Exploring Through the Rain

We are in the middle of Okinawa's rainy season. It sucks. We are talking monsoon like rains. When the weather says it's not supposed to rain one day, we take full advantage!

The kids and I went on an outing the other day, ending up at the Tomigusuku Castle Ruins Park. I knew the park was closed, but I was hoping to still find the castle ruin part. No such luck. The walking paths were still intact, so we just walked around the whole park. There was almost nothing there besides overgrown jungle. 

We checked out a few parks on the way home, but they weren't much of anything. I'm pretty much convinced that we've found all the good ones. On the way home, we took a different route. I had just made a comment to the kids about being sorry we hadn't found any good parks. I spoke too soon. I spotted a good looking playground and with a little navigating, we got there. It was the Ikoi-no Citizen's Park and it was a good one.

After the little one and I found the melody road the other day, we drove around for a while, finally stopping at the Chibana castle ruins. They aren't much to speak of, which is why we hadn't been there before, but I'm always up for checking something out. You never know what you'll find. 

We didn't find much at the castle ruins though. Lots of stairs that managed to just end. One staircase just kept turning and continuing on. It was overgrown, but we made it to the top and found an observatory. Pretty good view too! 

Gourmet Gift Basket Giveaway

What do you buy someone when they have everything? In today's world, when we see something we want, we buy it. Then, when birthday's and holiday's roll around, we never what we want or what to get other people. 

Have gift baskets ever entered your mind? 

All About Gifts and Baskets does the gift basket thing, but they do it on an entirely different level. They have gift baskets available at any price range with designs for women, men, children, birthdays, anniversaries, thank yous, get wells, new babies, and more.

They are giving away a Gourmet Gift Basket valued at up to $150!

These gift baskets can be used for any occasion and are good for men or women. There are over 80 different designs to choose from, more than enough to find something to please everyone.

Enter by simply using the Rafflecopter form below. 

You must complete the specified entry task in order to be eligible to win the contest.  If you click the entry button without completing the task, your entry will be disqualified from winning.

This contest is open to all residents of the 48 Contiguous States and only to those 18 years of age or older!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners are picked randomly.  The lucky winner will receive their choice of Gourmet Gift Basket (valued at up to $150) from the Gourmet Food Baskets page.

Prize will be fulfilled by the contest sponsor http://www.aagiftsandbaskets.com/.

Winners will be notified via email, so please provide a valid email address. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that time, another winner will be chosen.

The full list of rules can be found here.

Giveaway ends at midnight EST on June 2nd, 2013. The giveaway winners will be announced by June 9th, 2013.

This and That

I get asked a lot for directions to various places I go on island. Should I start including them in posts? I don't know how many people on Okinawa read my blog. I've never included them before because I didn't feel it was necessary and it's time consuming. Some of the better parks will be appearing on OkinawaHai soon. Or so I'm told (wink, wink).

I love my husband. Yes, I love him enough to write a whole post on him, but I think that would embarrass him. He's pretty awesome though. I tend to think he doesn't ever listen when I talk, but then he does something that shows he totally listens to me. So, just putting it out there. My husband is awesome. He reads this too, so I won't get into it anymore.

I got an eShakti gift certificate for my birthday. They are having a sale right now too. What to buy, what to buy.

I've had a lot of sponsored posts come up lately. Part of me feels like a sell out, but then there is so much I pass over because it's just not me. When I started this blog 3+ years ago, I wanted to make money, but now  that's not really the direction I want to go. I'm so torn!

Speaking of my husband, he doesn't like cauliflower or broccoli. I know! What's wrong with him? I could eat them at every meal - raw, steamed, grilled, whatever. The other night, I made these cheesy cauliflower pancakes. After he ate them, I asked if he liked them. He said he did, so I asked if he knew what it was. Silly guy thought they were potatoes! Score one point for me!