Ice Cream in American Village

It had been a long time since we took the kids out for ice cream (or anywhere, that didn't revolve around school or church "have-to's" for that matter), so we decided to take Apollo for a spin down to American Village for some Japanese 31 flavors.



Smile, kids...show everyone how much awesome family fun we have together all the time...



How you love spending time with your family more than anyone else in the world. (Isn't it funny how they all sat in age order? I guess it's just instinct after all these years.)



We decided to take a look around at some of the shops on our way back to the van...there's been lots of new construction so lots we hadn't seen yet. Coree was hoping to find a case for her new iPod (which we did...yea!)



Cute. But "ouch" at the same time.



We couldn't decide whether this sculpture reminded us of Dean from Iron Giant...



Or iCarly's older brother, Spencer. Yes, this is the deep, intellectual stuff that makes up our family conversations. Also, I just misspelled intellectual. Thank you, spell checker.



This is just one of the many "baby in car" child-safety options available on the market here. Okinawans are not big into seat-belting or car-seating their children, even though it is the law here, too. It's not uncommon to see little toddlers climbing on their parents or hanging out windows. It is the norm. Oh, but they have their "baby in car" sticker on and that should keep everyone safe! {I'm sorry, most cultural differences I can appreciate...can understand that there is no "right or wrong," just that we do things differently...and TRUST ME, we can learn a LOT from the people here...but this is one idea I can NOT get used to.} It makes me want to cover my vehicle with bumper stickers that read, "if you really loved your children you would strap them in" in Japanese. How's that for a safety sticker? End rant.



So many awesome t-shirts in this shop. I would have taken more pictures, but there was an employee watching and I always imagine them catching me and telling me to knock it off. Anyway, I would love this one in a non-yellow option. I love shisas and singing. Good combo. But not the yellow.



Speaking of yellow...Patrick found his dream car.



He's been dreaming of an Oki-truck (those teeny, two-seat, flat-bed, golf-cart sized trucks) and this is a pretty fancy one. I pointed out he wouldn't be able to double date in an Oki-truck. I think he's back to the drawing board.



It's like the exact opposite of this monster.



By the way, here's one of the weird arrangements Apollo's seats can be made into. L shaped. Not a lot of leg room for Jake, but the kids like it because it's different.



Haha...Cliff thinking, "What is she doing? Let's go, already." I'm not sure what I was doing.

Stay tuned for our next installment of family fun!