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:

Northern Okinawa, Day 2

We spent our second day in our beloved Okuma. It was really sad to go to this beautiful place for the last time. We had lunch at one of Spencer's favorite restaurants near the resort. It has some special kind of pork mixed with veggies. He's always more adventurous when it comes to food. If I don't know what I'm ordering, I stick with the "safe" items (i.e. curry or taco rice) on Japanese menus.

Spencer with our little Okinawan baby, who will sadly have no memory of her awesome birth place.

 The kids could, who usually never want to be in pictures, suddenly wanted to jump in a photo with Daddy and Kate.

Then a kind Okinawan man offered to take a family picture for us, so I handed over my camera.

What happened next was so typical of Okinawa: he and his wife were admiring our little Kate, and somehow that led to a baby handoff and ended up with his wife taking pictures of him with our baby. If this happened in the US I would have died, but in Japan it just isn't that unusual or creepy.

Back at the resort, we rented a buggy and took the kids for a spin. We had a favorite hill that we liked to go down really fast. The kids always love putting their hands up like they're on a roller coaster.

Although it was too chilly for our baby girl to swim, I wanted to get a picture of her "in" the ocean. I just barely put her little toes in the water. She was fine with it until...

a wave came in. Then she screamed her little head off. Apparently it was a bit to cold for her!

We walked down the beach over to a little hut where our kids like to play. Shawn had somehow gotten ahold of Kate's sunhat and was being a ham.

It was getting windy and I tried to keep my baby girl warm with my cardigan!

Then we headed back to our room, and Spencer and the kids played ball while I took pictures.