Another fun weekend!

Close your eyes. Take in a deep breath and imagine the smell of perfectly rich chocolate. Suddenly before you is an array of chocolate truffles topped with flakes of gold or dainty flowers. Perfectly hand shaped candy and indulgent chocolate cake surround you on each side. Now you place a piece of that fine chocolate in your mouth and as it melts you taste hints of raspberry, which is good news because you could not read what was going to be inside the truffle! Let me tell you, I have found a piece of heaven on earth here on Okinawa. Fashion Candy's is the only chocolate factory on the island and I wanted to dance after I indulged in the best chocolate I have ever placed in my mouth! This was a perfect way to begin our weekend. This Saturday entailed a trip to Naha. Naha is the city in the most southern part of the island. It reminds me of New York. Lots of shopping, lots of traffic, lots of concrete, lots of people walking around. Did I mention lots of traffic? I'll be glad to go home so I don't have to hear Greg complain about traffic anymore! I realize how good life is in St. Marys more than ever now because in St. Marys Greg doesn't complain about anything. We had lunch in a tree house. It is a very cool restaurant that sits in the tip top of a tree. The view was overlooking the port. We sat outside and enjoyed the view while Brady climbed around everywhere. While Japan is very family oriented, most of the high chairs we have encountered do not have straps to restrain a very active toddler! That means it takes some serious entertaining or sitting as far away from everyone else as possible. Then it was on to Shuri Castle. This is the only castle on the island that has been restored. It was interesting to take a walk back in time. We came back to the room for a nap and then went to dinner at a local tex-mex place. Every Sunday morning we have had brunch at the officer's club. We now look forward to every weekend, just because we know we are going to eat really well! This weekend we shared brunch with several other NCIS families. It has been nice to socialize with the other families. Sunday night we did a little shopping at a local department store and then had dinner at a Thai place. A musician had set up outside of the restaurant and Brady had a blast! He was dancing and clapping enjoying himself and we had fun just watching him. Brady is getting bigger every day it seems. He repeats many of the words we say and will point to the number 2 and say "tu!". The problem is that he will also point to other numbers and say "tu!". He will answer questions we ask him with "no" or "yah" but even though he talks all the time we don't understand what he is saying. He will even come get in your face, tilt his head like a confused puppy and talk looking you straight in the eye probably wondering why we have these big goofy grins on our faces. Monica is having an all day surgery for her back on Wed. Please keep her in your prayers and pray that the 2 doctors will know exactly what to do to make her feel better. Also, please pray for my father-in-law Bill that he will continue to have strength to take care of all the responsibilities he has. I am blessed with a wonderful extended family!