Keeping Up With the Joneses

Today I was that mom. You know...the one everyone hates. The one whose kid screams through the whole grocery store and she just moseys along and pretends she can't hear it. Yeah, that was me today. Before I had a child I loathed that woman. I'd give her a mean look and think, "Can't you do something to shut that kid up?" And then I became a mother. And I learned that sometimes there just really isn't anything you can to do shut them up. And unfortunately, for me and for everyone else within a one mile radius, there are still things that must be done. At one point, we were coming through the gate and he was so loud that the guy who scanned my ID raised his eyebrows in alarm, and the guy inside the guard shack came out to investigate. I tried to give him away but I didn't have any takers. (Just kidding. Sort of.) And to add insult to injury, we saw quite a few other little kids who calmly sat in their shopping carts or strollers and looked at my kid like he had three heads.

I was just telling Mom the other day that this boy is much more difficult than I expected him to be. He'd probably be okay if I just carried him on my hip everywhere, but that's just not possible. He hates to ride in the stroller. He really hates to be taken out of the car seat and then put into his stroller. He arches his back and screams like I'm torturing him. It's quite the spectacle. In his defense (and mine too), today we don't think he's feeling well. He pitched a fit in the BX. And then he pitched another one at the post office. And then he really pitched one in the car. And then I took my chances and took him to Popeye's. Once he got some sweet tea things started to look up. We ended up having a pretty good lunch with Daddy. Do you know this kid eats about 85% of a kid's meal?

He loves sour straws candy.

And he likes to drink Daddy's drink WITH a sour straw.

He likes to watch Wheel of Fortune. Seriously.

And I just like this picture. Not quite sure why.

The whiny boy is now upstairs taking a much needed nap. Fingers are crossed that he wakes up happy.

Just briefly, our family has been untouched by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday. Okinawa is so far south from the mainland that we felt nothing. We were under a tsunami warning Friday evening. Since our house is right on the sea wall, we evacuated for a few hours. By the time we went to bed the warning had been reduced to an advisory.

The people of mainland Japan have been in our thoughts and prayers.

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It was a fun-filled, action-packed weekend. We went non-stop. In fact, it was such a busy weekend that it's 9:00 Monday morning and Brendan is still asleep.

Saturday morning we got up and drove to Pineapple Park in Nago.

I was so excited to go here because I had heard about the free samples.

Admission is 500 yen ($6) per person. They put you on a pineapple cart and send you through the fields.

There is an audio guide (in English!) which we enjoyed, but I wish I had paid a bit more attention.

They took our picture, which we purchased at the end of our ride.

Are we the only dummies who had no idea how pineapples grow?

Look how tiny!!

Brendan is into copying lately. If you cough, he'll do a fake cough and then grin. He saw his dad and me kiss and guess what he did.

Kissy Face! I love those little lips.

Then we got to the good part.

The winery!

Which meant wine tasting!

This one was our favorite. It is a pineapple and grape blend, 15% alcohol. We bought a bottle.

There was a lemon wine (we bought that, too) and sparkling pineapple wine. Tom wasn't a fan of sparkling but I was!

Don't worry - it's just pineapple juice!

And then it was on to the really good part....free samples of pineapple sweets!

We bought: two bottles of wine, a bottle of pineapple vinegar (for salads!), dried pineapple, pineapple chocolate (!), and pineapple chocolate chinsuko, which is basically a cookie covered in pineapple chocolate.

I think Tom ate an entire pineapple worth of samples.

There is an ice cream stand on the way out. Most people hit it up but we were ready for some real food. I did see this sign and had to snap a quick picture.

What's your favorite fravor?

Overall consensus was that we enjoyed the pineapple park, but it is kind of a tourist trap. We'll probably do some Christmas shopping there. I'm a little disappointed that you can't just go to the shop and buy the products. You have to pay admission first. But I think we both agreed that we would go again.

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We left Pineapple Park and went to the Butterfly Garden. This time admission was 400 yen.

Just photos....

That's a graveyard!!

He was dancing. That made me laugh so hard.

He hates shoes. He takes them off every chance he gets.

And he's really not sure what to think of strangers.

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Sunday morning we headed to Naha. We were looking for a farmer's market but settled on Kokusai Street.

Heiwa Street branches off of Kokusai Street.

Apparently, you serve yourself.

Pig's feet, anyone?

We were ultimately looking for the fish market. And we definitely found it.

I don't know about you, but this really made me ready for lunch.

NOT.

So, apparently, you purchase your meat or seafood and then take it upstairs and one of the restaurants will cook it for you.

You only live once, right?

We chose two big prawns. A couple weeks ago we went on a date to a Japanese Steak House. Tom got steak and prawn. He said that prawn was one of the best things he ever put in his mouth.