bringing in the new year

We had quite a few activities planned for bringing in the new year.  The kids enjoyed their "G.I. Kid's Day" with friends. There was a rappel tower, an obstacle course, the ruck sack race (Morgan had the winning record), Humvee rides and an M16 range. To his mom's disapproval, Morgan told his dad he is ready to be a soldier. 

Later on that night we got to hang out with more friends.  We ate dinner at an unpronounceable Japanese restaurant, then played a game of Apples to Apples. Steve was the champ of the game (smarty pants).

We then headed up to the Futenma Shrine for a traditional Okinawan celebration. There were vendors lining the street with so much interesting food. Morgan played it safe and got a corn on the cob instead of the octopus stir-fry.

Brrrrrrr....  it was actually quite chill.

We purchased our fortune for the year for 100 yen (about a dollar if our economy is decent).

Then you tie it to something so it will come true. By the end of the night I'm sure these ropes were filled with fortunes. Luckily we got there early, when we left after midnight the line to get in was so long down the street, we couldn't even see the end of it.

This was taken just before midnight.  Ella was a trooper and quite good considering she has pneumonia.

Here is the bell at the Buddhist temple that is rung every 60 seconds through out the night. People lined up to take their turn to ring the bell.  I'm a little vague on what it exactly means, but we heard from one person who came with us that it's like being baptized. So maybe it's like starting off fresh again for the new year. Morgan, Mailee and I rung the bell altogether, we just thought about what we would like to happen in the new year as we took our turn. It was good to experience the traditions of the Okinawans on New Years.