My boys and I were so excited about Spring Break here in Okinawa! We would have loved to travel but with Brandon still in Korea and me not being brave enough to take 4 boys somewhere by myself we decided to just explore our island. We had big plans to visit all the islands off of Okinawa that we could get to by car…well mother nature had other plans. With it being the start of the rainy season here in Okinawa we only had one nice sunny day so we had to change our plans just a little. We did get to visit the first island on our list: Ikei Island Ikei Island is a very small island not far from our house. It is connected to mainland Okinawa with a bridge. It is an absolutely beautiful island with crystal clear water and amazing views. The island is filled with fields of sugar cane and other plants. There is also an ancient castle ruin on the island but we were enjoying the beach so much that we did not make it to the ruins. It was such a relaxing and beautiful day!
This is the bridge that connects Ikei Island to mainland Okinawa!
Oodamari Beach was perfect for snorkling. My boys saw lots of neat fish!
The next day we decided to have breakfast and try the famous Rainbow bagels here in Okinawa! They sell out really fast each morning so we were hoping to get some. We headed to Caracalla Coffee and Bread and got the last bagels they had..whew!! They are handmade each morning and are served warm with a delicious berry cream cheese on top. We had the best time and the boys loved the bagels!
Our last day we visited the Famous Kokasai Street in Okinawa! It’s a famous street in Naha, Okinawa. It’s where they have the famous Naha Tug-of-War each year. The boys were able to see the rope used in this years celebration. Kokasai is a street filled with stores and restaurants. My boys said, “Mom, this is the Times Square of Okinawa!” Haha..I got a good laugh from that one.
If you look close you can see the boys on the big screen. We had the best day exploring all the different and unique things to see on this famous street!
We ended Spring Break with a trip to the Camp Courtney Beach! We had a great day relaxing and playing before Spring Break came to an end!
I want to start by thanking everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the sweet and kind messages about my new children’s book, Patsy Bea! I will admit that I was a little nervous about sharing my new book, so I was blown away by everyone’s comments…Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! I do want to share another story about my grandmother, Patsy Bea. She loved to send hand written letters, cards, and notes to everyone. She would just send them just to let you know she was thinking about you. She collected cards of all kinds so that she could just grab one from her collection and send it to a friend or family member when she felt they might need one. I received so many cards, postcards, and letters from her over the years. Before we lost her to cancer, she also began showing the early signs of Alzheimer’s. She would sometimes send us Halloween cards for Thanksgiving or Easter cards for Valentine’s but it would always bring a smile to our face. After she did pass way, I missed her more than you can imagine, but I would find these notes from time to time. One might slip out of the pages of a book that I opened or I might find one I had left in a box. I have found several of these little notes over the years, and it always brings me a moment of pure happiness. I can’t help but think these notes showed up for a reason. That brings me back to the book, Patsy Bea. I decided to send a little note to the children who were blessed to read about Patsy Bea because I know that is what my grandmother would have wanted. I will tell you that writing these little notes has brought me so much happiness and I feel like a little bit of what I write is coming from her. She would have felt so honored that you were able to read her story. And the messages that I have received from everyone also feel like she may have had a little to do with them too.
I feel so blessed and thankful for each and every one of you!! XXXOOO
Patsy Bea, Babe, and Homer!
(My grandmother always talked about how Homer would take care of her and the elephants. He was an amazing man.)
I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally share my new children’s picture book, Patsy Bea, with you! I mentioned a few weeks ago about a special project I was working on to honor my grandmother that I lost to cancer several years ago. I have already told you what an amazing woman she was and how special she was to everyone who knew her. What you may not know is what an amazing and unique childhood she had. My grandmother’s name was Patricia Beatrice but everyone called her Patsy Bea. Her grandfather owned a circus during the 1930s and she grew up traveling around with her grandfather’s circus. I loved to listen to all the stories about what her life was like in the circus. She rode her elephant Babe as a young girl in the circus. She always told me about how special Babe was to her and how Babe would watch over her almost like a babysitter. After the Great Depression, my grandfather had to sell the circus and my grandmother always wondered what happened to Babe. After my grandmother passed away, I was so heartbroken and missed her so much. I just started writing which is something I had always loved to do but had been so busy with my boys that I never had time to do it anymore. Writing about her and thinking about all the stories she had told me over the years helped me so much after she passed away. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about her and miss her but this story always brings a smile to my face. I know she is looking down from heaven and smiling!
So Maw-Maw…this is for you and Babe!! I love you so much!
XXXOOO
My sweet Colt sometimes reminds me of my grandmother. He loves this book and asks me to read it to him every night! There is a hidden red bird (which was something that was very special to me and my grandmother) on every page, and he loves to search for and find it as we read the book! If you would like to share this book with someone special in your life you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble! Thank you so much for all your support!
My sweet friend Dale and I decided to take a road trip up north to see the beautiful Azaleas! We are both boy moms and my boys had seen about as many flowers as they wanted to see for awhile so we decided to drive up to see them! It ended up being a little further than we thought so we had a few adventures along the way. That’s what makes Okinawa so fun is all the little things you find when you take a wrong turn. The flowers were absolutely beautiful!!
We came across this cute buoy with a pineapple painted on it that we just had to pull over and take a picture of!
We saw a sign to pick strawberries and if you have ever lived in Okinawa you will know how excited we were because it costs about $7 for about 4-5 strawberries at the commissary on base. We followed all the signs to the strawberry field to end up at a place with a few greenhouses and couple of dogs that didn’t seem to want us there so we decided we might try that another day! We did find a hidden gem along the way! Dale collects pictures of all the different manhole covers in Okinawa and we found this one of a man in a kayak. Many Japanese cities, towns, and villages have manhole covers that are printed with different designs that tell a story about what makes their town special. The designs began in Okinawa but can now be found all over mainland Japan as well.
To end our road trip we decided to take a trip down Melody Road. Up north in a little town called Futami there is a section of road that if you drive over it at 40 kph you will hear an Okinawan folk song. In 1945 during the war in Okinawa, two Okinawans were told by US forces that they needed to leave the town they were living in that was in the southern part of the island. They moved up north to Futami just days before the end of the war. They decided to write a song about their new home.
So like a lot of you I finally saw the movie Hacksaw Ridge. It was a great movie and I just had to visit the site of where it actually happened here in Okinawa. Sometimes I think about the terrible battles that have happened here, and I can’t believe that I live here. It was a very surreal day. The battle of Hacksaw Ridge took place in May of 1945 so almost 72 years ago. I just stood back and kind of watched my boys and the other Japanese tourists. My sweet Colt stands out in Okinawa with his blonde hair and all the locals just love him. I watched as he ran in circles around groups of Japanese tourists and the way they just smiled and waved at him. How could it be that not that long ago we were bitter enemies. Then I looked at my oldest son and thought that some of the men that fought here were just a few years older than him. Urasoe Castle which is on the ridge was the Japanese defensive position during the battle. The Japanese fought from the castle and in caves and tunnels around the castle. It was on the North side of the castle where Desmond Doss lowered injured men down the cliff. I was surprised to see how much of the castle survived the battle.
This is the part of the Ocean that the ships were located during the battle.
We ended the day at this little cafe that is at the bottom of Hacksaw Ridge and Urasoe Castle. The Japanese man that owned the cafe was so sweet and kind to my boys!
