Seven Thousand Four Hundred-Eight Miles

The journey of a nurse, wife, and mother

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Donate to support medical care in villages of Brazil

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Universal Studios Osaka!

My daughter came to Japan for two weeks so we took that time to fly to Osaka and see a few special places. The first and foremost, Universal Studios! We are all huge Harry Potter fans and whether in Japanese or not, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was AMAZING! 

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Shuri Castle

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Southeast Botanical Gardens

[tanyaawayfromhome]

The Aquarium

Trip #2 to the aquarium, took the family with this time. Just a few photos from that little adventure. 

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Gigantic snail in my yard....

[tanyaawayfromhome]

My daughter and her husband hiking Alaska.

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Beach/Reef Combing

The tide was pretty low the other day so we took a little walk out on the reef to see what cool sea creatures we might spot! 

He’s a little difficult to see, but these two pictures are of a puffer fish!

Our apartment building as viewed from out on the reef. It was a holiday week for the Japanese and some young boys were enjoying a swim in the warm water and sun.

Gwen trying hard not to have her picture taken.

Hermit crabs hiding in their shells.

Sea urchin!

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Itsy Bitsy Spider

This little guy/girl lives on my balcony. Hope he makes it through Typhoon Noul!

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Sunsets

I have had the opportunity to view quite a few sunsets from my balcony. Here are a few!

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Random flowers on our Nago Castle Site hike. 

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Nago Castle Site

Recently, we went on a little adventure to the Nago Castle Site in Nago. It looked all tame and sweet until we go there and we were greeted with an uncountable number of stairs. Everyone thinks hiking is easy when you have stairs, I think not. Gwen was faking her death on several occasions as we made our way up. 

I promise, she is completely alive. 

After many steps, there were several areas where you could see some ruins, but nothing that would resemble castle ruins of places like England or Europe. Some areas have had rebuilt structures for tourist purposes I believe.

Additionally, there were some great views of Nago from up top:

We found a cool suspension bridge near the end and the finale was a great big slide!

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Typhoon Noul

Looks like we’re about to experience the first typhoon of our Okinawa stay. We are stocked up on food and water and we’ve bought our candles, headlamps, and flashlights! Now we just wait! It’s expected to hit within the next 12 hours, which means we may lose electricity and internet! Other than that, no real concerns here! 

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Red velvet wedding cake that I made. Covered in marshmallow fondant!

[tanyaawayfromhome]

A few more photos from my daughter's wedding.

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Views from the Ferris wheel on top of the mall at American Village. My sister got a little freaked out from the height but it was a pretty cool ride.

[tanyaawayfromhome]

Pineapple Park

Who knew that you could make an entire tourist attraction on such a small island, all about pineapple. You can buy pineapple wine, in a variety of styles, dried pineapple, pineapple cake, chocolate covered pineapple, and even a little pineapple plant that you can take home and attempt to grown your own pineapple. 

When you get there you get to ride in a little automated golf cart (right after your photo with the guy in a pineapple suit) through the park where you can see baby pineapples growing and a variety of blooming plants and flowers. At the very end, you are dropped off to the souvenir shop where you can buy all of the above mentioned goodies, and even more.