Mom's Visit to Okinawa

I apologize for the lapse in posting to the blog. It's been a busy few weeks. I had midterms for my classes with University of Maryland and then my Mom came to visit us in Okinawa. My Mom lived in Okinawa over 30 years ago when she and my father were newly married. They lived on Kadena Air Force base. It was pretty interesting to see Mom's reactions to all the changes. She couldn't believe it was the same place.

The Sunday after Mom arrived was Kevin's 30th birthday so we celebrated by having a small BBQ party at Torii Beach. Kevin wanted a quiet affair, so we had just a few friends. We had beautiful weather, so I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Mom and I went tidepooling, some of the boys played beach volleyball, and the kids (ages from 2 to 12 years old) played in the water. Unfortunately we were having so much fun, I didn't take any pictures. :(

The next day, Mom, Kev, and I went to Nago to visit the Churaumi Aquarium. In honor of Boy's Day, which is a Japanese holiday, there were fish shaped kites on display at Ocean Expo Park. Usually, the Japanese display "carp" for Boy's Day, but since we were at the Aquarium, there were sharks, rays, starfish, and eel shaped kites. Take a look...






Here is a photo of my Mom at the aquarium. I think she enjoyed herself. :)



This is a photo I took of a moray eel at the aquarium. No trip to the aquarium is complete without seeing the moray eels. Kevin was bit by a moray eel several years ago while diving in Hawaii, so now whenever we visit an aquarium, we see the moray eels. We like to joke that the eels really "like" Kevin. Ha!



After the aquarium, we visited a traditional Okinawan village in Ocean Expo Park. In this village, you can see what some of the houses looked like on the island during the Ryukyu kingdom.

Here's a photo of Kevin playing around with a banyan tree. Banyan trees grow well on this island and are often 100 of years old.





This is me posing in front of one of the traditional homes in the Okinawan village. You can see how the floors of the house are tatami mats. You can only imagine how hot it must have been in the summer without any air conditioning!






During the week of Mom's visit we went to Toguchi Beach to enjoy the sunsets. This beach is within walking distance from our house, so Mom said she was jealous that Kev and I could be so close.






The week of Mom's visit was a lot of fun, but it wasn't long enough. Thanks for visiting Mom! Come back and visit us again in Okinawa! Love and miss you already....

XOXOX, Chrissy