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.

Getting Up Close and Personal with More Ocean Animals

Saturday, May 2nd--After we had explored the aquarium, we wandered outside to see the animals in the pools near the ocean shore.  The first place we went to was THE DOLPHIN SHOW!!!  It was free to the public!!  We had been anticipating this and were so excited!

The show was performed by two dolphins and this amazing killa, or a false killer whale.

This was a favorite part of the show for the kids.  The killa was out of the pool so the audience could see him, and the trainer in front of him would throw a fish in his mouth and turn away, only to turn back and see that the killa had spit it out.  They repeated this 4-5 times before the killa finally ate the fish.  The kids thought it was funny that the killa had been trained to spit it out several times to "trick" the trainer.

Back in he went.

Then it was the dolphin's turn to shine.  They did jumps and flips.  We were impressed by the height of their jumps.

Jumping over a pole....

.....and reaching up to touch a ball with their nose that was suspended above the pool.

Waving good-bye at the end of the show!  

The "grand finale" was when the killa leaped out toward the audience and beached itself and smiled.  We gave the killa and the other two dolphins a standing ovation!  The show lasted about 20 minutes and was so amazing to watch!  Mom cried during the whole show because she loves dolphins so much and was so excited for the kids to see him in a setting like this.

After the show, we took a bathroom break and got Audra a soda to get her tummy going.  She didn't really want it, but she hadn't thrown up for awhile and we thought if we could get some fluids and sugar in her, she would perk up and feel better.

This picture is of Kirstin in the baby seat that can be found in most public bathrooms in Japan.  These things are genius!  For years, I have complained about the predicament that moms are in when they have a baby and need to use the public bathroom and can't hand their baby off to someone else to hold while they take care of business.  We need baby seats like this one in the public bathroom stalls in America!  

As we walked along to the next pool, we came to a different pool of dolphins.  There was another killa in this pool also.  (Chris, Caitlin, and Logan are in the picture.)  We were SSOOO CLOSE to the dolphins in this pool!  So close that we all got sprayed by them and we could have reached out and touched them if we would have been allowed to!

  

The trainers were feeding them and talked to the audience about the dolphins.  It was all in Japanese, so we couldn't understand what was being said and they were going too fast for Raymond to be able to interpret for us.  However, we were still able to pick up on some things when they would command the dolphins to do something.  We will never forget the moment when two of the dolphins turned over on their backs and the trainers pointed out their "private areas".  We didn't know that was coming and it shocked us.  We learned about their anatomy whether we wanted to or not!

Dolphins are amazing animals!  Their strength and ability in the water is always impressive, and they are so smart!

Turning circles.....

....leaping.....

....balancing a ball on its nose......

....holding a box.....the killa swam backward holding this box and then swam forward again.  He never lost it.

It was such an experience to be so close to these amazing animals!  They are truly some of the most amazing animals that God has created.

All too soon, the dolphin show ended and we moved on to see the other outdoor pools.  We found this shisa dog next to the walk and posed with him.  There was another one on the opposite side of the walk to make the pair.  Audra was still in the stroller nursing her soda, so she isn't in the picture.

The first dolphin show that we had seen was getting ready to start again, and we decided that we MUST see it again--we just loved it that much!

It was so hot, but we got to the arena early enough that we were able to get some seats in the shade.  Yay for us!  Miss Audra laid like this throughout most of the show, poor thing!

Smile!!!

Of course, the show was the exact same as before.  We didn't care!  We clapped and cheered just as loud as the first time. 

We loved it!  Dolphins are truly unique and special animals.

After the show, we went to see the sea turtles.  The boys are looking down at the baby sea turtles in their pool.

They were so cute swimming around in their little pools!  The kids got a kick out of them.

Standing next to the adult sea turtle pool.

Can you find six sea turtles in this picture?

Well, hello!

We went down some stairs so we could see the turtles swimming through the glass.

