Parks and Island Fair

This past weekend we took time to explore some new parks around our apartment. On Saturday morning we found a park with a rope climb that Grant mastered on the first try. It gave Grant a chance to burn off some energy and Will some time to take a nap, so a win/win situation.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Island Fair at the Convention Center (only about 2 miles from our apartment). It was very interesting. There were several vendors selling products from throughout the Ryukyu archipelago (Okinawan islands). Many of the products are difficult to find, as they come from the outer islands. There were free samples of several items, most of which we weren't brave enough to try. The most unique that we did try was smoked sea snake (see pictures below). We also tried a new ice cream flavor, "Sea Salt", not as bad as it sounds, but it did taste salty.

After we had our fill of exotic samples, we walked around the convention center grounds which are right on the water. It is a great area with several open grassy fields that you can use along with ponds with fish in and several sculptures.

On Sunday we drove to Camp Kinser, a Marine Corps base south of our apartment about 15 minutes. We had a picnic at the park right on the ocean. Will and Grant had fun swinging together.

The tide was low so we were able to venture out onto the sand and look at coral and shells. With the weather being so nice here, it is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less than a week away.

We didn't bring a swimming suit for Grant, but he still had to venture further out into the water to throw rocks and try to look at fish. He was wet from head to toe and covered in sand, so he had to take a bath when we got home.

This last pictures are from our deck at sunset on Sunday evening (11-23). You can see a few islands off in the distance if you click on the picture and enlarge it. The water has been very calm lately and the sunsets are always amazing.