Lots of "Lasts"

During our final week in Okinawa, we had a list of several things we wanted to do one last time. For the kids, going to eat udon at Marugame was at the top of the list.

For Spencer and I, it included one final trip to pick up delicious food from Som Chai. We also go to do one last big get together with our awesome friends who were our Okinawa family. I still can't believe we got a second chance to live by all these fun people... on the other side of the earth!

We all went to Thailand together, then bonded more as we each had babies within just a few months of each other over the next year.

Syd had her last day at Kuwae preschool. She had to miss her final graduation since that was the day we were flying out.

We made one last visit to Cokok's to get our toenails done. We invited our neighbors Hailey, Maddie, and Meredith to join us.

I was excited to leave the island with pretty toes since I knew the design would last for at least a month. Syd's, however, were ruined within days.

We also had one last get together with sisters from church, hosted by the amazing Jihyun Knudsen. After Kate was born, she would pick up my kids along with other kids in the ward and take them to do fun things, like go to the beach or the park. Sydney and Shawn loved her, and I did too! She was the kind of lady I hope to be like!

Olivia & Sydney

This little brunch was especially fun because I found out two of my friends were pregnant, one of whom was Olivia's mom, Heather, who I visit taught. She and her husband had struggled with infertility for years, and they ended up adopting three kiddos. When she told me about her surprise, I wanted to scream out loud but had to keep the secret under wraps! And she still managed to come to the get together with several loaves of fresh baked bread because she knew how much we loved it. Man, I was spoiled to be around such great women.

Syd's Ballet Dress Rehearsal (AKA A Waste of Money)

Sydney's ballet recital was scheduled to take place the day after we were PCSing. When I told her teacher she wouldn't be there for it, she said Sydney could still participate in the dress rehearsal. I was glad because it meant she'd still get the experience of doing the performance and we'd get to see/video her dancing in a cute little ballet costume. So I paid $20 for the costume and another $10 for some tights. And then we got the costume, and I was surprised at how scandalous it was! An itty bitty baby doll halter top that we had to tie super tight around her next because the neckline practically plunged to her belly button. 

The dress rehearsal was pretty informal, and it wasn't even up on the stage. There wasn't really a great place to stand to take a video, so Spencer got some fairly lame footage from the sidelines. When I tried to take a picture of Sydney after the performance, she was mad and didn't want me to because her dress was immodest. 

I was able to get one eventually because Miley, her best bud from preschool, was also there for the dress rehearsal and Syd was happy to get a picture taken with her friend.

As she was changing out of her costume, Syd was being so negative (e.g. "I hate this costume! I don't even like ballet and I never wanna do it again!"). I felt like she was so ungrateful for everything it took to make this whole thing happen- weeks of lugging everyone to and from ballet, time, money, etc., and it made me so mad! What a waste!

Chopped

A few days before we moved, I scheduled haircuts for our whole family. I wanted to squeeze in a visit  with Stacey one last time. It is so nice to have a friend that does hair! Sydney had only had one other legitimate haircut up to this point, and usually included in her prayers at night some variation of, "And please bless my hair can grow long like Rapunzel." So I was a little surprised when I asked her how she wanted her hair cut and she responded that she wanted it up to her ears! I knew the inspiration for a short haircut was her friend Hailey, who had just donated her hair to Pantene Great Lengths a got the cutest bob haircut. I was all for Sydned chopping it if that's what she wanted, but compromised that the shortest I could handle was to her chin.

I only had my lame camera with me, so here are the poor quality before and after pictures.

Before: long like Rapunzel.

After: a totally new kid!

She was so excited about her new do, and I thought it was absolutely adorable. Certainly easier to brush too! Stacey cut off two 9 inch ponytails. I was surprised at how dark her hair really was- only the outside of the ponies were blond, the middle of them was pretty dark brown. She also wanted me to keep this cut a secret so she could surprise our family with her new look when we got to the states.

Oh yeah, and Shawn got a haircut too. It was much less dramatic, but he looked handsome afterward.

Northern Okinawa, Day 3

We awoke on our last day at Okuma to a beautiful morning! Just outside the resort restaurant, we got lots of family pics in front of that amazing blue-green water.

We snuck in a competitive game of putt-putt. Spencer had immaculate form.

Even Sydney attempted to actually hit the ball with her club, but Shawn got tired of that pretty quickly.

Angel baby Kate was in her stroller and started falling asleep while we played. She sure loves that little thumb!

 One new thing that was on our to-visit list was Yanbaru toy museum. We had to drive up a steep mountain on a skinny road, which was slightly terrifying. But thankfully the museum was well worth the trip! Everything in it was made from trees, and it kept our kids (and us!) entertained for several hours. And what was even better, we had the entire place to ourselves for a majority of our visit. We could have easily stayed longer than we did, but we had other spots we needed to hit.

For dinner, we went a very hyped-up restaurant called Pizza in the Sky. It was a little bit off the beaten path, and we wondered how people found this place and spread the word that it was good. We thought the pizza was just ok, but situated up high on a hilltop, the restaurant had the most amazing view of the ocean.

When I was taking pictures of Spencer and the kids, Shawn started being super crazy:

Spencer and I were cracking up!

I love it when she gets this super serious look on her face.

Our last stop was the Nakijin Castle ruins. We'd passed signs for them every time we went to Mt. Yaedake to see the cherry blossoms, and every time we drove to Okuma. I just love seeing these incredibly ancient structures, and they are usually situated in places with awesome scenery.

This place had tons of steps! There's a cherry blossom festival here every year as well, and the trees line the main pathway.

The view was amazing, but I could only imagine how spectacular it would look on a sunny day!

We ran into a few royals on our way out. I thought they looked surprisingly familiar: