At the Beach..

Me & Emma

My sister in law Courtney took this picture and I couldn't not post it. I love the Emma.

RYUKYU MURA

We went to a traditional Okinawan Village and saw the Dancing and Drumming Ceremonies. The kids loved it. We had an extra nugget, Jackson, with us because Courtney's sister Kathleen (Jackson's mom) had her second child, Gavin yesterday! Congrats to the new mom, and in the meantime, Kate was happy to have her buddy Jackson along for the morning.

Down by the Seawall.

Great New Song

Churaumi Aquarium

A few More BIOS pics

Some things I've learned about Okinawa.

Here are a few important facts I've learned about Okinawa, Japan in the past 3 days.

1.Okinawan culture is different that traditional Japanese culture in many ways. They were part of thier own empire, the Ryukyu Empire, and have many traditions that are specifically Okinawan.

2. They all drive tiny little cars that have crazy names like the "Sexy" and the "Naked", and they dont stop for ambulances.

3. There are crazy bugs here like big fuzzy caterpillars that are poisonous to the touch.

4. They love vending machines and have them everywhere, even on the side of the road. They will pull over, or even just stop and put on hazards, get out and go to the vending machines which have hot and cold drinks. The juices are crazy good.

You can make everything better by saying Arigato gozaimas. (Thank you very much)

BIOS- Eco Park

Today we went to BIOS, a park in more rural Okinawa, that had an amazing array of Flora and cool things to do. There were swings, a boat tour, and some amazing floral displays and topiaries.

Shurijo some more.

More Shurijo Castle

Shurijo Castle

We went to Shurijo Castle today in Naha, Okinawa. The castle was built in the late 1400's, destroyed by the Allied forces in WWII but then rebuilt in 1992 partially. Here are a few highlights.

EMMA

Emma makes the greatest Faces

KATE

Here is a pic of my niece Kate in her new princess dress.

SLAZINTHESEOUL

OK so you may know that I am currently traveling to Japan to see Ian/Courtney/Kate/Emma and I am currently sitting in Seoul Airport waiting for our next fight. Free WIFI = Epic Win, so I am posting. SO far so good on the trip status. The flight to LA consisted of watching Avatar, so that was easy, then the wait at LAX was crap. that Airport sucks a dong. there was like one store in the whole terminal and they had crap wraps for like 12 bucks a piece. SUCK.

THe Asiana flight to Seoul has been pretty awesome. This Airline rocks. The service is awesome, the two full hot meals we got were awesome. and the flight went by pretty quickly. Now we are chilling in the Incheon airport and biding our time until we head out for Okinawa. Almost there.

I hate money

Strike that, I love money, I just can never seem to accumulate any of it. I am....how do you say?...ah yes....POOR. I am battling credit card debt, rent, car insurance, car payment, and a few other random costs. This leaves me with about enough money to buy groceries, gas, a few beers, and I'm spent. Who needs to save money anyway? Let us not forget about the Personal Property tax I have to pay every year to the great state of Missouri (Fuck you very much! i love payig tax on my car every year. And the fact that its based on resale value is great, lets Eff over people who do research before they buy cars and get ones that have good gas mileage and resale value. Oh you are helping the economy and the environment? we better fuck you over big time then!) and the Licensure Exams I am currently paying for that add up to a cool 1800 bucks by the end. LOVE IT! Can someone seriously just give me like 10K so I can pay everything off, get some money in savings and call it a  day? Is that too much to ask?

FML