Check out these pearly whites

Cannon got his braces off on Tuesday!  Of course this is just the end of Phase 1 (haven't been told how many phases there are...)  So now he's got 4 very strait, very white, very big teeth.  Hopefully the rest will follow the trend!

...Hello Golden Nugget

The Beater's replacement finally arrived last week - please welcome the "Golden Nugget" (or maybe the Honey Badger???) into the family! She's gassed up and primed for many more adventures!

Farewell Blue Beater...

The Blue Beater has been our old, ugly (yet strangely utilitarian) van since we landed on island.  It's the vehicle that our sponsor picked us up in, and the vehicle that's carted us all over this island on some excellent adventures.  But sadly, the Beater's time came to an end.  About a month ago, a strange noise started coming from the rear quarter of the old girl, and the news from the auto doc was not good.  The repairs were more than she was worth, so we had to opt to put her down.

Here in Okinawa, it's not uncommon to have to "junk" your car.  After all, when you're driving a 15 year old car, it's to be expected.  And "junk" is what we had to do with the Blue Beater.  So after farewell photos with all our friends, we drove her down to the junkyard.  Except they don't pile up rusted out hulls here like they do in the States, instead they recycle the metal and other parts.  The "junkyard" is an elaborate set up where all big metal things end up - washers, refrigerators, cars, etc.  The process is very efficient: pull the vehicle onto a giant scale to be weighed and then get a ticket with how much they will pay you for it.  Go inside the building, wait in line and then get cash money for the car - about $650 for the old Beater!  Brilliant!

So the Beater will be sadly missed (by me, at least, as I get sentimental about my car), but will soon have a replacement...

The family with the Beater.

The neighbors celebrating the Beater with us!

Emmy and Lydia helping me drive her (only in the parking lot, don't worry!)

Opening of the Snorkeling Season!

Mother's Day 2011 and nothing says Mother's Day like a trip to the beach (following a yummy breakfast in bed including chocolate chip pancakes, of course)!

We're getting to be regulars at the secluded beach we found on the south end of the island with our friends Liz, Don and Lydia.  This weekend we had to borrow a friend's van so we could all drive down together, and thanks to Joe's Delica van, we were in the perfect vehicle to go off-roading in order to get to an even remoter spot!  We were trying to find a new access to the beach in order to be closer to the "fishing hole" so the guys started blindly taking itty-bitty farm paths to weave a way towards the water.  There was a small opening after a string of greenhouses with a path that looked promising, so after sending Stevie to scout it out, we headed down the corridor of greenery using the van's 4-wheel drive.  Delicas are like super-sized vans that remind me of the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo.

I love how both guys are leaning out the windows!

Up, up, up!

She'll be coming through the jungle when she comes...

This time we brought our snorkeling gear to try out some of the awesome bowls and trenches we could see from the surface.  The weather has been amazingly cool this spring for Okinawa, but we braved the cooler waters to see the fish.  Cannon is astonishingly brave and jumps right into the deepest part and paddles away.  London is a little more cautious and found a shallow pool to explore.  The girls kept themselves occupied in an even shallower pool while the adults all went in search of underwater sights.

After exploring the depths, we found a really shallow pool that felt like a bath.  We hung out in this "nature bath" for a long time floating and relaxing.  Doesn't Cannon look like a dead body washed up on shore?  What a great way to spend Mother's Day!  Thanks family!

Relaxing in our natural spa

Cannon perfecting the dead man float.

Picnic lunch under the rocks.

Liz heading down to "our" beach.

These creepy little guys were set up in a clearing of vegetation.  Don't know what they are, why they were there or whose they were but didn't want to get hexed trying to find out!

Dragon Boats

Thursday, May 5th was the culmination of one of the most important holiday times in Japan – it’s Kodomo no hi or Children’s day. The whole week has been a big celebration for the Japanese called Golden Week. Golden week is a combination of four holidays celebrated within seven days which consequently leads to one big vacation for all of Japan.

April 29 was Showa no hi which celebrated the birthday of the former Emperor Showa (he died in 1989). May 3rd was Kenpo kinenbi or Constitution Day which was when the constitution was adopted in 1947. May 4th was Midori no hi or Greenery Day. They dedicate this day to the environment and nature. Finally, May 5th, as I said, is Kodomo no hi or Children’s Day. Really, it’s boy’s day since the girls already had a day dedicated to them back in March. This is the day families pray for the health and future success of their sons and hang up the colorful, playful “carp flags” or Koinobori. I love the displays over rivers of the colorful kites, but I’m without photos this year since I forgot to put the memory card back in my camera! Camera + empty memory card slot = sad Louise.


But the other fun, festive thing going on this week were the big Dragon Boat races down in Naha. Emmy and I went to see these last year with Kelly and David, but this year Steve got the morning off so he was able to go too! Unfortunately, the rainy season has started early this year so the races were a little soggy.

Can you see the rain?

So after watching two or three heats (the whole day lasts for 6 hours!), we hit the midway and food tents and then headed home.

I love this picture!  Doesn't Stevie's face say it all?

