Travelog for: Luv Leon

Off I go to Japan! My first travel destination!!

I've arrived! I sat and waited and waited for what seemed like forever in my little box, only to have it opened. As soon as I was out I heard cries of "Lion! Lion!" so I had to of course go give a hug to my new host's son.


Then I took some time to take in where I was now. Japan! This is the view out Jayme's patio. It looks like such a beautiful place.


I'll write more soon!
Luv Leon

Jayme said she knew I wanted to relax, but we had to get to business first. We have little mouths to feed and care for. So our first stop was the local farmer's market area.


I rode with Chris through the market. This cart's a lot different than the ones in the states



Ohh look at all that food! Hm... not much meat. Though I do spot some fish in the back.


Next we had to stop at the 100Yen store. Jayme said that sounds like a lot of money, but 100Yen is really just about $1. There's everything in there from small toys, to dishes, to candy.


While we were there we were getting supplies for Jayme's bento boxes.

You see, there's little plastic jars you can put sauces into. There's also little food cups for slightly messy, small foods and that big blue thing is a banana protector. Amazing what you can find for only 100Yen!

From there we went to the thrift store.


This thrift store supports the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. Jayme said it was very nice, but I should probably wait in the car so she didn't have to pay for me when we left! She looked for some new toys to be toyvoyagers, but there weren't any ones small enough. Maybe another time...

From there we headed back to relax some. As we should've! What a busy, busy day..

Write more soon,
Luv Leon

Whew! Finally a chance for a little breather! We found out in the morning that this afternoon was a going away party. But the great part was it was at the beach!

The beach is called Torii Beach. Here's a sign near the entrance. Chris and I were hanging out together again, every time he sees me he comes running and asks to hold me!


Chris took me over to show me the beach. Its a very beautiful one!


Hm... then he left me in the volleyball nets. Do I look like a ball...? I guess its a good thing no one was playing..


Whew! Chris had to go eat lunch and I got some time to sit down and relax. There was a nice pavillion here to eat at and look at the water.


And finally I got to complete my goal of Sunbathing at the beach. Mmm! So nice! I don't like the water, but this nice warm sand feels wonderful!


I'll write more soon I'm sure!
Luv Leon

Ohh what fun today! We went to the waterpark this morning. Being a cat, I of course don't like getting wet, but it was fun to see and watch all the children at play.

Here I am with a floatie. I wonder if I could hang out on that sometime?


And here's the kiddie pool area. You go up on one side, then down the slides on the others. There's lots of mist!


Speaking of mist, this thing's kind of cool. You can climb up into it and hang out inside.


And...here's the water slides! Man they're big! Jacob and Chris were far too small for them though.


After checking out the park Mrs. Beasley and I just hung out for a bit and relaxed. Water parks are tiring!


Write more soon,
Luv Leon

Today we heard the weather wasn't supposed to be great tomorrow, so we went to the park! It had a big roller slide


Jayme says there's much bigger ones, but this one's pretty large!

And can you spot me on this climbing wall?


The park was right next to the sea wall, you can see there's graffiti all over it, but some of it is very beautiful.


The ocean is just beautiful, but you can see the clouds rolling in!


Write more soon!
Luv Leon

Today we went to a place called Neo Park. Its on the north end of Okinawa and Jayme says its not worth an individual visit, but its a nice place to stop for the kids. Here's the entrance.


Once we got in there, I found out most of what it is is feeding birds! There's lots of neat types of birds in here. Jayme says she doesn't know what they are, but they're all very friendly. She was careful with me though so none of the birds thought I was food...

And we had to be careful like the sign said...








Towards the end of the walk through all the birds there was a water tunnel under a little pond we could go through!




There was also a place where the children could feed these animals.


But then it started raining and we had to hurry back out! Remember, I said yesterday it was supposed to be rainy?

Write more soon,
Jayme

Once we were done at Neo Park we headed on up to Okuma to spend the night! Its a recreational facility on the north end of the island.

Ahh a bed at last!


Til Chris found me!


Here's the outside of our little room. You can see the weather was not nice enough to go to the beach, but its a beautiful area.


Instead we went for a bike ride. See me with Chris?


I even got to drive for awhile!


Then we went to play some putt-putt.


We headed back to the room after that, and I thought about calling my mommy, but there was this warning on the phone...


I didn't know what that was about, but I didn't want to say anything wrong so I changed my mind and went to sleep instead!

When I got up in the morning it was time for some coffee and a newspaper.


You can see Chris and I were both hungry!


After we ate it was time to head home, but we stopped first to see if we could rescue any toys from this horrible cage...


