Mika is 3 years old! September 6, 2009

Mika celebrated her 3rd birthday with lots of friends and a huge cake!
She ate noodles for her birthday breakfast and opened one of her presents afterwards. She wasn't sure what to do with the presents and tried to give it back to me. After we told her it was for her, then she slowly opened it. We rented the bowling center on Camp Kinser and 23 friends joined us for her special day.
She had a Hello Kitty party and loved all the decorations. She was very shy when it was time to sing happy birthday and blow out her candles, but other than that, she was very happy and friendly to everybody. She loves bowling and had lots of fun bowling with Max and the other kids. It was a wonderful day! She loved all of her gifts and her favorite is the Disney iron/ironing board set Max gave her, Baby Einstein flashcards that have bright pictures on them, and the Leapfrog game. She loved wearing her "Taiwan dress" to the party!

August Videos galore!

Mika's first visit to the hair salon and a walk on the beach- August 27, 2009

Mika had her first professional haircut today! We took her to the salon on Camp Foster and she was the first customer of the day. The stylist that cuts my hair also cut her hair today. Her name is Ritsue and she's very friendly. Mika didn't like getting her hair cut, but after a few minutes, she felt more comfortable. David joined us for the big event.

All done and she looks beautiful!

We went for a walk on the beach and picked up seashells. You can see our apartment tower in the background. The sunset was so pretty and it was very peaceful. We're very lucky to live across the street from the ocean! It's very relaxing.

A big scary shisa and pigs head stew! August 24, 2009

We drove to a resort town in Onna village and stopped at the Rennaisance Hotel for lunch. We ate "Viking Syle" which we refer to as a buffet. MUCH to our shock and amusement, this was no typical buffet! We had an adventurous dining experience and laughed alot.
Mika didn't like the giant shisa. She thought it was scary, but smiled for the picture as always. As soon as I snapped the picture, she told Max "all done!"

Dinnertime at Yaki Nikku Goen....yummy.

This is one of our favorite restaurants on Okinawa. You order food that you like and then grill it in the center of the table. It's already pre-seasoned and it's yummy! They offer "salt taste" or "soy taste." We always order the soy flavor and it's great.


This was our first visit to the restaurant since bringing Mika home! She loved it and thought it was fun to cook the food. She said "Daddy cook" and "Daddy it's hot." David did the grilling because I sat with Mika.


We ordered our usual......soy flavor beef, chicken, and pork. It also comes with potato salad, ice cream and soda. Delicious!!

Max shared his ice cream with Mika.... One of the many reasons she ADORES her big brother!

"Monkey see, Monkey do!!"

We're full, time to go home. Mika carries the baby we bought for her in Hawaii everywhere. She named her Baby Waikiki. She loves this doll.

Mika playing Max's eisa drum. Max bought this drum 8 years ago when we lived here the last time. Mika likes to play with it now.

Playtime! August 15, 2009

We met our friends, Dianne and Leanna, at an indoor playground and had lots of fun! Leanna is also adopted from Taiwan and they enjoy spending time together. They have similiar mannerisms, so it's fun to see them together.

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.