SUMO (Beware the butts!)

Funny thing - when we lived in mainland Japan, we never went to see a Sumo match! We talked about it, but it never came to fruition. We were able to visit the famous training arena in Tokyo and got our picture with a few rambling sumo wrestlers, but that doesn't count as actually attending a Sumo event itself.

All that to say, the minute our friends Drucie and Jose told us about the opportunity to see a Sumo Expo here in Okinawa, we jumped on the chance to say "yes"!!

We drove into Naha bright and early in the morning to be there for the opening events. This wasn't an official Sumo match, rather it was more a practice tournament and show.

The day began with a lot of warming up with practice matches. Watching them stretch and squat as they waited for their rotation never got old, LOL! And notice the squares on the mat? Those were reserved seats.

Oomph! Grrrrr! 

These guys are huge yet so flexible!

I warned you about the butts ;-)

There were many different ceremonies and and shows in between actual Sumo wrestling. We couldn't understand a word, but were still able to follow along enough and really found ourselves enjoying the festivities.

We took a break to go outside the arena to get some food from the street vendors and got a little distracted...

This was my favorite part by FAR. All different age groups of aspiring Sumo wrestlers took their chances against the pros!

It was soooooo hilarious to watch these super trained, professional Sumo wrestlers fight these kids!

We even got to observe the technique involved in getting a Sumo wrestler's hair just right (lots and lots of gel!) It looked REALLY painful with all of the tugging and pulling...

It definitely got crowded!

Thank you SO much, Drucie and Jose, for such a memorable excursion last December! We can now cross Sumo off our list :)

West Coast Adventures Part 3

Well, slowly but surely we are capturing our West Coast adventure in September, LOL. I promise this is the final installment, then we will get back to blogging about Japan! :)

Joel had never been to the Golden Gate Bridge so that stop was a MUST. We were hoping to see Alcatraz as well, but apparently you have to reserve that tour WAY in advance. It was totally booked :-/ Guess we will just have to go back!

It really is a stunning site and we were there on a fairly clear day - only a few clouds!

After a delicious Mexican dinner out (Japan does NOT have good Mexican food, so we were all about eating this cuisine as much as possible while we were Stateside), we took the boys to the "Airplane Park"

Someone's got to teach these boys how to do "duck lips" properly

Our final evening in San Francisco was spent at a GIANTS game! It was the nephews' first major league game experience! 

Parker attempted some Zoolander poses in between questions to Joel about baseball

Goofy faces, all the time!

Joel and I sent this picture to the boys from the airport. It was SO hard to say goodbye! Thank you Cole, Nikki, Parker and Peyton for your hospitality and all of the super fun memories! 

West Coast Adventures Part 2

So, every other blog post has to feature amazing food, right?? Well, in Vegas, we had the best meal of our lives at Craft, Tom Colicchio's steak house. Granted, I did not eat the steak, but Joel ate enough for two people. Words cannot describe the decadence, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

I have to throw in one note... I had been trying to MAKE myself like mushrooms, as I knew incorporating them into my life would greatly open up my Pescaterian options. However, I had hit a wall until Craft. Thank YOU, Tom Colicchio, for opening my eyes to deliciousness I now call mushrooms! Joel loves that I eat them now, as our dinner recipes have exploded with newness, LOL.

The four of us literally sat and ate for three hours, entertained by the fabulous servers, namely "Blue". It was a WONDERFUL evening and a meal we will NEVER forget!

The next morning, we all woke up SUPER early to catch our ride to the Hoover Dam. The landscape around Vegas is so very different than anything we've ever experienced before, so simply watching the world go by in the bus was incredible.

There it is! The Colorado River!

We began our kayak trip at the Hoover Dam. It was incredibly peaceful and quiet... and the absolute perfect day for an outdoor adventure!

Ready to begin our 12 mile kayak trip down the river.

The water was smooth, with a bit of our current (running in our favor, thankfully!). Our guide said that the dam could let loose at any time, which could change the pace of our ride, but it was a quiet, consistent paddle the entire trek.

Our guide warned us to be super careful - the air temperature was 110 F but the water was around 60 F. He told us we could die from heat stroke OR hypothermia in the same day if we weren't cautious. So, we stayed uber hydrated and didn't spend too much time in the water.

