Pineapple Park

Yes, another trip to the Pineapple Park!

The best part of the whole park is the sampling! You can go through the sampling line as many times as you want! You know me and my sampling escapades! These are real samples!!! Not everything in life is free, so I say, take advantage of what is!!! It was filling time for Cameron!

There's samples of everything! You can sample pineapple wine, pineapple juice, pineapple vinegar, pineapple cookies, pineapple cake, pineapple chocolate, pineapple pie, pineapple, pineapple sushi, pineapple-pickeled peppers, cow tongue, and pig face and ears, pineapple caviar, pineapple perfume, pineapple lotion, pineapple/charcoal soap..... anything pineapple!

"Dr. Fish"

My friend and I went out for a girls day out as a reward for "allowing" our husbands to go snorkeling all day. She's new to the island, so I showed her around some of the places that we've been shopping. We ate soba and yaki soba at one of my favorite little restaurants in American Village and then perused the mini mall. We came upon this little makeshift pool where some women were relaxing with their feet in the water, allowing these little fish to nibble at their feet! It's just a weird thought to have a fish nibble at your feet and it be therapeutic?! My friend and I were up for anything, so.... we gave it a whirl!

At first, I had to block out the fact that I was actually going to allow these fish to bite me! Yes it was a little weird. As soon as we put our feet in, the fish "whooshed" over to us and began their nibbling! We 'stole' the fish from the people who had been sitting there! Guess we had more goodies on our feet! It tickled at first, but then it felt like a buzzing or vibrating on my feet. It felt like those feet vibrators that we'd use at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, only I didn't get the lightheaded feeling that I got from the ones at the zoo. It actually felt good! We came home and told the guys about it, so they had to try it too. Jason, who is much more ticklish than me, was having a hard time keeping his feet in the water and not squashing the little fishies! Cameron also gave it a whirl.....it was cute watching him giggle!

According to Wikepedia:

"Doctor fish is the name given to two species of fish: Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus. Other nicknames include nibble fish, kangal fish, little dermatologists and doctorfishen; in non-medical contexts, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. They live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spas, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis. The fish are like combfishes in that they only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow, with the outdoor location of the treatment bringing beneficial effects."

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Ya'll!

We had our annual watchnight service at the church for New Years. We ate tons of junk food, yes, we had to stay within the norm. You know, the average person gains 15lbs over the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving-New Years? That's according to the polls the mysterious "they" took! Don't you ever wonder who the "they" is? I catch myself saying that a lot! Whoever the "they" is, they sure get a lot of credit!

Anyway, so we ate lots of good food, aka junkfood, then had a message from our Pastor, a talent show, a movie "Sheffey" and then brought in the new year commemorating the Last Supper with communion. It was a good night! The kids were given silly string to celebrate after it was all over. We adults were just glad to get us home safely and in our beds!

We were excited to have Mrs. Johnson with us! She's such a trooper and an inspiration! I couldn't believe she stayed the whole time. I told her that she 'set the bar' too high, now no one can complain about anything!! For those of you who don't already know, Mrs. Johnson is our pastor's wife, a wonderful lady, a person you feel you've known all your life in just a short time of knowing her. I feel privileged to know her and to be her friend, ....um, I think?! She has recently been diagnosed with cancer and the coming of this new year brings on a new challenge in the battle of treating this cancer. Please keep her and her family in your prayers!

Our friends, the Routons, a very talented couple! We may just get our bluegrass band started!

The kids got to show off some talent too. Jonathan signed while Emily sang. He signs while Jonah plays the harmonica and Nicholas sings.

"Sheffey"

Yes we had fun, but I was also thinking about what this new year will bring and the fact that we're in 'the last times' as the Bible says. This new year comes as a sobering one for me. Just a few questions for you, these have been drumming through my head. How are you redeeming the time? What are your goals? Will you strive to live this year as if it were your last? What legacy will you leave behind, should it be your last? We all know that so far, the mortality rate has been 100%, life is not eternal unless you have trusted Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour. Death is just a pause, a bridge to the next life, which IS eternal.

What have you done for Christ?

Remember:

"What's done for self will pass, but what's done for Christ will last."

Hammy, the Hot Wax Diver!

The other day, Daniel came out of his room calling me. "Mom, I think we have a problem." This is what I saw upon entering their room! The "crime scene" as one of our friends put it!

