Tipu, Home, Tenerife, Spain

katjaintenerife katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk Posted Apr 10, 2009, 5:52 pm	I have just come out of my egg and I've been told that I was born to become a ToyVoyager. I was given this really small notebook with me. I'm hoping to collect some nice stickers, photos and drawings in it. My mentor Katja has already started with some. And guess what? I'm going to spend a year in Okinawa, Japan! How cool is that! I've heard that my host family is a very nice family with two kids so I'm sure I'll be taken very good care of. Tomorrow my mentor Katja will send me on my way, unfortunately I won't get a chance to have any easter eggs before I go as Katja hasn't had time to buy any
JaymeC Posted May 17, 2009, 11:43 pm	Dear Mommy, Whew! We have been very, very busy. Jayme's grandfather finally left a few days ago and I'm very behind on my journal entries! I hope you weren't too worried... We'll start with our trip to Shurijo Castle. Here I am at the outside gate to Shuri Castle. Isn't it pretty? This is the inner gate. Inside here is the inner courtyard. Unfortunately we didn't go in because Jayme's didn't have anyone to help with the children and she didn't want them getting out of hand and getting ahold of some artifacts... so we waited outside. After that we headed to Kokusai Dori to do a little shopping. Jayme got a new hat and also some food for dinner that night. Once we got home we saw what food she had purchased. We had some steak, but we also had some purple sweet potatos! They were very neat. They're called Okinawan Sweet Potatoes and they really are that purple. She made them into some sweet mashed potatoes and they were very yummy. We also had some cake. Since Jayme's grandfather was visiting when there were no birthdays or holidays, we had an un-birthday party cake just for fun! Have you ever seen Alice in Wonderland? The next day we headed up north, I'll write more about the northern part of the island soon! Tipu
JaymeC Posted May 18, 2009, 12:03 am	Dear Mommy, Today we headed up north! It takes quite awhile to drive there, so we'll be staying over night for a few nights. Our first stop was at the Pineapple Park in Nago. Here we got to go on a ride in a pineapple cart. Here I am sitting in the cart. Here you can see another cart. They took us around the gardens. First we went by some palm trees. Then we got to see some very small pineapples growing! They had lots of plants. And some very funny looking flowers. After the cart ride we got to walk through an area where they had wine tasting. They had lots and lots of pineapple wine. After you got past the wine area there was an area where you could try snacks and candies. They were very good! You could buy the ones you liked. Jayme was very tempted to get us a pineapple friend to take home, but figured she had enough toys to worry about They had lots of stuffed pineapples, shisas, and other things. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted May 18, 2009, 12:10 am	Dear Mommy, After our fun at the Pineapple Park we finally made it to our campsite. We were staying at some cabins on one of the US military recreational facilities. Here we are by the cabin. Here's what the inside of the cabin looks like, it also had a pair of bunkbeds. Here's the yard area, the kids had lots of fun simply playing in the dirt. They were very silly. That night we put some small pieces of potatoes, a sausage, and some egg into some aluminum foil and cooked it on the fire. Mmm. It came out very yummy! However, Jayme says she only does roughing it so far (well, we are staying in a cabin afterall) so we had breakfast at the restraunt nearby. We ordered off the menu. The hot chocolate was very yummy. And then oops! We were so hungry we forgot to take a picture of the food! But it was very good. I'll tell you more about our travels up north soon. Tipu
JaymeC Posted May 18, 2009, 12:16 am	Dear Mommy, Since we were so far to the north, we decided to go to the far northern point of the island. This area is called Hedo Point, and it is the north tip. It was a very neat area. Here you can see some of the coastline. They also had some nice statues around, I liked this bird one. It was a very beautiful place to go visit, more soon. Tipu
JaymeC Posted May 18, 2009, 12:29 am	Dear Mommy, Our days up north were gone, it was time to head home. But on the way we stopped by one of the neatest attractions on Okinawa, the aquarium! There is much more to see here than we saw in the 4-5 hours we spent here, but we did have a good time. We started out going into the aquarium itself.  Here I am at the entrance, it looked like a beautiful day that day. The first tank inside is the largest tank with live coral that's lit by natural light in the world. It was very neat. Here are a few different views of it, they had about 5 windows you could look through. We proceeded on until we made it to the whale shark tank. This tank is the second largest in the world, but this view window is the largest in the world. So much better to see the whale sharks so clearly! Aren't they beautiful? There is a cafe area near the whale shark tank where you can sit and have snacks while you watch the sharks. Tipu and I had some icecream. From there we went into the deep sea exhibit. We couldn't take many photos here because there was no flash allowed and it was very dark to keep the animals comfortable, but it was very neat. We exited the aquarium itself and went to the maritime museum, here I am outside it. Oh! Do you see the beetle made of flowers? I turned around to find more creatures made of flowers, very neat! Finally we went on it. They had a whale shark statue here. They also had a traditional Ryukyan Vessel. There were a variety of ships from different Asian traditions here to see, we really enjoyed it. This small one was used for burial when the body could not be found. They also had a neat home, but Jayme forgot where it was from. When we went outside the weather had turned on us, it was almost as if it was signaling the end of our trip... Do you see how dark the water and sky are? That ends our travels to the north! Now all we had was to say goodbye to Jayme's grandfather, but that was quite fun really. I'll write more updates soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted May 22, 2009, 9:52 am	Since today is the last day of Jayme's grandfather's visit we went out for a nice dinner at a steak house called Sam's. As you can see, it has a ship theme. We all looked over the menu, and decided on the steak meal, Jayme doesn't like sea food Here I am at the table. The white dish behind me is the sauce dish, and then just beyond that you can see the grill they will cook our food on in front of us. Its very neat! First they served some delicious navy bean soup Then a nice salad Next came the potatoes And then the main dish. Steak and bean sprouts. Yum! This is the woman who cooked our dinner, she did some neat tricks but unfortunately we couldn't get those on camera. More updates soon! Tipu
JaymeC Posted May 26, 2009, 1:25 am	It was time to say goodbye to Jayme's grandpa.  Here we are with Jayme's son looking down at the inside of the airport. We went down the stairs then so that Jayme's children could ride on some toys, the train was lots of fun. They also had lots of stores here in case you'd forgotten any souveniers to take home. Finally we went outside to see some planes. It was very neat. We got to watch a few take off and Jayme's children had fun running around pretending to be airplanes. On the way home we stopped by one of the playgrounds. We found another train! Here is the playground, it was lots of fun. I'm sorry it took so long to update, we've been helping Jayme a lot as she was sick, but we have another update coming soon and then hopefully we can get out (or stay in!) and do something fun! Tipu
