4th of July, semi-Okinawan style

Ed had the entire long 4th of July weekend off, so it was time to add another "must see" to our list of "been there, done that"s. On the southern tip of the island is a place called Peace Prayer Park, or Peace Memorial Park. This Memorial commemorates all who lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa: Japanese, Okinawan, as well as the Americans and British. I love the inscription explaining it's purpose: "We, the people of Okinawa, in marking the 50th anniversary since the end of the Pacific War announce the construction of 'The Cornerstone of Peace'. We feel the strong need to console the precious souls of all who were lost in the war and to pass the lessons learned from the tragic war on to future generations. Furthermore, we hope that 'The Cornerstone of Peace' will help spread the peaceful spirit of Okinawa and will contribute to everlasting world peace." --June 1995, Okinawa Prefectural Government

We were there with a few other Americans, but most of the other visitors were Okinawans. We saw the tiny amount of American names, and the hundreds of thousands of Japanese names. We read a little about the battle itself, enjoyed the beautiful views from the various monuments, and avoided the graphic pictures in the museum until we can go without our sweet, innocent little girls. The Okinawans smiled at us and made happy comments about our kids. I truly love their "peaceful spirit."

Finishing off the day with some Blue Seal Ube ice cream (remember the purple sweet potatoes from last year - that's what it's made from). Mmmmm, Blue Seal is the best.

Happy 4th of July! Ed spent the morning diving (a truly American past time, right?), then cooked up his fabulous shish kabobs for us. It's our little Independence Day tradition, and one of the things I love about this holiday.

You might want to blow this picture up, but it still won't do it justice. This was Ed's barbequeing buddy. The web took up most of our back patio (which makes sense since the bush he's on takes up, well, most of our patio), and that is Ed's finger being used for some perspective. I'm thinking it's a banana spider. He's gone now, though I won't go into the gruesome details of how Ed disposed of him...let's just say it involved several matches.

We read the Declaration of Independence and contemplated "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

And finally, we played at AmericaFest! The base put on a festival for the 4th, complete with booths, static displays (lots of jets, helicopters, etc.), kid games, bands, and fireworks. It was extremely hot (you can almost see the sweat dripping off the girls' faces), but so fun to still experience a typical American Independence Day celebration, even in another country.

Inside Daddy's plane. The KC-135 was set up with displays as if it was doing a MedEvac mission. There were dummies to represent medical patients. The girls are obviously standing next to a NICU patient. When Ed is on "alert" this is the mission he is on alert for - someone who needs to be transported to another medical facility for care (usually back to the states).

Ed and the girls working the Tanker Association Baskin Robbins ice cream booth. Well, Ed worked the booth...the girls mostly ate the ice cream and kept trying to steal the money.

Rockin' out to Eve 6. You know, "wanna put my tender heart in a blender, watch it spin round to a beautiful oblivion, Rendezvous..."

Happy 4th everyone!! We're proud to be Americans, awed by our Founding Fathers and their vision for the country, and grateful for the opportunity to live in a different part of the world so we can appreciate the U.S.A. even more!