Better Luck Next Time!

So the weekend finally came for our glorious trip to Okuma. Now granted we got reservations so soon because it was off season. February here is usually in the 50-60 degree range. We knew that the water sports side of it may be a little frigid but there was still a lot we could do. Plus, the relaxation would be nice.

We planned our meals for the weekend and did the grocery shopping and packed up the car. My friend and I and our boys were headed up first and the daddies were going to drive up together after work. It was a 2 hour drive, but the boys behaved and we only had to stop once for a potty break. We made it in no time.

First stop, lunch!

We got there a little before check in time and stopped at the restaurant that they have at the resort. The boys had grilled cheese and loved it. After that, we checked in to our Turtle's nest!

This picture is upside down and for the life of me I cannot figure out how to flip it. So... whatever. You get the idea!

Home sweet home!

 Bathroom floor was raised on these wood slats. Weird, but pretty!

 Shower. Amazing. Each of those holes shoots water out like a jet!

 Bathroom wall tiles. Don't they look like worms in love?

 Our bedroom - I forgot to take pics before we messed it up

 

 

The view from our front porch

 

We got into our cabin, unloaded the car, picked rooms and decided we were going to head to the playground. Always an easy pass time for the kiddies.

 

 

After this, we wanted to head back to the cabin to see if we could get the boys to nap. Colton's friend napped just fine. Colton, on the other hand, did not for one minute consider the idea. After a few minutes of screaming, I couldn't take it anymore. Colton hung out with the ladies while Levi snoozed. Dinner time rolled around the dads still were not here. We had to make something for the boys to eat and we had steaks and potatoes and stuff for us for dinner, but we weren't about to fire up the grill and cook dinner with 2 toddlers running around! I taught my friend a new trick and we microwaved some eggs for them. We did not have a stove, obviously. The boys were thrilled to have full tummies and we were glad they weren't so ornery anymore.

 

 

 

 After putting the boys to bed we finally got ahold of our husbands. They were here! They just needed to run to the on base store to grab some beer and they would be at the cabin in no time. Wrong. Ben got pulled over for speeding. They were sitting there so long waiting for the guy to write the ticket that Jason just ditched his friend and walked to the cabin instead to get the grill going. When they finally arrived we decided to do the hamburgers tonight and the steaks tomorrow. It would be easier and faster this way. We devoured the hamburgers as it was around 9pm by this time and started our bonfire and I cracked open our bottle of wine. Let the relaxation begin!

 

 

 

That blackness that you see behind us, that's the ocean. Pretty amazing.

 

So, the relaxation came to a screeching halt when our friends' monitor kept going off and their son was not sleeping so soundly. It got late and the girls decided to call it a night.

 

When we woke up in the morning we learned that Levi had been up all night getting sick! We hoped it was maybe something he ate (like microwaved eggs) that had just upset his stomach and everything would be fine. We got dressed and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. Just as we were sitting down Levi had taken his first bite of yogurt and it hadn't stayed down. Looked like our friends were going to have to take the drive home and spend the weekend helping their little man feel better.

 

Jason and I were on our own for the rest of the weekend. We grilled out the steaks and made the best of it, but it just wasn't the same without our besties. Jason wanted me to document how perfectly he cooked our steaks! Believe me, they were delicious!

 

After having some time to look around I noticed these weird things on the side of our cabin.

 

 

 

 

The steel wires went up and over the building where they were clasped down the same way on the other side. This little hooks were holding our roof on! I guess it gets windy up in here!

 

It was a cold morning in February but we weren't just going to spend the day cooped up in our cabin. We rented a golf cart and drove around a little bit to see the scenery.

 

 

 

 

Colton didn't really drive. We just let him think he could.

 

We packed a picnic lunch and found a deserted beach. It would have been fantastic had it not been so windy and cold. We just felt lucky that we could be enjoying it at all, seeing as how our friends had to go home.

 



 

Then we played a little mini golf after Colton's nap.

 

 

Colton was terrible at mini-golf! I guess he gets it from me.

 

We did a little shopping.

 

 

After we put Colton to sleep we hung out with the guys we had met at the fire the night before. They were fine to chat with, they were pilots or something, but they had nothing on our friends. We called it a night pretty early, woke up in the morning and swore we would find time to do it again!

 

Needless to say, the week after we got home, both Colton and Jason caught was our little friend had had. Colton had his first terrible sickness, but we made it through!

I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese.