JaymeC Posted May 27, 2009, 6:21 am	Dear Mommy, Its been very, very rainy. And a bit hectic as Jayme's boys keep wanting to play! Today the weather cleared up for a few minutes, so we headed to the pool for awhile! Here I am next to the pool. See that slide in the background? Jayme's 2 year old went down it and came out head first, it was really funny. Me and the other toys rested for awhile on the towel. Next to us is Jayme's husband being silly. And here we are by the baby pools. They're small ones for the toddlers, very nice. Hopefully we'll go do more fun stuff soon! The weather forcast says rainy, but we're all crossing our fingers it will be wrong Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jun 3, 2009, 11:00 am	Dear Mommy, We've had no end to bad luck here! First it was rainy, rainy, rainy. The sun came out and Jayme thought it was very lucky as she and her husband had a date scheduled that day to go ziplining, but then Jayme hurt her back while she was ziplining and has been trying to lay down and give it rest since.  She's still hurting a bit, but can get up and move around much more easily now.  Then the rain started again. Agh! Would we never escape the house? We did get out to go watch Night at the Museum 2, which was a very funny movie!  Unfortunately pictures don't work well in a movie theatre And then finally we woke up one day... and we could almost see the sun through the clouds! Jayme said it was as close to a sunny day as we were going to get, and the kids needed some exercise so out we went. We ended up at Kurashiki Dam. Here you can see it from the top. We went on down to get a closer look. The children liked playing in the water here, its only about knee deep on an adult so they can splash and play and its not very dangerous. They also like climbing up and down the little rock waterfall. Its a very popular place in the summer to cool down. Here we are sitting on some rocks in the water. After awhile we retreated back to the shore. Usually Jayme says they'd sit here and have a picnic, but unfortunately the clouds came back. We're all hoping the sun comes out to play for a longer time this weekend so we can do something fun! More updates soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jun 11, 2009, 11:16 pm	Dear Mommy, Jayme was feeling a bit better so off to the pool we went... when she said pool I figured we were going back to the other one we'd gone to, but this one is apparently at a resort here on Okinawa. The resorts will allow you to come in and use their facilities for a day if you buy a day pass. I wondered how nice it could really be, but then when we arrived I was surprised! Of course our first stop was the locker room. From there off we went to the outdoor pool. It was lots of fun watching the kids splash and have fun. Then a surprise... there's another pool?! This one was inside, and had two water slides to boot! It was very shallow at the bottom of the slides, so mostly young kids went down. It was very funny to watch their faces when they hit the water. We went back to the outside pool and took a small break. At this point Jayme said the kids were getting hungry and it was sadly time to leave so we started making our way toward the exit. We did get to see the beach on the way, though we didn't stop there. Maybe next time? We also got to see some neat Shisas near the exit. Shisa's are the guardians of Okinawa and you can find them on most homes and businesses. In fact, even Jayme's apartment has some. This one was very neat since it was playing an eisa drum. More updates soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jun 17, 2009, 6:31 am	Dear Mommy, We were so excited! We woke up and finally there was some sun, so off we went to the playground near Jayme's house. All this rain has at least been good for the flowers, aren't they pretty? We had lots of fun at the playground. We were so worn out we got home and went to rest for awhile. We were going to go back out that afternoon, but oh no... this is what we woke up to. Its really getting a bit ridiculous. All this rain! Jayme says she wishes we'd just have a typhoon or two and get the rain over with. We were all just sitting around wondering what to do when all of a sudden we heard some barking. We went to investigate and found this very loud little pup over on the DVD shelf near the X-Files dvds. Hm... He was very insistent asking what the date was and how long he'd been gone and where the aliens were. Huh?! He said he'd gone to find the aliens at Roswell, NM and been abducted and wound up on some strange planet called eBay, tagless and lost. Then a few minutes ago he'd woken up and found himself here. Silly little pup, must be hallucinating. Maybe we can have some fun around the house since there's not much to do out of it.. Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jun 17, 2009, 6:38 am	Dear Mommy, This rain just won't let up! Yesh. We decided to have some fun inside the house, since we couldn't really go out. We started calmly enough reading a book But that wasn't really energetic enough, too much energy! We need to get out soon. So we decided to go for a drive. After we ran over the 3rd little people we gave up on that though and decided another nice calm activity would be better. So we sat in and decided to try to do a puzzle. Geez these pieces are tiny. No luck... so we went investigating to find another example of a puzzle and found this finished one waiting to be hung up Much more interesting than the halfway completed one we tried. I sure hope the rain lets up soon so we can go have some fun, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jun 25, 2009, 6:41 am	Dear Mommy, We were very busy for a few days. First our host's husband had to prepare for some special training and we all were helping him pack. He had to pack up all his gear and put it into water tight packing, including extra clothes and what not. First he had to do swim qualifying with all of his gear on, that's a lot to carry while swimming!  Then he had to go into a contraption that's like the inside of a helicopter and escape blindfolded. We weren't able to go and get pictures, but our host showed us this so we knew what he was up to. Then of course he had to get out and call Jayme and tell her he was okay because she was quite worried! Since Jayme wanted a bit of a distraction we went off to the zoo for a bit. Its a very small zoo without too many animals, but it was nice to get out a bit and the weather behaved! They had a viewer here we went to check out Then we realized we didn't need one. They were having a dodgeball tournament at the zoo. How interesting! We also got to check out a few statues of animals, and I was beginning to wonder if we'd get to see any animals! Finally we got to the animals exhibits. They were very anxious, it must've been about feeding time. We got home to a surprise, Jayme's husband was home safe and sound and just a little wetter for his training. He also had a surprise. He had stopped by the mail on the way home.. and come home with a gift he'd ordered awhile ago for Jayme. Isn't it neat? Its a e-reader made by amazon. Jayme loves reading, and now she can download books whenever she wants. We had some fun checking it out. Finally, since it was Father's Day in the US we had a bit of a celebration. We had some cake And the children gave their daddy a nice little poem with their handprints and footprints. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jun 29, 2009, 4:47 am	Dear Mommy, CoCo Bunny has arrived! He brought some candy to share Jayme had a babysitter for a day so she told us we were going to have a special outing...hm... We got in the car, and arrived at a place called Sports 1. When we first walked in the entrance there was an electric bull you could try to ride. It was very funny to watch Jayme on it. After Jayme and her husband fell off a few times we headed up to the top floor, there were tons of sports things here! We started with basketball. Then we did some archery. There was soccer too And a small putting area. Whew! We got worn out outside so we decided to head in for a bit. It was getting quite hot. We started inside with some darts, it was really fun. Then we went to a small skating rink. After that we decided to get a drink from the machine Then we took a break in one of the lounge massage chairs. After that it was back for more playing! We headed to the arcade. We also tried some indoor golf. They had lots of indoor sports games. Whew! After that we were all worn out and it was time to head home, but we had lots of fun! More adventures soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 5, 2009, 2:05 am	Dear Mommy, We were able to celebrate July 4th on Kadena Airbase! This isn't the base that Jayme lives on, but it is one nearby. Unfortunately, it was very, very rainy, but we still went and had fun.  