Labor Day at the Aquarium:

It's been another wonderful week in Okinawa! Here are the highlights:

On Labor Day, we took the kids to the Churaumi Aquarium, which is said to be the second largest aquarium in the world. And by no means, it was pretty awesome!

The Aquarium sits right next to the ocean, so it made for some fantastic views!

This is a neighboring island, one of several hundred islands in the area:


This was the most amazing viewing area...look at how big the shark is compared to the people!

This is the closest that Ben will ever get to a white shark...I hope!

We saw a lot of funny fish that I could not even dream up, but our favorite was the worm-like snakes that stick out of the sand:
This large fish was as big as me!

I tried to make it look like I was taking a picture of Ben, but really I was fascinated by the Japanese who still in large wear these masks that I remember seeing on the news when SARS was a huge threat. I'm not sure what they are afraid of catching right now, but I thought it even more funny that they were taking pictures of each other with the masks still on.


Bella is still very intimidated by large crowds and will hang on to you like no other:

But she finally got brave enough to look at the fish at least:

Mia enjoyed watching the Turtles:



They also had a Dolphin Show that was pretty cool:



My friend Sue and her kids came with us, since they are much more experienced at getting around the island.


Afterward, we were pretty hot, so we let the kids play in the nearby fountain and then topped our day off with some Japanese ice cream.



My favorite right now is called Beni-imo which is ice cream made from some kind of potato...very yummy!


The one thing I have noticed is that they have some very strange signs that I just can't figure out what they mean....perhaps if I could read the sign, it might enlighten me. Any ideas?




I can't wait to come back and explore the rest of the park!