Minshuku Kagetsu Amakusa

... I've been to a couple of other aquariums (most notably the Vancouver Aquarium and the New England Aquarium in Boston) but this place definitely took the cake. Not only was there a good dolphin and whale show but the massive shark/ray/tuna/whatever-else-kind-of-fi sh-you-can-imagine tank was unbelievable. Apparently the main viewing area houses one of the largest single panes of plexi-glass in the world. There are a couple of pictures that I've posted here that should ...

Today we decided to do something that I don't normally like to do -- go on a guided tour with a bunch of other people and get caught up on a commercial racket. Given that neither of us have ever been to Okinawa and don't know our way around, we decided to go on a bus tour and are we ever glad that we did.

The tour took us to a number of historical and interesting spots, most notable of which was the old Imperial Navy Underground Headquarters that served as ...

... this though, I probably would not have noticed this at all -- the signs that this prefecture is a bit behind others are subtle. A shabby building here, some litter in a river there -- things that one tends not to see to such a degree in other parts of the country. Nonetheless, this is quite a nice place and definitely a sub-tropical paradise.

We will definitely see a lot more of rural Okinawa over ...

... did all of our shopping in fast forward. On our way home, we stopped at the military exchange, the small American-style mall on base. My mom and I went inside to buy silk robes, like the one Julia gave me for Christmas. We also got books for our respective plane rides, and then went to dinner at Macaroni Grill nearby. It was absolutely delicious, and Riley was very funny. While Julia packed at home, my mom and I took Riley ...

On Saturday, I managed to wake up a bit earlier, which is good because we had to be out of the house and on the road to get to the aquarium. Okinawa's aquarium is located near Nago, on the north tip of the island, and is the seconds largest aquarium in the world after the one in Georgia. It also has the largest sheet of plexiglass in the world for its main tank, which holds three whale sharks. We were very excited to see this, even ...

... to the car, it stopped raining, of course. Obviously after all of that I needed a nap, so I took one up in the guest room. When I woke up, we had an excellent dinner of pasta and root beer floats before heading to the mall. The Okinawan mall was different than other malls I've seen, with a more open floor plan while still having sort of individual shops. Right as we walked in there was a cartoon animal to ride on, which Riley saw and immediately wanted, so we had problems ...

Thursday morning marked my third location change of the trip. My 1:30 PM flight meant that there was not a whole lot we'd be able to do before I had to go, so Natalie and I decided to check out the Harbor City Mall again. After a repeat of breakfast at Starbucks, we headed over to the entrance from yesterday. Or so we thought. Apparently this mall is so huge that we were able to wander for an hour, through a luxury brand ...

So, I thought that April was busy. May was our first month on our own with Trevor deployed. Though I hate to explore without him. We (me and the kids) needed some distractions. I signed Ava up for a gymnastics class and a ballet class. Of course I forgot my camera most classes I did get a few pictures. The kids made some nice presents for me for Mother's Day, thanks to their provider Jen! We made a trip to my schools' Luau and the kids ...

... the first time. Because I had seen souvenir bottles of Awamori in Ryukyu-mura village, I wanted to taste it at least once in Okinawa. The hotel gave me a complimentary drink ticket, although I had to pay extra 300 yen, and that was a perfect chance to taste traditional Okinawan sake.

On the last day in Okinawa, firstly, we visited Seifa-Utaki, a spiritual place. Old Okinawans had some religious rituals in the middle of the forest ...

... this is pretty much a sight seeing day Tackle shop for Ben--he just had to get a pole cause theres going to be fishing everywhere. We got a fish guide book(Japanese) and some advice from fishing shop worker. Use shrimp...little ones that wont stay on your hook....this is really a learning experience. Fishing lures are way too expensive here so bait is good. This is a very good way to begin to establish relationships with the Okinawans.....just keep going to the same spots and th ...