McKenna wrap-up

 McKenna ending up being with us for a whole two months this summer. The time went by so fast and we have definitely missed her since she left. Especially the boys. They have two cousins named McKenna, and Anderson refers to this McKenna as "our McKenna". We will always remember that summer we had with her. It was fun to get to know her a lot better and learn things you can't learn in a week long visit. Hopefully she wasn't scared by what she learned about us!

 While she was here, we did some crafting.

We did LOTS of swimming. We went to the pool probably a couple times a week, or more. She helped Jack with his swimming skills and her lessons definitely paid off! He's a little fish now and you can hardly get him out of the water.

 We went to the One Republic concert.

 She was with us when we found out that our baby was another boy! I'll go into more details on that later.

 She got to come to the hospital with us to see our friend's little baby Audrey. The Hurst's make some very cute babies! 

 We had one Okinawan adventure after another. This was at Nakagusuku castle ruins.

 She played and played with Jack and Anderson. They really loved having her here and were so sad when she had to leave. I'm glad they have those memories with her.

She is also one of the main reasons we ended up with this little guy! Her family has a yorkie and she did some major rallying on Winston's behalf. She made sure we knew every benefit of having a dog and how much our boys would love him. She was right. :) They do love him. 

We are so glad she came out and hope she misses us as much as we miss her!

Come back soon McKenna!

Thai in the Sky

 The Pinnau's invited us to go up to Thai in the Sky restaurant. It is quite a drive there, but the experience was totally worth it. Not to mention the view! I don't think that water can be any prettier than that. The whole time we were driving there, we were all in awe at the beautiful scenery that was around us. Sometimes I have a hard time being in Japan and feeling so far away from family and all things familiar, but it's days like this one that get me through it and help me enjoy our time here. 

 You can't tell from these pictures, but once again, we were all sweating to death!! Not sure we will ever get "used" to the humidity.

 Jaydon is Anderson's "first favorite friend". They are two peas in a pod. I don't even want to think about the Jenks leaving next summer. I don't know what Anderson will do without him! I'm already sad about it and they still have 10 months left. They are so cute together. They can't quite stay reverent in primary though and often get separated, which ends in tears from both boys. They keep us entertained, that's for sure. 

 This is the whole group that went. One thing about Okinawa that we love is all the wonderful people. We have made so many new friends, and love spending time with our old friends even more. Heavenly Father knew that I would need all the support I could get being so far away. It makes us feel like we have family here.

 Here is our yummy pad thai. Pad thai has become one of my favorite dishes!!

And don't forget the banana spiders. This sucker is huge!! Seriously, if it's legs were stretched out, it would be the size of my hand. These are everywhere. The kids are always looking up in the trees to see if we can spot one. They make a huge web too. Nasty!!

Scuba/Snorkeling Excursion

 We went on a snorkeling and scuba excursion with a bunch of friends. It was so much fun! They took us to two different locations and we had a BBQ on the boat for lunch in between. The weather and the views were awesome and the company was even better.

 Don't mind my nasty salt water/wind blown hair!

The boys scuba dived and the girls snorkeled.

Look who we found scuba diving below us! 

Justin is on the left and Adam is in the shorts on the right.

 McKenna took these with her underwater camera.

Just one more awesome adventure we get to check off our Okinawa list!

Aquarium

We took McKenna to the Chaurami Aquarium up in Nago. Even though we've been there before, the kids loved every second of it. And even though we were sweating to death, the dolphin show was our favorite. 

 I mean, you just can't beat that view. Thankfully we were in the shade, but we were all melting.

 I love looking back on all these pictures with McKenna here. She was here for two months and it went by so fast! Almost like it was a dream. Hopefully she had as much fun as we did.

After the aquarium the kids played at this park. I wish I had this in our back yard. They could have played on here for hours! I don't know how they could stand to be out there for more than two minutes in the heat. It was seriously miserable outside. The humidity makes everything feel like a sauna. But they were crying when we told them it was time to go home. I need to figure out their secret!

4th of July

 The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! (Do you love that face I'm getting from Anderson?)

 It was a little weird celebrating it in Japan, but we enjoyed it non the less. Of course it was blazing hot that day and we could not wait for the sun to start going down.

 I remember putting that shirt on in the morning and asking Justin if he had accidentally put it in the dryer because it was feeling extra snug. He looked at me, smiled, and as nice as he could, told me it was not the shirt that was getting smaller. It was my pregnant belly getting bigger!

 Justin and McKenna, waiting for the fireworks. We couldn't believe that McKenna had already been with us for a month at this point! The time went by so fast.

We went and saw some fireworks on Torii. The fireworks were pretty short, but it still made for a good ending to another great holiday.

Okuma

 Towards the end of June, Justin's dental squadron had a picnic up north at Okuma. Okuma is a recreational facility owned by the Air Force. They have cabins, condos, parks, volleyball courts, beautiful beaches and lots of different things that you can rent. This was our first time up there and we loved it! We rented one of the bigger condos and stayed the night with 3 other families. We are heading back for Labor Day and we can't wait.

 The drive up there is so beautiful. When the sun is out, it makes the water bright teal and blue.

 After the picnic, the boys headed straight for the water. The tide was coming in, so they had fun trying to run from the waves.

 This picture of Anderson cracks me up! His hair was so long and every time he would run by me it would poof up and down. It looks like a Baywatch action shot of them running down the beach.

 The next day we rented one of these bikes, which the kids loved. I was enjoying myself sitting in the middle while McKenna and Justin peddled on the side in the scorching heat. Jack and Anderson kept saying, "Go faster! Go faster!" It's a lot harder than it looks to get that thing going! Especially with the heat and humidity. They were good sports about it. 

 We got off the bikes to walk up a trail and take in the gorgeous views.

 We saw a few of these ginormous banana spiders along the way. This picture does not do it justice. This sucker is huge!!

 After the bikes, we headed over to North Beach, on the other side of Okuma. The water was much more calm and had the best sand. Most of the beaches here are covered in coral and shells so it was nice to be at a beach with soft white sand.

Okuma was the perfect "stay-cation"! We were really glad that McKenna was here to experience it with us. It ended up being her favorite thing we did the whole time she was here.