Evidently, Cameron had been trying to get the guinea pig, Hammy, out of his cage which was on top of the chest of drawers. Hammy got a little too wiggly and .....OOPS! He made a nose dive right into the scentsy warmer on the boys' smaller dresser!

Poor Hammy! He's been working the hardened wax out of his face now for a week!

Friends

On Christmas Eve, we had a candlelight service. The Patch Club performed with a couple of songs and a verse they had learned.

This is our Pastor's wife, Mrs. K. Johnson. We were so excited to see her this night as it was her first church service since having her surgery for cancer. Please continue to pray for her as she has only begun this battle. She is quite chipper, a very strong person and a blessing to all. With the Lord on her side and the showering of our prayers toward Heaven, she will make it through!

In Okinawa, we get our snowman, one way or the other! Here is a snowman in a jar!!

Look at all the boys! Yep, our church has mostly boys, much to our boys' excitement! After our candlelight service, we enjoyed lots of holiday treats.....JUNKFOOD!

Our friends, the Banks Family will be PCSing soon! ;( We will miss them!

This is another friend, Mrs. Boice, she is anxiously awaiting the arrival of another little Boice! She also helps to watch Daniel and Cameron for us!

Shuri Castle 1

This is a diorama of what Shuri Castle would've looked like
back in the days of it's operating existence.

Just one of the views of the castle grounds.

Cameron poses in front of a huge Banyan tree.

Posing along the outer castle wall

Even in the Shisa Dogs are ready for Christmas!

Girls in traditional dress. They offered to take our picture, with our camera, with them, for $10! I think not! So I snuck a picture of them when they weren't looking!

One of the gates around the castle.

Here were the ascending stairs to the Castle maingrounds.

Daniel set out to get all the stamps on his sheet.

The McGuires at the Shuri Castle, with Okinawa in the background.

Cameron poses in front of the Shisa dog guarding the castle gate.

Shuri Castle 2

This is the Shuri Castle and it's surrounding buildings. The building shown here was the King and Queen's main living quarters. Many ceremonies were conducted on this parade deck.

Here's my little poser! Cameron enjoyed climbing all the stairs.

Instead of the typical souvenirs that one may collect in the states, the Japanese have stamping stations. We started out with a map of the grounds and at each little building or new path, there was a stamping station. Daniel found almost all the stamps. It's a good way to know that you've seen it all!

Daniel poses in front of one of the most sacred buildings on the castle grounds. This was the place of prayer for all those living at the castle. It was where the King would pray before leaving his castle and before many political meetings. Its just a wall around a couple of Banyan trees, it's supposed to be very sacred.

This is the top of the front of the castle where the king would sit to watch the various ceremonies. A lot of the art work bears resemblance to that of Chinese art, due to the fact that the Chinese played a very important role in crowning Okinawa's first king. The kingdom of Okinawa was known as the Ryukyu Kingdom. The dragon is the Chinese symbol of peace and power.

We visited the tatami rooms, that's all they were, just rooms with mats on the floors. We had to take off our shoes for the whole inside tour, so not to ruin the mats. Pictured below is the place where they would brew their green tea, just a cement hole in the floor. Otherwise, there were no furniture or anything that would resemble a kitchen! It was a little disappointing.

The outer porch of the tatami house.

There were only two of these ornate columns, not sure if there were actually more. There was quite a bit of construction going on while we were there. The third floor was the attic and strictly for ventilation purposes. Overall, the castle living quarters were quite smaller than I'd imagined for a king. On the second floor, there was a chair facing what looked like a wall, but it actually was a wall that was lifted to show off the king from the second deck. This is where he would give his speeches and watch the special ceremonies on the parade deck in front.

This is another seat of the king or queen. Half of the second level of this part of the castle belonged to the queen and the king's other wives. No males, other than her children, were allowed in this part of the castle at anytime.

The king and his women would pray every morning in their tatami rooms.

The rooms were quite bare. It seemed that this castle was robbed and left with hardly anything!! Maybe the fact that this is it's third reconstruction, due to the wars. The hole in the floor shows the original ruins of the castle.

An enlarged version of the king's crown, not as lavish as I would've imagined. Of course the bead work here is fake, it was real gems when he wore it. We are standing in front of the area where the king would sit to conduct business. There wasn't a throne here, just a tatami mate on a raised platform. His son and grandson would sit on his left and right.

Cameron poses with one of the guards (?)

This is a view of the surrounding area of the castle. Now the castle is pretty well swallowed up by the town.