Nagahama Dam is the perfect place to ride bikes and run wide open. There's a track, a view, and it's pretty secluded, so no worries about cars, etc. Considering it's located about a football field from our house, we frequent this place on sunny afternoons.
Picnics at the park have become a staple in our weekend schedule. Spring has sprung and we're taking full advantage of the beautiful weather. We packed a lunch, picked up a starbucks (for me and Mom), and headed to one of our favorite spots. 
I heard from a friend about this amazing sunflower field and decided we had to check it out. Sunflowers are one of my favorites, so this was right up my alley. Mom and I packed a lunch for the boys and loaded up to find the flowers. I wasn't hard to spot the yellow field and Bennett loved running along the walk path soaking it all in. Beau, on the other hand, was more concerned with getting mud on his shoes (which is rarity for that kid), so he had Nina carry him most of the way. Anyway, I hadn't planned on taking any home....just seemed rude to the people coming after us, BUT the nice man that maintains the flowers walked by and cut us each one. We've been enjoying our sunflowers on the table all afternoon. 
Pa has a green thumb and thank goodness, because I have a red one. We found a great little nursery up the street from our house and bought some flowers to plant in our planters. Bennett and Beau were all over that. Pa planted and the boys watered. I love that Bennett immediately asked for gloves to keep from getting his hands dirty. I think I may need to lay off with making them constantly wash their hands. We even went back to the nursery the next day and Pa started me a tomato plant. My OCD is kicking in because I'm constantly checking to see if anything has changed. I can't wait to be able to pick a tomato off the vine and serve it for dinner.
Nina and Pa's first day was a pretty one, so we took advantage of the weather and headed south to the Okinawa Peace Memorial. Breathtaking views! There was a memorial service being presented by a Japanese choir which was a neat addition to the day. Also, tons and tons of kites. We concluded there must be a kite festival of some sort. This is our third time to the memorial and it never gets old. If you're not familiar with the Battle of Okinawa, it's worth googling for the details. My generation can be a little clueless as to the sacrifices of those involved in any war and the lives lost in the battle alone make me all that more grateful for the freedoms we have. You'll see Bennett and Beau were tired of walking at one point and hitched a ride on two willing "ponies" as they called them.
Today Bennett was a little more cooperative with my picture taking. So, Fletcher, here are a few of our first born. He's growing up way too fast for me. He too misses his daddy terribly, but is being a great big brother.
I am blessed with two sweet boys, but one was a little more cooperative today with the camera. I just wanted to post a few pics on our Beau-handsome for Fletcher. He sure misses his daddy!
I finally got around to getting my pictures on a CD to load, so I'm backtracking a bit. While CeCe and Pops were here, we took them up north to Nago to the Cherry Blossom Festival. Although the blossoms weren't quite ready to bloom, we did enjoy an afternoon of fun parks and beautiful views. 
I guess it's Murphy's Law that the minute guests leave the weather turns beautiful. That's definitely been the case with CeCe and Pops. The weather was chilly and drizzly almost the entire time they were here. And now we have blooming cherry blossoms and gorgeous weather. We took advantage of the sunshine and headed back up north to the aquarium. We're getting our money's worth out of our season passes. I took my camera and the boys were more than happy to pose for some pictures for Daddy. Muchas gracias to Bennett and Beau and I got a little camera happy with all the flowers. The kids love to have lunch watching the giant whale sharks and I enjoy it too. Each time we go to the aquarium, we find something new. Today it was the turtle pool. We ended the afternoon playing on the by net playground.
