That time when Derek and Katie visited Okinawa...

I think I should start off saying I have the coolest brother ever, and due to the fact that he’s marrying Katie, I guess she’s cool by association. JK. She’s great too. What makes them even cooler is that fact that they came and visited our little Japanese island we call home. (Yes, it’s OURS!) After spending a few days in Tokyo, they flew down south to Japan’s “Hawaii”.  

 

I’ll have you know, we checked the forecast the day they were arriving and it said rain for the next 6 days (the length of time they were here for). With lots of prayers, I’m so thankful to say that the weather was amazing the whole time they were here! It was sunny and warm and perfect. Thank you Jesus!
 

Arthur and I met Derek and Katie at the airport, only to be greeted with what I would picture as the Japanese version of them. They walked off with facemasks on and if it weren’t for their height, I may have mistaken them for true Japanese! ;) (see video below)

They were starving when they got off, so we took them to Arashi—AKA the best ramen and fried rice EVER. We all scarfed down about a pound of rice while we caught up with their Tokyo travels, wedding plans, and everything else we could think of. After our big lunch, we took them to our apartment where we all relaxed for a couple hours after their long day (they had to get up at 4AM).

After a quick refresher, we walked down to the seawall to show them our awesome view we have. We then took them to “American Village” because we thought Americans who traveled 6000 miles would want to go no place but American Village. HA… JK. We took them to see the Japanese version of America and what they think it’s actually like. It has a Starbucks so it’s not too far off ;).

We then took them to the new AEON mall complete with about a million restaurants and even more stores. We all got something different to eat, sushi, steak, garlic shrimp, and pizza… and it was all kind of delicious. KIND OF. No meal is complete without dessert so we stopped at Blue Seal ice cream before heading back to the apartment. We finished our first night with a movie: The Impossible. Katie picked it out and it was actually good. For once.

The next day, Derek and Katie’s first full day in Okinawa, we all slept in and relaxed in the morning. Derek and Katie went on a run on the seawall and made me feel lay-zay. Once we all got ready, we headed to Coffee Casa, one of Arthur and my favorite breakfast restaurants.

Walking to breakfast

Once we got some food and coffee into our veins, we headed to our favorite secret beach. I would tell you where it was—but then I’d have to kill you. We found hermit crabs, took pictures, and ran around the beach for a while. After enjoying ourselves there, we took a tour around the islands on the Eastern part of the island: Ikea Island, Hamahiga Island, and Miyagi Island.

Cutie pah-toots.

 BEST BROTHER :)

My main squeeze ;)



I don't want to talk about how many times we attempted to do this... I couldn't get off the ground :(

Professional Dancers!

We had to head back home because we told some of our friends we could pick them up from the airport so we headed back down south and waited there. We arrived way too early so we entertained ourselves with singing (mainly Katie and I), taking pictures, eating too many mints at once, talking, and putting Katie to work with puzzles before her “hanger” took over her body and she was just mean. For dinner: Goen. It’s a yakiniku restaurant in Okinawa where you grill your own meat and other food and the best part: all you can eat. MMMM… I think the Japanese people there were amazed at how much 4 people could eat. What can I say, we were hungry! It was about 22:00 when we got home from dinner so we watched another movie and all headed to bed.

 

SO BORED in the car waiting..



GOEN-YAKINIKU and ICE CREAM

Friday morning both Arthur and I unfortunately had to work for a couple hours. Thankfully, we were done around 1030 and Derek and Katie were already ready to go. I brought home some baked goods for the local bakery, we scarfed them down and headed to lunch. (Don’t judge the amount of food we ate…) One of Derek’s favorite dishes he had been getting was Yakisoba, so I researched and found a place with “good” yakisoba for Derek because I love him so much! To my dismay, the food was subpar at best… No one really liked their food sadly. I tried so hard! :*(. Arthur’s ramen could have fed a family of 8 at least, it was giant!

His GIANT bowl of ramen!

YAKISOBA!

After lunch, we drove north to Onna Village. Again, every meal has to end with something sweet, so we bought giant shaved ice and shared them on a bench outside.

The best shaved ICE ever

The better shaved ICE... lets be honest

 

After eating, I convinced everyone to go to a glass-blowing shop, where we could make our own little glasses! Arthur didn’t really want to, so Derek, Katie, and I did and Arthur captured the moments. It was kind of expensive so we went with the cheapest item, which was a small cup (or shot glass). It was really fun! The guides show you what to do and have you blow into a tube to create your glass. You then get to shape it and mold it and add colors too. It only took about 30 minutes max for all of us to make them, and they said they would be ready to pick up the next day.

Michael Jackson gloves getting ready to make our glass cups!

 

Derek so focused on making his blue glass

Katie surprised that hers turned out

Me pretending like I know what I'm doing.

After leaving the glass shop, we headed to the beach to go swimming!  The beaches don’t really get crowded until June because it’s not super warm yet, but we were determined to enjoy the sunny island day! We all laid on the beach and tanned (or burnt) and Katie and I almost froze in the water. We had to swim though! Arthur tried to get in but was toooo chicken to get past his knees.

After hanging out at the beach, we all headed further north and went hiking at Tatake falls! It must be spider mating season because there were giant nasty spiders everywhere! The hike isn’t like a normal hike. The entire trail is trekking through the middle of a river and sometimes up and over giant rocks. It was getting late so we were trying to get there before the sun went down. At the very end, there’s an area where you can swim right beneath the waterfall. Derek jumped right in and swam like the crazy person he is. But it looked so cool! If it was warmer, I would have been in there too ;).

SOOOO COLD

We made it to the end!!!

So excited!

