November 2023

HARRY POTTER PARTY

Making Mandrakes

We have a nice, blank wall on the side of our house that's perfect for projecting movies. 

We loved everyone's cool costumes, especially Lincoln as a house elf. 

Fun games for the kids. 

Good friends

Lots of yummy food

This year we actually had a cupboard under the stairs. 

It was fun to connect with friends from work, school, and church. 

NAKAGUSUKU PARK

There is a fun, free trampoline park about 15 minutes from our house that the little girls absolutely love.

NARITASAN FUKUSEN-JI TEMPLE

View of Nakagusuku castle ruins from the shrine. 

NAKAGUSUKU CASTLE

Brooklyn and Audrey with their Adventure Wednesday buddies Lincoln and Lawrence. 

Beautiful ocean view!

VETERAN'S DAY PARADE

Abby did a good job playing in the Veterans Day parade. 

OKINAWA TEMPLE DEDICATION

All of us, except Brooklyn, got to join in watching the dedication of the Okinawa temple. It was absolutely beautiful! Jared got to participate in the choir and did an amazing job singing. Here he is with the 8 person choir, the pianist, and his director. He got to shake Elder Stevenson's hand before the dedication.

MOUNT ISHIKAWA 

Beautiful hike up with friends from church. 

There were beautiful ocean views from the top.

Tree with bark that looks like a snake skin.

 Beautiful scenery!

I lost my wallet at the end of the hike. After a prayer we were able to find it quickly with all the money still inside. I'm thankful for God's tender mercies. 

RYUKYU MURA

The butterfly gardens were beautiful! 

We had fun watching and joining in some traditional Okinawa dances.

It was interesting to see traditional-style houses. 

Rope from largest tug of war in the world

Shisa

THANKSGIVING

We are really thankful for all our blessings, but our tree leaves didn't want to stay up this year. 

Jared made some delicious pies!

The spread!

We had fun celebrating with yummy food, perfect weather, and new friends.

DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS

Maddy was upset that we didn't have a big Christmas tree (we put our 9ft one in storage) so she and Jared went and got us this one at a Black Friday sale.

Most of our ornaments are in storage too, so the kids got busy and made a bunch of cool origami ornaments to help fill our tree. 

No fireplace, but the command hooks work well. 

We added some cool driftwood deer to our holiday collection.

We also added this cute Okinawan nativity set. 

CHURAUMI AQUARIUM

Japanese flower sculptures

Cool LEGO Whale Shark and fishes

The beach 

It was amazing to see giant lobsters, sea turtles, huge rays, a whale shark, manatees, and lots of beautiful fish.

We particularly loved the dolphin show where the dolphins jumped, twirled, and “danced” a traditional Okinawa dance for us. 

TAMORI LION

This is the oldest known Shisa on Okinawa made to protect the village from fire. 

CINNAMON TRAIL THROUGH THE FOREST OF HOROHORO

We hiked to some beautiful tide pools and rock formations at the beach. 

Audrey and Brooklyn loved climbing the trees and rocks.  

YAKISOBA!