Travelog for: BertieTheDuck

Today we went to school again After we visited shopping centre and also library.Then we went to the park,we sat in the bench and later looked church.I saw real ducks.They swam on the pond and there on pond were fountains.Then I went to artschool.Mari goes to artschool every Thursday and I looked how girls painted there When artschool finished then we went to centre city and made some pics and next we started walking home

At weekend we visited traditional Run competion.It's every autumn in Rakvere and Mari ran there..and she was 35 who finished. 
2,6 km is quite long 
And also in Rakvere in middle-age castle was "mihklipäeva" fair.
There you can buy handycraft,pets,and other kind of fair stuff.
Later we watched  the most famous  sightseeing in Rakvere.It is sculpture"Tarvas".This was really big black aurochs.

Sorry that I haven't write anything a quite long time.The BertieDuck sat at home almost,because I had so busy days
But I came idea to do party after Pooh arriving.It was candy party for Pooh,who is other toyvoyager and for me and Mari was also there.
It was some kind of candy party.Before we bought lots of candies and a packet of biscuits and juice tooAnd I liked it

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long mommy! I arrived in Okinawa a few days ago, but Jayme's been very busy. Today we decided we needed to write you and let you know I was here safe and sound! And looking forward to lots of adventures!

First we had to stop for some lunch


Then we went to play at the beach a bit. There were lots of bits of seashells and coral in the sand.


There were a few really big rocks, Jayme says there's rocks like this all over Okinawa and some of them are huge!


The water was very pretty today, I wish I could go for a swim

It was also very clear!


There was a big navy ship parked behind us


Write more soon,
Bertie

I know our trip to the beach didn't make it seem very October like, but it IS almost Halloween! So today we celebrated. First... we decided to carve a pumpkin. Its rather large.


Jayme cut and opened the top for us (she didn't want us ot hurt ourselves) and we got the job of digging out all the goo inside. She said some people make pumpkin pie with it, but she's not Marth Stewart enough.


Eventually we got them all cleaned out and here we are after the carving is all done!


We put a candle in them and turned out the lights and...


After we were done with pumpkins we went to go 'trunk-or-treating'. Its a festival that's only done on the base Jayme lives on and people decorate their trunks and you trick-or-treat there. It was lots of fun, but we had to help keep the kids contained so we couldn't pose for pictures








Tomorrow Jayme said we're going trick-or-treating and hopefully we can get some better pictures then!

Write more soon!
Bertie

Mommy I'm sorry I didn't get to write about it earlier, Jayme's been very busy. We've been helping her do tests and papers! But we DID get to go trick-or-treating!

First we had to get our pumpkins ready...


Then we went to visit all the houses and say trick-or-treat! This one looked a little confused... is it Halloween or Christmas?


Some people had really cool pumpkins like this Yoda pumpkin


Some of the houses were a little scary.


We were all so tired we fell asleep on the way home.


But look at all this loot!


Write more soon,
Bertie

We went to the botanical gardens today! At the entrance they had lots of neat painted cows that the local school children painted. I had a hard time balancing on the cow's head..

There was a pretty pond area and this nice bridge we could walk over. There are lots of palm trees here on Okinawa, these are kind of small


See the boat behind me? This area is to examine the water lillies


We walked up a tall hill so we could see the whole park


On the way out we stopped by a small butterfly area, aren't they pretty?




Write more soon,
Bertie

Today we got to go see more butterflies! At the entrance was this neat little boat we played on for a bit.


Then we had to walk outside, but it was raining pretty badly so we had to use umbrellas. You can't see me, but I"m hiding with Jacob under his umbrella.


Then we got to the butterfly house!





They even had examples of every stage of life, do you see the butterflies growing in the cocoons?


And they had a hat you could wear to attract the butterflies, it was too big for Jacob let alone me!



Write more soon,
Bertie

Today we went to Churaumi Aquarium. Its got the second largest aquarium in the world! Here I am at the entrance


We got to check out lots of reef fish




Then we got to the BIG aquarium. It houses 3 whale sharks. This is the biggest viewing window in the world! They even have auditorium seating so you can just sit and watch them. They're so pretty.


Once we finished we went outside. Unfortunately we couldn't see the dolphin show, but we got to see the sea turtles!


Write more soon,
Bertie

The rain finally cleared up for a little break at least, so we went on a trip to the ferris wheel today! Wow it looks tall..


Up up up we go...


But its a beautiful view.


And when we were done, we got to go down and drive around for some fun! Jayme's kids really liked it, and I liked driving too.


Write more soon,
Bertie

Today we went to the Okinawa Zoo! When we first arrived they were doing an elephant show.








Then we went onto the snake house



We got to see the giraffes


Don't worry I didn't get too close to the ostrich!


Hmm... apparently you shouldn't get too close to the lion either. This sign was posted on its cage


I wonder how a tree gets drunk?


