Araha beach...I think I love you.

I was talking to Josh on the phone and heard some noise from the main room. This is what I discovered. He's in denial that he's been caught.


Once he could tell I wasn't going to make him get down and put the chair back he was quite happy.

"Hey ma, these dishes are dirty. How about you wash and I dry?"



So we did just that. I love the kid. He throws a fit if I use my broom without letting him use one too.


Anyway, Josh got home earlyish from work today, around 4 o clock. So we decided to check out Araha beach. It's about 5 minutes away from our house and gets good reviews for being a family beach. It's also known as pirate ship beach because they have an entire playground in a pirate ship. I wanted to play! Josh was itching to do the zipline but the sign said children only. So sad.

This is how the Japanese dress for the beach. You see women wearing these Darth Vador looking visors, and carrying umbrellas on clear days...they really don't dig the sun here.

Here is the pirate ship playground. Thomas is still a little small for this one, but there is a toddler version too.


Hello beach. I love you. I love you for accessibility. I love you for your jellyfish double netting. I love you for your calm and gentle waves. I love you for not cutting my feet.


Right after I took this picture I heard a horrified gasp. It came from an older Japanese lady. Josh forgot the no tattoo rule. So I'm sure she thought we were gang members.


Here is a picture of Josh and Thomas, almost out to the buoys making friends. That little girl waited patiently for Thomas to not be shy around her. So cute.


This is the proof I was there too. We're coming back, with bells on, and swimsuits. Oh and sunscreen. The sun at 5pm was INTENSE.



I don't know if you could tell but I think we'll be spending a lot of time here. It's perfect for Thomas. He can walk in the water without Josh or I freaking out about waves knocking him over. It was a perfect toes in the water kind of beach. It's so calm that you can rent a little raft and just float along. That sounds pretty damn perfect to me.
What also stood out to me about this beach was how easy it would be for handicapped people to enjoy. There is a beautiful paved pathway, lined with palm trees from the parking lot to the swimming area and from there they have a wheelchair ramp down to the sand. It's probably 20 feet from the water. It made me want my grandma here. I'm sure she would have loved to wade in some clear calm East China sea waters, where the current isn't even strong enough to take her cords out to sea.
Quite possibly the perfect family beach.

The only two bummers were that the food stands smelled really really good. But it sucked. I think didn't order the right thing. Our yakitori and rice was microwaved. Blech. And the sand, which I was excited for some real sand, wasn't sand at all, but teeny tiny pieces of coral. At least it wasn't sharp.


ETA: As we were walking back to the car four teenage Japanese girls spotted Thomas and started giggling and saying kawaii, which I knew meant cute. Thomas tried to hide behind Josh but when he left him he asked to be picked up. At this point the girls were saying aww. So I told Thomas to say hi and wave...and when he did...you would have thought he was passing out kisses or something. And when we had passed them and he waved goodbye....oh lord. They sell a shirt on base for toddlers that translates to looking for a Japanese girlfriend. I think he needs that shirt. My little studmuffin.