Scarecrow Festival in Hasami

Terrace Rice Fields in Hasami. I love driving through the country here; it's so green and calming.
Beautiful!

No, my kids aren't helping this lady pull weeds. She's a scarecrow!

Another scarecrow. Some of them look so life-like. I mistook several for real people.

This one won first prize. Very creative! In case you can't tell what's going on here in the picture, she squatting to pee.

We almost overlooked this one.

Enjoying some rice cakes with the ladies.

I think this is supposed to be a woman helping with birth... not too sure, but Landon sure thought it was funny! 4-year-old humor... what can I say?

Hiiii, yah!

Landon's first school field trip

We had planned to go to the Scarecrow Festival but ended up at the Science Museum because of weather. Landon had so much fun exploring the museum with his friends. This first ride was some kind of car that ran using only magnets. I really needed Jim here with me to explain the physics behind this thing.

This picture was taken inside a room that was -2o degrees celcius. It was freezing.
The kids got to make music by banging on giant ice cubes.

Playing around with Vinny in the evolution tunnel

This was the sign that explained what to do in an earthquake. The pictures are pretty funny.

Some of us in the earthquake simulator.

Playing with the starfish.

Group shot minus two students that were home sick:(

Enjoying a bite to eat and some laughter before moving on.

White Beach, Okinawa

We stayed in a cabin during our stay that was a short walk to the beach.

Here is a view of the beach from where we stayed. The views were absolutely stunning and look at that water... beautiful!

We discovered many of these burial tombs along our 5-minute walk to the beach. Interesting.

A view from our back porch.

Okinawa was very tropical looking. Most of the highways were lined with palm trees.

Landon loves these tunnels here in Japan that go right through the mountains.

I took this picture for the sign. This was the highest speed I've seen marked since being in Japan... 80 km/hour. That's about 49 miles per hour and this is the major expressway. If we drove this speed on an interstate in the U.S., a lot of people would be very angry.

I couldn't remember the last time Ispotted a rainbow and it just so happened that there were two perfect rainbows in the sky on this day.

White Beach.

Katsuren Castle Ruins

Our first day on the island we visited this site. It was a long hike up to the top.

A view of the Pacific Ocean from the top of the castle ruins

This was marked as a sacred shrine. Little small I thought.

Favorite Restaurants

At the noodle restaurant customers ordered their food via a vending-like machine. After customers make their selections it prints out a ticket that they give to the cook. I guess there are no rooms for era this way.

Landon enjoyed slurping down his noodles which is not considered bad table manners here.

This was my meal. Yum!!! The dumpling-like things in the back are pork dumplings and they are sooo good dipped in soy sauce.

This place is called Arin Karin, our Garlic House. It was another of my favs. The outide of the building is decorated with garlic bulbs.

Again, the translations are so funny.