It’s a rainy and dismal day here in Okinawa. Swim class has been cancelled, as the water heater for the pool is still broken, so Annabelle and I are back at the screaming kid’s park filled with snot, cries, and laughter. Why not take advantage to write a quick update purely for fun?
Most of you know that yesterday was Barrett’s birthday, and because our church service is on Saturday nights, we had the whole day off! So I secretly planned a Forest Adventure surprise and had our friends watch Annabelle, as children are not allowed. We slept in, had eggs and sausage along with more coffee than should be allowed and then dropped Annabelle off to play with Henry (3) and Calvin (18 months) for a couple of hours. We haven’t been by ourselves for fun, in I don’t know how long. Thanks Greta and Andy!
Forest Adventure is set up on a tree infested hill by the sparkling blue ocean. The view was breathtaking! It is a zip line course that takes about 2 hours to complete. We got a quick safety briefing on how to attach our ropes, safety lines, and zip line trolley and off we went on our own! It was a blast! The hardest part…literally…was landing. It consisted of being hurled into a wood chip pile to stop our acceleration completely on impact. Unfortunately, I never was positioned to land feet first, it was either on my side or backside. Needless to say, I’m a little sore, but thankful for no splinters.
The last part of the course was a rope obstacle course where we free jumped to swing into a net, walked across moving ladders or rings, and other various tasks. It was 2 hours of fun and tight harness rashes.
Greta and Andy ended up taking Annabelle and crew to a park about 40 minutes away from home and gave us another 3 hours of unexpected alone time. What is that? What is life without the child that is constantly in our care? I have to be honest. It was hard for me to relax and enjoy my time with Barrett. Crazy, huh? A gift of time with my best friend and confident and I struggled to talk because I was anxious without my girl! Yet we still managed to go to the Exchange, a food fair, and have coffee. Not bad.
We planned on having ribs for dinner at Tony Roma’s, but our friends…and other friends…were going to a sushi go around. This spontaneous time with friends was too good to pass up! So, 5 tired children 4 and under and their tired parents hit a Japanese sushi go around where food on plates constantly drove past their little eyes. The drama was better than an entire season of West Wing! Ketchup containers were licked, octopus was snagged, fights for who sits next to who, and trying to figure out what exactly WAS on that dish erupted loudly…and that was just from the parents! The poor quiet and polite Japanese staff must have watched us in wonder. Desserts were handed out to appease the masses…and then more desserts when the first round didn’t work. All the kids were in tears by the time we left and the adults were close behind…although by that point they were tears of laughter.
What a fun day it turned out to be! We are so thankful for all our friends. We learn so much from them and they bring us such joy and shared moments we will never forget! In that vein, enjoy the pics that describe our day better than any words. Happy Birthday Barrett!