GROSS PDA ;)

Crazy person swimming in the freezing river water

It was already 1830 by the time we finished the hike and we still had an hour drive home. Once we got home, we all showered and got ready and headed to Gen, a popular Japanese restaurant that definitely has an American influence. They have delicious rolls and gyoza and appetizers so of course we got a ton! We finished the night with…. A movie! 

GEN GYOZA MMM

We slept in the next day and had a late breakfast/early lunch at another favorite place: Hale Noa Café. It’s a cute little Hawaiian café that serves the best breakfast. After eating delicious food, we stopped at the bakery I went to the day before and got some of their favorite baked goods.

Brunch at Hale Noa Café mmm pancakes!

Maybe Bakery

All set for the road ahead, we headed down to Naha. We had to make a detour at the park on the way down with the giant slide because Katie and Derek just HAD to try it J. They hated it. The slide has little rollers that roll you down the slide and it’s the worst feeling ever. Arthur and I may have built it up a little too much. Most people (children) have cardboard or plastic plates to sit on because if you don’t have that—you get a burning and itching feeling on your butt for the next hour. Oops… next time we will bring the cardboard.

The view from the top of the slide!

So happy to  all be in one place finally!

You can tell in our faces how much pain we are in...

Trying to get through without jumping off

I can't tell who is having more fun..

Another view point, another picture.

 After torturing them on the slide, we took them to Kokusai Street, a popular shopping area down in Naha. We stopped in stores, ate some snacks (Swedish pretzel roll!), and shopped around. We all stopped off for some drinks and the longest garlic bread ever.

Shopping.

 

All the shopping makes one tired.




Only in Japan..

 

Our Swedish pretzel roll thing...

GIANT garlic bread! MMM

After spending adequate time shopping, we headed back home for dinner. Our original plan for dinner ended up being booked, so we went to Jetta Burger, a delicious burger place.

In her element again.

 

After dinner, we walked over to the Ferris wheel and crammed into a small little cart and were up and away! It was soo windy and actually kind of terrifying so we only went around once.

Heading to the Ferris wheel!

After the Ferris wheel, we went to a place where you stick your feet in a tub and little fish bite off all the dead skin, sounds disgusting, right?! Everyone before us had no expressions on their faces, so we thought it wouldn’t be too bad. Katie and I did it and it was the most ticklish thing I have ever done! We were both dying and cracking up and screaming. I think the guy who was running the booth wanted Derek and Arthur to see what we were screaming about so he let them do it for free for a couple minutes! Your feet feel so smooth after you’re done and your abs hurt from laughing. Well, mine did. I can't really express how much we were laughing from these tiny fish going in between your toes and biting you so I'll show you with photos:

IT

TICKLES

SOOOOO

MUCH!!!

 

Cute little fishies!!!

 

Arthur kept moving his feet so they wouldn't stay on him... cheater!

We then went shopping a little because Katie wanted some clothes from Japan and we found a store that actually carried our size and the clothes were long enough! Crazy stuff! We all went to Blue Seal and had ice cream and crepes and hung out. We then headed back to our apartment to do none other than, watch a movie (and face-swap)!!! Arthur and I may have fallen asleep during this one- but hey! Katie fell asleep the night before so HA!

 

Brotherly love <3

 

AHHHHH!!!

WHO IS WHO?!?!

The last full day we went to Arashi for lunch because everyone was craving some more fried rice and gyoza. We then headed north again to go to the Pineapple factory in Nago! It was awesome! You go on a ride on a little pineapple car and enter a room where you walk through thousands of seashells and sea creatures. Then you get to the really good part. Samples of pineapple flavored wine and pineapple cake and cookies are around every corner. You can’t walk 10 feet without another sample. TASTY! After drinking the wine and eating the cake samples, you then get little samples of ramen, which are so delicious! We wanted to go through again but we were pretty sure it wasn’t permitted...

SO excited!

Katie and I were a little more excited than the guys...

Trekking through the pineapple forest.

So excited to be underwater

Pineapple heads.

Ramen samples!

awww pineapple park picture!

After the Pineapple factory, we headed to Ocean Expo Park where they have the aquarium! We walked around and looked at turtles and manatees (Katie’s spirit animal) and we went to a dolphin show! The dolphins were so cute! Kawaii! After the aquarium, I found a local festival that was happening so we headed to that. It was pretty small but they had a lot of really good local food. We grabbed some Nikuman (dumpling type things) and yakisoba and some cotton candy for the road.

View from the aquarium

Dolphin show!

Whale or Dolphin? We may never know.

Derek and the two manatees.

SO MUCH FOOD ALWAYS

Once we got home, Katie and Arthur took the mopeds out to drive around for a little and Derek and I stayed in and made guacamole and hung out. We then all headed to another favorite restaurant: Transit Café. We loaded up on delicious food (fondue mmm) and delicious drinks. It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t finish our last night with watching a movie and eating lots of guacamole!

In her element.

Hey sexayyy

CANT GET ENOUGH FONDUE!

The two lovebirds.

Last night :( Last dinner :( Last picture :(

The next morning Arthur had to go to work for a little so Derek, Katie, and I grabbed breakfast and then went back to our apartment to finish packing their stuff. We all headed down to the airport and said our goodbyes. L It was so sad to see them go but I’m so so thankful that they were able to come and that they made an effort to visit us. We had such a great time and loved spending time together and making wonderful memories. Thankfully, our time is short until we see them again. Only a little over 3 months and we will be watching Katie walk down the aisle and Derek and Katie getting married! I’m so excited for them and I’m so thankful I have such an amazing woman who will become my sister-in-law.

This post is long so props to you if you made it all the way through J. I have such an awesome brother (and KATIE!) who will fly 24 hours to visit his sister and I love him so much! Thank you Derek and Katie for coming, we miss you already!!!