Cookies and Crumbs: Toguchi Beach and Park

Last week we found another hidden treasure on this island - there certainly are a lot of them! It's a park about 5-10 minutes from our house called Toguchi Beach Park. The kids absolutely love it at this park - it combines sand, slides, rock climbing and the sea. Natalie even managed to find hermit crabs in the sand where she was digging. We made trips to this park two days in a row because the kids had so much fun and wanted to show daddy the park.

For those of you who don't know, roller slides are one of the funnest slides I've ever been on. They are like the tiny rollers you sometimes see at supermarkets to roll your stuff along at the check-out counter. It is best to sit on a plastic tray or piece of cardboard when going down it to avoid feeling like you are being anally raped. We opted for plastic trays that I picked up at the 100 Yen store as they are faster than cardboard, and who doesn't love speed?! You really can pick up some good speed on these things, they are like manual rollercoasters.

Not the biggest we've seen, but sometimes size isn't everything.

Concrete slides...prepare for ridiculous speed on them, and don't let your but cheeks touch the concrete. Ouch.

Little Lamby on her way to the top of the rollerslide.

I'm not sure how the tray survived this trip, but somehow it is still hanging in there.

And let's go....

My friend Desiree demonstrating the ride...

Playing around the public toilets was way more fun for Dominic...

The kids made some friends.

The poor kitten kept trying to suckle it's mothers dried up teet.


Shoo cat don't bother me, shoo cat....

We then headed to the beach area of the park. Okinawa is quite hilly, so you can normally climb up something wherever you go. This little hill overlooked the beach area where the kids played.

We live in a beautiful place

The kids are enjoying their more outdoor existence

Another photo, really??

Smell this delicious flower...

I just LOVE the roots and trees here, they look so Japanesey!

This could say "Eat Shit" but it looks so pretty written in their designer characters...

Natalie said this reminded her of Tangled! Hmm...

I think Natalie was dancing the jig.

Come on, baby!

We were told that the beach is filthy because after Obon (Japanese Day of the Dead), the locals don't swim in the Ocean as they believe evil spirits will drag them down. I know this is true of the day after Obon, but haven't heard of it being after Obon in general. Anyway the beach needed to be cleaned.