Kodomo-no-hi

These are called "koi noborui." They are giant windsocks in the shape of Koi and very colorful. Some are up to 8m long. They are flown in honor of Kodomo-no-hi, or Children's Day. It used to be known as "Boy's Day" (similar to the "Girl's Day" in March), but in 1954 the holiday became known as "Children's Day." May 5th (the 5th day of the 5th month) is when the festival is celebrated. On that day people are to reflect on the healthy growth of all children. According to a Chinese legend, the carp swam upstream to turn into a "strong and healthy" dragon. The koi noborui represent carp swimming upstream. The parents hope that their sons will endure obstacles as they grow throughout their life, and become strong and confident. The number of carps on the pole are supposed to symbolize how many sons a family has. You can see these koi windsocks flown all over in public places and private homes. They are displayed from April to early May. On Sunday, we went with The Adams' to see the biggest display of the koi over the river. There were so many! The river was near Toguchi Beach, so when we were done there, we headed over to the beach to walk around. Here are some pics!
I caught this guys Skiing:


Mr. Craig was nice enough to buy the kids their own koi noborui:


The girls with their koi:


And again:

Mommy had to hold the koi for Olivia, she kept trying to poke my eye out:

Over at Toguchi Beach, going down the slide again, Maddi in the background:

"Weeeee:"

Looking out from the cave-like area:

Under one of them:

It is so pretty here:

Looking down from one of the trails, I was calling her name, she was looking for me:

Found me! Waving:

View of the swimming area:

Michaela and Olivia:

Tropical Beach

Why would a place be called Tropical Beach? Because it looks like this:


Last Saturday we were looking for something to do, so I decided to show Mike Tropical Beach. It isn't a far drive, maybe about 25 minutes, but it is very pretty and there is lots to see. He hadn't been yet, I first saw it with my friend Haruka, we went to a Hotel nearby for lunch one day. So we all loaded into the car, including Jill and went off to the beach. Unfortunately, once we got there we realized that no dogs were allowed on the actual beach area. Boo. But like I said, there was lots to see. The beach is located within Ginowan Park, and dogs can walk around the park area, just not the beach. So Mike and I took turns looking at the pretty blue-green waters, then went off walking around the park. Here are some pictures of the day:

They were flying Koi for "Children's Day." More on that in another post.


Beautiful pic with tetrapods along the Seawall (find out more about them here):
See the coastline in the background? That is American Village/Sunset Beach area (closest to the base), to give you the idea of how the coast goes.


Enjoying a pretty day!


Tetrapod/coast again:


"Peace" - Graffiti along the seawall is common:


Artsy shot of a monument at the park:


Walking along the park, we came across a friendly game of crochet:


Taking a break in some shade:


Look what we found catching some sun!


Cool architecture of a building there:


Do you see him?


Looking at all the fish in the little pond thing. There were some big ones in there!


See!?


And one final shot of the park/pond area:

Toguchi Beach & Mike's Birthday

On April 25th, Mike volunteered with an Earth Day event to help with a Beach Cleanup. The cleanup was for Toguchi Beach. Olivia and I were going to help too, but it was yucky windy-rainy that day and I didn't want to chance her getting sick. I hadn't been to this beach yet, so the next day (Mike's birthday) Mike took us to see the beach. It is a pretty cool area. They have caves and cliffs all around with walking trails, there is a little kiddie playground, and a swimming area too. When Mike helped with the clean-up he did the walking trails, clearing out the bush and picking up trash. Apparently, they found a lot of bulk items like tires and other car parts. How sad that people would dump in this beautiful area.
A trail following under one of the coral/cave things:

One of the caves with the ocean in the background:

Daddy and Olivia going down the slide, I think she likes it!

We stayed for the sunset:

Sea glass...See glass?

Seaweed salad anyone?

A pretty lily. I love how their "wild" flowers are some of the best flowers!

A tree grew into the rocks:

And one last sunset shot before we left:

And earlier that day, Olivia helped daddy open his presents:

I wonder what she is thinking here:

Trying on the hats he got from Grandma:

What's New?

Not too much is new on our part. We are just enjoying traveling around the island and enjoying the nice weather we have been having lately. Olivia is turning one soon! We are planning a birthday bash for her at a park nearby. Mike is still taking piano lessons, and he likes them very much! He even played himself the "Happy Birthday" song. Maybe he will play it for Miss Olivia next week. Jill is doing well, she likes being able to go out and about with us. And me? Well, in April I took another class at the Arts and Crafts place on base. A photography class to learn how to use the camera I got for my birthday! It met for 4 Sundays, and we even had a "hands on" field trip down to American Village to take pictures. I thought I would share with everyone my favorites from the shoot. I thought the class was very helpful and hopefully you'll notice a difference in my pictures from now on!
The first one is my favorite:

What A Mess!

Lately, feeding time has been a chore. Olivia loves to eat, which is a good thing. The other side is that she wants immediate gratification. Which means when you put her in the highchair, you better have a handful of Cheerios to pacify her! Otherwise you get high-pitched screams. She has also started a new thing where she wants to feed herself. Which, could be a good thing...if only she could actually feed herself. I'm talking about with food that has to be put on a spoon. She is fine with stuffing finger foods (cheerios, puffs, chicken nuggets) into her mouth. But when it comes time to eat cereal or jar baby food, you spend the meal fighting her for the spoon, trying to keep her from grabbing it and throwing the food all over the place. It gets to be a fun game...apart from those high-pitched screams again. So, the other morning, when she was just about finished with her cereal, I just gave in and let her have at it. She was pretty proud of herself. She was actually quite good at making it to her mouth, just had trouble getting it on the spoon.
Here is a video of her feeding herself:

"What? I got this."

Messy Face: