Forest Adventure Park

We decided to take a trip up north and try out a place called Forest Adventure Park. Basically, its a huge zip-lining course. We had never been before but had heard great things about it! We had a blast! John had an extra day off, so going on a Tuesday was great because there was hardly anyone there. We had a girl put on our harnesses and give us a brief lesson on how to use the equipment, then off we went. I have been on a zip-line before, but I was a teenager so the first time was a little scary!

Here is the video I took of myself going on the first one!

There were trails that led to different zip-lines, probably 10 or more and you had to go on them to get through the course.

As you were going from one area to another, there was basically nothing but trees and bushes underneath you!

Here comes John!

The higher we climbed, the better our view of the beautiful ocean was!
Towards the end was a large obstacle course that was pretty hard!

After climbing up some swinging ladders we had to go on what is called the Tarzan Swing. These videos are so funny, I could watch them over and over!


We actually wound up doing this course twice because no one was behind us, so we might as well get our money's worth!

So keeping with the adventurous theme we decided to try some curry. The Japanese are big on curry and it seems all of our friends just love it. John and I have been very wary of try it, mainly because of the smell. It doesn't look all that great either. So we stopped at a big restaurant called Coco Curry House and tried some chicken curry. Generally a plate comes with rice, some sort of meat and this brown (curry) sauce that you can choose your level of heat. From mild to #12. You are only allowed to have above an 8 if you have eaten the whole thing of a 5 or above. We stuck with the #1! Ha ha! Hey, we were easing in! It was surprisingly good! John loved it and I am still deciding how much I liked it, but I would probably go back. So that was our day of adventure. I hope you enjoyed pictures and video of us looking like fools!

Valentine's Day at the Aquarium

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We have heard all sorts of great things about the aquarium here on Okinawa and decided to take the long trip up to the north part of the island and check it out. This aquarium was once the largest in the world, but a new one in Atlanta was built a few years ago and now holds that title.
The aquarium is in an area called Ocean Expo Park. We didn't have a chance to see the whole park, but in the middle of it all were some awesome sculptures made out of flowers, they were beautiful!
When we walked inside, there was a large tank with so many different types of fish.

This picture almost looks fake!
Here are the largest lobsters I have ever seen in my life!
Me with some hot pink fish!

Here is John and a new friend!
After walking around a bit we rounded a corner and saw the first parts of one of the world's largest fish tanks! I had heard about this tank and I thought the first one we saw was it, luckily, I was wrong! I was so incredibly amazed at the size of this tank; it holds 1,981,290 gallons of water and has the second largest acrylic glass panel.

I took a video to help you understand the magnitude!

On the side of this tank you can walk into an area where the water goes above your head.
It was a really rainy day, so we didn't get to see the dolphin show because it is performed outside.

We walked around a bit more and heard music and clapping so we decided to see what all of the commotion was about. There were a few little girls dressed up and performing little dances. It was so cute! Here is a video of one of the dances.

This little girl was soooo good! She was probably 5 or 6 and so dramatic and was so precise in her movements.
As I said before it was raining outside, yet people still thought is was so great and fun to run through the mist machine. By that time my hair was enormous, so it was time to head home! This weekend is a 4-day weekend for John and Tuesday we are supposed to go to the park where there are tons of zip-lines! Hopefully it won't rain and we will still be able to go! Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Snorkeling

There hasn't been a whole lot of exciting things going on around here, we both have been crazy busy, but not necessarily fun stuff! Last week, John's squadron got a new commanding officer, so it has been a hectic changeover for him and everyone else. There are always alot of things to do when a new person takes over. I finished my very first class towards my masters degree. Here, you do reading and a few assignments on your own, for 4 weeks, then have one week of intensive classroom time. When I say intensive, I'm not kidding. Monday through Friday we had class from 4:30 to 9:30 and then Saturday 8am to 2pm. Whew! This was no ordinary class, it was Research and Statistics, so my brain is slowly recuperating! But its over and I am one step closer.
This weekend we were pretty lazy. It had been a tough week for both of us and we didn't see each other at all. Sunday we decided to go snorkeling since it was such a beautiful day. The weather has gone back and forth from a little chilly to 75 degrees so the water wasn't too bad if you had a wetsuit on.
The water was a bit choppy, but we braved it anyway. Our favorite spot to snorkel has a cave you can swim into. Its a little creepy, but kind of cool at the same time. It was great being able to see it when we did because there was hardly anyone out there and usually this spot is extremely crowded, especially in the summer.
Here is John on the inside of the cave.
Here I am (even though you can't tell) at the entrance.

These are a few of our favorite pictures of the fish we saw.







After we were in the water about 45 minutes, the wind started picking up and it was pretty rough. I have never has to swim that far out in the ocean while the water was so rough. We got a little beat up by waves and were certainly exhausted by the time we made it to shore, but we made it ok!
This may be one of the last times we snorkel here because next week we start classes to be certified scuba divers! Diving here is supposed to be some of the best in the world, so we decided to take advantage! Hopefully I will not be a big chicken! I think it will be fun once I get over the initial fear!
Well that's all for today. I hope all of you have a Happy Valentines Day!