Ed's squadron had their annual spring picnic on Saturday. They held it at Okuma, a resort town on the north end of the island. It isn't far away, but you don't get anywhere fast on Okinawa. We decided to take the scenic route (instead of the expressway which cuts off about 30 minutes of driving time) and took off early Saturday morning. About 45 minutes into our drive (a little less than halfway) a horrible smell started coming from the back of the van. We stopped at a gas station and saw smoke coming from our rear right tire. Apparently the brakes that were supposedly fixed last weekend were still having problems. We decided to press on, but only got a few more kilometers down the road when we had to stop to let it cool off. Eventually we turned around, drove back to the base, all piled into Ed's car illegally, and took off again for fun at Okuma. It was a little chilly for a day at the beach, but we had good food, swam a little, rented a paddleboat, and got to know the people in Ed's squadron a little better.
Throwing rocks at Turtle Beach (a sea turtle breeding ground) while we waited for the van to cool off.
Kimberlee didn't seem to care what the temperature was, she dove right in. For a while she didn't even wear her water shoes - being in the water helped her ignore the pain of the coral.
Keira was quite content to stay on the beach and watch. She stuck a toe in the water at one point. Not like I can talk, the water was a little chilly for me too.
Krista and I hanging out on the beach.
The Japanese have a lot of respect for their ancestors. There are tombs everywhere, sometimes all by themselves, sometimes in large clusters. They do not have regular tombstones - they have little houses. This is a bad picture, but this was one of the larger "cemeteries" we drove by on the way back from Okuma. 
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Russ glanced at the pic of Ed under the car and thought something had happened. I reassured him all was good.
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