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! 

Grass Skiing

My sister is here. Yea!!! We've been keeping busy, shopping, eating, and just running around. Today, we went on a hike, saw a couple waterfalls, then stopped at Kenmin-no-mori on the way home. I took the kids to this park a few months ago, mainly to go grass skiing. You have to be 11 years old to rent the skis, so the kids couldn't go. I've been dying to go back and try it though!

We rented our skis and after trying to figure out our shoe size with Japanese sizes, we were off. 

The hill is kept nicely manicured and offered a great view.

I have snow skied once. I didn't like it. I don't know what made me think this would be any different. I started out at the top of the hill, quickly realized that was a bad idea, and stopped myself. The 4 year old was quite the encourager. We moved halfway down the hill and tried again. My sister went and did fine, so I tried again. The actual skiing part wasn't hard, I just don't like the thought of going down a big hill, continuously picking up speed. I did it though.

Then the little one wanted to try. I know they said you had to be 11, but we put her on a flat part and held her hands while she moved. She did pretty good and kept herself up. 

I have to say it was a fun afternoon. We spend half the time laughing at each other.

Exploring Ginoza and Kin

It was nasty and rainy yesterday. I had some plans to keep the kids entertained, but it was so nasty, we just stayed home. Today was gorgeous and sunny, so Little Missy and I set out early to do some exploring. 

We headed to Ginoza Village first. Supposedly, there is a beach there where you can find tons of sand dollars. We found none. That's ok though. It was still a nice morning on the beach. The town was really cute too. Some houses were modern, while others were still the old school Okinawan style.

I decided to take the highway home and not the expressway. She kept asking to go to the park, so we stopped in Kin. I knew there was a playground there and I managed to find it pretty easily, considering the internet wasn't working on my phone. The park was right across the street from the Okawa natural spring. 

Rules sign. "Never play with your jacket flapping"

Lucky us, there was a large map nearby with points of interest marked. There were a few places I hadn't heard of (I love finding maps like this!!), one being a Buddhist temple and cave. We headed that way next. We found the Kannon temple pretty easily (my internet had started working on my phone again, so I had map capabilities). I gave Little Missy yen for an offering and we worked on her quiet skills.

Inside of the temple

We walked around the grounds and found the cave without a problem. The steps were wet and slippery, so we only went down to the first landing. I didn't know what was down there and I had a 4 year old with me. There we found a small shrine and a buddha. There was tracks going down into the cave to make carting something in and out easy. Once I got home and looked it up, I found out that they store Awamori (Okinawa sake) down there. I guess we should have gone all the way down! I'll have to go back next time I'm up there and check it out. 

A block away from the temple was a small grassy park with a lookout tower. You got ocean views on one side and mountain views on the other! We managed to run into the husband when we grabbed lunch. I'd say that's a pretty good day of exploring. 

Spring Break at the Park

After we went to Nakagusuku Castle on Monday, we went to the park. We have been to the Rocket Park in the past, but it hasn't ever been open when Little Man has been with me. I wanted to see him climb it! It was open today. He turned into a monkey and climbed right up. I caught him trying to shimmy down the poles on the outside once. Small heart attack on my end. I climbed it and the little one managed to climb it too. It took her a while, but she did it and was very proud of herself! We also watched a baseball game while we were there. A bunch of neighborhood boys, playing in a small area, with a tennis ball, but they were having a blast!

I'm going to be sad when we go back to the states. The parks here are unrivaled. 

After all our fun was had there, we headed north to a new park on 329. No idea what the name of it is, but it's right before you get to Ishikawa. You can't miss it.

I want one of these swings, just a little bigger for my rear. Little Missy calls them bed swings. I think that's appropriate.

Playing Tour Guide

My parents are here! This is their second trip here, they were here about a year and half ago. We did a bunch of the big touristy things the first time they were here, so this time we are just kinda hanging out and I'm showing them some of my favorite places.

Important things first, I took Mom for a pedicure. She was amazed. I told her it would be the best pedicure she's ever had and she completely agreed with me.

We also went to Gala, Cape Zanpa, and the Yomitan Pottery Village.

Friday, we went to Shuri Castle, Naminoue Shrine, and Fukushen Gardens.

Today, we went to Ryukyu Mura and then spent some time at the beach.

More than anything, I think someone is happy to have her grandparents here. Little Man is excited too, but he's been at school everyday. I feel bad he doesn't get to do everything with us, but he got some special time this weekend.

I'm so happy I have family willing and able to come see us. My parents and my in-laws have both been here twice and my sister is coming for a second time later this spring. The parents mostly come because they have grandkid withdrawals and it has nothing to do with me or the husband, but I'm ok with that!



Last Weekend

Last weekend was one of those super busy weekend, that also managed to be lots of fun. The old one had a half day of school on Thursday and no school on Friday. I picked both kids up Thursday and we headed out to have some fun. 

Of course, we went to the park first. The Nishizaki Athletic Park. A rollerslide, a 3 story cave, some other stuff....it doesn't get much better.

Then, right across the street, was another park. We'd been to the first playground before, but not this one. This one had a huge trampoline thing that you had to climb all these ropes to get to.

After we were all kinda pooped, we set off for Sefa Utaki. We stopped at the Peace Prayer Park along the way. Someone had emailed me a long time ago asking if I knew of a list of names of the deceased listed on the walls. I didn't, so I told him if I was ever down that way, I'd stop and take a picture of the name on the wall. Of course, we had to stop at the park there. It's huge and easy to miss if you don't know it's there.

Sefa Utaki is an important sacred site of the indigenous Okinawan religion, which, similar to Shinto, places emphasis on the worship of nature. It's also on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list and on my bucket list.

Friday, we hit some of our old favorite parks.

  Saturday, we went to the Nago and the Nakijin Castle Cherry Blossom Festivals and on Sunday, we went to the circus. We had actually gone the week before. I had already bought tickets, but seating was on a first come, first serve basis. We got there before the show, but the general seating was full and the reserved seating tickets were sold out. I tried to buy reserved seating tickets for the next weekend, but they were completely sold out too. The first show on Sunday was at 10:20. We were out of the house by 7 and in line by 7:45. By the time we got into the show, the line for the 1:00 show was full already. Completely crazy. It was only a one ring circus, but it was a 2 hour show and the kids loved it! That makes it completely worth it. Cameras weren't allowed, but I did take a couple with my phone.