Exciting Day

I am feeling more connected to the world now. We finally have AFN (Armed Forces Network). This may not be exciting to all of you that have Dish Network and REAL cable but these 8 little channels is the closest I get to T.V. back in the states. Now it is not 8 networks like I was telling my Mom is is 8 different stations that pick and chose what we that are living over seas are going to watch. They have a news station, a sports station, a family station, a a couple of other mixtures that I am learning about. Right now I am so excited because Oprah is on. I don't know how old this is but it is one that I haven't seen with Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, and Daris Rudger. Jackson and I are enjoying rocking out to the country music that I now miss so dearly. I am really enjoying the AFN commercials (sarcasm). They are stupid military commercials. So no I haven't seen any of the funny or great commercials that you might have back in the States.

Whenever I see this sign I just crack up!!

Jackson and I have been at home all day because we still only have one car and Steve needed to us the car all day to run around the base. Usually Steve will drive himself to work in the morning and then come home to eat lunch with us and Jackson and I will drive him back to work. That is when Jackson will explore the town or go to different stores. Today because we don't have car we decided to walk around our neighborhood. We went to this really cute consignment store that is not far from the house and found two really cute outfits. One of them is a very Japanese. When he wears it I will take a picture and post it. We also checked out a cute store called Ginger. It is an upscale women's clothing store. It is super cute with lots of fun summer dresses and swim suits. On our way back we stopped by Coffee Casa and picked up two cinnamon rolls for a snack. Jackson loves going in there and receiving all the attention from the ladies in there.

Jackson showing you all his "nack".

Transit Cafe

We tried out one of the restaurants that is right around the corner from the house. We love living somewhere that we can walk to dinner. Tonight we went to Transit Cafe. One of Courtney's friends said that we needed to eat there because it was her favorite. It is going to be a place we visit often. The view is AWESOME!!!

Jackson killing some time waiting for dinner.

Dragon Boat Races

Today we went to our first festival down in American Village. It is really close to the house only about a 10 minute drive but it was HOT! I was thankful that it was on the beach, Jackson really enjoyed his time.

Even at Japanese festivals all of the food that is served in FRIED!!

The little Japanese clown. He was asking for volunteers and I am sure that Jackson will be wanting to go up on stage with him next year. He made an Elmo mask out of balloons and Jackson was so excited.
The dragon boat races. They were running them in heats. At the beginning of the day they started with the smaller kiddos and later in the day the adults. The adults tipped their boats over a couple of times. It was really neat to watch this.

Her is Jackson with his two Japanese girl "ends". Everyone one on the island loves to touch him and to have his attention. Of course he doesn't mind the extra attention and will usually ask for more when we have left.

The Joy of Cocok

I had the joy of finally getting my nails done at the famous Cocok's out on the sea wall. I promise if you come to visit us here I will take you there. It is a must do. It is also very relaxing and so nice to be pampered for two hours. When you sit down in the chair they had you are large book with pictures of finger nails painted anyway you can imagine them. As I flipped through the book I wanted something that looked like summer and also Japan. Here are some photos of my toes and the view from the chair. When I come home Jackson let me know how pe-pe (pretty) my toes were. At least once a day he points to my toes and tells me how pe-pe they are. He is my super sweet observant boy.

The view.

Notice the bling on the toes. I love them and can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks to try something else out!

My sweet admirer!

Dolphin Park

This evening we took a family walk to the Dolphin Park that is a couple of blocks from our house. If you saw the post that had pictures of the house I also showed you all pictures of the park as seen from the road. We had not been there yet but thought that tonight would be a good night. So after dinner we walked over while the sun was going down and it was cooling off.

Jackson and Daddy headed down the roller slide!

Sobas

The other night we found a restaurant down by the sea wall. I didn't get the name of it but it was pretty good. They served Sobas and it was our first eating experience in a place that didn't cater to Americans. There were given a menu that had things written out in English but they only had 5 things on the menu and only two of them would have been things that I would eat.

The menu!!

They offered Sobas with pig intestines and pigs feet but I went for a more American feel and had mine with just pork ribs. It was pretty tasty and as you can see Jackson really enjoyed the noodles and the rice.

We sat at tatami tables and we were the only Americans in the place. Everyone in the restaurant were watching us. I don't know if we were funny to watch because we had no clue what we were doing or if it was Jackson. The people here love to touch Jackson and talk to him. Apparently it is good luck to touch a blonde headed child. People are always pulling their cameras and camera phone out to take a sly picture of him. It is really funny and Jackson is enjoying all the extra attention.

Steve and his Orion...Large beer, tiny glass.

Little Mind At Work

My little Manipulator!