Kimberly Mitchell Photography » Okinawa's family photographer - children maternity birth & newborn portraits

We’ve been discussing Halloween costumes since August. For some reason, I think this particular holiday is a favorite… Couldn’t be the bucketfuls of candy, could it? So as we went through costume idea after idea, we just hadn’t settled on anything. At one point, Mia asked me to sew her an Ariel costume with a tail that could get wet and to make Ellerie Flounder AND also make a pool and fill it up with water and carry them around to get candy. I asked her who she thought her mother was and has she ever seen me sew such a complicated set of costumes? She replied that of course I can do it if I “think on my mind”. When something is extra hard you have to try even harder! Thanks for the vote of confidence. And by the way, I’m pleased to hear that you HAVE been listening.

Still, I must confess that I’m just not into this whole Halloween thing. Especially not the make your kids’ costumes from scratch part. So, with the promise of shopping and lunch, I got out of the sewing task and we found ladybugs that they immediately spotted and were thrilled with. I need to make a black tights run before this weekend, but here are the two little ladybugs!

If you were to ask me what I will miss most about Okinawa, it will be the girls’ school. Without a doubt, it has been the best experience I could ever imagine. I threw them both head first into an authentic Japanese school. I’m not talking about an English speaking school with some Japanese culture thrown in, but a sink-or-swim-you-better-figure-out-what-they’re-saying-and-how-it-works environment. I certainly wanted them to learn Japanese, and they have. (Well, technically, the little one is still working on it.) But I had no idea what else they I would be getting.

This weekend was Sports Day and it is a really, really, big deal here. The students have been working hard on all of their performances for months and they put on quite a show! I’m always still amazed at what these 2-5 year old children can successfully pull off. The students break into teams by class and also by age to compete in relay races, gymnastics, dances, and contests. There’s a lot of parent involvement as well as events for older siblings who have graduated, younger ones who aren’t old enough yet to go, and grandparents. Everyone packs a big bento and the entire extended family comes out and participates. The big highlight of the day is always the A-sans’ (5 year olds) Eisa dancing. It’s a huge honor to be chosen to play one of the big drums or be one of the Shishimai and those who are take their jobs very seriously.

It’s the last one we’ll be here for so I got home with an inordinate number of pictures. I thought the best thing to do is to create a slideshow. It’s just a personal project to remember the day, but it makes me so happy to watch it that I wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!