We went to the Churami Aquarium on Saturday, which boasts the second largest aquarium in the world:

It was a lot of fun, but it was hot! And sort of crowded. I guess the heat can't very well be avoided here in tropical Okinawa, and supposedly at this particular location, the crowd isn't to be avoided either. Which, honestly, is okay. We had a good time despite the heat and the sardine-can effect. Amaris loved it - she always loves seeing fish. This aquarium is part of Ocean Expo Park, if I understand correctly. Which is a bunch of different things all in one spot - a couple of beaches, one of them boasting white sand (and if we'd been wearing our swim garb we'd have gone there... I'm telling you, it was hot), sea turtle exhibits, a dolphin show, manatees, tons of fish exhibits, a couple of restaurants, some concessionaires, and gardens for your viewing pleasure.

That huge aquarium pictured above had THREE giant sharks in it - don't remember the particular species, but they were massive. We admired them a while, and thanked our lucky stars that we weren't on the menu for lunch... (Interestingly enough, humans can observe these sharks while eating lunch - there is a restaurant just off to the right of this photo where they serve various sandwiches, rice and noodle dishes. The glass panels are literally floor to ceiling. We did it, and it wasn't even all that intimidating to eat in front of them.) and then we saw one of those average sized sharks swim by, you know - the ones that are probably around 6' long and are grayish in color. Mark said, "Oh, look, there's an actual shark!" I laughed my head off and said, "Good, I'm glad we got to see an "actual shark" too because those giant spotted sharks just weren't "real" enough for me."

That guy can be such a dork sometimes. I love him, what can I say.

We got annual passes to the aquarium so I'm sure we'll be heading back several times while we are here.

Today we got a big package in the mail from Target.com - the first part of our shipment from an online shopping trip. (It was 10% off rewards time!) It was fun to go through the package, and almost a little weird because there were several "baby" items in that box - a changing pad and cover, bottles, drool rags, a drying rack... all things I bought myself off of my registry (or, as I like to call it, the shopping list. Since generally baby #2's don't officially get baby showers.) Amaris had a lot of fun "helping" me to wash every bottle, and now they're all hanging out on the rack, waiting to be put away. A part of me still hasn't acknowledged this pregnancy as "real", and it's kind of exciting and weird to have baby bottles in the house again. I kind of feel like it's a reality check. The other day at the commissary, we picked up a can of formula. My ending total reflected that can in all it's craziness, but putting it up in the cabinet was sort of surreal. And then I realized if I am going to start stocking up on formula, I should probably also look into stocking up on diapers. It's a long, expensive road ahead for that first year - I remember! Even moreso here in Okinawa where we have no Sam's Club. We'll survive.

I still havent been to the 100 Yen store. Or the Japanese grocery stores. I keep hinting at Mark. He'll catch on soon.