Foster Fest

Camp Foster had it's annual "Foster Fest" this weekend. It is free and open to everyone on the island. It is just one of many weekend activities planned by the Marine Corps Community Services. There were a lot of live performances by local Japanese groups, food, and games.

Grant had a blast on a trampoline harness jump. It went very high and he had a huge smile on his face the whole time! He tried to do a few back flips but couldn't make it all the way around on his own, maybe next year.

Will didn't seem to get into it as much as Grant.

Most of the food was not your typical American style fair/festival food. The stands had a lot of Japanese food that was fun to sample.

Grant also had fun on the "choo-choo train".

The Northern Adventure

We had our first "96'er" this weekend, meaning we had 4 days off. I guess this happens quite often here with the Marine bases around government holidays. We decided to head to the northern part of the island. It was only 50 kilometers, but due to the roads, traffic and stoplights, it took 2 hours to drive there. The time went by fast because we drove along the ocean the whole way.

We stopped at Ocean Expo Park and Aquarium. Grant thought the dolphin show was amazing. He also enjoyed the sweet potato ice cream.


















From there we headed to Camp Schwab, a Marine Corps Base on the Pacific Ocean. They have cabins that can be rented by active duty military members. The view from our deck was beautiful. We spent two days enjoying the beach swimming, making sand castles, and collecting shells and hermit crabs. We had the whole beach to ourselves!




























On the way back home we stopped at Pineapple Park. They have lots of free samples of pineapple products including juice, wine, cookies, cakes and off course fresh pineapple. Grant had his fill of free samples!




We also had an interesting canned beverage made of goya. Goya is a member of the gourd family. Here is a description from a website: "Goya is an indispensable vegetable in semi-tropical Okinawa. Until quite recently, when summer came you could see the bumpy green Goya gourds hanging from trellises in the yards of houses everywhere. The bitter taste of Goya is very refreshing in the heat of summer." I don't think we have acquired the taste of the bitter goya yet, but it was interesting.

Finally, we have noticed that several of the stores have dead snakes for sale in jars filled with some sort of alcohol. Don't know much about it, but it looks very intimidating.

Grant's Birthday

We brought party favors from the US. Grant loved them but Will thought they were the greatest thing he had ever seen.

Grant had a spider man cake from the Commissary. Not as good as Lunds but good all the same.

Our two boys enjoying our balcony in the evening.

We covered Grant's eyes before we wheeled in the big surprise.

He loves his new bike! Our living room area is big enough to ride in. He can do a dinning room table loop and a couch loop. Not a bad workout while Will is sleeping.

Grant has been asking to go bowling ever since I told him that the building next to the "grocery" store (Commissary) was a bowling alley. He had a blast. We would do this again with him in a heartbeat. The bumpers came up automatically when it was his turn and he was able to use this devise so the ball did not stop mid alley (which it did before he started using the devise).

This last picture is of the boys room. As you can see Grant is in a big boy bed and likes the movie "cars" theme. He loves his bed and is sleeping well at night.