the sunny side: January 2015

1.25.2015

Shikinaen Royal Gardens

Over New Years weekend we went down to Naha and visited this peaceful garden. I went here a year ago, but I guess I didn't post about it on the blog. It's prettier in the summer...and when things aren't under construction. But we still enjoyed it!I love getting out and exploring this place.

1.18.2015

Former Japanese Naval Underground Headquarters

Over our New Year break we played tourist for a few days and hit up some sights we hadn't seen yet. One of those being the Former Naval Underground Headquarters for the Japanese during WWII. I read that these tunnels were left untouched for many years after the war and when they decided to renovate and open to the public in 1970 the remains of about 2,400 people were found! So sad. Lots of Japanese committed suicide here towards the end of the war when things got hopeless.

All the side tunnels were pretty short!

I don't know how they fit people in these tiny rooms.

The tunnels were built using only pick axes^ & hoes. Sounds like an awful job to have.

Some pictures of what Okinawa looked like at the end of the war^

Okinawa now!

1.05.2015

Hedo Point & Dai Sekirinzan

Sunday was such a beauuuutiful day. It was 70 and sunny. So we packed ourselves up and headed 2 hours north to the tippy top of Okinawa. We first stopped at Hedo Point/Cape Hedo. The water was so calm and blue and absolutely gorgeous.

I'm assuming this says something about Hedo Point being the most northern point of Okinawa. I also read that 9,000 military men were lost at sea here during WWII. So sad.

We then headed a few minutes over to a place called Dai Sekirinzan park. It's a limestone plateau that has some cool rock formations and trails that weave through them.

year of the sheep!

That's Cape Hedo out there!

I'm loving the warm weather right now! And love exploring this little beautiful island!

1.03.2015

New Years Resolutions

I'm not starting my goals until January 5th since that's when the holiday's officially over. Here are my resolutions for the new year:

1. EAT HEALTHIER! I'm completely cutting out sugar and soda for 30 days starting Monday. I'm thinking about doing one round of Whole 30 this year, but I'm going to start with cutting out sugar and ease my way into it. I also believe moderation in all things and think Whole 30 might be too extreme. I want to read the book first, so we will see! Mostly I just want to feel good. (and look good, let's be honest here).

2. WORK OUT. I took some serious time off working out after having this baby (and before) and this year is for remaking a habit of working out. I want to do the PiYo program and the TurboFire program along with more running. (I'm still a beachbody coach, so if you want to do the programs with me-let me know!!)

3. SCRIPTURE STUDY. I need to focus on my personal study. Duke and I have been reading the new testament together and I do a good job at our group study because he is there to push me but I want to make time to do my own studying-every day.

4. BETTER MY PHOTOGRAPHY. I want to take a good photo a day with my big camera. I've heard of this being a great way to improve. I may not start this right away, but start this at some point this year. Also want to memorize the f-stops and shutter speeds.

5. JAPANESE. I want to learn more Japanese words. I've pretty much given up being conversational. But I would like to memorize the katakana alphabet, maybe the hiragana one. And just learn more words to get by.

The first 3 are the most important ones to me this year. The other two would be nice, but I'm not gonna kill myself over them.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

We had a pretty fun Christmas Eve this year. We got together with some of our really good friends here in Okinawa. We had a delicious dinner, read the Christmas story from Luke 2, shared talents with each other and chatted.