Here I am, do you see all the planes behind me? They had many displays to see. First we ducked into one of the planes to get out of the rain, but it was very dark. Can you see me? Here's the outside of that plane. Ugh! Rain! I got a little wet, but dried off pretty quickly. The kids were restless, so we took a little break to let them go on a ride. They had fun on the swings, even though it was still raining. Maybe I need to get a raincoat like theirs... We also got to see some helicopters! Very neat. Here I am on the back of a Pave Hawk And I even got to pretend to drive it! Here's the front of it. And this is a CH-46. Its used a lot for transport of course. Do you see me? They had some ground vehicles too. This is some sort of missle launch thingie. Jayme's husband explained it, but he used too much military jargon! They also had some weapons displays. Here you can see some rifles and packs. And of course another plane. This one was the biggest one there! Look how big its tires are. We had lots of fun checking things out. The fireworks got cancelled because of the rain unfortunately But maybe we'll see fireworks another time. Happy 4th of July mommy! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 21, 2009, 9:57 am	Dear Mommy, We're having an excellent trip! We spent the first day visiting Hiroshima, Japan. Our first stop by the Peace Memorial Park. Here I am at the Atomic Bomb Dome Building. This is one of the few buildings that remained standing after the atomic bomb was dropped. Many wanted to tear it down, but it was eventually constructed into a monument and is now an UNESCO world heritage site. After seeing the A-Bomb Dome we headed to see the Children's Memorial. You can see the child at the top is holding a crane. Over the years thousands (maybe millions?) of paper cranes have been donated to this memorial in hopes of bringing peace to the world. Some of them are fashioned like these into very nice pictures. We walked around the park some more, and then headed off to our next adventure. It was a very sad, but encouraging trip. Even though its sad, its very important not to forget the past. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 21, 2009, 10:04 am	Dear Mommy, After seeing the Peace Memorial Park we needed something a bit easier on the heart, so we headed to the Children's Museum of Hiroshima. Its not a museum so much as a playground. We didn't have time for many pictures, we were trying to keep up with Jayme's kids! But here you can see a few pictures of it. After there we got back on the train to head to a place called Miyajima, I'm sure that will be a nice update as well! On the way us voyagers sat and had a chat with Jayme's son's toy. His name was Insectosaurus. He wasn't much for talk, but he was very sweet. Jayme's son really wanted him to be in the photo with us! More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 21, 2009, 10:11 am	Dear Mommy, I was quite surprised when we got off the train and headed towards a dock! We weren't going to walk at all, but were getting on a ferry. Here you can see it pulling up to the dock. Apparently Miyajima is an island! Here's a picture of me from the ferry, I'm sorry its so dark it was quite cloudy that day. When we got off the island at Miyajima we were quite surprised to be accosted by... deer! Lots of them. It seemed like they were everywhere and trying to eat everything. Don't worry, Jayme kept us quite safe, and they really were quite tame and nice even if they were quite hungry. I don't think they'd like how I tasted much. We went for a little walk, isn't it nice? This is a torii gate. Finally we came upon the main attraction of the island, the Itsukushima Shrine. It is really the main item of the island. Here you can see its torii gate out in the water. When the tide goes down you can see the bottom of it, but its covered at the bottom when tide comes up. Isn't it neat? Its very, very large. Here is the shrine itself a little later with the tide out. Miyajima used to be a very, very sacred island in part because of this shrine. Now many people come here to visit it. While we were here we decided to go up a ropeway. Here we are! Isn't it a lovely view? After that we headed home for the night. I hope you like our updates! There's a few more to go. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 25, 2009, 12:40 am	Dear Mommy, Here's some more about our trip! The next day we went to Safari Land. It was a very, very long drive! And then we got there and I found out we would spend MORE time in the car. D'oh! But this part was much more interesting, we were going to drive through different cages for wildlife. It was really neat. Here you can see us inside the car, see the elephant behind us? The animals were free to simply roam over the land however they liked. Here's some zoomed in photos so you can see the other animals. Lions and tigers and bears oh my! Thankfully no one attacked the car. When we were done we went to a petting zoo area. They had some very young baby tigers and lions here you could see. aren't they cute? We also got to see some monkeys And kangaroos! It was a fun day. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 27, 2009, 10:12 pm	Dear Mommy, After having fun in Hiroshima and Safari Land it was time to move on. Well, Jayme said that the hotel was going to kick us out because they were running out of rooms actually (bad planning on her part!) so we packed our bags. We headed out to a new train station and got onto the bullet train! It was a long 4 hour ride. But finally we arrived in Tokyo! After we checked into our new hotel, Jayme said she wanted to get something special for the next morning so we went back out again. Sun was just setting at Shinjuku Station when we arrived. Jayme snuck off for a bit and came back with a bag... hmm... We headed back to the hotel and went to bed and the next morning Jayme pulled out what she had brought with her. Donuts! She said we would need the energy burst as we were headed to Disney! And apparently Krispy Kremes are the best donuts and the only place you can find them in Japan is in Tokyo. Mmm! More soon! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 27, 2009, 10:56 pm	Dear Mommy, We had to get up early to go to Tokyo Disney Sea. Its about an hour and a half by train and we wanted to be there when they opened. We were running late, but they decided to help us out because opening was delayed by an hour! It was supposed to open at 9, but didn't open til 10. We were a half hour early. We waited and waited in line and finally made it in. As soon as you step in you can see a globe. We walked on past the globe and into the park itself. We had so much fun. We did all the kiddie rides at Mermaid Lagoon, here I am outside. Then we went to Arabian Coast, you can see that here. We saw a show about Aladdin and did a neat little ride with Sinbad. After that we headed up to the adventure area! Jayme went on a roller coaster, but us toys were too afraid so we just waited for her near the entrance, isn't it neat? Oh... and I forgot to tell you. The center of the park is a volcano! Here I am next to it. We found a passage into the volcano and ventured in to find the Mysterious Island. It's dedicated to Jules Verne mostly. We went on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (do you see the Nautilus down in the water?) and Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was so much fun! We had a great first day at Tokyo Disney Resort, but Jayme said tomorrow we're headed for Disney Land! What fun. Hope I have more stories to tell. Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jul 28, 2009, 2:06 am	Dear Mommy, The last spot we visited on our trip was Tokyo Disney Land. It was lots of fun! We got there before opening as well. Here we are waiting in line. And here we are inside! Do you see Cinderella's Castle? The very first place we went was to Mickey's House. You see, Jayme's son's really love Mickey Mouse. And even though it was nearly an hour wait time, we knew we had to go see him. So here we are waiting in line outside Mickey Mouse's house. Unfortunately Jayme didn't get to have our picture taken with Mickey, but that's okay it was still lots of fun. Next we headed to Pirates of the Carribbean! Here we are in line, those are the boats that we went in! After that it was onto Jungle Cruise, we got to see lots of animals and almost got lost in a temple... Then we went to Tom Sawyer's Island. Here we are inside the fort there. We had to wait for our raft back to the rest of the park. We stopped for lunch then at a cafe decorated for Alice in Wonderland. Step through the keyhole... The meal was quite yummy. It was served by the Queen of Hearts. See the heart shaped meat? Then it was parade time! Here I am at the parade. And here's a few extra photos of floats. Next we went to It's a Small World. That song was stuck in my head for hours! We also went on the merry-go-round. It was fun. We did a few more rides, and we were all pooped and ready to go home, but Jayme told us we had to wait. So we sat down and waited, and the electric light parade started! The pictures of us by it wouldn't come out, but here's some photos anyway. Oh man were we tired by the time we got back to the hotel! And Jayme said the next morning was time to go home and rest, I hope we get some rest I could use it! More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Aug 4, 2009, 6:42 am	Dear Mommy, We got to be here for a very special occassion! It was Jayme's son's 3rd birthday. It was lots of fun! We helped get snacks ready. Then we helped put up some decorations. We took a short break to play with some of the horns. And finally, it was time for Jayme to bring out the cake. He had a wonderful birthday! And I got to check a mission off finally! More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Aug 4, 2009, 6:54 am	Dear Mommy, Today we got to do something special for Chris's birthday! We went to see some tide pools. It was a bit of a walk to get there down a long street and then through a small trail. Finally we made it down to the tide pools. We looked and looked for things, maybe you can see the sea urchin in the pool behind me? And we aren't sure what these black things are, but they were definitely moving! There were lots and lots of little caves or inlets. And a couple of sandy beach areas we got to relax on. You can see from the water mark that they're covered when the tide is up. We did have to be careful though, I don't know if you can see the round thing in the cave area behind me, but we weren't sure whether it was just an old helmet or some unexploded ordinance left over from World War II. There are a few deaths from people finding ordinance still. Its very sad. Jayme wouldn't let us go anywhere near whatever this was. Whew! We were quite worn out, but we had to hike back up the trail to the car. While we were up there we went ot the look out point to see Manzamo from the top. Isn't it pretty? Its called an elephant. More soon! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Aug 5, 2009, 12:46 am	Dear Mommy, Today we went to a place called Bios on the Hill. It was lots of fun! They had a whole pond of lotus plants. I was the only one light enough to sit on one Here's a zoomed in picture. We got to take a little boat ride through the forest with all the plants. They also had a play area with some really steep slides. Jayme's kids were afraid to go down them, that's a first! You could take water buffalo rides, here's the cart they used for them. And here's the water buffalo! They also had an area where you could feed goats, we had lots of fun meeting them. I also found a rooster, but no chicks... hmm.. Whew! We're quite worn out, but when we got home we got news that there's a typhoon nearby! A typhoon is just another name for a hurricane. This one looks like it may give us a really windy day, but we have to be careful and prepare in case it turns to hit us head on as well. We're going to get on that, and I'll tell you all about it soon. Tipu
JaymeC Posted Aug 14, 2009, 10:49 am	Dear Mommy, Whew! We had a close call. The typhoon swerved to the south of us. Unfortunately it did some damage once it hit Asia When we came back from all our errands to get water and food just in case we found a surprise. Nijntje had arrived! We welcomed her and she shared some sweets she'd brought along. Then it was time for us to go out and about a bit. We went back to the place called Round One. We didn't do as much today. First we went up stairs and played a little in the volleyball courts area with a big beach ball. We did a little bit of putt-putt as well. Then we spent the rest of the time inside playing with the kids in the ball pits! They were lots of fun. After that we headed home to another surprise, while we were gone Nori showed up! Jayme was excited Nori had arrived since we'd been waiting on her for quite awhile. Somehow she climbed into one of the kid's airplane toys. Hmm. Then the last few days since it has been rainy we've just been spending at home. We played some dress up with the kids hates, but they were a little too big. We also met some of the other toys here. There are some very famous ones like Mickey Mouse! We took a brief break to go to the library on base. We only went to the children's section, but it was fun. We even brought home a few books to read (as if Jayme didn't have enough already...) We're hoping the weather is good so we can go do something fun this weekend. Hope to have a fun update soon! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Aug 26, 2009, 5:26 am	Dear Mommy, Today we went to the Futenma Friendship Flightline Fair. Its supposed to be to kindle friendship between the Japanese and Americans in Okinawa. It was a lot of fun! We could see this flag from far off when we first arrived. We walked through and saw lots of tractors and such for the kids to climb on. There were also jeeps and such. I thought this was an interesting one! Its to set up a mobile airfield. After seeing all the ground vehicles we went to let the kids play in the kids area some. There were lots of bounce houses, but it was VERY crowded. The kids we down this one quite a few times. Finally on the way out we stopped to see the helos. It was really crowded so we didn't get too good a look But we did get a few pictures. At home we had some fun as well. Jayme invited us to help her make part of the dinner. She bought some Okinawa sweet potatoes. This is what they looked like when they're peeled. Aren't they bright? And this is them while they're cooked. Even though they're purple, they still taste quite yummy. It was lots of fun! I'm sure I'll write more soon,
JaymeC Posted Sep 13, 2009, 9:37 pm	Dear Mommy, I'm sorry its been so long since I updated! So sorry! Everyone here has been varying degrees of sick for the past month it seems, and Jayme started school to boot so she's been very, very busy. Last weekend however we all needed to blow off some steam, so we headed out to Ocean Expo Park. This is the park that the aquarium is located in, but we didn't go to the aquarium today, but the grounds around it. Since its a very long drive, we started off at the playground to let the kids stretch a bit. Then we walked around the grounds, headed towards a museum. We went to the Oceanic culture museum. Here I am at the entrance. There were different ships to see Along with other watery things, Jayme's pretty sure this is a whale skeleton After that we headed outside again and walked to the Tropical Dreams Center, which is a huge garden! Here are lots of pictures in the various gardens, it took about an hour to walk through. I hope we have another update much sooner this time, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Sep 19, 2009, 10:53 pm	Dear Mommy, Today was the last day before Jayme's oldest son, Jacob, started preschool. He'll be in school all day and Jayme is going to miss him a lot, but today he got to pick where we would go for the day for his last day out before school. He picked the museum at the zoo! But since it was a sunny day we started off by walking to the petting zoo. We stopped to see the merry-go-round on the way, and both boys went on rides. Jayme thought it was funny the music was the same as the electric light parade at Disneyland We did see some kangaroos on the way. And a sleeping koala. Then we got to the petting zoo and they had baby chicks! I was so happy to finally meet a baby chick, and its just as cute as me And rabbits. They also had some goats, but I was kind of afraid to pose near those, I hear they might try to eat something as small and cute as me... After that we went back to the wonder museum, which is really more like a play area for kids than a museum. They had a new magnet display that the kids had fun with. See all the balls they stuck on the magnet here? We also examined some eggs on the bottom floor. They're supposed to be relative different sizes for different birds. Like the ostrich egg Compared to the chicken egg. They had lots of other things to do as well, we had lots of fun. We were all quite worn out by the time we got home! More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Sep 19, 2009, 11:05 pm	Dear Mommy, After taking Jacob out for his last day before school we of course had to help get him ready for school. We got up early the next morning and helped Jayme pack up all of his school supplies in a bag to carry down. There was a lot! Then we all hopped into his bookbag so we could go along! But Jayme told us we couldn't go because Jacob would need to sit down and learn and we couldn't distract him. So we sadly got out and stayed around to play with Jacob's little brother all day instead of seeing the school. We did get to do one more fun thing that day though. Since it was Jacob's first day, Jayme wanted to make a very yummy treat for him to come home too. So we made up some buckeyes candy. Don't they look delicious? Buckeyes are a special candy from the area Jayme was born in. Ohio is called the Buckeye State, and the Ohio State football team is also called the Buckeyes. Needless to say, there's a bit of fascination with buckeyes. Normal buckeyes look like this They're the seeds of buckeye trees, and you really shouldn't eat them. They can make you quite sick. But we made buckeye candy by mixing powdered sugar and peanut butter til it wasn't so sticky. Then we froze the balls for awhile. Afterwards we pulled them out of the freezer and dipped them into melt chocolate. Viola! Buckeyes! Hope we have more updates soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Sep 28, 2009, 5:51 am	Dear Mommy, Today we got even more sweets (it seems Jayme's diet is doomed).  It was the birthday of Jayme's husband. He turned 30. As you can see, she hammed it up a bit He isn't really over the hill, and maybe the older than dirt cake was a bit overboard, but we had lots of fun. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Sep 28, 2009, 5:56 am	Dear Mommy, Jayme told us we were going out somewhere special for dinner. Imagine our surprise when we came up on a pancake house! Yum. After driving around for a half hour looking for parking nearby we were finally able to go in The plus to being a toy is that you eat very little helpings, so you can share a bit from everyone! The children had the kids platter which you can see came with M&Ms. They were amazed to have candy in with their food. And Jayme wondered how they didn't go on sugar overload since they were dipping their M&Ms in syrup. Yikes! I also got to try some of Jayme's banana pancakes. Don't they look delicious? Hope I didn't make you too hungry More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Sep 28, 2009, 6:04 am	Dear Mommy, Today we went out to one of the local playgrounds. I was surprised when we ended up at the top of a giant slide! Because its a bit dangerous first we had to read the rules. Jayme said that sign always makes her smile. She wonders if they translated it at an internet site. Then we climbed in with Jayme's husband and her son and off we went! Whee! Here's a view of where we ended up at the bottom Its almost as good as a theme park ride, and of course the boys made us go up and down it 3 times. It was tiring going up that hill so much! More later, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Oct 6, 2009, 6:00 am	Dear Mommy, Jayme was getting a bit desperate to get away from her school books and out of the house so we headed towards Kokusai-Dori. Its a shopping area here in Okinawa. We started out on the main street, there are lots of fun shops and what not here.  Many of them have attractions outside to try to attract customers. Here is a Hello Kitty dressed like a Shisa. And we stopped on a goya bench. Goya is a vegetable grown in Okinawa. And Jayme thought this shark head just looked odd. And pork is very popular here on Okinawa oddly, see this sign on the building? Unfortunately we didn't make it too far before Jayme's son was complaining he was hungry, so we stopped at McD's to grab some food. It was pretty yummy for fast food After stopping for a snack we headed into Heiwa-dori. This is supposed to be the discount street area where things are slightly cheaper. Here you can see a view of the street. We walked all the way to the end of it where they have a section right outside for pottery. It was a nice street outside. And see some of the small ceremics they make? Its more Shisa's. They're very popular in this area to sell.  They also had some more elaborate pottery. After that it was time to head back to the car and home, we were all pretty tired out from walking! Hopefully we'll have another update before too long Tipu
JaymeC Posted Oct 15, 2009, 7:58 am	Dear Mommy, You could probably tell with the pictures at Kokusai Street that it was very cloudy, and it just hasn't let up. It seems to be raining non stop. Or at least be very cloudy. One day the sun came out for just a little bit and Jayme quickly headed to the playground with the boys since they are very restless! First we walked along the water for a little bit. Then we stopped at the playground. This was the only photo I managed as I was quite busy helping Jayme chase the boys. Then we walked over to feed the ducks, which the boys enjoyed. I took my picture with no problem But when Friendship Bear went to take a picture, the duck tried to eat her! Yikes! Thankfully Jayme had a good hold on her. Then we all headed home since it was getting cloudy again, but more soon. Tipu
JaymeC Posted Oct 15, 2009, 8:05 am	Mommy, Well, the rain still hasn't let up, but Jayme said we couldn't miss what was going on today so we all piled into the car to head down to Naha. We got there just as a parade was going on! Here I am. And here's some zoomed in photos of the parade. Do you see the little boy? He was doing karate! Did you know karate was invented in Okinawa? This man was also part of the parade, he was escorting some of the other children. There were many children in the parade. After the parade we headed over and Jayme started telling me what we were up to today. Today is the tug-of-war in Naha. This is the largest tug-of-war in the world! About 25,000 people attend each year. Unfortunately this is the first year she could make it, but I suppose that's fortunate for us since we got to come! The tug-of-war game dates back to the 1600's and these days is a very big tourist attraction.  They actually shut down the main street in Okinawa's capital city to do the tug-of-war. Here you can see me at the street with the rope behind me. We were able to get a picture so clear of people because they hadn't shut down the road yet (and there was a red light!) This is only about 1/4 of the total rope. There were two of those looped ends that got connected at the middle for the actual tug-of-war. All of a sudden they closed the street and we all ran forward and got ahold of the rope. If you see where there were curls on the top, those are actually smaller ropes that everyone pulled loose to get a good grip and tug on. Here's a picture of me in the crowd. After that Jayme rather lost track since she was trying to keep the two little boys (and us!) from getting squished. But it was lots of fun to contribute to the tug-of-war contest this year in Okinawa! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Oct 15, 2009, 8:11 am	Dear Mommy, Jayme's boys were still going quite a bit stir crazy. They're sweet little boys, but they're very active. So we headed out to the Busena Under Water Observatory, which is at least kind of indoors. Here I am on the pier leading out to the observatory. We went inside and down many steps and at the bottom there were about 20 of these windows in a circle under the water. We stayed quite awhile to look out the portals. Here's some shots out the portal, it was hard to get one with us tvs in it and the fish! On the way back it started raining. Jayme had umbrellas with her, but the boys were playing with the umbrellas so much that we actually ended up getting even MORE wet. I can't wait for this rain to end! