Lights, Outlets, and Ice Skating

In the couple of days leading up to Christmas, Noa and I enjoyed some of the holiday festivities and activities on the island. One of those is the annual light decorations and show at the Botanical Gardens. The gardens get decorated with thousands of lights for and elaborate holiday display. The workers are dressed in some crazy costumes (including polka-dotted reindeer and colorful bumblebees - see photo below) and there's also a light show complete with fireworks. Here are some photos from the event.

We also saw some lights in Naha at the outlet mall here in Okinawa. It was oddly comforting to be in a shopping situation that reminded me of home. However, we didn't buy anything - mostly because the stores were still too high-end for our tastes. I did fall in love with a $5,000 Valentino dress and made Noa pose by it. We loved the food vans - old vans or trucks in the courtyard that sold snacks, like crepes or ice cream.



This sign cracked me up. I had to take a picture. Are they implying that dogs are not allowed to eat ice cream? Or maybe dogs without a leash running around may not have ice cream? Maybe it's saying no dogs with ice cream allowed. Sorry, Sadie - I gotta take that vanilla cone away from you if you want to come here.

After the outlets, we attempted to find the local skating rink. After a few turn-arounds we found it and Noa attempted to teach me how to skate. He did a great job teaching me until one point where we both crashed to the ground. Thankfully, I broke his fall (!). Like our white gloves? They won't let you skate without gloves here. You could also rent helmets and these metal walker chairs to push someone around on the ice. We especially enjoyed watching the little ones fall, uh, skate, I mean. Seriously though, we had a great time experiencing a traditional winter activity right before Christmas even though it was only 75 degrees outside.