Okinawa has great festival food like okinomayaki – a combination of cabbage, ham, batter, onions, fish flakes and special sauce – sounds weird, but really good.

And these nummy things which were a combination of okinomayaki and yakisoba (which are noodles and fixings in sauce).

But, of course, what would a carnival be without a huge bag of cotton candy???

Pizza in Okinawa

With all the yummy food options we have here, pizza would not be one of them.  Sure, there is the Pizza Hut on base, as well as Anthony's (which tastes like cardboard to me).  But a good, hunkin', real Italian pizza, well, that's just hard to come by when you're on this island.

And then we discovered Il Piccolino's tucked behind an obscure back vacant lot somewhere 21 km north of our base on Route 58 (those were the directions we were following, and believe it or not, we found it - in the dark!)  Il Piccolino's is a one man show with a grand total of 5 tables and a tiny bar area run by a Japanese dude with a 'fro. But he was trained in Rome and has a tiny little wood oven where he bakes the pizzas and they are DELICIOUS!  Liz and I (we were on a double date) shared the eggplant and salami pizza and the guys shared a spicy pizza with chili oil, spicy Okinawan peppers and spicy sausage.  Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking about the food again...And then there was the bruschetta, and salad, and tiramisu which all knocked our socks off.  Liz summed it up when we walked out of the restaurant, "I'm ready to go back again!"

Yum on a plate!

After the scrumptious dinner, we headed out to a country bar to dance the night away.  I've heard about "Western World" before, but this was our first time there and for a minute, especially as we drove under the dude ranch-like archway and down the pot-holed dirt road, I almost forgot I was in Okinawa.  But then the sight of a parking lot full of little pink and bright green and other oddly colored cars instead of pick-up trucks reminded me I was still in Japan!  Still, the music was country, the beer was cold, the dance floor was wide and the mechanical bull could conquer even the toughest Marine out for a good time.

Yes, they were line dancing, but they were also two steppin'!

Suicide Cliffs

The Battle of Okinawa had a huge influence on modern day Okinawa, in fact it's the reason we're here (along with thousands of other US military members).  That one battle, so long ago, destroyed lives, history and landscapes.  The Okinawans were invaded by the Japanese who were then invaded by the Americans and in the fray of all that, the Okinawan civilians tried to survive by any means possible, and when it wasn't possible they resorted to the honorable way out, suicide.

Yesterday, we headed out on a quest to find the "suicide cliffs" so named because at the end of the battle they were the sight of a bloody, but honorable, exodus from this world for many Japanese.  With the battle won by the Americans, many Japanese soldiers took their own lives here instead of being captured by the enemy.  But it wasn't just the soldiers that jumped from the cliffs, many Okinawans had been told by the Japanese soldiers that the Americans were evil and cruel and so decided to end their lives here as well.  There's a story of a teacher that lead her class of 16 girls to the edge of the cliffs and they all jumped together.  It's an incredible thought that the enemy would be so horrible that death was better, but for many it was true.

We found the infamous cliffs after winding down small rural roads in the pouring rain to end up just feet from the edge.  Actually, I got a little closer than that (all for the sake of a good photo!) which scared the be-jeezes out of Stevie!  The site is actually incredibly beautiful and serene which makes the thought of the historical tragedy that much harder to believe.

Small roads leading out to the cliffs.

Can you say pouring rain???

Beautiful but so tragic.

Before we found the actual cliffs, we found a park that ended up being very close to our new favorite beach.  The way to get to the beach was by rappelling down some rough stairs - all very fun and adventurous. 

Hold on tight going down.

Emmy on the beach.

Random Japanese fisherman coming up the stairs.

Also in this park, the map highlighted a cave so we set out to see what that was about.  A short walk up a path, through the ruins of a fort,

past a rather stinky playground (I believe there was a pig farm somewhere near!) we found the small sign for the cave - right next to a big sign warning about snakes! 

Never mind that sign warning about snakes!

Choosing to ignore the snake sign, we headed into the woods and into a clearing where - ta da! - there lay a gaping whole in the earth better known as the entrance to the cave.  The sign said that this cave had sheltered 1/3 of the nearby villagers during the Battle of Okinawa and had saved countless lives.  (Okinawa has many caves and it was very common for the Okinawans to hide in them during the war).  Using the rope someone had left tied on a nearby rock we shimmied down the opening into the depth.  Unfortunately we didn't have any flashlights or lanterns with us, but we improvised and used Don's iTouch and my camera flash to illuminate our way.  We could see the remains of broken pots and bowls that I presume were left behind by the villagers and a rock that looked amazingly like a skull (pretty sure it was just a rock, though).  We couldn't get too far due to our lack of preparedness, but I sure would like to return to explore! 

Heading down into the cave.

Broken pots in the cave.

Is it a rock or a skull???

Don and Liz swore they saw (were attacked by) a bat, but I'm not sure they weren't hallucinating.  I do have to say that Liz high-tailed it out of the cave faster than anyone thought possible after having the "bat" fly at her - earning the nickname from Stevie as the "Red Fury".  We're not even sure she used the rope to climb out of the cave!

All in all, it was another great adventure into the history and beauty of Okinawa.