Shuri Castle

Today we went to Shuri Castle with Tom, Tesha, & the kids. Shurijo was central in the ryuku kingdom era and has been restored. It's even on one of the yen bills. It is a beautiful site. And at New Years they have a special celebration. We watched what I think was a king and queen (emperor and emperess) tea ceremony, tour the inside of the castle, and watched some dancers all decked out in traditional garb. After the castle we strolled along kokasai street, a market street in Naha. It was nice day. Olivia enjoyed it because we told her we were going to a castle and she immediately thought of a
"magic castle!" and then thought of Dora and the crystal kingdom. Needless to say she was excited and had a great time too. Here are some pictures:














The dragon is a symbol of the king:


Olivia and Taylor cheese-ing it up





We actually got a nice family pic:


Restored garden:


Outside by the magic castle:








Later with the dancers:














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Happy New Year!

Greetings! We hope everyone is having a safe and happy new year. As for us we stayed quiet this year. Maybe that means we'll have a calm and quiet year?! As for me (Katrina) I signed up for the Body By You Boot Camp - to kick my butt in gear!
I'm nervous and a little tiny bit excited. As most of you know I'm not the most athletic person, but I am hopeful that this help guide me in the right direction and not kill me at the same time. You also known I've been on some meds that have worn me out. I go off of these soon - about three more weeks! So I am hoping to have some energy back after that.
So I have a few goals for 2011:
1. Complete Body By You (no weight loss # here, just wanting to get through the class to start with)
2. Double the amount of books I've read in 2010 (25 in 2010 - you can check out what I read one the right hand side of this blog and see what I'm reading right now by going to goodreads.com, a neat book social network site)
3. Be more mindful of keeping this blog updated and you interested in what we are doing. So expect often updates and come by often! I'm even thinking of changing it up a little.

So I am off to a good start. My class starts Jan 10th and goes to March 4th. And I've posted two days in a row. And I'm always up for reading. Let me know of any awesome books you read, though I do have a ton waiting for me on my shelf - I always like getting more.
We spent the first day of this year with great friends Tesha and Tom. It was their sons 1st bday party and we hung out after. Olivia is bffs with their daughter Taylor and we enjoy hanging out with them so it is always fun when we do. Tomorrow we are planning to go to Shuri Castle for their New Years ceremony/ festival. So stay tuned for pics! For now, I'll leave you with some from December when Olivia modeled for me in American Village:














P.S. Olivia was not a fan of santa ( even statues) and the only way I could get her to sit near him was to give her the iTouch.


P.S.S. She thinks the iTouch is hers...


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Testing, testing...

Goodbye 2010, hello 2011! Just wanted to let you know that the Ellis Family Blog is coming back to life. I've neglected it something fierce since I started working, but the thing is I really like sharing what we do over here with everyone. Now with my fancy iTouch I got an app that will help it be easier to update you all with our activities! We have lots planned for 2011 already, and I'm sure more to come. I don't have all my resolutions yet, I'm sure I'll modify them along the way, but one is to stay up to date with this blog. This is our last full year in Okinawa and I hope to make the most of it. Maybe a picture a day? We'll see, but for now - stay tuned.


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What does Olivia do in Daycare?

Check out this video to see:

She dances! Of course this video was taken at home. But only after I brought to daycare this morning and this song was playing in her classroom. She literally dropped everything and joined her friend Quinten Walker, and proceeded to do the Cha Cha Slide. I was floored. I didn't even know she knew the song. So, after work I look it up on iTunes to see if she actually knew it, or if she was just following along with her friends. And I found out, that she did in fact know it, and the dance that goes along with it! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday 2 Year Old!

So, if you haven't heard, Olivia's 2! And she is getting older by the minute. Everyday she says something new. It is amazing. Watching her grow and learn is so fun, although at times it can get trying. You may know she was very sick last week with a virus, which didn't leave any of us very well. I hope to never have another week like that again. Her actual birthday was May 7th, and on that night we had Craig and Jennifer over for cake and pizza. She opened her gifts from us and we all relaxed. I had planned on having some of her friends over for a play date the following weekend. I'm glad we had the cake on her actual birthday, because two days later she came down with the virus. And that left her out for the count all the rest of the week. I ended up having to cancel her play date birthday party, I didn't want any kids to pick up what she had. The good thing is that she is too young to know her birthday party was canceled. The other good news is we got to still celebrate it with a small, intimate crowd anyway - and she didn't know the difference. Take a look at my baby turning two!

(Side story: So after I frosted the cake, I realized we didn't have any birthday candles. The commissary was already closed (no 24 hour walmart here), so I tried the little shoppette down the street from us. No luck. I was driving back to my house and was sad my baby wouldn't have any candles to blow out. I saw a lady standing outside with her kids, and I thought "What the heck?" So, I pulled up to a complete stranger and asked if she had any birthday candles. She looked at me a little weird and asked how many I needed. I told her two. She came out with a baggie that only had three in there. I thought, "perfect, one for good luck," and thanked her very much. Mike watched the whole thing horrified from my kitchen window. Oh well. I got my baby some candles. And that is why her candles are mis-matched.)

She knew what to do with the candles! She didn't even need help.

Yummy cake!

Finger-licking good!

Daddy got her a big princess balloon:

The world's coolest game...(only for about 15 minutes)

An Abby Kinex thing:

I love this shot. She is wearing Craig's hat and loving it!

See? They swapped hats. :)

It was a happy birthday!

More on Okuma

Yes, I am terrible at keeping up with the blog lately. I know. My reasons are a mix of working, wanting to read, taking care of a sick child with one thing after another, and just plain laziness and craving relaxation. I got a little of that today, so I decided to sit down and show you the rest of the Okuma trip. We really had a blast and we can't wait to go back. It was beautiful! And peaceful, and reminiscent of camping. Take a look:
Olivia was pretty excited and content watching Hi-5 on the way up there. She thought it was so cool she could watch it in the car...until she figured out how to take the DVD out of the player...


Okuma- The buildings on the left is where we stayed. Told you it was right on the beach :)

When I would go camping back in the day, my mom would always throw potatoes wrapped in foil on the fire coals, and come morning, we'd have some awesome potatoes. Well, of all the years we went camping in NY with bear warnings and sightings, raccoons, deer, and whatever else loomed around in the woods, I don't think we've ever had a thief. I put two potatoes on the fire, went to bed, and woke up to this:

Something stole my potato! Just one of them. And left the wrapper for us to clean up! I'm pretty sure it was an animal and not a person, because there were scraps all around. Do fruit bats eat potatoes?

Since there was just one potato, Olivia and I left that for daddy and went to walk to beach. This was the view outside our room, walking down to the beach. Not too shabby...

It was a pretty rocky walk:

Good thing we wore our rain boots! Nothing like walking the beach in your jammies.

After breakfast we went for a bike ride...A family bike ride:

After the bikes, we hit the beach - played in the waves, and also went tubing. All very fun. Except when tubing in the ocean, be sure to wear goggles...the salt water is not nice to the eyes.

Wave to Daddy, Maddi, and Craig:

All that activity wore out Olivia, and she had to take a nap. Okuma was hard work. Notice the one-armed baby - thanks to Jillian.

Ending the night with S'mores...MMmmmmmm

Mini-golf on the last night:

She kinda got the hang of it:

Waiting patiently for her turn:

This guy was hanging out by our room:

One of the many pretty scenes:

On the last day the water was very choppy and it was very windy. We didn't do much water activities, except seaglass hunting.