Dinner in a tree?

Well this weekend was a 3 day weekend for us because of the super bowl!! Dima had duty all saturday during the day, so unfortunately, we only were able to explore on sunday. This weekend we decided to make the trek towards Naha, since we haven't made it yet in our month here so far.

On our way down, we spotted a store called Yamada, which I had read about on okinawahai.com. It is sort of like a best buy, but far better and more fun! This store had EVERYTHING on display! Seriously, everything! Dima was amazed by their flat screen LED tv's and is convinced to buy one for us soon. He spent lots of time looking at them all! I was happy just browsing around, looking at random things. I found some really neat alarm clocks and stereos, and even was able to play with hair dryers to see how loud and hot they got! They had these massage chairs out for display, and the japanese men seemed to LOVE them! Here is the Mr. playing with one, look at the guy next to him!

After Yamada, we continued down rt. 58 towards Naha and finally found a bike store. This was a small little bike shop with some amazing road bikes. Dima found a beautiful bike he really wanted, but when we asked the price, we were told it cost 550000 yen, which is the equivalent of over 5,500 dollars! I told him to keep dreaming, we can buy me a car with that!! (Though I must admit, it was a beautiful italian bike that must have weighed about 2 pounds!) We were given their card, because their English wasn't too good, and we plan on going to their main store to look for something within our budget!

We then made it to the diner I have been so excited to eat at since we arrived on island: The treehouse diner. It's actually called the Naha harbor diner, but because it is in a tree, it is called the treehouse diner by us Okinawahai lovers. There were stairs up into the top of the tree, but we decided to take the elevator (how many people have taken an elevator inside a tree before?).

We were seated at a table overlooking the harbor, and the tables were all secluded from one another for privacy. Their menu was pretty good, lots of unique Japanese dishes. We both decided it was such a cool place, we must order alcohol as well. I ordered the wine of the day, not knowing what it was, and dima ordered an Orion beer from the tap. When the server returned, he returned with a glass of red wine for me (below) and a glass of orange juice for Dima. His english wasn't too good, he thought he asked for oj not orion. He brought it back and got dima his orion.

We first ordered an appetizer, wasabi pizza! It was fantastic!
We also were both given this amazing clam chowder soup. It was very different from in the states. It was not creamy like we were used to. Much healthier! We also were given teeny tiny salads, which were different from most japanese salads here. The dressing was more a vinaigrette then any other japanese dressings usually are. It was good of course.

Next came our main courses, for me, it was veggies and seafood. For dima, duck.



We then headed out of the restaurant, and I had to use the restroom. I made it inside and saw this confusing looking potty. There were so many buttons on it I didn't know where to start. It was self cleaning, and had numerous buttons I didn't know what for. I finally sat to do my business and realized that the seat was heated! How cool is that? I had heard rumors of heated pottys, but this was my first experience using one.


We were both happy with our meals, and left the restaurant. We were close to Kokasi street, where I had gone the night before with a friend, so we decided to venture over there. Kokasi street is very similar to chinatown in NYC. They have lots of vendors there with random things. Lots of it are touristy souviners, but there were some pretty cool stuff as well. When I went the night before, I bought a really cute dress and wrap to match.
Unfortunately, we only had enough yen after our meal for just an hour of parking at Kokasi street, so we parked our car and walked for a little, and made it over to yogurtland for some ice cream... as you can tell, dima was thrilled! It was a fun night!

Sakura Festival 2010- Who said playgrounds are for kids only

Today, we got the opportunity to go to the Cherry Blossom festival with some friends and some of our friends children. Even though we saw Cherry blossoms in DC last year, we were so excited to see them. We had heard there was less of a crazy crowd and the ceremony was good to be at.

Unfortunately, the Cherry Blossoms were not fully bloomed. We did however take full advantage of being there and make the best of it still.

When we first arrived, the ceremony was starting. They had a bunch of men dressed up in bright shirts and some women who were supposed to be the Cherry Blossom princesses (at least that's what the Mr. called them!). We weren't really sure what was going on for awhile because they were speaking in Japanese. We did understand the ribbon cutting ceremony, however.

After the Ribbon cutting ceremony there was some kind of ceremony where they took a huge hammer and smashed a wood cover on a big container. Afterwards, people got to drink whatever was in the bin. We later found out that they were drinking rice wine in celebration. I wish I had tried some!!

Then, we ventured up the hill! There were 500 stairs, which was not easy with children! Luckily, at stair 200, there was a break where people were taking photos near the cherry blossoms with a pretty view in the back. Here is a picture of me and the hubby, and a pretty cherry blossom.

Then, we found a walkway for the parents and kids to go up. As for us childless ones, we ventured on up the stairs. I needed to work my butt out anyway!

We met up with the rest of our crew and continued to walk. We heard there was a bridge we would want to walk across up more. On our way up, we found one of Japan's famous vending machines on the side of the trail. Only in Japan can you be in the middle of nowhere and find a vending machine!!

We then arrived at the bridge... how pretty it was! The view was spectacular as you can see from these photos!
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Then we found the coolest part of the whole trip, the playground. This was one of the coolest playgrounds I have ever seen. For one, there was a huge roller slide that we got to go down. We also got to go down zip lines. We all had a lot of fun, and we felt like kids again! I for one was so excited and happy to be able to play with some kids!

We then made our way back down the Mountain. On our way back across the bridge, Trenton and I found this cool spider.

We must have went a different way down the hill, because at the bottom, we found this pretty Japanese waterfall. There were quite a bit of people near it taking pictures and enjoying the sunny day. We love how everyone stays outdoors here so often. Very different from the U.S.

We then ventured over to get some much needed food! Our friend Jennifer bought something that looked tasty, but wasn't sure what was in it. I agreed to take a bite of it with her. I think it was squid wrapped in a crab cake. It was pretty tasty, but not to die for. Dima got some chicken thing on a stick in a Japanese sweet sauce and an Orion beer. I got some random thing that looked like an omlette with sauce. Which i think is exactly what it was. I learned that you should just grab what looks good and not ask what is in it! Both of our foods were fantastic.

We then walked around the festival for awhile. There were lots of games to play for prizes, and lots of junk food. They had some of the biggest cotton candy I have ever seen! We got to see some of the Japanese kids dancing, however I didn't get to get any photos. At the end of the festival, we saw the Marine Corps band playing.

We made it further and found this... the cooest car alive. The japanese sure do love their cartoons!!

We then went back to the car to drive back to base. It was an enjoyable trip, and Harrison and Codey even fell asleep in the car. Only in Okinawa can a bunch of adults have so much fun at a kid centered festival.

An interesting day in Okinawa...

Today Neko had his first puppy play date. Our neighbor, Sarah, has an Oki mix dog named Kobe and she had planned a play date for him and another dog at her house through Okinawa Hai Society. She asked me to tag along, and I was so excited to get Neko out of my hair for a little bit! Caitlin brought her puppy, Gus (who she also got at puppy luv). Gus was a Golden Retriever who was about 4 months and so adorable! Him and Neko LOVED each other. Here is a photo of the two playing together.


Tonight was our second theme night dinner at home. We are sticking to the Japanese theme this week, so we decided to make Japanese Curry, miso soup, and japanese salad. We had a lot of trouble making the Miso at first because the directions were all in japanese, but it ended up being super easy and I will be making it again soon (I just love Miso!). Here are some pictures of what we did and didn't make tonight... you be the judge of what we actually cooked up!

Later tonight, after we were stuffed silly from all the wonderful food we had, Dima called me downstairs to see something. I came down to find a kitten on our chair playing with Neko! No joke! There was someone else's cat sitting on my living room chair playing with my puppy. After they played with each other for awhile, the kitten (Obi, the neighbor's cat) seemed to be going outside... nope... he walked straight up our stairs! I found him in our bedroom sniffing around, about to jump into our bed! He walked into our study and jumped on the window for awhile and watched as Neko tried to get up. I then carried him downstairs, only for him to sprawl out on my couch upside down and play with Neko again. Seriously, only in Okinawa can something so random happen in your home! This is the second random pet that has stopped into our house! We have only been here for 3 weeks and have already had 3 visits by two separate critters!


It was an interesting day here in Okinawa for both Neko and mommy! We both will be falling asleep very easily tonight!