Shuri Castle, and some pret-ty fun parks

A little while ago we went to Shuri Castle, the royal palace and administrative center of the Ryukyu Kingdom.  Okinawa is part of the island system known as the Ryukyus, which are basically just all the little islands trailing off the end of Japan, down to Taiwan.  Fun name, huh? RYUKYU. 

A big bell.

And a sundial.  For some reason I just really like sundials.

Maeve with one of the big shi-sa.  Shi-sa are a traditional Okinawan thing... a cross between a lion and a dog, they're placed in pairs on either side of an entranceway, and they protect against evil spirits. The shi-sa on the left usually has her mouth closed, to keep good spirits in, and the one on the right has his open, to ward off the bad spirits.  They're really cool!

Nuala and Bran especially loved those maps they're holding.  There were little stations set up all along throughout the castle grounds where you stamped those maps, and when you were leaving you turned them in and got a prize.  Brilliant plan. Totally kept them occupied and un-whiny.

A throne room.  We had to take off our shoes, obviously.

Annnd, some other out-and-about stuff... Nuala and Maeve looking at all the "ice cream cones." Hehehee...  Yeah, they are most definitely NOT ice cream cones.

Taiko drummers!

Hula dancers...

 Maeve!

Here we have one long rolling slide.  Those two little blond noggins are Bran and Nuala, there in the middle of the slide. These suckers aren't the most comfortable on a cardboard-less bum.  Or I'm just getting old. And Zachariah! He is, too!  But, overall, they're pretty darn cool.  The kids love 'em, that's for sure!

 A close up of the rollers...

 The mini slide.  Look at Maeve, makin' a lil' buddy!  She liked the little slide, but only as a "I might as well go on this once or twice... just for kicks..."  She's totally into the big stuff.

 A cool rhino head.

  This was a pretty fun looking climbing tube thing.  Bran and Nuala loved it, and had no problems, and then MAEVE... oh, Maeve. Of course she has to do it, too.  The loopty-loop at the top, though, was a tad tricky for her.  She couldn't quite figure out how to navigate it, for some reason.  She just wanted to keep climbing upside down, and that wasn't working well. It was actually pretty funny, until we realized that most likely one of us was going to have to squeeze in the tube after her. Yay. Luckily N&B resurfaced from wherever they'd been, and Nuala was quickly dispatched to her aid.

 THESE slides are super fast! It's like they've been greased or something! But... they haven't!  This is the little park just up the beach from where baptisms for the church are held, so we've been a couple of times.  That's a normal roller slide in the background, but these two slides are the main attraction.  You climb up those rocks like a little mountain goat, and zoom down.

Here Nuala had been totally shot out of the slide.  Woohoo, show those panties!! The little darker-haired boy is Kaden, her best buddy.  They're in the same kindergarten class and really are inseparable. In fact, they plan to be married when they're older.  Good thing we really like him and his family!! I HOPE it works out! ;)

Maeve, about to be rocketed off the slide.  Woohoooo!