Field Trip with Rylee to Okinawa World

 Rylee is ing to go up and be an agoraphobic cat lady.  She never wants to go do anything and she was very unhappy to have a field trip for school. I was much more excited than she was, so I volunteered to chaperone.  I had to get a ridiculous amount of security clearance done to be able to volunteer, but I did it, because I wanted to go!

It was a trip to Okinawa World to see the cool underground cave there.  Rylee apparently really hates dark places and she was a little scared of this cave.  I got to be in charge of her and two other really sweet girls and we had a good time. Except maybe Rylee, who dreaded the cave.

Chilling on the bus on the way there.

At the entrance with all the pretty flowers. 

The cave was damp and hot and drippy and filled with these never-ending stalagmites and stalactites. 

Just look how cool it was!  Okay, it was a lot more amazing in real life. 

It was really pretty in some parts as well. 

Ug, such dark and poor quality photos.  But you can see the stalagmites having down to the walkway.  Giant and impressive.  I was trying to get a photo of Rylee there, but it is not good. 

There was one area where the kids could do a little bit of climbing on the rock formations and they could touch them.  It was neat and Rylee decided this part was okay,

Courtesy selfie. She was not enthusiastic. 

Once we were done with the cave she loved everything else. 

 Obligatory photo op.

 There was a glass blowing area where you could watch them blow glass.  That was very cool, but the kids were more enthralled by this.  It had a reflexology chart for feet at the start and you walked on these glass blobs that got less and less comfortable as you went on.

 Rylee thought it was the coolest thing ever and it was her favorite part.

 We explored the snake museum and the girls were creeped out by these habu snakes in the barrel.  There was a sake bottling plant in there where you could buy sake and other things with a habu snake inside.  We did not purchase anything there!

Outside the museum was this area with what looked  like a few snakes.  Then, as you looked closer, there were snakes everywhere!!  Can you see that there are about 10 of them in the shrub?!  

And there was a cage with these adorable bats.  I want one! 

Rylee was enamored with this iguana.  Poor little thing was touched by about 100 2nd graders that day. 

Obligatory ice cream, because, well, Japan has awesome ice cream! 

My friend Amy also chaperoned the field trip and we got a selfie in front of the pretty flowers. 

 This tree was too cool to pass up a photo with.

True love in the gift shop!

All Levi

Levi was feeling neglected.  See that little black plastic dog at his feet?  He pulled that out of the toy box in a bid for attention.  I told him to put it back, but he just dropped it.

And then he wouldn't look at me.  His feelings were hurt. 

Levi loves a car ride. 

He tries to act all cool about it, but he really wants to go on a ride whenever we get in the car. 

He likes to sniff the smells and feel the wind on his face and hang out with his people.  He does not want to be left behind! 

But mostly he just wants to smell stuff.

Things to mention

There is a Facebook group here called Oki rocks.  People paint rocks and hide them around the island (mostly on base) and people find them and then post that the rock was found and usually they will re-hide them.  The girls love this and have been keeping their eyes pealed, and have found some fun rocks.  They also want to paint them.  I feel that their enthusiasm is greater than their talent, but that isn't the point, and they have a very good time.  These are some of their creations. 

When you need more flannel for your blankets and Joanne Fabrics has a fabulous sale going on so you spent $100 or so on glorious fabric and it finally arrives in the mail and you are giddy with joy and want to throw it all on the ground and roll in it.  So many really cute patterns in 3 yard increments! I think there was 35 yards or so in there. 

Things that amuse me:  This is a taxi in the lane for the Taco Bell drive through. 

Oh my!  I claim to dislike travel, and yet I keep doing it!  I currently have 3 trips booked in the next 3 1/2 months.  Awaken this weekend, Beijing and Hong Kong in March, then Korea in May.  Apparently I just couldn't live with a brand new passport with no stamps in it. 

Hee hee hee.  Just in case you did not know how to use a toilet, there are instructions.   

For Spanish class, Callie needed to make a genealogy chart with names and photos.  She had to label them in Spanish.  I felt that this was a little unfair with the number of family members she has.  I had to get 61 photos printed at the photo shop for her!  61! And they were a little too big so we had to reeeeealy trim them down, and even then there were a few that just were not going to work, and we printed those out on the computer.  I was pretty impressed with her work though. She is amazing!

All the Pretty Blossoms!

 I have been making friends here.  Mostly because they keep inviting me to do things and I occasionally say yes out of guilt or actual interest. Several of them were going to go out and see the Cherry Blossoms.  I do love me some Cherry Blossoms, and I knew there was no way I was going to drive an hour to see them myself, so I hopped on board the chance to go without having to do any actual work.

We drove a bit over an hour north to Nago to a mountain, with a name I can't recall.  There were little roads all up and down the mountain and they were lined with gloriously blooming trees.  They are not the same as my lovely Iwakuni Cherry Trees, so I'm not entirely sure if they are a different type of Cherry Blossom, or if it was really the Ume blossoms.  I figured it did not really matter because they were so gorgeous!  We strolled around a bit and drove around a bit.  It was cold and windy and a little drizzly.  But I will agree that it was worth the effort.  Plus, it was a lot of fun to hang out with some great ladies.

Sunday Silliness

It was a quiet, lazy Sunday afternoon. And then this happened.

Josh made me laugh so hard with his antics!

And listening to the girls play "Man Bites Dog" was a hoot.  They are sadly lacking in political knowledge. But full of silliness.