Father's Day (June 19, 2011)

Allergies have everyone, especially Bill, feeling lethargic so we didn't go anywhere all day.  We had dinner at a Teppanyaki place on base.  We decided to stay on the restaurant side.  Quiet and good food too.

We started getting silly about half way through dinner.  It usually degenerates into this...

tickle, tickle

It worked

 When we got home, Jerry met us at the door and threatened to kill Caroline's yard flamingo, "Phil", and everyone in the house!

Scenes from the massacre...

It only got worse from here.
Time for Bill's Father's Day present to the tune of "Happy Father's Day to you..."
It went on and on...

and on and on and on....

Caroline got congratulations all around for her wrapping job.

To "Princess Bill" complete with crown.

Putting on his crown.

Blackmail photos for a Colonel in the Marine Corps.

Below shows the usual face whenever you read any card from Jerry.  You may recall my birthday entry last month.

Caroline's card displayed her Japanese writing skills.

Bill finally gets his gift, a MacBook Air.  I tried to crop out all of the silly background antics.  

It only got worse.

I think Bill just gave up at some point.  At least he still had his very special crown.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Comprehensive Water Park/American Village (June 18, 2011)

This was our first trip to the water park.  The water park is actually part of a much bigger park.  There are lakes and trails etc.  Too hot for all of that.  We came for the water park!
Bill didn't feel up to it.  So I took Caroline and a friend, Alyssa.
It is about 25 minutes from the house.  $5 each.  The ark is very clean, like everything here.  They had 3 water slides, a huge lazy river with waterfalls and fountains, and a cute kids pool a bunch of slides and fountains.

The sky was beautiful that day.  You can see the park is kept very clean.  It sits right on the water.

I had to take this picture 3 times because they wanted to get the exact right jump.

Heading to the kiddie pool.

This is part of the lazy river that surrounds the water slides.  It is a great mix of people.  There are, of course, the young ones, the adults getting to relax, and also Japanese seniors who use it for an exercise pool.  

The lazy river was huge.  Lots of bridges and waterfalls.

It was a beautiful night so we headed across the street to American Village for Curry Paradise, one of our favorite places to eat.
American Village feels like DisneyWorld.  Tons of places to eat, Street performers, great shops, drinks to go.  Good time.

American Village sits on the ocean.  The place is called "Sunset Beach."  We got there just in time.

The ferris wheel lights up every night.  This is from the beach end looking toward the front of American Village.

I forgot to mention, Christmas lights everywhere, all year round...

Up to Curry Paradise.  All you can eat for $7 per person.

All the curries to choose from...

Jerry is with us through the end of July.  It has been just delightful.

Caroline's School Banquet/Fukushen Gardens

Caroline has had a banner month.  She was chosen as the 6th grade student of the month, she was chosen as a 7th grade Team Guide for her school next year.  The teachers nominate 4 students from the 6th grade class to be a Team Guide.  Their job is to show new students around the school, have lunch with them and generally provide information from the kids point of view. At military schools, there is always quite a bit of turnover so new kids come to the school throughout the year.

Below, she was chosen to give the speech for representing the 6th graders at the annual Advanced Program (AVID) Banquet.

This past Saturday, Bill and I took Patrick and Jerry to Fukushen Gardens.  You may recall an earlier post with Caroline.  It was HOT that day.

Not much to add in terms of narration.  The gardens are beautiful.

We just had a super typhoon a couple of weeks ago so you may see areas that looked "burned." That was the wind damage.  We had sustained winds of 113 mph.

There is supposed to be a waterfall here.  Each time I have come, the waterfall has not been up and running.

It is 100 yen to feed the fish.  We forgot our yen in the car so the poor fish ket swimming up to us expecting food.

We stopped at the Chinese zodiac calendar bridge.  Patrick and Jerry stopped and posed at their sign.

Another bridge. I am sure that the people on the bridge on important, I just don't know who they are yet...

We stopped and sat in this gazebo for a while.  There was a nice breeze up here.

Again, there is supposed to be a beautiful waterfall here.  I know they are doing some renovations, maybe it will be running the next time we go.

My latest Okinawan manicure.  I usually alternate between sophisticated and fun.  This is a fun one.