We were told to keep a look out for the mountain sheep but we didn't spot a one until the last mile - we were able to paddle up to the cliff face and watch them in action for 20 minutes. Their ability to scale the rocks and eat what simply looked like dead bushes was nothing short of breathtakingly amazing.

It is a stunningly beautiful river and this kayaking trip was the HIGHLIGHT (aside from our meal at Craft) of our trip to Vegas.

Another fun piece of our time in Vegas - we got to meet Pete Rose!

The boys were thrilled to meet this baseball hero. I will not tell you what Pete is showing them... that's a story to hear in person!! :-p

Vaughn's, we had a FANTASTIC time with you and cannot wait to put our next adventure (Alaska??) on the calendar!

West Coast Adventures Part 1

Remember that free airline ticket Joel won at the World Famous Hansen Mud Run? Well, we used it on a crazy cool adventure to San Jose, Las Vegas, then back to San Jose for a whirlwind week-long trip back in September.

Peace out Okinawa! See you again soon!

Yup. This was on my brother's car. :-p

It was SO refreshing to hang out with our nephews in San Jose! Parker REALLY enjoyed the whale shark we brought him... turns out it squeaked though. Would have second guessed that decision had I known!

Our very first night in San Jose, Joel and I had the boys all to ourselves as my brother and Nikki went to San Fran for a Billy Joel concert. Parker had this book memorized and was able to read us the entire thing!

Ah, Koda. The hyper active, adorably playful German Shepherd.

Parker at the park!

The boys love their Daddy (though, they also get quite a few snuggles from Nikki!)

Joel and I took a walk up a neighborhood hill near my brother's place and MAN, what beautiful country! It was SO dry though. We are not used to seeing anything remotely drought-ish in Okinawa.

After a couple of days in San Jose, we met up with our amazing friends Alex and Kelly in Las Vegas!!! Thanks for coming from Ohio, guys!

I'm a huge CSI fan. That show and the Ocean's 11 movies has been my only reference to Vegas (makes you wonder why I wanted to go, LOL!). 

We stayed in the MGM and did a lot of walking to other hotels nearby. It was REALLY, REALLY hot! I think it averaged 110F each day! Granted, it was dry heat, but STILL! We were chugging water constantly!

I'm going to try to remember all of the Celebrity Chef restaurants we ate at while in Vegas... I know we had lunch first thing when we arrived at  the MGM at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.

It was so fun to take in the sites together. Vegas has something for everyone and was a people watcher's dream!

View from our hotel room - it was so crazy seeing scenes from CSI with my own eyes!

KA was the Cirque du Solei show at the MGM and we were able to see it our third night. MAN. It was beyond words. That show was one of the most incredible things Joel or I have ever witnessed. All of the actors and actresses have to be professional athletes as well to do the stunts required. Bravo Cirque, Bravo.

Night One in Vegas: Ohio State versus Virginia Tech showdown! I was the lone wolf sporting my Tech jersey in our group of friends, but thankfully, there were two Hokies sitting next to me at Emeril Lagasse's Stadium restaurant! It was the perfect venue for a not so perfect game... for me, anyway. The rest of the folks seemed pleased with the outcome, LOL.

Walking back to our hotel after the game, we stopped by a couple of other hotels. I HAD to see the famous glass art at the Bellagio! And, I don't have a picture, but we had appetizers at Gordan Ramsey's Pub restaurant at Caesar's Palace that night too!

We had lunch the next day at Bobby Flay's MESA restaurant at Caesar's Palace. I have to post some food pics - his food was STELLAR. This was the goat cheese "Queso Fundido" appetizer to kick things off.

And we'd heard about this Tiger Shrimp and Roasted Garlic Corn Tamale from watching Anthony Bourdain. Delightful!

Fun knock off's at Caesar's 

Interesting art displays... I think these were in Aria...

We HAD to do it. HAD to. You pay money to get cold in a solid ice bar. Everything is ice. The chairs, the table, your glasses... thankfully they give you coats, but dang, it was frigid! I think we made it 20 minutes before we had to leave, LOL.

That's it for the first post. Our trip was SO slam packed with fun, I'm going to break it into bite size pieces. :)