Okinawa Visitors - Cole and Nikki!!!!

I know it was supposed to be a Christmas gift to Nikki, but it was also a gift for Joel and me because my brother and his (now) wife, Nikki, came to visit last January!  My parents flew out to California to watch the boys so they could have a get away with us. We had a grand time, DESPITE the fact Okinawa had record LOW temperatures the entire time they were here and winds with the strength of a typhoon! Seriously! Some people claimed to have seen snow (I'm doubtful) but we for sure saw hail and I wore a scarf for two days! (I think it hit 50F, LOL)

After a long flight through Shanghai, they made it to Okinawa!!!

Checking out the natural hot spring foot bath (smells like sulfur, ick)

Cole caught sight of Habu Sake. Somehow, the Okinawans have figured out how to kill the snake in the strike pose and put it in Sake... ummmmm, yum (?). It's not cheap - the jar behind Cole is about $630!

Took the kids to see a traditional Okinawan Village called Ryuku Mura.  It's a tourist trap for sure but super fun!



Observed the Taiko drummers in action!

Attended the Habu show, all in Japanese! Nikki, our resident Anthropologist, was able to identify that the snakes they were flinging over the crowd LOOKED like the super poisonous Habu, but were not (phew!)



Cole sent this picture to the boys to let them know he was safe in Okinawa LOL! In a way, this picture is appropriate though... the super nice, new Aeon Mall we have here is dangerous for the wallet!

Joel and I shared one of our favorite pizza restaurants with them (called "Pizza in the Sky" by us Geijin). It was too cold to sit outside, but the inside dining area is purely Japanese style, so sit on the floor we did!

Worth the sore butts and legs (and constant readjusting) for this pizza!

Cole kept his distance from this shark :)

After spending a cold, windy, hail-y night in a cabin at Okuma (playing TONS of Guillotine and Sushi-Go), we road the self-driving golf cart through the pineapple... uh... orchard? Fields? (What are they?!) Then we sampled all types of pineapple products and had the most annoying Pineapple Park theme song in our heads, well, until now. It's still up in there, ringing around, never to be forgotten. 



Sharing some local Okinawan treats - lots of Beniimo, seaweed, shallot and Goya.

Why, what's this? Were two of us brave enough to try the Habu sake?! (The verdict is: "it nasty!")

We had just adopted Bristow, so Bruce found a new snuggle buddy in his Aunt Nikki, since I was so distracted with the "new baby" and all of her needs.

Siblings!

And my new sibling!! Welcome to the family sister-in-law! We couldn't be happier :) Thank you for joining our crazy crew, LOL.

Turns out Cole and Nikki are the only family members to visit us in Okinawa because, as I'm SO far behind on the blog, we are now preparing for our PCS to Souda Bay, Greece! Gotta catch up with our Japan adventures though before I can move on to our new life in Europe.