Video of the 10,000 Eisa Drum Festival August 2, 2009

This video was taken at the 10,000 Eisa Drummer Festival. I also posted some photos. Mika loves eisa!!



This is our favorite Okinawa song. It's very famous here.

10,000 Eisa Drummer festival......simply fantastic! August 2, 2009

Believe it or not...this is a bakery! We're waiting in line for our car.

We went to the annual Eisa Drummer Festival on Kokusai Street. It was blazing hot and very crowded, but we had fun. Mika fell asleep shortly after we got there, but she finally woke up for the last twenty minutes of it to see all the festivities and music. She's a very good sleeper to be able to sleep thru all those drums!

We staked out a good spot before it got crowded.

Our little princess is sound asleep.

Time to go home. Mika's happy because she got a new Hello Kitty toy.

3rd month anniversary! July 28, 2009

We celebrated our 3 month anniversary today. It's so hard to believe that three months have already passed and so much has changed. We had new family photos taken today and we're excited to see how they turn out. So many things have changed in these last twelve weeks, and yet some things have remained the same....only better! Mika had her celebration cake today and she enjoyed it. Needless to say, I don't think we'll be getting chocolate again. She had a "chocolate rush" at the dinner table and then had a "chocolate crash" before we even got up!!

Mika loved her cake when she saw it.

She's still mastering the art of using a spoon.

She wanted to use her chopsticks, but we gave her a spoon. She still "studies" her utensils when she uses them. It's very cute.

Chocolate & sugar "crash!"

A day of indoor fun July 27th 2009

We had a rainy/windy day and Mika used her imagination to play all day indoors. I gave her my sweater and she TRIED to put it on, but it ended up around her head! She thought it was hysterically funny and so did we. Her favorite things are dolls, books and blocks. She also loves to carry my handbag and wear my shoes. She's adorable!

Mika has an official US government number! July 25, 2009

Mika received her official Social Security card today! This was the last government document we were waiting for. Everything's done now. Yea!!

A family outing to Araha Beach July 19, 2009

We decided to take advantage of the nice Okinawa weather before it gets too hot and enjoy a day at the beach. This was Mika's first visit to an Okinawa beach and she loved it. She especially enjoyed playing in the sand and had fun splashing in the East China Sea. We used to take Max to this SAME beach when he was 8 years old and we lived here several years ago. It felt wonderful to go back again and have Mika with us!

Happy 4th of July 2009!

This was Mika's first 4th of July holiday, and we were excited to show her all the festivities on base! We went to the AmericaFest on Kadena Air Base and she enjoyed playing games and seeing all the big airplanes. At the end of the evening we watched the fireworks and she loved them. She's definitely used to seeing fireworks and kept pointing at the sky and saying a phrase in Mandarin. It was a very long day and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. We had a wonderful time.

We finished decorating Mika's room today and she really likes it.

Max and Mika at the end of a long day.

July 1, 2009 playtime with my friends

Our friends Miki and Ipei came to visit from Tokyo! Her family lives on Okinawa. Ipei is two months older than Mika, and they enjoyed playing together. It was very interesting to watch them communicate.....Mika speaks english and Mandarin and Ipei speaks Japanese! They somehow managed just fine and had lots of fun. Yori was with us too and we all had a great time.

This was the first time for Miki and Ipei to meet Mika, so they brought her a present from Tokyo. It's a summer Yukata to wear to the festival season that will begin soon.