But we couldn't get any out Darn. Hopefully someone else rescues them!

I'm sure I'll write more soon, but I've got to have some time to relax after our busy weekend!

Love,
Luv Leon

Today we went to Koukousai Dori, or Koukousai Street. Its the largest 'marketplace' in Okinawa. Here you can see me and some of the street.



Many of the stores sell Shisa, and many stores are dedicated ONLY to selling Shisa! Shisa are a pair of lion/dogs that act as guardians. They always come in a male/female pair, and one always has its mouth open to let the good spirits in while another has its mouth closed to catch the bad spirits. They can be found on most of the homes in Okinawa. Here's a whole bunch of small ones for sale!


And some of the shisa are quite fun! Here's a large one outside the store.


There were benches along the way that look like this vegetable cut open. The vegetable is called a goya, and is very common on Okinawa.


I also picked up a small gift to send home to mommy as well as a postcard. I hope she likes them!

Write more soon,
Luv Leon

We were going to stop by a shrine today, but unfortunately it had gotten really rainy... but the rain let us just as we went up to Kadena Airbase for a Bible study and we were able to see some planes from the window! These sit here in what's called the Airpark so people can come look.




Write more soon!
Luv Leon

*gulp* Jayme just told me there's a TYPHOON nearby! Apparently its moving erratically now so they're not sure if its going to hit or when... but we had to get prepared one way or the other! I'm rather worried... but I suppose at least I get to stay safely here instead of riding an airplane through it. Yikes!

So lets check... we've got water...


Canned food...


And snacks...


Now I just need someone to cuddle up with! I don't like water...

Luv Leon

Uhoh....the storm's still coming. I hid in the blankets!


But Chris found me there and was trying to show me the storm wasn't that scary


But Jacob gave me a proper hug so I wouldn't have to be afraid.


After that I ventured a look outside.


Yikes! Write more soon,
Luv Leon

Oh no! Its time for me to go to my next host. In the mean time, I helped Jayme's husband pack up. Sheesh! He's only going to be gone for a week...



After we finished packing it was time for me to go...

I snuggled up with Chris in the car, but didn't get to say a proper good bye as he fell asleep. But isn't he cute asleep?


Onto Australia I go!

Luv Leon

All the way from Okinawa to Australia, that didn't take too long! Quite glad though, I left from what was some nasty rainy weather, and now I'm in Australia where's it's all blue skies... and Sara says it probably will stay like that until Autumn, which is months away sadly... Sara likes the rain it just gets so hot here! It's quite warm already at 23'c (81'f) and we're only a few days into Spring... crazy!


Well here I am arriving, the package was opened and I was pretty shy to come out but I kept hearing a lot of whispers wondering who it was... I decided to ease their concerns because of the package being so much larger than them and poke my head out...


They were a bit relieved to realise I was not a dangerous lion. I'll now introduce you to my new friends, from left to right, myself of course, Steve, Paula, Jonas, Bellatrix, and last but not least Lollipop! We had a good long talk and then I had a little bit of a nap before continuing on with my day! Write again soon!

After my little nap, I was happy to meet my roommates. Some of them I've heard for quite a while but not really have seen, one of the biggest things in the house is the aviary that lives in Sara's kitchen... :-)


These are Sara's birds, she's got quite a few... most of them are finches, but she also has two button quails and two diamond doves (which are the smallest doves in the world - which are not much bigger than a finch). Sara's birds are all Australian native, they include star finches, gouldian finches, spice finches, and zebra finches. :-) They're all quite pretty aren't they?


Next stop was their fish tank, obviously these guys don't make too much noise but they had a few babies so their few platties turned into a few more... so most of them are identical but there are swordtails and a guppy for live bearing fish. Otherwise there are a few barbs, loaches, and suckerfish (one of which is quite large).


Then not quite the last yet, but other side of the house Sara has a puppy currently in a kennel. Don't worry she's not in there most of the time, except night time or the times that Sara's not home. But because she's still a puppy I can hardly get a photo together with her, let alone with her not trying to eat me... :-) She's friendly though, her name is Anni, and she's a 5 month old beagle. :-)


Last but of course not least, the mice... Sara has 6 mice (2 of which are brand new from today)... she's got them in a large mouse mansion and they were all roaming around the cage and being crazy until we came around! Oh well! It's daytime so they're sleeping away... they live on top of the dogs kennel most of the time where they're safe... they're also very friendly animals!

So I hope you enjoyed the tour around Sara's home with her pets... she's got quite a few but as you can tell I'm sure she's an animal lover! :-) Write again soon!