The kids loved watching the sea turtles just as much as the dolphins!  They are so mesmerizing, swimming so smoothly through the water.  Nathan refused to look at the camera for this picture because he didn't want to take his eyes off of a video that was playing in the corner.  The video showed how a sea turtle will return to the exact same beach where it was hatched to lay its eggs.  It showed the turtle digging a hole, laying many eggs, burying them, and then going back out into the ocean.  Then, it showed hundreds of tiny and adorable baby turtles hatching and scurrying out to the waves crashing against the shore.  Nathan was completely fascinated by the process and watched this video several times.  He asked me about the baby turtles out in the huge ocean all by themselves without their parents to protect them or give them food.  He thought they were so brave to just run out into the ocean after just hatching.  After all, the ocean is a dangerous place for a baby sea turtle.

The manatees were the last pool for us to visit.  We happened to get here at feeding time and watched them eat plants that were thrown in their tanks.

There were two tanks, one for the males and one for the females.  These are known as the "cows of the sea".

We watched them lumber around their tanks.  Near their tank, there was a whole wall full of information about manatees and we were all engrossed in reading about them and watching them....until I counted heads and realized that we were missing Nathan.  We looked and looked, checked the bathrooms and the upstairs viewing area for the manatees.  No Nathan.  Checked out the sea turtles again, since he DID really love the video...still no Nathan.  We were beginning to get really worried when I noticed him back over on the walkway that had the water mist on either side.  He just got too hot and remembered the mist and decided to go cool off.  O.k., time to quit looking at animals and go to the beach!

The beach near the Churaumi Aquarium is called Emerald Beach.  We had been wearing our swimsuits under our clothes all day in anticipation of playing on this beach once we were done looking at animals.

Emerald Beach is a man-made beach.  There are lifeguards here as well as bathrooms and concessions stands.  The sand was white and clean, especially compared to our "private beach" that we had enjoyed the day before.  The beach in Nago had a lot of litter and stuff from the ocean that had washed up on the shore.  This beach was well groomed.  Christopher's head is popping out of the water and Nathan is in the red shorts.

Tayla, Caitlin, and Logan got right to work building in the sand.

And then, there were these two!  Kirstina had had a very busy day, most of it outside in a very hot, humid environment.  She had only been able to get a short nap while we were in the aquarium, and she was just plumb worn out.  She fell asleep, so we laid her down in the shade.  Audra was still sipping on her soda, claiming that she was still sick.  The color to her face had returned, however, and she hadn't thrown up in a really long time.

But, then she began to see all the fun that the other kids were having.  I asked her if she wanted to get her feet wet.  She said she would try it, but she was sure she was going to throw up again. 

Soon, she had her stripped down to her swimsuit and she was busy with the other kids building in the sand and running through the water.  She may have missed out on many of the animals today, but she wasn't going to miss out on the beach time!

Sunset at Emerald Beach.

Time to pack it up and make our way home.  What a great day this was!  One of our favorite days out of all our time in Japan!  We were sad to see it end, but we were also worn out and tired.

As we made our way out the park, we spotted another one of these flower animals!  A crab!

It was ridiculously expensive to ride the bus to the aquarium this morning, and we didn't want to repeat it getting back to Nago.  Raymond negotiated with a taxi cab driver and he agreed to take us to Nago for 6000 yen ($55.00)!  Done!  Ray got in front with Audra and the driver, and the rest of us piled in the back.  We were all packed in like sardines and sitting on each other's laps, there were arms and legs everywhere! But, the driver didn't care. We joked how this would NEVER happen in America!  In America, we have to have car seats and booster seats for little ones, seat belts, and each passenger needs their own space/seat.  Not so in Japan.   

The taxi driver dropped us off on the main highway, just a couple of blocks from the home where we were staying.  We thanked him and began to walk home.

On the way, we noticed a booth selling taco rice.  This is something that Okinawa is well-known for and we had wanted to try it while we were here.  We bought two orders for 500 yen each.  The chef made it in front of us and we could easily see into the kitchen.  The kitchen was VERY dirty and I wasn't sure that we wanted to eat this taco rice.  We might get sick.  But, we braved it and shared these two orders, along with eating leftover yakisoba from last night.

Taco Rice sounds like a Tex-Mex dish, but it has its origins in Okinawa.  It is ground beef flavored with sake, soy sauce, garlic, and tomato paste.  It is served on a bed of rice, along with some or all of the following: cheese, lettuce and tomato.  We loved this stuff!  We have to learn how to make it once we get back to the states!  It's simple enough, surely we can figure it out!  Being able to experience taco rice was the perfect ending to a great day!