One Last Hurrah in Mainland Japan: Osaka and Nara

My dear friend and former mission companion Sarah finally broke free from her European traveling habits and came to Asia! She really wanted to see mainland as well, so my plan was to meet her there. I knew it would kind of be a go go go trip and honestly, I was anxious to do it alone with Baby J. I just hate having to lug everything all over the place and have a baby in tow. I get exhausted. Anyway, turns out Victor got back from Korea just a few days before so he bought a ticket and came and joined us! So, since our hotels were already booked and they were teeny rooms, poor Victor slept on the floor the whole time and J slept in the bathtub. Not the best accommodations but we had fun.

We started our trip in Osaka and visited the town of Nara, which was an old capitol of Japan. Nara was cool, but not as cool as I was expecting. The main attractions there are the great Buddha and all the town's wild deer.

 We spent the evening at Osaka Castle and then over in the Dotonbori area of Osaka and it was so fun! Tons of restaurants with huge food items/animals. It was lots of fun. Gives you such a fun taste of Japan.

 My favorite ginormous item was the gyoza, of course.

I also loved the candy store that sold every type of ramune imaginable. Ramune is Japanese soda you open by dislodging a marble instead of a lid. I love it.

 So, that was Osaka. Up next on the itinerary was to hop on the Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Hiroshima. And on that note, I will just say that I wish I could just travel by shinkansen for every bit of traveling I do. It's so comfy, relaxing, quiet, roomy, etc. Plus you travel 250 miles in just two hours. Awesome.

Everyday Baby Lifesavers: 6-ish Months

I did a post before for the early infant stage, and I have realized that they all have changed now! When I say baby lifesavers I mostly mean lifesaving for me. Baby J probably couldn't care less (except for his bouncy swing)

1. We bought one of these chairs and keep it in the car. We kind of go out to eat a lot, so this makes things easy since it works with most tables. It's definitely more comfortable for him than the usual restaurant high chairs.

2. Large plastic bibs from the hundred yen store: great for a baby who tends to spit and slobber his food everywhere. Intentionally of course: he loves being a tease.

3. Again for eating out, we always try to sit in a booth--lots of restaurants here have couches. It was the best before he could sit up. We just lay him down and let him play.

4. Random Objects: You don't need toys for babies this age. Just give them any random thing (baby safe, of course) and enjoy the time it buys. This picture depicts Baby J enjoying a package of elastic for a good chunk of time while I got dressed in the morning.

5. Bouncy swing. The best! The first one I had was one a friend was letting me borrow. Then she told me her movers were coming and I immediately bought one on amazon. Totally worth it. He has the best time in this thing and spends lots of time in it. He really wasn't into it until about 6 months.


So if you have a baby approaching this age, I hope you find joy in these things as well, ha. Until next time!

After Okinawa: The Future is Bright

All these beautiful photos taken by my friend Amanda Marshall who we seem to be following around--first Okinawa and now this beautiful place.

Now that we know what we are actually doing I can announce it, assuming nothing will change. We found out this week that in just a few months we will be heading back to the good ole' U.S.A. More specifically: Monterey California!

Victor will be getting a masters degree there from the Naval Postgraduate School and we are so excited. We are also feeling really grateful that Victor is able to get a masters degree while still being in the Marine Corps. It means that besides our own personal travel, we will not be moving abroad again anytime soon, which is kind of bittersweet. It also means that we are leaving Okinawa more than six months earlier than we planned, which is straight up heartbreaking to me. And we are leaving before I have the chance to climb Mt. Fuji, which was the last thing on my most important bucket list. We had the hotel booked and everything.

But onward and upward! We are counting our blessings. Having babies makes you so much more aware of the distance of being so far from family, so we are so grateful to be going back to the same country and see them more, and so they can see our baby (and future babies) since babies change so quickly. And we are so grateful to be able to continue our educations while staying debt free. When I read back on this paragraph it makes me realize how grateful to God I am for such an outpouring of blessings.

Mama-San Beach. Heaven.

Beach days are back and they are glorious! 

My sister Camille has been visiting these past few weeks, and it has been too cold to do beach stuff. We went snorkeling this weekend but had to wear wet suits. But these last two days have been so amazing. We spent yesterday afternoon at the beach closer to my house and today I took her to my special place. My favorite beach of all the beaches. Mama-San Beach. We all had such a wonderful afternoon. We even snorkeled without wetsuits. So glad the cold spell is hopefully over. (I've blogged about Mama-San beach before here and here.)

Soooo, going to the beach with J now is pure delight. He is a beach baby through and through. Splashing in the water, playing in the sand. It is so much fun, and just looking at these pictures is making me swoon over him again. 

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

^^I cut my hairs. It feels good.^^

The best.

 And for kicks and giggles, the last time I visited Mama-San Beach I was 38 weeks pregnant, visiting with my mom. Let's recreate it!

Good times.

Okinawa Bucket List: Whale Watching

Three winters here, and three seasons worth of whale migrations here in Okinawa, and we finally went this time around! My first winter here I actually saw a bunch of whales off the coast from Cape Manzamo one day: super cool but too far off to take pictures. This time around it was awesome to see them up close. And thank goodness for dramamine, because I'm pretty sure I would have been miserable without it. 

We saw a bunch of them in our time out on the sea. We got to see one breech as our boat was headed out and it was my favorite. No photographic evidence unfortunately. And I just don't think pictures do these majestic creatures justice. One was skimming the surface for a while and it was huge! But pictures don't show that. So glad to see it in person. 

^^you can see the mist from his blow hole^^

I don't think Baby J was feeling too hot from it. Several people told me the baby should be just fine, but I don't think he felt good. He looked a little greenish when I came down and found him like this.

But he was extra snuggly to Victor, which Victor loved.

As my mom said when I told her we were going whale watching, "it isn't hard for you to have fun in Okinawa." True true. There's always something to see or do. Love it. Happy Monday!

Cherry Blossoms at Nakijin Castle

We were a little too late by just a few days to see Nakijin's blossoms at their peak, but there were still some beautiful views from these huge castle ruins. It was a gorgeous afternoon so we had a great time walking around, switching off who carried J because he is getting heavy!

^^his faces. i love.^^

Love our family time. It's been pretty sparse lately, so this was a much needed refill to our canteen.

Valentines Weekend

Our first Valentine's Day with a babe actually turned out to be my favorite Valentines Day so far! If anything stood in the way of ruining it, it was Victor's work, since he didn't get home from work until 2:30am and then went back to work after breakfast. But he came home with flowers for me, so that was great. That's all I require for V-tines day. Flowers. And I made him chocolate dipped strawberries. 

We got a babysitter and had a wonderful date going out to dinner baby free. Unfortunately J has reached that busy baby stage that is starting to make eating out a challenge. So to be able to get dressed up and have wonderful dinner with adult conversation about literature, religion, travel, etc. was so nice! Such a great date night. 

We made a whole weekend of it by heading up to the Orchid Expo the next day. My favorite! It was Valentine themed this year. It seriously is orchid heaven up there and I just wish my mom and mother in law could have come with us because they would love it so much. 

^^so cool how they don't need soil^^

 Happy Valentines Day! Hope you had a great one with your loved ones.