Shields Say Konnichiwa 2015 Part I

My sister, Annie, and her sweet family have been living in Okinawa, Japan for the past two and a half years.  (See her blog HERE) They are moving back to the states so we snuck in an amazing visit right before they left.  You read that right, we traveled internationally with our two little sidekicks!  The kids were troopers- even with the 12 hour flight and the 3 hour connection to Okinawa AND the crazy time difference.

Victor picked us up from the airport and we arrived to their house around midnight Saturday night.  The next morning we were up (around 4 AM) and went to church with the Castros.  After church, we drove up to one of the places that I've been anxiously waiting to see- Sea Glass Beach and the musical road.  (We were so lucky that one of Annie's friends let her borrow their van so that we could all fit!) I wish I knew how to add video so I could show us driving on the musical road.  Basically the ridges on the road make a song when a car drive over it.  I think it's pretty awesome! I also brought home probably close to 20 lbs of sea glass.  I think it's so beautiful!  We also had an incredible dinner at Annie's house that night.  It was a great Sunday!

Monday our adventures took us to Fukugawa Falls!  It was a short hike that took us through the jungle.  We were warned to have a stick so you could get rid of the spider webs across the path.  It was a great tip.  The falls were beautiful and Michael loved the rope swing. (He didn't love the huge spiders that were on the rope swing, but once those were taken care of, the fun continued.) After the falls, we ate at probably my favorite spot the whole week. An authentic Japanese restaurant (shoes off and sitting on the floor) called Arashi.  I loved the fried rice and the pot stickers.  It was all delicious.  We also went to Pineapple World for their fun little pineapple car tour and the delicious samples!  Later that evening we went with the Castros to an amazing curry house for some yummy dinner.  It was a delicious day!

On Tuesday we squeezed in lots of great activities.  Starting with me blowing my own beautiful, Okinawan glass.  What a process.  I loved seeing a beautiful thing created from basically nothing.  So cool.  Then we went into Naha and went through the former Naval tunnels. Laila thought they were pretty scary.  They were a bit on the creepy, solemn side of things so I can't blame her there. But it was incredible to learn some more about the history of the beautiful island of Okinawa.   After the tunnels, we stopped at an amazing playground nearby that had some awesome roller slides.  They were so long, I was pretty sure I burned a hole in my pants.  Thankfully, that was not the case. This park was also Laila's (and mine) first experience with squatter toilets.  What an experience!  That night, I got bamboozled into joining Michael and Victor for dinner at sushi go round.  I know I'm probably in the minority, but I'm not much of a fan of sushi.  But I had fun with the concept of picking out what food you wanted as it traveled around the tables.  Laila liked watching the food too!

Wednesday had rain in the forecast so we went to the aquarium.  Laila LOVES the aquarium and fish.  This one definitely did not disappoint.  It has THREE huge whale sharks! I loved seeing how absolutely tiny humans are compared to these animals.  It was pretty remarkable.  While at the aquarium, we also ate lunch and had an Okinawan favorite- taco rice.  Then we head next door to the Tropical Dream Center. They had SOOO many beautiful orchids! I really enjoyed our brief visit.  To finish our day off, we stopped at Nakijin Ruins.  It was a bit muggy out, but so incredibly green and beautiful!