Back in time-October Events 1

10-17-15

 

If you have been on the island anytime during this last month then you know today was the biggest event of the year (ok, maybe just this month)…Okinawa Comic Con! We didn’t know what to expect and knew it probably wasn’t going to come close to our San Diego Comic Con, but we still had to check it out. The kids were very excited to see what all the hype was about and we ended up having a lot of fun. The main focus was on the Japanese anime and Japan’s famous make-up artist/special affects gurus. We were able to see some pretty elaborate costumes, a few I even knew. After we made our rounds, rode a few rides, and picked up all our goodies they were passing out, it was time to get to our next stop of the day.

 

 

Watch out McKinley

The guy in the black shirt is "crazy" George. All these creepy masks are his design.

They didn't really know who this was until a few weeks ago, but still wanted to take a picture with him

I had to keep my eye on this one and my distance lol

The only time Kayden smiled on this ride-when it stopped

We were just about to ask the guy to stop this ride when another dad beat us to it, these really get spinning!

My handsome little man and...well, those girls tried lol



I have been so anxious to check out sand dollar beach since I found out there was one a few weeks ago. This beach is actually just down the road from sea glass beach. We did find a lot of sand dollars, but only a few perfect ones. However, I still picked up the broken ones. I know there is some kind of project I can do with them. Preston and the kids lost interest is sand dollar hunting rather quickly and explored ahead. Preston was able to catch a very angry one clawed crab. He is lucky to have all his fingers still! McKinley and I found a few treasures of our own. Lol I love seeing all the odds and ends that wash ashore. It’s almost like playing a game of what doesn’t belong.  After we filled my bucket with sand dollars (and a pretty new type of shell) we were off to yet another stop.

Welcome to Sand Dollar Beach

 

This was my sand dollar haul for the day

 

 

 

There were our odd finds

 

Angry Mr. One Clawed Crab

Back away and nobody will get hurt!

He's free now

Preston teaching the kids how to skip rocks

Chasing grasshoppers that were bigger than a golf ball

 One of my favorite pictures!

 I really wanted to take the kids orange (Mikan) picking, but it’s still too early in the season. However, we only came to find this about by actually going to the orange farm. Since we were already so far north we decided to stop by the Fruit land Park. This park is right next to the pineapple we had so much fun at. Japan loves their fruit! At the entrance you are given a map of the park. On this map there are 12 empty circles where you must collect stamps in. To get the stamp you have to answer a question about a specific type of fruit correctly. You slide your map into the machine and answer the question. If you answer correctly, it magically puts a stamp in the correctly numbered spot. You don’t have to worry if you get the answer wrong since you can push the buttons until you find the right one. (We only had to do this once, we were a pretty smart bunch lol) I thought this part of the park was very informative. We then got to explore the butterfly garden, koi ponds, bird land, and even goats. The butterfly garden was beautiful and they seemed to love McKinley. She left with a few butterfly kisses. They even have the butterfly’s chrysalis on display. Makayla had learned the butterfly life cycle and conducted a mini lesson for us. On your way out they have the same set up as the pineapple park where they try to get you to buy one of everything. Nice thing about this is you get to enjoy the samples!

Welcome to Fruit Land

One of the Question/Stamping Stations

 

In the fairy cave, Preston's favorite

Butterfly kisses

 

They are beautiful before they even hatch!

 

Just like the park is called-There is fruit growing everywhere. A very nice park employee even gave the kids a few pieces of fruit to try...we think they were some kind of lime?

Special Note: As stated in one of my earlier blog post that I wished to find out what this was. It grows in trees and looks like a pineapple (can you see how this could be confusing?) It's name is a SCREWPINE, sure screws with you ahahaha

 

McKinley found an Owl (her favorite)

 

Another thing I wished to photograph, a fruit bat, and after seeing this one in a cage; I feel it is enough. These are a bit creepy.

 Looking through a hole

what is really looks like

 Proof of the goats

Beautiful flowers everywhere  

The magical fruit tree