Just Nona, all Nona...

okay and maybe a splash of Daddy here and there.
But these are all recent pix of the Nonerds...



I think this one is so hilarious, Daddy dressed her and as you can see, he made sure she sports her sox like his...


She got her hair did...





Then undid.
She was pretty mad at me for taking her braids out. I will have to braid it again.






and for the piece de resistance!!



She obviously lurves dem horses, ponies and Grand champions alike, she is ALL over them.
Daddy bought her the box set of the original series season 1.
Can you say Daddy's girl? yeah, spoiled much??

Mike's AXE

A couple of pictures of Mike and his new electric guitar, but i'm supposed to call it his "AXE"... geez mom your SO UNcool!!!

Nona snuck in too...

Churami Aquarium

We played hookie on Friday, it was a half day anyway, and took a trip to the Aquarium at the Ocean Expo Park. It's a huge collaboration of parks. We couldn't do it all in a day. We will be returning several times I'm sure. We especially want to check out the "Tropical Dream Center", it's a huge garden filled with tropical flowers, fruit and birds. There is also the Native Okinawan Village, Culture Museum and Arboretum.

The Aquarium offered an aray of exhibits from touch pools to dolphin shows. It's the second largest aquarium in the world.

We each had our favorite parts:

Dad: Shark Tank - enjoyed the shark opening his mouth to see all the teeth.

Mom: The Ocean Planetarium - fascinated by the bio luminescent organisms from the deep sea.

Mike: Shark Tank - amazed how they have all the huge sharks in one place.

Dondan: The Touch Pools - touching the black soft sea cucumbers, Whale sharks - they are humongous and the little fish that clean them, Great White shark jaws - were giant with huge teeth.

Nona: The Sea Turtle pool - "Tuga! tuga! tuga!" the Spanish word for turtle is Tortuga.

These lobster were HUGE! i wish i had some butter!

We took plenty of VDO of the aquarium to bring the experience home. I've been having trouble with the upload, so i may have to add more VDOs in a later post.

cooling off at a misting area.

You can hear Nona in the background saying, "whale shark!"

To the zoo?

It was a very hot day filled with learning and discovery.

Dondan's class took a study trip to the Zoo/ science museum today. The class is learning several concepts, one of them being democracy. The students made choices through out the day on what they were going to do and by majority vote opted to spend all the time at the Zoo and skip the science museum.

This is what school buses look like here...

We arrived a few minutes early before the facility opened, so we took a seat on the bench and chatted.

While we sat another bus arrived with a group of Japanese students from a neighboring island. As the bus pulled into the platform the windows filled with many smiling faces and waving hands of excitement. As the students debarked, they waved, smiled and said, "Hello! Hello!" Then, as though in rehearsed, unison, cameras appeared in almost every hand and started clicking and flashing away! They found us quite curious and wanted to take pictures with all the students, especially the more "American" looking ones. I didn't know what to think at first and wanted to say, "i know they act like animals, but the Zoo is that a way."

They spoke very little English. we spoke very little Japanese. language barriers asaide every one was very friendly and eager to interact.

It doesn't matter where you are from... "play" is a universal language for all children. Several kids, including Dondan, played "chopsticks" with the Japanese kids, they all got a great kick out of it. I was so impressed at how they merged together and interacted so quickly! Honestly, I think grown-ups could learn a thing or two from kids!

At last, it was time for the Zoo to open and for us to be on our way.

We said our, "Good-byes" and "Sayonaras" to our new found friends.

can you find Dondan??

It was very hot and humid out, Dondan still wearing his hoodie, trekked right along. He wouldn't remove it and I was worried he would overheat. Finally, at the animal petting area, i coerced him into taking it off. Knowing he really wants a pet turtle and is always eager to hold one, i said he had to take his jacket off first. He thought it was so his sleeves wouldn't get wet and we agreed to tie it to his waist. Did i mention his hoodie is thermal and insulated with this woolly looking fleece type fabric?!

He was so pleased with himself that he was able to put the chick to sleep.

Double bacon Tuesdays

Every morning Dondan preps his breakfast with the usual 1-2 waffles and 1-2 bacon. Sometimes he asks for extra bacon and of course i oblige, i enjoy him having a hearty appetite.

this particular Tuesday, Daddy happened to be in the kitchen when...
Dondan asks, "what day is it Dad?"
Dad: "it's Tuesday."
Dondan: "yay, it's double bacon Tuesday!"
Dad: "okaaaay."
Dondan: "Tuesdays i can have 2 bacon!"
Dad, now thinking, mom must have made some sort of deal concerning bacon, goes along with it.

