Bullfighting, Chinese Stuff and a couple cute kid pics

We got to check off another "thing to do in Okinawa" a few weeks ago. We went to an Okinawan bullfight! First you sit your kids on a real, giant bull for the traditional picture (yes, this was a tad bit scary):

Then pose with the cartoonish mascots:

After some Eisa dancing and taiko drumming that went on way too long, the fighting began. The bulls don't charge a guy in a red cape like in Spain. They have ropes tied through their noses and a trainer controls them this way. They charge and lock horns until one gets too tired and cries mercy. I thought it was very entertaining, but the kids were bored.

I bought some "stuff" lately. You can get Asian antiques at a very good price over here so I've been planning to buy stuff before we go back to the US. Rob gave me these authentic Chinese foot binding shoes for Christmas. The bucket is from around 1900 and was used to measure rice at Chinese markets. The mirror is from Vietnam from reclaimed teak wood.

My favorite happy buy was this beautiful wardrobe from 1920 China. I just love, love , love it!


And just for fun, here's a picture of some Kate cuteness. Doesn't she look so big in this picture? She's 20 months today.

And some of my eldest too...

He can really ham it up for his siblings. We gave them a camera to "entertain" themselves while we were shopping for the wardrobe. He's such a goofball.