#spontaneoussundays

The best thing about our little island is that even though it is small, it is not short on adventures. We can hop in the car and see something interesting or beautiful a few minutes down the road. Our lives are extremely busy, so we don't get to explore as much as we want to, but we are glad we have awesome things to see when we do get the opportunity. Last Sunday we woke up and decided to grab Lexie, our emo hammocks, and our favorite Yeti cooler and hop in the car. We stopped by the grocery store to grab sandwiches and drinks and headed towards our favorite adventure spot. There are tiny little island surrounding Okinawa and we are lucky to live right around the corner from quite a few of them. When we got to the bridge headed to a 4 of our favorite islands, we saw that it was low tide and the kite surfers were out. We thought the tide pools would be great for Lexie because she loves water and running on the beach but isn't a huge fan of waves. We were right! She loved splashing through the tide pools and running on the miles of flat beach. Even after two years living on this island, the blue skies and turquoise water still takes our breath away. 

After Lexie got her running in, we headed across the bridge and over to Hamahiga island, an island over a second bridge from the first island. Miyagi, the second in a chain of 3, is our usual go to. We drove around a bit and found a nice beach with a lot going on. Their was a boat out with jet skiers and  water skiers. Jake had been dying to use our hammocks we bought in the states, so we found some trees right next to the beach and put them up. It was the perfect place to eat our sandwiches and hangout. It was the most beautiful day and a super relaxing time sitting in our hammocks people watching. We will definitely be going back soon, possibly to camp!

A long, jam-packed weekend

This weekend felt like it lasted forever, and I am certainly not complaining. Not only did Jake have Monday off, but he has today off as well! I wasn't around these blogging parts until this morning because we fit as much as we possibly could into those few short days. We have friends who just arrived on the island and we wanted to show them all the great things this place has to offer.

{friday}
Friday was my first day off all week and so I spent the entire day running errands, cleaning, and getting rid of the weeds taking over our yard. They were so thick and tall, I woke up extremely sore the next morning. I think that means I need to get into the gym. Friday evening I somehow convinced Jake to help me finish up our guest room. I am SO in love with it and can't wait for friends and family to come visit us. I shared a little sneak peak on instagram. I can't wait to share the before and after soon!

Prints found here

{saturday}

Saturday we hung around the house for a little bit and then did a bit of shopping, visited a cute cafe right by our house, and took Lexie to the beach.

This was the view from the cafe

Saturday evening we headed down to a friend's house for a cookout. The food was great and it was so much fun the spend some time with friends. It was such a fun evening!

Love these girls! Wish we could have gotten a picture with all the girls before they left!

{sunday}

Our friends stayed with us Saturday night because they didn't have any furniture in their place yet. Saturday morning I cooked a big breakfast and then we got ready and headed out for the day. We took them to our favorite $1 sushi-go-round and then did some thrift shopping. We also showed them a few of our favorite places to shop. We ran across some puppies for sale and I fell in love with a poodle. They don't shed and after our war on dog fur, this puppy was looking cuter and cuter! But at $1,000, Jake wouldn't let me bring him home.

We finished the afternoon with a bit of furniture shopping and then headed home for lasagna and movies.

{monday}

Jake actually had to work Monday morning but was home in time for breakfast and to spend the rest of the day off. On his day off he really wanted to go 4wheelin'. We picked up our friends and took them to get soba at our favorite marketplace. 

Soba is thicker and straighter than a ramen noodle

We then went to look for the 4wheelin' trails Jake had heard about. We ran across an interesting hand-fishing stream with lots of fish and then finally found some trails. It wasn't anything too crazy or wild, but it was fun!

These guys were brave enough to go on our 4wheelin' adventure

Once we were done, we headed to Maeda flats where it was super low tide. I was wearing my Hunter boots so I was able to walk around in the tide pools and see tons of interesting sea creatures. Have I mentioned how much I love living on this island? 1,000 times? You're right.

Never knew these boots would come in handy at the ocean!

Before we headed to a cookout to end our adventurous day, we stopped by Manzamo point. It was so pretty!

What an incredible weekend! 

First Okinawa Thanksgiving

This past week has been pretty hectic between Jake coming home, Thanksgiving, and getting Christmas presents sent off in time. Jake has been super busy with work since he got back but he did have some time over the long weekend to relax.

We spent Thanksgiving with two other couples. We all cooked some of the meal, but my friend was nice enough to host and to make the turkey. She did such a good job, especially for her first turkey. I told her I was super glad she did the turkey because I hadn't ever done one either and I didn't want to mess it up All of the food was so good and we probably had enough to feed at least 15 people. We had fun eating, playing games, and staying up really late. It was so much fun that it helped us keep our minds of off missing family during this holiday. I would say it was a successful first Thanksgiving on the island.

I didn't get any pictures of the people on Thanksgiving, but don't worry, I managed to get pictures of the food

Those are just the appetizers

Sausage balls, my favorite Thanksgiving tradition

Friday we slept, a lot. Mostly because Jake was still catching up on sleep from his trip. We also ate tons of leftovers. I did a bit of Black Friday shopping online and wasn't one bit sad I was missing it back in the states, since that is my least favorite Thanksgiving tradition. That night we went to our favorite ramen place and then to see Catching Fire. Ramen the day after Thanksgiving may be our new tradition. The movie was pretty good, but as always the book was better.

Saturday morning we watched the Cowboys game on rewind while we ate pumpkin pie. I knew Jake was sad about missing his tradition of watching the game on Thanksgiving, but he was a good sport about it. Somehow we managed not to hear the results of the game before we watched it. The rest of the day we unpacked and cleaned. The house got a bit out of control when Jake got home. If you know anyone in the military, you know how much gear that have. It looked like the Marine Corps threw up in our house. That night we had a photo shoot with a photographer on the beach for our Christmas cards. Late, I know, but not by choice. Hopefully we will be able to get them out before Valentine's Day.

After dinner at a local Japanese restaurant Saturday night, Jake got a call that he had to go into work on Sunday. Let's just say I was not a happy girl since we already had plans to get out and explore. I tried to hide my disappointment so I wouldn't make Jake feel bad since I knew he wasn't excited about going into work either. We did have some time Sunday morning to make breakfast, get some Christmas shopping done, and grocery shop, our favorite thing to do together.

While Jake was gone, I managed to get some Christmas decorating and wrapping done. I don't go all out with my decorations, but I do like some little hint of Christmas here and there. Christmas cheer always puts me in a good mood.

This DIY felt garland was easier to make than I was expecting

As soon as Jake got home from work, we went for our Sunday beach walk. I have to say, the weather here has been absolutely incredible. I won't ever complain about not getting a fall if I can have a winter like this. The mornings and evenings are cool, but the days get up to the low 70s and it is perfect. I have only been through 2 seasons here so far, but I am really thinking that winter might be my favorite.

Lexie loves laying outside all day

That's about it. Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to share. This week I am finishing up Christmas shopping so I can start preparing for Thailand. Less than 20 days, how crazy??

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you do any Black Friday Shopping?

Linking up with Logan, Sami, Kimberlee, and Carissa