What a funny looking bird!


On the way out we stopped by the petting zoo. I didn't want to get too close to most of the animals since I didn't want them mistaking me for a snack, but the iguana was pretty cool


Write more soon,
Bertie

Wow mommy sorry it took so long to update about the ball! We all got kind of sick afterwards, but everyone's better now.

First we had to help Jayme get ready for the ball so we did her nails


And make up


I got stuck in her scarf


And then had to find my ticket...


Once all the prep was done we climbed into Jayme's purse. It was kind of crowded!


Here's Jayme when we were all done decorating her, along with her husband. Behind them is the birthday cake! (We're hiding in the purse!)


First the band played the national anthem and Marine Corps Hymn


Then there were two speeches and then the ceremony! During the ceremony they cut the cake. The first piece is given to the guest of honor (who gave the speech). The second piece is given to the oldest Marine present. He then passes it on to the youngest Marine present to symbolize the passing of traditions.


They played the national anthem and Marine Corps Hymn again and the flags left and it was all done!


Unfortunately during the ceremony two Marines passed out. Yikes! One of the men Jayme's husband works with had to go to the hospital because he was holding a sword and hit his head on the way down! But he's all better (and back to work!) now, so it wasn't too serious. After the ceremony we got to have dinner and cake and then we went home! We have to get to packing for the trip to Tokyo... and Thanksgiving is coming!

Write more soon,
Bertie

Today is Thanksgiving! Even though Jayme lives in Japan, she and all the people her husband works with are American and so they celebrate Thanksgiving. We had to cook for over 50 people! There were 4 people cooking, so we only had to make one turkey at least... we started very early making cookies.

First the peanut butter cookies.


Then the chocolate chip ones.



Then we got the turkey going... its one big turkey!


We got it out and patted it dry then rubbed it with salt and stuffed with veggies to season.

Mmm. Doesn't it look yummy after cooking for a few hours?


While the turkey was cooking we made mashed potatoes.


Once all the food was done we took it down to cook. Look at all that food!


During the party we also got to watch lots of people play video games. There were 4 tvs with video games! Plus lots of board games and cards.


Jayme said it wasn't Thanksgiving without football, so we sat to watch one of the football video games since the games hadn't started in the states yet.


What a fun Thanksgiving!

More updates soon,
Bertie

Since we have to get packing to go to Tokyo, Jayme decided we could do the decorating today to come home to the apartment being decorated for Christmas. Fun! Jayme put up the tree and put the lights on, then we got to put on the ornaments! Everyone in Jayme's family gets one ornament a year, they usually have something to do with that year.

The first ornament we found was a double... it was two identical Shrek ornaments. Jayme said that's because she and Manuel got each other the same ornament last year! I guess there are problems to this ornament buying thing.


There was a pretty panda ornament. Apparently Jayme's son had a panda stuffy he wouldn't let go of for almost a year. Maybe I can meet him later...


Since Jayme's husband is in the US military there's lots of military ornaments (and you can see the Shrek ones in the background).


There was also a small nativity ornament


At the bottom of the tree we put the non-breakable Sesame Street ornaments so if the boys got ahold of them, they wouldn't get hurt.


And finally we put the star at the top of the tree.


Can you find five toyvoyagers hiding in the Christmas Tree?


After that we put up the two Nativity sets. This one went up high where little hands couldn't reach it.



Then we put up the child nativity set that the kids can play with.


Jayme doesn't have a fireplace, so we put the stockings on the wall.


We also put some lights over the tv where the NFL jersey's are for the NFL season. Jayme said they could use some decorating. #21 is Manuel's favorite team, the San Diego Chargers, but they lost today


Wow. We got worn out decorating... it may be awhile til the next update since we're headed to Tokyo soon and we don't know if we can update there!

Love,
Bertie

Dear Mommy,
Jayme says it’s time to go! All the bags are packed. We’re ready. We had to get to the airport very early because we’re flying Space-Available so we have to sign up. There was more than enough room for all of us going to Tokyo though! Here’s all of us toyvoyagers waiting for our flight.


It seemed like we waited and waited, but we finally made it onto the plane. And guess what! The plane even had these little televisions for us to watch.


Mmmm. Airline food isn’t that bad. The sandwich was pretty good, and you can’t really mess up water.

When we got off the plane we had to take a two hour (!!) bus/subway/train ride with ALL of those bags! Everyone was worn out by the time we got to the hotel so Jayme tucked us all in for some sleep.


When we got up in the morning we went down to get some coffee. It’s a pretty neat little coffee machine.


Then we drank our coffee while reading more about Tokyo.

Pretty soon it was light out, and we were able to get out first day-time view of Tokyo!


Wow! It looks so pretty… but oh no! Jayme said we’re not staying here; it was just for last night! We’re headed a couple hours out to a place called Hakone… well here we go…

More soon,
Bertie