The Aquarium

Rylee really really really wanted to go to the Aquarium.  Everyone else but her (and me) had been, and everyone talks about it.  It is suppose to be the biggest or something.  But it is kind of a big deal and I had promised Rylee that we would be sure to do it.  I waited till Friday of Spring Break because it was suppose to rain and I figured it would be a good time to do the Aquarium.

It was an hour and 20 minute drive.  820 (I think) yen each way on the Expressway. You drive to the very end of the Expressway and then take surface roads the next 45 minutes. The drive was pretty because it took us all around the perimeter of the island and we had gorgeous ocean views.  But it sure felt like a long drive.

On our adventure!

The ocean is so pretty!  It really was amazing to drive right down the coast.

Even more amazing to have random pull out places to stop and wander down to the water.  This was as close as we could get, but it was close enough for waves to wash over and get our feet wet if we weren't careful.

My "I was there" selfie. 

These were the super-fun nets at the Aquarium. Delaney is in the red and Rylee in the blue.

They took off and had a blast running all over these nets. It was a fairly extensive area to play and they enjoyed it.

Delaney dashed all over and had a great time. 

They played till it started to rain and the nets were shut down and closed off. 

This giant aquarium that it is famous for with the giant tiger sharks.  I admit that it was impressive.

Learning cool facts about sharks.

Rylee doesn't want to be left out.

My silly pickles hamming it up.

And posing by the whale tail.  They were not impressed with the Aquarium, but I am glad we went.

White Beach, keeping it real

On Thursday, the Marian and Callie were off at Girls Camp, and I was down to just two girls to entertain. I felt that this required an adventure and had a few ideas in mind.  However..... we got the must-have felt-bottom booties that are suppose to be better than the regular cheap water shoes.  They are suppose to protect the coral and your feet a lot better.  So we obtained these marvels and Delaney was insistent that we needed to go somewhere that we could utilize these.  She really wanted to go to White Beach, because it had these fabulous rock island formations that you could walk out to during low tide.  (White beach is 45 minutes to an hour away depending on if traffic is merely bad or horrendous.  Lots of surface streets and lights.)

I timed it to arrive there about 2 hours before low tide and Rylee and Delaney were excited.  Unfortunately, they walk across the sand, and then sat down to put their (sandy) feet into their boots.  Which meant a painful sandy-footed walk through the water to the island.  Delaney complained. And complained some more.  Then there was water sloshing in her boots and she was mad. It was a 15 minute trek through the water to the rocky island and she whined for the entire time.   As soon as we got to some land Delaney shucked the boots and threw them down.  Since she was walking on sharp coral, I was a little concerned that things would get worse.  The Lord does love His children, because she managed to stalk carefully around without cutting up the bottoms of her feet, complaining all the way.

Complaining is bad enough.  But when you offer suggestions and are met each time with shouted reasons why that is a terrible idea, it gets really old really fast.  I may or may not have finally shouted at her to sit down and rinse her feet and boots in the big tide pool sandpit them back on.  She did so and things quieted down.  She still was not going to be happy and was not going to have a good time. But Rylee and I enjoyed roaming the islands and looking at things and shell hunting.  We saw long-armed starfish and hermit crabs and fast little fish.We collected pretty shells and had a good time.

We walked back to the beach and Dlenaey removed the offensive boots in favor of her flip flops and promptly lost one in the shifting (rocky) sand in the ocean.  She was furious and utterly refused to leave with only one shoe.  We looked and looked.  Finally I suggested maybe we should say a prayer. So we sat down and said a prayer that we cold find her missing flop flop.  Delaney sulked.

I walked to the place she lost it and started walking down in the water, sliding my feet in the loose gravely sand.  2 minutes later, the errant shoe popped up.   Delaney was slightly appeased.  We changed clothes and headed home, with a stop at Lawson't for drinks and yummy corn dogs.  Delaney may not have had fun, but I sure enjoyed the day!

I did not want to carry my phone across the water, so I have no pictures of the island adventure part, so I'm a little sad about that, because it really was great.  I need to get one of those waterproof phone envelopes!

The water was a bit chilly to start and it went from 2 inches to 2 feet pretty quickly right there.  Rylee and Delaney are adjusting to the water here.  And you can see the island cluster we were heading for behind them. 

Not a very good close up.  Sometimes I miss having a good camera, but the phone is SO handy for everything, I never use the old camera anymore.

It was even prettier than the picture.  The girls are in their way out and yelling at me to put down the camera and join them. 

But first.... a selfie!! 

Back on the beach after our hike over and around the rock islands. 

Rylee is photobombing Delaney, who is about to melt down because she lost her sandal in the water.  

 A picture with Rylee.

Absolutely grumpy about losing her shoe, and shouting that she is not leaving it behind. 

 Rylee was happy to chill in the water.

Delaney was still mad about the shoe situation, even though she had it back at this point.  I thinks she is now mad that she has no reason to be mad.

