Big fish, Pizza in the Sky, and no AC

Our first major outing outside of Chantan (the area of Okinawa we live in) was to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium with one of our sponsors and their kids. Megan, Mary Alice and Owen helped navigate the Bailey clan in our sweet new mini-van to this phenomenal aquarium about an hour away.

(Megan is an internal medicine doc at the hospital, and her husband Jeff is a fellow surgeon with Chris. Jeff, unfortunately, is "attached" to a boat and they are currently on a "mission." We are all hoping he gets home soon!!)

This aquarium puts every other aquarium in the universe to shame. Really. I mean it. It's kind of the like a Six Flags of aquariums.  Or maybe even better....Disney World? I don't know. It's just REALLY cool! Multi-story tanks with huge manta rays, whale sharks, giant groupers (if you knew Gordon the Grouper or Cooper the Grouper, these guys make them look tiny). And just about everything else you can think of. Glow in the dark fish. Creepy jellyfish. Garden eels. Sea cucumbers in a touch tank (yep, I asked if they were an animal or vegetable... What?...I know now. They move.). I mean, the inside is absolutely unreal. And then the outside has an awesome net structure play area for older kids, and a Telatubby-type play area for little kids.  There are shops selling beautiful glassware, restaurants, a dolphin tank, and so much more we didn't have time to explore. The grown up's favorite part was sitting in front of the jumbo aquarium eating a snack and enjoying an Orion on draft. The kid's favorite part was the outstanding splash fountain that was "choreographed" to music ranging from traditional Japanese drum beats to Celine Dion. After about 4 hours at the aquarium (which was WAY not enough time...we will have to go back and bought season passes), we headed to the next "must see in Okinawa" destination...Pizza in the Sky.

We had been having some trouble with the "new" van's AC (a downfall of buing a used vehical) but Chris had added refrigerant and we were pretty much good to go. Nice and cool and the way up (whoohoo!) However, it didn't seem to be working when we got back in the car. All nice...and sweaty...and sticky...and cranky....and hungry....and no AC. Great. Three babies in their 30's, and four kids 5 and under. So we rolled to our next destination with the windows down. Unfortuntely for the rest of us, we had to listen to Claire complain (scream at the top of her lungs) the whole way there.  Claire HATES to have all that beautiful hair of hers in her face, and ever since she was a little baby she acts like she's being tortured when we ride with windows open.

We made it to Pizza in the Sky, which is a tiny little pizza place tucked in the nook of a mountain overlooking the beautiful ocean. Many say it's one of the best places to get pizza around. You can sit inside or out (we said out even though it was pretty hot).  They have a limited menu, but it was all really yummy. You could order their one salad, their one pizza (which happens to be pepperoni, pepper, and corn, yes corn),  a variety of fresh fruit juices, Orion beer on draft, and frozen mango slices (tastes like heaven!). We ordered a little bit of everything, and loved every bite. Chris and I were thinking how funny it was that our favorite pizza place in SC was Side Street pizza, about an hour away in Trion, NC (way up in the mountains) and now we have another favorite pizza place in the mountains of Okinawa. We totally agree that both the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and Pizza in the Sky will be destinations for future outings, and hopefully places we can take visiting friends and family.

On the way back to Camp Lester,  all we could do was laugh when we figured out the AC problem. After an HOUR of ALL four kids crying, the teacher and two doctors figured out that we needed to push the universal symbol (icicle) for cold air button to get cold air to blow.  Go figure.