Showing posts with label family fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family fun. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Shurijo Castle







                                 
After 5 and a half years we FINALLY made it to Shurijo Castle.  I was told before that it wasn't very stroller friendly and to go when it wasn't scorching hot out.  The stars aligned perfectly  and we finally made it.

 It was a busy day when we went, lots of visitors.  The castle opens at 9 am, we left at 9 am ( took us about 30 minutes to drive there).   Unfortunately it wasn't early enough, all the free parking lots were full, but we were able to pay for parking pretty close to the castle.

Seeing the castle was pretty cool.  You are able to walk around outside and check our the castle grounds for free.  There is a small fee to go inside the castle and tour the rooms.  When touring inside the castle you are not allowed to wear shoes.  The staff hands out plastic bags to carry your shoes around.  Inside the castle was like a museum, lots of artifacts and information.  The kids were not that into it.  They shuffled quickly from room to room, while Morgan and I tried to read up on the displays.  All in all it took about 1 to 2 hours to tour the castle and the grounds.  It was a nice morning trip with the Oki Fam and finally checking this site off our Oki Bucket List.



Monday, June 29, 2015

Summer Time Fun


Summer is well underway here in Okinawa!  We decided to make a list of fun stuff we wanted to do in the next 2 months.  Summer days can get long here and the intense heat can make them longer. Making this list with the kids keeps us from sitting on the couch all day and gets us doing fun activities. These are all really easy to do and don't cost a lot.  A lot of these remind me of my summers as a child.  Now I'm making the same memories with my kids!  Hoping to check these all off by the time school starts in late August!  

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Happy Birthday America

4th of July Recap

I've totally been slacking.  All my posts are late, well better late then never.  The typhoon kinda got me off track.

We spent 4th of July like we always do on Oki, with our annual Ikei beach bbq with our Oki fam.    We go to Ikei beach and spend the whole day BBQing and beaching it.  Its a fun traditon because all the families get together and bring a ton of food and drinks!  All the kids were having a blast going back and fourth playing in the sand and the water. This year was especially fun because Nolan is a lil older so we could play in the water a lot more.  We had a blast making sand castles and splashing in the water.  We got to the beach at 10 and left at 6!  It was a long full day.  I was super surprised because the kids didn't even stop for a nap!  They were determined to have lots of fun and soak up the sun.  The ONLY downside is that there are no fireworks at the beach.  Since we live in Japan, they obviously don't celebrate the 4th of July.   On base they do have fire works, BUT its the only firework show on island so as you can imagine its packed.  By the time we got home, the kids were already so exhausted that we just shower them and put them in bed.  We didn't dare venture out after that long day.  Till we meet again Ikei beach!

Ikei Beach

Playing with his daddy
Floaty fun
Family shot
Oki Fam
{This isn't even everyone who came, this was everyone who lasted till 6pm}







Thursday, June 26, 2014

Staycation

Summer is well underway here.  A/C is on full blast and kids are out of school.  Now, I love traveling as much as the next person.  Especially going to a new country.  But, we aren't millionaires and I'm a SAHM.  We are fortune to travel off island, 1 or 2 times a year.  So we plan lots of stuff to do locally.  I mean, we aren't going to live here forever , so we gotta take advantage and see the sights.

One thing that we have done a lot of are staycations.  We not only have done them here, but we've done them in places back in the states.  When we were in WA, we would get a hotel room in downtown Seattle for the weekend and roam the city.  When we were in VA, we would get a hotel room in Northern VA and roam the city.  In CA, we would get a hotel room on the beach and roam the beach.  You get the idea.  But vacations don't always have to be to to new exotic places.  Plus, staycations are quick, fun, and cheap.

Luckily, we live on a beautiful tropical island, with an abundance of awesome hotels.  We booked a weekend at The Rizaan hotel.  Its literally 20 minutes away!  Not far at all.  We got together with 8 other families and planned a weekend there.  The hotel was awesome!  Right on the beach, indoor pool, outside pool, slides, restaurants, huge breakfast buffet included and the hotel room was reasonably priced.  We spent two days there, and we had a blast.  I swear, the kids became fish.  They didn't want to leave the pools or the beach.  Even though it was 20 minutes away from our house, I felt like I was on vacation somewhere else.  It was very easy to get into that vacation mind set.

Notable mentions:

Breakfast buffet::
When I booked our hotel our buffet was included.  I always love when this is included because breakfast is usually the only meal that I know for sure we will eat when we go on vacation. Throughout the day if we are sightseeing, beaching, pooling, we forget about time and we usually consume snacks rather then meals.  This buffet was huge,lots of selection and pretty good food.  They had traditional Japanese and American breakfast options.  There were also lots of fruit and veggies.  The options changed daily, which is nice!  So we started our days with a good hearty meal to keep us going for our long days.

Rooms:
The basic rooms, which is what we booked, was actually not too bad.  Especially in Japan!  We've been to a few Japanese hotels and most of the time the rooms are pretty tiny. Our room was small, but good enough.  We had 2 beds, a pull out bed, couch, coffee table, and mini fridge.  I was really surprised with the room.  I was thinking it would be tiny.  But it was a good enough size to fit all 4 of us comfortably.

Pools:
The hotel had 2 pools, one inside and one outside.  Both had areas for smaller children and water slides.  The outside pool did have a waterfall.  The kids loved going under it.  It was nice that there was the option of inside and outside.  Sometimes outside it was way too hot, Oki summers can be pretty brutal.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves at both pools.

Memories:
I know this sounds cheesy, I dont care!!!  We made lots of memories that weekend.  I loved seeing the huge smiles from my kids.  I loved seeing M relaxed and enjoying himself.  It was so much fun going with all our friends. I honestly was afraid when we were planning it, I thought it was going to be a mad house.  In the end, it was the more the merrier.  We kicked off summer with a bang!  I'm so excited for all the fun stuff this summer has to come!








Monday, November 11, 2013

Churaumi Aquarium & Pizza in the Sky

What a busy weekend we had!  I really had nothing planned for this weekend; there were baskets of laundry, messy rooms, and an unorganized kitchen calling my name. None of that got done! Usually I would freak out at that notion, but we had a good weekend exploring Okinawa.  Much of the time our weekends are spent doing the usual, so its nice to go out and do explore.

Saturday we went to the aquarium.  Third largest aquarium in the world after Dubai and Georgia.  We've been before, but this was the first time with Nolan.  It was a weekend day but it actually wasn't too packed.  My fave part is seeing the whale sharks.  The tank that they are in is gigantic!  It's just so unreal to see them so close and just swimming about.  The kids were mesmerized by them.  Their little faces just looked so curious.  It was so adorable.  In every single tank Mills looked for Nemo or Dori.  Haha  She successfully found Nemo 4 times.

For an early dinner we headed to Pizza in the Sky.  We have never been there before but heard great reviews.  Pizza in Japan is definitely different. Its delicious, but I know many people who don't really like it.  Anyways, we heard that the view is to die for, the pizza is delish, but the wait is a monster.  So we prepared ourselves for a long wait.  When we got there we got seated right away and after ordering our food it took about 5 min. Maybe we were lucky, maybe we came at the right time, either way this place got 5 starts from us.  We ordered a pepperoni pizza for the kids and a "mix" pizza for Morgan and I, oh and a salad.
 
All in all great and fun filled Saturday!