The kids were able to walk out to these rocks and explore them.  They found many shells, sand dollars, and crabs on the parts of the rocks that are covered with ocean water during high tide.  Tayla and Chris are in this picture.

Logan building a sand castle.  In the background, you can see the cement wall that we had been on earlier.

Nathan digging in the sand.  You can see some sea glass pieces scattered on the sand.  We gathered a lot more sea glass today, almost filling up an entire gallon size Ziploc bag.  We found many different colors: white, green, blue, brown, and pink.  They are so pretty!  They will be a great memento of our beach time in Okinawa.

I'm a little embarrassed by Audra's swimsuit.  It has become too small for her and before coming to Okinawa I looked around in stores for a new one for her.  The only one I could find in her size was 3500 yen ($35.00) and I wasn't paying that much.  So, Miss Audra had no choice but to show her belly off.  We'll have to get her a new one when we return to the states and pass this one down to Kirstin. 

Besides showing off her belly, Audra is also showing off her ring that she got from her dad.  It's the top of a glass bottle.  Raymond scoured the beach and found one for each of his daughters and his wife.  Now, we each have a sea glass "ring".

Our "private" beach at low tide. 

Even though the sky was gloomy, the air was still warm and humid.  The water wasn't cold and we could still enjoy ourselves.  It didn't sprinkle on us the rest of the day.  With the low tide, the kids could swim out farther than they could the other day and still be safe. Left to right: Tayla, Nathan, Chris, Caitlin.

Logan, Christopher, Tayla enjoying the waves as the tide started coming in.

Kirstin just isn't a fan of the sand, ocean water, or anything else beach related.  The one exception is sea shells.  She did like playing with the shells that the kids brought back to the towels to take home.  I hung out with her for a lot of the day so that she could sit on my dress and be protected from the sand.

She did sit on the sand long enough to eat her Pretz.  She lives on these things.  They are little pretzel sticks that come in a bag. There are different flavors and Kirstin loves them all and doesn't like sharing with her siblings.  I don't know what she is going to do when we get back to the states and she can't eat Pretz anymore. 

Left to Right: Logan, Tayla, Caitlin, and Chris.

I didn't take many pictures today because I got into the ocean water and explored with the kids.  I didn't want to worry about getting the camera wet.  We hurt our feet as we walked on the rocks in the shallow water, but we were so excited by all that we found.  We found a sea star, two sea cucumbers, and found a few little fish among the rocks because of the low tide.  We gathered sand dollars, shells, and sea glass.  We built sand castles and observed the tide coming in.  It was a relaxing and memorable day!  So glad that it didn't rain on us like the forecast said it was supposed to.