He's here...

When I was a kid, my dad traveled to Asia a few times a year.  We always dreaded the trip, because it meant a few weeks without Dad, but looked forward to his homecoming.  He always brought us really neat gifts!  So when I learned that we were moving to Japan, I had crossed my fingers that my Dad would go on business near me for a change!  Unfortunately in our 2 1/2 years here, he had not yet had to travel to Asia!  But finally, he had a quick trip to Korea planned!  Yay!  And so, he booked some tickets to fly over to Okinawa to visit us for a change! While it was a very quick trip (4 days... boo!) we made the most of our time together.  I'm so happy he could come see us in our home.  I'm sure it's quite a role reversal for him, as he's not used to seeing his little girl grown up, married, with a child, and another on the way.

We kicked off Saturday evening with our beloved Sushi go round.  We took full advantage of all they have to offer at night, including our favorite sushi of all time- broiled tuna!  It is tuna marinaded in teriyaki flame broiled with a lite mayo sauce on top.  It is to die for!  We ended up ordering 5 plates of 2 pieces between the 3 of us and were full after trying some other dishes.  Just when we were digesting, we noticed they had made about 7 more plates of tuna!  How could we NOT grab it?  (It's a special order, so it doesn't normally go around the belt for grabbing, it has to be special ordered from the kitchen!) And so, with stuffed bellies, we headed home with a great first night.

Today we decided to really get out and see some things.  We first headed to Ryuku Mura, a neat little village nearby with a lot of Okinawian things condensed into one place.  I liked this place, as it wasn't in your face "buy this buy this" like I think so many things in Japan are.  We first saw a small show.  Then walked around the village and looked into some of the small shops.

 This was part of the shishimai (lion dance).  Here is the Wakuya about to play fetch with the Shisha!

 The lion dance appears from June to August (lunar calendar).  Here is the Wakuya making a lion fetch the ball!

 King, queen, Sanji Government service (high officials)

The Eisa dancers playing the drums.

 It always cracks me up to watch the Japanese get involved in silly things like this!  They were all walking around dancing to the music at the end!

After the show, we brought Zach around some of the little villages to look around.  The first place we stopped had a big goat.  It was making typical goat sounds, and Zach got terrified!  The look on his face was priceless.  Unfortunately, I was laughing too hard to snap a photo.  But after, we saw a baby goat walking around.

Not quite sure about this...

 My boys looking into the pond at the Koi!

After Ryuku Mura, we went to Cape Zanpa- a beautiful lighthouse with intense views!

 My dad couldn't get over how the waves were hitting the rocks!  It was pretty windy!

Pretty far down there!

After a quick lunch at a korean BBQ place, we went down to Yomitan.  Yomitan is a neat little village where they make pottery and blown glass.  We looked around for awhile and enjoyed walking around while Zach napped in his stroller.  And then we headed back to relax for a bit before going to dinner at a great Brazilian BBQ place!

Day 1 with Grandpa Steve (it still gets me every time to think my dad is a Grandpa!) was a great success.  We got to see so much!