Of course Toenail tells me about this and i start to laugh, because the kid can have as much bacon as he wants any day. I'm thinking maybe one day he asked for extra and i gave him 2 on a Tuesday.
So this morning being Wednesday...
Dondan: "What day is it Dad?"
Dad: "Wednesday."
Dondan: "yay, i can have 3 bacon!"
Dad: "uh, sure."
Dondan: "it's the 3rd day of the week, so i can have 3 bacon! and tomorrow i can have 4!"
Dad: "No it's regular Wednesday you can only have one." *smiles*
Dondan: "WHAT?! nuh-uh, you're kidding Dad." *chuckles*

in other NEWS:
Mike has straight "A's" and a new blue electric guitar.
Nona's new favorite word is "bacon", her and Dondan have great adventures with it.
it's official her name is Nona. We were petting a dog the other day and she says, "Hi! i'm Nona!" to the dog. it was hilarious, now if i can only get that on VDO.

it's been rather rainy here, hopefully it'll lighten up soon.

A hotdog vendor... part 1

that's a machine.

i've never seen one before now and thought it was interesting. but not so much that i wanted to buy one. sorry maybe next time. i guess i wasn't hungry or curious enough at the time. now that i think of it, i am more intrigued... as to how it does vend it, oh shoot, i'll just make a video next time.

i'm changing the title to part 1.

here's a picture anyways...

A "rebel" with a cause...

Just got my new camera, a couple lenses and accessories. hopefully my bird pictures will look better.

i took test shots right out of the box and this is how they turned out.

Nonas horse and some flowers i bought a couple days ago, they just started to bloom.

Golden Week

Golden Week (ranges from middle of April to middle of May, this year 2009, Apr 29-May 6) is filled with several holidays. Many Japanese take paid time off, but some companies also close down completely. it is the longest vacation period of the year for many Japanese.

A few of the holidays during this time are Shōwa day, Greenery day, Constitution memorial day and children's day.

I really like Children's day held on May 5 (kodomo no hi) and plan to celebrate it every year from now on!

Originally it was known as Boy's day or The Boys' Festival, expressing hope that each boy in the family will endure obstacles as they grow throughout their life to become strong, confident and healthy. According to a Chinese legend, the carp swam upstream to turn into a "strong and healthy" dragon.

Children's Day, designated a National holiday by the Japanese government in 1948, is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness. Parents pray for the healthy growth of all their children and their futures.

Many traditions remain the same, people set up a samurai doll or a yoroi armor set in the house, and "Koinobori", huge carp-shaped streamers/banners, outside the house. Generally, the black carp (Magoi) at the top represents the father, the red carp (Higoi) represents the mother, and the last carp represents the son, with an additional carp added for each subsequent child with color and position denoting their relative age. Various sizes of banners are flown everywhere, all around town and island. From homes and schools to large community buildings.

One of manly traditional dishes served during the festivities is "Mochi", I mention this, cause it's one of my favorites. It's a yummy, gooey rice cake, typically filled with red beans.

This year, being our first exposure to this awesome event, we bought some Koinobori. Next year we plan to make our own individual koinobori to display.

We may have to make Daddy's banner early, not sure if he will be back in time for next year's celebration.

VDOs i've been trying to upload

i've had issuses lately with uplaoding VDOs, mainly cause our internet sux.
i had to load them on youtube and link them so you can see them.
yes Nona is naked, but she just looks like she doesn't have a shirt on. oh, and a quick glance at her butt. anyways i thought they were funny....
enjoy

Nona playing the game "peggle" on my laptop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDET5KidHAs

Nona crying for Daddy who just stepped out to the store, i had to record it so he could see. she is like this every time he returns home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhWd_mCP1tc

Nona has 7 fingers and she'll count them for you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oSRIUScT-c

Nona counts up to 16, she's getting better everyday, she loves to count and usually counts everything she can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_l5klJuXCc

a little outing

We like to walk. it's really nice around here, the weather is nice and there's always something to see. Antonio came along with Nona and I, the boys wanted to relax and play games.
We walked out to the city and came across a market area. We had a little fun and took some pictures. Bought Nona a dress and some squid.




She really likes this dress, she WANTED to put it on!



How could a couple of goofballs resist such a foto op?! I like this pic, LOL.




Nona was all funned-out. She likes my ring and wears it alot. reminds me of Caligula's.



On a separate outing, we were driving towards Nago and made a pit stop at a gas station for the usual reasons. I opened the stall, to my surprise, the toilets looked like this. So then I opened the other stall... yeeeeeah... it was the same. When in Rome! or in this case, Japan!! It was different. Better than coping a squat outside i suppose. good thing i didn't have to go #2.
On a side note: the men's room had a American-style toilet. Antonio told me this and says he was disappointed they didn't have a bidet. Because he's used one at the airport and was thoroughly impressed and wants his own.
By the way there are 2 separate flushes for #1 and #2.