Beach Bashing

Today we went down the street to Sunset Beach and celebrated my friend Natasha's birthday. It was so fun! I love having the beach so close to do fun things like this. We all brought a dish and had a potluck dinner. There's also this cute little mojito shack open in the summer that just makes it feel more fun and festive. Okinawa is a beautiful place, however my favorite thing about this place is the wonderful people I have met here. There's something really special about this place-being away from family and friends and America-that brings you really close to people. I've never lived and never will live anywhere like this again. It's so easy to make good friends with awesome people and I LOVE it. There is such a support network here that makes living away from loved ones a little easier. These are some of those girls for me! Not to mention they're all so pretty :)

Sidenote- I sold my regular Ergo and got the Ergo 360 today and I'm loving it! Took it for a test drive and Lucy slept through half of our time at the beach. Love her.

Birthday Girl!

 I love summer!

9 Months of Lucy Joy

Oh my Lucy Joy! It's official. 9 months is the best months (so far). Something magical happened this last month. She became a happier baby! She turned 9 months on July 25. Duke was gone the last 2 months of July and when he came back he even said something about it. She didn't cry every time we were in the car. She didn't freak out on the reg. She was just more content all of a sudden. I'd say she's still more high maintenance/needy than some of my other friends babies. However, we've made progress!! I'm not going to lose my mind! Things are going to be OK! 

• She has cut her 2 bottom teeth-barely! (can we talk about how TERRIBLE teething is?) 
• She's finally into eating. I discovered the trick with her is to let her feed herself. She doesn't tend to like things when I offer them, but if I let her pick it up and put in her mouth she likes it. Go figure. Also those little squeeze pouches let her feed herself too-we're obsessed.
• As of this week she is scooting..not crawling. However she does it very slowly. And only when completely necessary. It's a start. 
• She is full of smiles. She is so excited about life. Right now she is waving around her bib like it's the best thing that has ever happened to her. I love it.
• Her favorite toys currently are my makeup bag contents-particularly the brushes. (I started putting paintbrushes in it to fool her). She also loves holding markers and running them across the ground and tapping stuff with them. Bowls and spoons are also a favorite. And my tennis shoes. She's fascinated by the laces. Basically she hates all the toys I paid for. 

^the above pics I took on July 25. And here's a few below from the last couple weeks.

Beach Life

Last weekend we made it out to Mama San Beach on Ikei island. I think it's one of the more beautiful beaches out here. They charge 500 yen, but it's gorgeous and it has some decent snorkeling. It's about an hour and half drive from where I live so I don't make it out there often, but we enjoyed it! Lucy is starting to enjoy the beach more too these day since she's figured out sand is fun to play in and we break toys she only sees at the beach. She's my little beach babe!

Duke has a birthday!

Duke turned 33 a couple weeks ago! (Those candles almost look like they say 55. Not quiiiiite there yet). We celebrated on the weekend by having a bbq and cake with some friends. He requested a homemade chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and it was goooooooood. 

I never mush about this guy, so let me take the opportunity to tell you how lucky I am. Duke is such a good guy and an amazing husband. Our marriage isn't perfect, but when I imagined being married this is what I hoped for. He makes me laugh every single day. We have dumb little inside jokes that still crack me up. He knows me so well and we just 'get' each other. He knows my love language is words of affirmation and he tells me things he likes about me every single day just to see me smile. I know that he loves me with his whole heart. He puts me above everything else in his life and treats me like a queen. You better not mess with me or you gotta mess with him ;). I'm so happy he was born and that he chose me to share his life with. And look at that cute baby we made! Cheers to 33 more years!

Exploring Okinawa

The last day of our holiday weekend we took our friends that had just arrived to see a couple sights. I feel like Manzamo Cape is a must see on Okinawa! The rocks are so pretty and the water is almost always breathtaking. I think every time I go there I end up taking a picture because "it's just SO pretty!" So i probably have about 7 of the exact same pictures :). Worth it. 

We also went north and explored Todoroki Falls. I have an Okinawa Bucket list of items to check off before I leave and that one was on there. It wasn't very impressive to be honest, but still cool. You can drive right up to it, and just have to climb up some boulders to get to the small pool below the falls. You couldn't really get IN the falls though. And there were 2 very giant spiders hanging out on some of the boulders so just beware if you go. 

We have about 1 year and 3 months left before it's time to leave Okinawa..I can't believe it! Time goes by so fast. My bucket list is actually growing everyday so I realllllly need to start taking advantage of the summer and get out there! It's hard with Lucy and her napping (or lack of napping), but that's my goal for the rest of the summer. Explore, explore, explore!

Snorkleing Cape Maeda

We took full advantage this holiday weekend to explore Okinawa! We went snorkeling at Cape Maeda, which I think is the best snorkeling spot on the island. Somehow this is only the 2nd time I've been and i forgot how beauuuuutiful and awesome it is there. For the record I have planned to go several times, but the water conditions always end up being too rough. The first time I went was Feb 2014 and I was freezing the whole time and couldn't wait to be done. It was much more enjoyable this time. The pictures don't really capture what it really looks like, especially all the pretty fishies. 

We traded off with our friends on baby watch so it was almost like a little date. It's nice to have friends like that. My favorite this time was the big sea of fish I swam around in-I posted a video of it below, seeing tiny baby clown fish- there was 1 momma and like 3 teeny ones, it was like real life Finding Nemo, and the super weird long nosed fish in the pics below. 

the baby fish are the little white spots to the left of the big clown fish

crazy long nose fish (i think that's the scientific name for it) 

Afterwards we headed to the mall to get the yummiest pizza's that are $5 each. And lucy ate puffs. Sometimes life isn't fair when you're a baby. It was such a fun day. I love being outside and enjoying summer. Sunny, summer days are my favorite.