When the Japanese kids visit

 Callie's 6th grade class got to go visit the Japanese school a few months ago.  Last week they hosted the Japanese kids, and I got volunteered to help out for the day.

I met about 90 kids and adults at the front gate and walked them to the bus that drove them to the school. (Half were there to visit the 3rd grade.) They are SO cute in their uniforms and hats!

They started off in the gym, doing Zumba.  It was a good ice breaker and by the end, even Callie was moving!

Then it was lunch time. 

They bring the cutest and yummiest looking lunches! 

A sneak shot of Callie! 

After lunch was recess.  Then these awful team building exercises.  With a partner, they were each given one chop stick and they had to figure out how to open a gallon zip lock bag (using only their chop sticks), remove the brown paper bag inside that and untape it and open it, which held another zip lock bag full of paper clips strung together.  They were suppose to get in and unstring the paper clips.  I'm pretty sure the Japanese kids had no idea what was happening, but they tried hard!

Next was making Valentine's cards. 

 Last was my favorite!  Dodge-ball!  It was awesome!  The Japanese kids were hard-core about it and balls were flying.  They may have been squishy balls, but those kids could hurl them like nobody's business.  I was impressed.

They got everyone together and did a few ending activities and then it was over.  Whew!

Okinawa Trip: Monday

 Monday morning we drove the hour back down to Camp Foster.  I wanted to go by Plaza Housing, so we did that.  I was able to find my house and that was really neat.  We drove around a bit but there was little that was familiar, aside from the house and some of my close neighbors.  The weather was drizzly and rainy, and we drove down to see the "American Village" that had been built since I had lived there.   It was raining, so we didn't look around too  much.

The rain stopped about the time we got back to the cabin, which was good.  We needed nice weather for our grand adventure!  At low tide, we planned to walk out to a fun-looking cluster of tiny islands. The weather wasn't "nice" exactly.  It was a breezy 68, but it wasn't raining and the water was not cold, and we had islands to explore.

So we did!  And it was just as awesome a it sounds.  Low tide was at 2:15, so we waded out at 1:30, and it was waist deep on me.  Dan piggy-backed Rylee and Delaney clung tightly to my hand.  Callie walked and Marian just swam.  We had a good time exploring and collecting shells and I made us head back at 2:15 on the dot.  I did not want to get stuck out there when the tide came in.

Tuesday we visited Kadena and the thrift stores and then drove back to Naha, where we flew back to Fukuoka and took the Shin back to Iwakuni.  No pictures of that because it wasn't very exciting.

The entry gate to Plaza.

 That's my house!  I lived there!

 And it looks exactly the same.   It is up for renovation in the next few years, so that's nice.

In American Village, the girls found a fun shop with these excellent stuffed animals.

So they all had to pose that they were being eaten by them.  I love Delaney's face here.

They are silly girls. And they make me laugh. 

That is the cluster of islands we wanted to walk over to. And the tide is down. 

Off we went! 

Okay, maybe it wasn't really thrilling, but it was cool to do it. 

Marian wanted a photo here.  I love the deadpan face! 

Callie's Heroic Pose on the rocks.  Exploring was fun. 

Walking over to the next little rock island. 

Rylee sure is cute. 

 And she still lets me take photos, so that's why you get more of her!

Eventually we all moseyed over to this rock island. 

Marian walked all the way around it.  Apparently it was really rocky and there were some big crabs that were cool, but scary. 

Only Rylee would take a selfie with me! 

While collecting shells, we tried really hard to not steal any that were inhabited.  Callie did get a lovely collection of homeowners though. 

They were a lively crew, but we had to leave them behind.   

Starting the hike back. 

There's Callie, swimming along.

And  here is the goodbye picture.  This is the view from Naha Airport.  

Okinawa Trip: Sunday

 Sunday morning we were up and out the door at 8.  With traffic, it is an hour to get to Camp Foster, so we wanted plenty of time to get to 9am church.  But there was no traffic on Sunday morning!  We had more than enough time, so we swung through Camp Foster to drive by the schools.

Then we drove to church.  Wow!  Everything is so different than it was 22 years ago!  But the church is the same.  I don't remember it being that big though.  It was neat to see these places, even though I recall very little about them.  There was a Linger-longer after church and we were invited to stay, so we did so with great delight.

After a lovely lunch we went back to our cabin at White Beach and several of us went down to walk along the gorgeous beach.  It is soothing to the soul, I have decided.  And it gave a glorious sunset.

Adam and Miranda- did you go to Zukeran?! 

Here I am, at my old High School!Who'd have thought?!  Kubasaki looks..... I don't know!  I think I have blocked the memory, but it looks the same and very different.  

I did sneak a picture inside the chapel.  I miss having real pews. 

Me, at the front of the chapel I use to go to. 

The much more familiar back entrance to the church. 

Down at the beach, with Callie posing on the rock. 

And Marian must do it too. 

She cracks me up! 

Callie and Rylee. 

Dan and Rylee. 

Callie made a friend. 

It was very cute. And a little shy. 

Rylee wanted to bring it home. 

We found this on the beach and HAD to poke at it. 

It was a very long (dead) snake. 

So pretty!  And can you see that speck in the sky?  A helocpotor flew over. 

Delaney had much fun practicing her gymnastics on this balance beam. 

These two make me laugh.  

And a dazzling gift from God.  I love it.