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Okinawa, Japan - 24th November 2009
By: JaymeC
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,
Friendship Bear
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Posted Nov 24, 2009, 1:04 am
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Okinawa, Japan - 15th December 2009
By: JaymeC
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,
Friendship Bear
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Posted Dec 15, 2009, 8:42 am
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Okinawa, Japan - 24th December 2009
By: JaymeC
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!
Friendship Bear
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Posted Dec 26, 2009, 9:37 pm
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Okinawa, Japan - 25th December 2009
By: JaymeC
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!
Mommy, I'm quite worn out from my visit here. We've been very busy! I had hoped I would hear from you by now, but since I haven't I'm going to take a nap up on Jayme's shelf until she hears from you about where I'm supposed to go next. Don't worry, I'll be quite safe even though I'm not updating and I hope I'll have a nice cozy envelope to sleep in soon.
Much love,
Friendship Bear
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Posted Dec 31, 2009, 11:35 am
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