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Oct 20, 2009, 6:33 am	Dear Mommy, Jayme's friend owed her a babysitting favor, so she took the kids for the whole weekend! We got to have some fun in the meantime. Our first stop was Murasaki Mura. It is a park where you can do many Okinawan crafts. On the way in we saw many Shisa's. Shisa's are the traditional guardians on Okinawa. They come in pairs. One is male, one female. The male has his mouth closed to capture the bad spirits while the female's mouth is open to let the good spirits through. They come in all different types and can be found on most homes and stores in Okinawa. Here are some we saw on the way in. After that we headed towards the seashell craft. I very carefully helped Jayme make her clock. Here it is finished! Unfortunately right after that the battery on Jayme's camera died. Whoops! But there wasn't too much to miss, we just walked around and looked at the different crafts after that for a bit. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Oct 20, 2009, 7:38 am	Dear Mommy, The second day without kids we decided to do something fun and we drove up to hike Hiji Falls! It was a very long drive, about two hours. Its a good thing we had a big hike at the end to stretch out with! We paid the fee to hike the area and walked on in. When you first come in there's a small waterfall. Then there's just lots of hiking. Its only about 1.5km each way, but this is what most of the route looks like. Up and down and up and down.... You walk along the creek that Hiji Falls pours into along the way. And you get to cross a suspension bridge. Finally we made it to Hiji Falls! Isn't it pretty? Whew! Good thing I was small enough for Jayme to carry me She's pretty worn out though, just in time to pick up the kids! Hopefully we'll be able to do something else fun sometime soon. Tipu
JaymeC Posted Nov 2, 2009, 3:05 am	Dear Mommy, We had lots of fun celebrating Halloween here with Jayme.  Her boys were pirates, so we decided to pretend to be pirates too. First we helped her put up some decorations. The spider web was very sticky I got caught in it and had to try very hard to get away from the bugs trying to surround me! We also hung up some other decorations like chains And met a spider. And we took a break, hiding in these cups to stay away from the bugs Then it was time to carve the pumpkin. Here it is! With lots of help from Jayme we made a monster pumpkin! Here it is with the lights out We put our pumpkin and Jayme's husband's pumpkin outside along with a bowl of candy and headed out with the kids to trick or treat next. It was raining so we stayed inside the apartment building, but even there some people decorated their doors. See this pumpkin one? And this is a fall one with a welcome home sign. Since Jayme lives on a military base there are always parents deploying, and welcome home signs up when they come home. Phew! We made it home before too long. Look at our haul! That's quite a lot for such a little toy to carry, but the kids brought in considerably more. Yikes! Who's going to eat all this?! Whew! We had lots of fun. Hope you had a good Halloween too! Happy Halloween, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Nov 24, 2009, 1:04 am	Dear Mommy, I'm sorry I haven't updated more, Jayme's been sick and very busy with the end of the school semester these last few weeks lately. She's almost done though! And she also had one other big event we had to help her prepare for... we had to go to lots of places Jayme thought it would be rather boring to take pictures of. First we went to get her hair cut, then to get a pedicure, manicure, and do some shopping for other supplies... finally we got home that evening and Jayme got all dressed up! She was very pretty. While she was getting dressed we climbed into her wallet. She said it was very good that we were so small, she wouldn't have been able to take any larger toys! When we poked our heads out again, we were at Jayme's table at the Marine Corps Ball! The Marine Corps Ball is celebrated every year as a celebration of the Marine Corps Birthday on November 10, 1775. Its a very special day for all the US Marines and they all dress up and go to the ball, which is not only dinner and a dance, but a very nice ceremony. They also wander around telling each other Happy Birthday all night long, which we thought was kind of funny. They even have a birthday cake! We didn't get to take any pictures during the ceremony, and our seats weren't very good either, but I'll show you a few Jayme took and tell you about it. First they bring the flags in and everyone has to stand up and they play the National Anthem. Right after that they have a moment of silence for all the Marines past and present who have died to protect their country. Then they wheel in the cake and the guest of honor and command officer come in. They read a letter written by General Lejeune almost 100 years ago each year as well. Here's the man reading the letter this year. After that they cut the cake. The guest of honor is given the first slice and then the oldest Marine is given the second. The oldest Marine passes his piece of cake onto the youngest Marine to show the passing of the traditions on. After that everyone files back out. Then the guest of honor gives a brief speech. Then its time to eat! The dinner was quite good, but Jayme forgot to take pictures. Sorry Its followed by a piece of birthday cake of course. Then it was time to dance as long as you'd like then head home. We were pretty tuckered out by the end of it! But I hope you like the pictures More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Nov 30, 2009, 8:05 am	Dear Mommy, Jayme was excited about Thanksgiving this year so we had to run some errands the day before Thanksgiving. We went to a few normal stores, then we had to stop by this one store to get what she called "really fresh" eggs. It was a weird place. Most of it was animals for the children to look at and they called it a mini mini zoo. Here you can see some photos. A monster almost got me! After that we headed home to make buckeyes. Remember those? Yum! More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Nov 30, 2009, 8:18 am	Dear Mommy, We woke up to the most delicious smells... and we headed towards the kitchen. Only to realize the baby gate was up and Jayme was threatening everyone who came near her kitchen with a spatula. Yesh, I didn't know Thanksgiving was so serious! We waited and waited and finally just in time for lunch the Thanksgiving meal was served. It was worth the wait! After lunch we went for a walk along the beach to burn off all the calories! Here is where we started. See the sea wall in the distance? Well we walked all the way over there. Its really quite pretty. Some of the graffiti on it is just great. And since the tide was out it was a nice place to rest and take a break. We walked on a little further and found a small beach called sunset beach. Its really too cold for swimming, and there are lots of jelly fish this time of year, but some people were walking at the waters edge. Finally it was time to turn around. Back where we began was a playground shaped like a pirate ship. We stopped there to rest while Jayme's children played. Overall we had a very relaxing Thanksgiving. I wonder what adventures we'll go on next? Tipu
JaymeC Posted Dec 15, 2009, 8:20 am	Dear Mommy, I'm sorry I haven't updated more quickly! Jayme's been quite busy. Us toys have been trying to help, but there's lots to do. We have done a few little trips though. First we went back to Comprehensive Park and took a walk. There are many walking trails here. Today we simply walked along the beach then to a small fish pond so that the boys could see the fishes. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Dec 15, 2009, 8:43 am	Mommy, Today we went to a very special place on Okinawa. It is the Peace Memorial Park. The Peace Park here on Okinawa has taken many years to build. It is to memorialize all that were killed on Okinawa during World War II and also a reminder of the cost of war, and the value of peace. The Peace Park consists of different sections. There is a museum there that has maps and a history of the battle on Okinawa as well as exhibits to see and stories of those who survived are told. There is also a Memorial that you can walk through outside that lists the names of all those killed during the Battle of Okinawa on the edge of a cliff. Finally there is an area with many memorials you can walk through, most of which are stones with the information carved into them in Japanese, which unfortunately Jayme can not read. Today we only saw a small portion of the park, the last area where there are memorials and nice walking paths. Here we are at the beginning of the walk, below us you can see the black stone with engraved names and the museum. Here you can see the water at the base of the cliffs, isn't it beautiful? Next to some of the memorials are paper cranes like these. Many of them are donated by local school children who come to visit. Isn't this an amazing amount of cranes? And these are the ones displayed outside where they must be replaced often. There are many in various locations and inside the museum. Here is an example of one of the memorials up here. Finally here is the view of the stones again as we were walking back to the car to go home. It is a very beautiful and sad place to visit. But it is time to celebrate peace as well, and Jayme says we have a few plans for Christmas upcoming, I hope I'll be able to tell you about them soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Dec 18, 2009, 1:40 am	Dear Mommy, Today we went on a long ride up to a base called Courtney. They were having a small Christmas festival here. Here I am at the entrance. First we sat and watched some carolers. Then we took the kids over to the kiddie land. They had an area for rides and for bounce houses. Then we went to look at the hmmwv they had out. They also had a larger truck and police car, but there were too many people there to take a photo. We wanted to see Santa, but it was far too busy so we couldn't this time Maybe another time. But we had lots of fun and I'm sure we'll do more soon! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Dec 18, 2009, 2:02 am	Dear Mommy, We had lots to do! We made cookies and put them along with buckeyes in these little bags. The bags are for the Marines to take home with them along with other stocking stuffers from the Christmas party. You see, there are many single men out here who are very far from home and so Jayme's job is to try to help them (and the other families) to feel a little less lonely, especially during the holidays. So we cooked and cooked cookies! Then we bagged them up. Look at all these bags! 100 of them here, another woman was doing another 100. That's a lot of cookies! Finally we also made a couple of Christmas tree cakes for the party itself. Doesn't it look yummy? And then we were off to the party! It was at the bowling alley. They were supposed to have things outside as well, but it was raining This isn't a very good picture, but it was quite crowded and we didn't get to bowl at all! But here is the party itself. But most importantly...someone very important came to the party. After he was done greeting all the children Jayme was able to ask him to take a photo with us as well. Did you know that Jayme knows Santa?! I'm very impressed. Here are all of us visiting right now with Santa! Whew. Very tiring! I wonder what else we'll do for Christmas? Tipu
JaymeC Posted Dec 26, 2009, 9:36 pm	Dear Mommy, I have lots of fun Christmas stories to tell you, but first I wanted to show you the decorations here at Jayme's house. She actually has two nativity sets. You see, she bought one the first year, but then realized her kids always wanted to touch it so she found one online that's a childrens nativity set that they can play with. Unfortunately she says this means there's almost always a piece missing, but at least now they don't try to get her set anymore. And it is pretty cute. Here's the adult nativity set. Its still pretty kid proof, but looks a bit nicer. Then there were the Christmas cards Jayme received! A few from toyvoyagers, a few from postcard friends, and a few from family. Not too many cards, but she put them out anyway. Finally there was of course the tree! I won't put up a big picture of the tree yet, you can see that on Christmas Day But I will show you some of the small ornaments on it. Jayme and her family each get one ornament every year for a Christmas present. It may be something from a movie or cartoon they like or something on a trip. Like the Minnie ornament Jayme got at Tokyo Disney. Or it may be something that reminded Jayme of her kids. Like the panda ornament because her oldest son used to carry a panda around non-stop as a lovey for awhile. And then of course, there's a few small ones the children made as well. Here are some pictures of them. I hope you liked the pictures! I'll be sure to write all about Christmas very soon so you can see what fun we had! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Dec 31, 2009, 11:32 am	Dear Mommy, I'm sorry I didn't get my update up sooner to tell you about Christmas! But here it is now. On Christmas Eve our first priority was of course making Christmas cookies! The kids had lots of fun making them. We toys mostly stayed out of the way since we didn't want to get all floury or coated in icing. Here are the ones we left out for Santa. After getting every ready for Santa we went on out to the Christmas Eve light show! We got there quite early before nightfall. Here we are waiting and watching some shows near the stage. You can't really see the shows from here, but they just had people coming up doing short acts juggling or what not. They also had a small festival area for the kids with games and rides, so we took the kids over to do some rides while we waited. The best part of all for the kids though was that we got to see some real snow! Even though it was very warm that night (Jayme was in a tshirt!) they had a snow maker they kept running to build up snowmen, and igloos and other things. It was very, very packed in the snow area. Lots of children checking it out! Many of them will live on Okinawa all of their lives and not really have a chance to play in the snow. Here I am in a brief picture I managed to squeeze in while we were trying to carefully keep an eye on Jayme's children. Finally the lights came on! Aren't they pretty? They have a few very elaborate light set ups. Whew! After that we went home and put the children to bed and helped Jayme do some last minute wrapping. Finally we all got to bed and when we woke in the morning Santa had visited and brought more presents! Here we all are under the tree with the gifts. We spent Christmas Day at Jayme's house playing with the boys and their new toys. Maybe I can take some pictures of them later. For now, Merry Christmas Mommy! Hope you had a wonderful one! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jan 11, 2010, 1:25 am	Dear Mommy, Its been quite rainy here recently, but we've been trying to get out whenever the sun is out. The children are quite restless from staying indoors and they need to get some energy out! So we headed to one of the giant slide parks on Okinawa. Jayme's children really love this slide. Here it is from the bottom, you have to walk up quite a few stairs And here's the view from the top looking down. Its a rollerslide so there are many rollers you slide down. The Japanese children go down standing up, but Jayme's children are a bit young for that so they go down sitting on a piece of cardboard. They also had a small beach nearby so the children tried to build a sand castle. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jan 11, 2010, 3:22 am	Dear Mommy, Like I said in the last update, its been very rainy! And Jayme's children are even driving us toys a bit up the wall with too much energy, so we also headed to an indoor playground. Its a place called Mona Kids. Here is the entrance, isn't it cute? We had a snack inside And here's the play area for the children. There's lots of tubes and ball pits for them to play in. While the children were playing Jayme got to sit and rest and read a bit. I read some Lord of the Rings with her. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Jan 13, 2010, 12:36 am	Dear Mommy, I was quite excited when I woke up and it was actually sunny! Jayme said we were going to go out, but first we would make some lunches to take to eat in the car since it was going to be a bit of a drive. She said we were going to use these things called egg molds. First you boil and peel the eggs, then you put them in molds like this. Here we are with all the egg molds. Then you put them in the fridge until the cool, and when you take them out they've been molded and will hold their new shape. Neat huh? We packed them along with other snacks into a bento box, which is a boxed lunch. Bentos are very popular in Japan. Jayme says she makes "American" bentos because her family doesn't like eating rice when it gets cold, which is a traditional bento food, so instead she makes her own type of boxed lunch. But it does look yummy... you can see the eggs are wrapped in saran wrap and placed in with the other food. Then we headed off. It was a long carride up the coast until we arrived. Finally we arrived at the Busena resort! If you can see that pier far out in the distance, that's where we're headed. We took a nice walk along the way, I thought this anchor was kind of neat. And finally we made it to the pier. We walked to the end and they had what's called an Underwater Observatory. You go down 2M under the water and you can look out the portholes! The area is really rather small, with only about 25 portholes, but its very neat. We stayed there for a long time watching the fish go by. Finally it was time to head home, but we did stop at the playground on the way to let the children run a bit more. Can you tell Jayme spends a lot of time at playgrounds? Here's a view of the playground from one of the many things to climb on. We toys took a rest on the rock wall. Whew! I'm glad we finally got to go out and have some fun, hopefully I'll have another neat update soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Feb 2, 2010, 12:08 am	Dear Mommy, Sorry its been so long since the last update! Jayme's been busy tryin to plot her move. We've gone a few places, but didn't have time to sit down and upate. First we got to celebrate Jayme's son Jacob's 5th birthday! She said she can't believe he's 5 already... Then afterwards we headed to the aquarium since that's where Jacob wanted to visit. I know I've shown you pictures of there before, but since each time is a little different I decided to take pictures again. We also met a new friend while there. He said he may become a toyvoyager too! Finally we got home and got to relax. Jacob wanted to play with his toys so we helped him build up all his new lego toys he got for Christmas and then his birthday. Lots of fun! More updates soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Feb 6, 2010, 7:32 am	Dear Mommy, Jayme told me we were off to do something very special today. We got in the car for a long car ride and finally got out at a castle to quite a surprise. Us toys hadn't realized it was cherry blossom season here in Okinawa! You see, in mainland it comes much later but since Okinawa is warm year round the cherry blossoms tree bloom very early. They're also a much brighter pink than most in the mainland because they're a slightly different variety of tree. One of the most popular spots to visit is here at Nago Castle. You walk up the stairs and just look at the cherry blossoms along the way. Here is our view as we were walking. Hope we get to have another adventure soon! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 6, 2010, 11:48 pm	Dear Mommy, Today Haggis arrived! We were very excited to meet him. We also stopped by quickly at the store today and got some cherry blossoms for Jayme's table. She was surprised to see them in the store, and we couldn't resist bringing them home. Aren't they pretty? Jayme says we'll be very, very busy in the upcoming weeks and she has many updates to write! Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 6, 2010, 11:55 pm	Dear Mommy, Jayme says her parents are coming for a visit! Since they're going to be keeping everyone quite busy she thoguht it was only right for us to go take the kids out for some fun before they arrived. We went to two different playgrounds. The first was an outdoor playground, here you can see the playground behind me. This was the park with the giant cement slide. Do you remember that one? I don't think I showed you before how you buy tickets for the slide, you get them from a vending machine. After that the kids still weren't tired enough so we headed to an indoor playground. Here are two pictures from inside. Whew! I hope we don't have too much else to do before her parents arrived or I may be exhausted for the trip... Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 7, 2010, 12:10 am	Dear Mommy, Today we went back to the egg farm, do you remember it? The place with all the animals? We saw some more animals, I don't really remember which I took pictures of last time, but hopefully there's some new ones this time! And I don't think I remembered to take pictures inside the store last time, so here are some this time! They sell lots and lots of pastries along with eggs. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:09 am	Dear Mommy, I know you've seen the Peace Memorial Park, but I thought you may like to see it again since it was so very pretty. Here's another view of the cliffs. And here's a closer view of the memorial walls listing the names of all those killed than I had before. And here again is the museum, unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside. Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:17 am	Dear Mommy, For the second day of Jayme's parents visit we went to Okinawa World. Here I am where you buy your tickets. Remember the caves at Okinawa World? More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:39 am	We also took Jayme's parents on a nature walk. There wasn't too much to see on the walk, but here's a view. And the beach at the end was beautiful! More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 10, 2010, 7:00 am	We also took Jayme's parents back to Camp Zanpa where the lighthouse is. Do you remember it? Here it is. And here's the view of the coast from the lighthouse More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 10, 2010, 7:06 am	The final morning that Jayme's parents were here she took her mom to go get a pedicure. Toys can't get pedicures of course, but we did get to lounge in the chairs, and it is so comfy in there! We tried to take a picture out the window, but it didn't come out. So we had to walk outside and take a picture for you, this is the view from the pedicure place. Isn't it nice? Well that's all for now! We need a bit of a breather, but I'm sure we'll have more updates soon Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 29, 2010, 11:11 pm	We also go to go spend a few hours relaxing at the beach one day when it was nice out! I helped the kids play in the sand. And all of us toys relaxed on the beach towel for awhile. More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Mar 29, 2010, 11:31 pm	Did you see the news stories about the huge dust storm in Beijing? We didn't have nearly so bad a problem, but we did get some left over dust from the storms. Here's the view from Jayme's apartment. Do you see the fog? That's all dust. Yuck! When you go outside you can taste it a bit. Jayme said the news sources say the dust is safe, but we didn't want to risk it, so we stayed inside unless we had to go out. We did look up the dust storms in China though. We're very glad it wasn't that bad here! More soon, Tipu
JaymeC Posted Apr 13, 2010, 10:24 pm	Finally! That time of year rolled around again. I was able to celebrate Easter with my host! The Easter bunny brought her children bookbags instead of baskets, better to take on the plane for their upcoming move I think After the children checked out their 'baskets' we were off to find the Easter eggs the the bunny hid! I helped too. Whew! We emptied out all the eggs, look at all this candy! Yum! After that it was time to dye some eggs. Here's the kit we were using Then we had to get everything ready. Boiled eggs? Check. Colored water? Check! Stickers for the eggs? Check! Papertowels to catch all the mess? Check! See the egg coloring? And more And finally the finished product! They were also very yummy to eat I got to eat both the candies from the plastic ones and a real Easter egg! After the Easter party it was time for me to pack up to head home. I've been here a year, and its time for me to move on, but what a fun year it's been! I hope you enjoyed my updates this year as well! Tipu
katjaintenerife katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk Posted Jun 30, 2010, 7:43 pm	I arrived home a while ago but Katja has totally forgotten to update my status. She has really enjoyed all the updates me and Jayme did during the year I spent in Okinawa and she's really greatful for Jayme being such a good host, especially as Max's adventure's weren't half as interesting as mine. Thank you!

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