Pool Day

Wednesday of Spring Break we headed to the pool.  We had not been there at all since we moved here, so it was a brand new Adventure!  It was a really nice pool.  The day was warm and sunny but then the wind kicked in.  Once you were in the water you did not want to get out.  Which is why I only got a few photos before I hopped in to play with the girls.

Rylee was happy to be in the pool.  The water was fairly warm and the sun was too. 

Delaney practiced her breast stroke so she could pass the swim test.  After Iwakuni's hard core swim test, this one was easy.  25 meter swim and 1 minute of treading water.  

Callie read for a bit and then jumped in and maybe even had a good time once she got wet!

Sea Glass Beach

Everyone talks about Sea Glass Beach.  Apparently there was an old glass factory that dumped the rejects or whatever into a pile, which has been covered by dirt and is now eroding away.  So the buried and time-warped glass will be swept into the ocean, smoothed out, and washed back on shore again.  People like to walk around and pick it up for art projects or decor or whatever.  I had just watched a bunch of YouTube videos on things to do on Okinawa and then someone posted that this was a dog-friendly place, and typically not crowded.  In a moment of excitement, I decided we should go, and take the dog!

So Monday we packed up the car, let Levi joyfully join us, and off we went. We took the expressway to exit 9 (680 yen? each way) and then meandered around a bit. It took us about 45 minutes. The GPS showed three different places to go for Sea Glass Beach, so I picked the one that said Sea Glass Beach Parking.  It did indeed have parking.  It was a small area by a park.  No facilities.  We walked across a small bridge and down to the water.  It was a long walk.  I had timed it to when the tide was out, and the parking is not on a beach.  It is by a canal where the water feeds into the ocean, and we had to walk down that to get to the water.  At high tide, it was probably full of water, but then there wouldn't have been any beach or sea glass!

The kids were good about walking for 15 minutes and we found a decent spot on the rocks in the shade.  There was rock beach that gave way to sand, so you wanted shoes till you got to the sand. Then you could walk barefoot if you were careful.  Most of the glass has been ground down so there are not sharp edges, but there is a lot of stuff that isn't comfortable to step on!

One of the really fun things was that you could walk waaaaay out and still only be knee deep in water.  There were no waves.  You could also climb up the rocks and the girls enjoyed that all very much.   We were the only people in sight, so we let Levi off the leash and he had a grand time dashing around and sniffing stuff. He was happy to go a few inches into the water, but he had zero desire to go further than that.

The downside is that we had to hoof it back to the car and change in the trunk of the van.  There really was no facilities.  We drove till we found a Lawson's so we could go to the bathroom (one of the awesome things about Japan is knowing that Lawson's are always good for a clean bathroom) and then we bought delicious corn dogs.  Lawson's corn dogs are the best thing ever made, in case you were wondering.

The beach. Lots of rocks, then sand.  And I can't figure out why it doesn't look as gorgeous in the picture as it did in real life.

Obligatory selfie. And it is important, because I'm not a big fan of the beach.  But I did have fun!

Levi was happy to go in about this far.  then he was not happy and dashed away.  But galloping through water this deep.... he liked that!

We timed it for low tide, and it was indeed, low.  You could walk out quite a ways and not get very deep, as you can see here with Marian.

We let Levi off the leash and he had a marvelous time. 

You may want to blow this up to see all the sea glass.  The whole beach looked like this.

It was really pretty!  I will admit that Okinawa has some really gorgeous beaches.

Levi was just glad he was invited on this adventure.  He usually gets left behind.

I kicked off my shoes and walked down this beach to that big rock formation.  It was such a nice day.

Me and the beach.

Marian, climbing the rocks.  The problem with most of the rock is that it was coral, with sharp jagged edges.  Not so great for climbing.  Well, good for footholds, but hard on the hands.

This one was much better for climbing.  Except is twas a lot more slippery!

Rylee and Delaney had a great time playing in the water.  Delaney complained though that it was too shallow.  But Rylee thought that was a perk.

Speaking of Rylee, here she is!

Callie and Marian climbed up this formation and were very pleased with themselves.

Rylee managed to work her way up to the rock as well.

And she posed heroically for me.

Levi got a little hot and tired.  He found the damp moss to be nice and cool.

These two climbed across the face of the little cliff to check out that cave. 

Rylee saw her big sisters do it and wanted to see the cave as well.  However, the only way to reach it (without a ladder!) was to work your way across the cliff about 20 feet.  She decided she was going to do it and I tried really hard to not hover under her in case she fell.  I totally did though.  It was a bit hair raising for me!

I mean, look at this!!  She was 6 -8 feet above ground and worked her way sideways to make it to the cave.  I was so proud of her!

All my girls in the cave.  See how high it was?

And a close up so you can appreciate their satisfaction of making the perilous journey to the cave.  And then they had to get down.  Gulp!

Delaney climbed the first rock but said no way to the cave.  I was relieved.

More rocks? Then they must climb them!!

Delaney thought the water was more fun.  And she did have fun in the water!

She cracks me up.  I love this kid.