In Japan they have restaurants that are "sushi-go-rounds." The name gives it away. You sit down at a table and there is a conveyer belt that is coursing its way through the entire restaurant filled with different types of sushi. On our first visit, the restaurant was very new and didn't have English translations on the automatic order menu yet and none of the signs that were posted at the table were translated, so we did what we saw everyone doing. We sat down and started pulling plates of sushi that looked good off the conveyer belt and put them in our bellies. They were so good. Most of the fish we could tell what it was, but there were some that we didn't know. We realized that you could go through the automated menu screen and place orders of certain things you wanted. After doing this, we wondered how we knew it would be the one we ordered. We did not want to steal someone else's special-ordered sushi and we did not want someone stealing ours after we had been waiting for it. We pushed the call button to see if the waitress could give us some info on our current situation. She said that our little tv screen (seen below) will speak to us and flash and tell us that our sushi that we ordered was coming around the belt. She said it would be up on a bowl. Oops. We stole A LOT of people's sushi that day.

 

This is the order screen. The pictures were taken a few months after the place had opened. I think they must have had a lot of Americans stealing sushi because they had translated everything (almost everything) so we could be rule following diners.

 

Below is the picture of the sushi that is free for the taking. No one has ordered this sushi, the chefs thought someone might like to have it! I don't know what this one is, but it does not look too tasty. The plate is directly on the conveyer belt.

 

 

Oh and do you see that little spicket that comes out of the wall? Its hot water. There is a little green powder in a canister at the table and you can make instant green tea! Jason didn't know this the first time we went and he thought it was powdered wasabi and mixed it with his soy sauce. Needless to say, it wasn't tasty. He wasn't too ashamed to just leave it sit there though. He made new delicious dipping sauce. Later we learned that the wasabi is between the fish and the rice so there is no need to put any into your soy sauce. The only reason we learned this is because they don't have soy sauce dipping dishes. There is a slew of different soy sauces here too, all with kanji labels. I always just chose the biggest bottle because I assumed it was the most popular. Of course Jason tried them all. He claims some were more floral or something, but... give me a break. Its soy sauce. It tastes like salt!

 

Here is the picture of all the different soy sauces.

 

 

 



 

 

Here is the picture of the "special ordered" sushi. It comes raised on a bowl (Jason grabbed it a little too quick to get the full effect here - he must have been hungry) and your computer screen really does light up and talk to you! It even talks in English now!

 



I don't know if you can quite make out what is in the picture here of what we ordered. It is Colton's favorite. A mini-hamburger patty covered in some sort of garlic sauce atop a little ball of rice. Look Grandma Kagger - a Japanese Patty Melt!

Here's Colton chowing down on his favorite Japanese dessert. Almond Jelly. The second picture is him loving his Japanese patty melt!

Good thing this kid is not picky. He will try anything once. I don't even have to lie and tell him its something its not. I can just say, "Hey Colton, this is Octopus. Do you want some?" He's like, "Sure, mom. That sounds so good!"

Here's my favorite at Hamazushi (that's the name of the restaurant). Tuna with avocado and thinly sliced onion with a dollop of mayonnaise. I don't know if I ever mentioned it before, but Japanese people love mayonnaise. They even put it on the top of loaves of bread before they bake it! My friend and I were out to eat once and we got some complimentary bread with our lunch and we were super pumped to see that the bread had a layer of cream cheese! How delish. Wrong. Mayonnaise.

The other one that Jason and I love is some scallop from somewhere that starts with an "A." Aioda... Aoshi... Somewhere with an A. They're so good. Yes, they are raw. I don't even have to "not think about it" to be able to eat it anymore. I can think directly about how I'm eating a raw scallop and totally not be grossed out! I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese!

Here's Jason indulging! Look at that cool hair-do!

Here's some other ones that we haven't tried. These we just let roll on by! OMG! What is that!? Next please!

 

They also have Okinawa Soba and fried chicken to order. Here's the greatest thing about this place. Each plate that you either order or grab (it doesn't matter which) is between 90 yen to 100 yen. That's $1. The color of the plates signifies the cost of the sushi that is now in your belly. There are some that are more expensive that come on a different color plate. I don't know why you would spend more money on raw fish. Its not like its seasoned or anything. Raw fish is raw fish. Pass me the plain old tuna or that "A" city scallop! The soba and the salads are around 250 yen ($2.50). They are delicious and come clad with a piece of shrimp tempura or a slice of pork just like they would if you went to a different restaurant.

 



Colton loves noodles, so we always get a bowl for him.

When you are all finished you push the button on your screen and a worker comes over and tallies up your plates and gives you a check.

And this was a cheap day!