Up, Up, and Away

Last week the kids' wishes were granted and they finally took a ride on the unmistakable Okinawa landmark....The Big Ferris Wheel.  Yours truly is a big fat scaredy cat has a paralyzing fear of heights, so Bill took the three older kids on the Ferris wheel while Mary and I went shopping for flip flops.  Since I did not experience the ride for myself, I've asked a guest blogger (Bill) to bring you all up to speed on this exciting event. 

One of the first things you notice when you arrive in Okinawa and are driving up and down Hwy 58 is the giant Ferris wheel somewhere between Camp Foster and Camp Lester.  With each trip we made up and down that highway, inevitably from the back seat you would hear, "Mom, Dad, when are we going to go on that big Ferris wheel?"  Usually the answer was the standard, "Well, maybe we can do it this weekend."  That would usually buy us a couple of days of peace without having to hear about this humongous death trap that from a distance never seemed to move even an inch.  The death trap piece didn't bother me so much, I'm good with that.....I've always like that kind of thing, high tree branches, great amusement park rides where you're sure you're about to fall out, climbing and jumping off high roofs, and so on.  No, my concern was mounting this thing with several of our kids and getting 1/3 of the way through the ride only to hear, "Dad, I'm scared, can we get off now?"  Of course the answer would be, NO.  But then for the next 15 minutes I'd have to deal with the frightened screams, the frantic crying, those teary eyes looking at you convinced that you were lying all those times you said you could save them from anything, or that they didn't have to worry about anything as long as Daddy was around.  I mean its easy to tell them at bed time that they don't have to worry about monsters because they're afraid of Marines, or that burglars stay away from our house because they're afraid of Marines.  But then what can you say when you're suspended 100+ feet in the air and the cries, tears, and wails are free flowing?  "Hey, don't worry kids, I've read a lot of engineering books and this giant, rusty, rickety, wheel with 56 buckets hanging from it looks as sound as a pound." The answer from Michael would go something like, "That's not true Dad.  You were an English major and you're terrible at math, and you wouldn't know an engineering book, good, bad, sound or otherwise if it slapped you in the head."  So, the best answer was usually just to avoid the behemoth.  You know, when they ask you pretend you didn't understand what they said or that you didn't hear them, "What Emma? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you with the dishwasher running." or  "What Michael? It's difficult to understand you while I'm bathing your sister. Andrew, I can't understand your words when you mumble!"

Well, after having been in Okinawa for over a month, we finally decided last weekend to wander over to American Village and visit the famous Ferris wheel.  While Laura and Mary went into the neighboring "mall", I took the 3 older kids and wandered through the building under the ride.  It wasn't too hard to understand, you follow the pictures of the wheel and the arrows pointing you up the stairs, across the carpet, and finally out the door.  On they way though you had to buy a ticket which is much like purchasing a ticket for the metro in Washington, DC.  This particular machine had pictures on it indicating which were the children's tickets and which were the adult tickets, and how much each was.  I was more apprehensive about putting the money in the machine and worrying about whether or not I had interpreted the pictures correctly (and risking losing my (or actually Laura's until 10 minutes before) 5,000 Yen). But it worked, I got the tickets and the correct amount of change, and I got to feel like a seasoned regular knowing I had conquered the machine.  So, out onto the deathtrap......I mean ride.

The first thing I noticed once we entered our "bucket" was that there were no seat belts.  But then again, the bucket was completely enclosed either with metal or plexiglass and chicken wire.  Okay, not too bad, except that being completely enclosed on a 90 degree day with 95% humidity makes it feel like you're sitting in a green house.  I won't say that the ride finally started because it actually never stops......its just spins very slowly....forever, like the world's first perpetual motion machine.   So, up up and away......but again, very slowly.  I was sure the kids would be nervous and then advance to scared, only to end on absolutely petrified as they sobbed all over my collar until we were able to dismount.  But, you can see from the picture below that they couldn't have been happier.

They were so relaxed that one (who shall remain nameless......ANDREW) even brought up the idea of spitting out of it.  (Don't worry, I stopped him.)  But we certainly got the birds eye view of Okinawa.  It was like being "in the map," being able to point out to the kids where we stayed when we first arrived, where we live now, where I work now, all several if not a dozen miles apart. 

So after about 15 minutes (yes it took that long), we finally made it back around to the bottom of the ride and were able to exit the green house after having a leisurely steam.  The kids really got a kick out of it, but I think they were just as glad to get inside the building where the immediately found an arcade complete with air hockey table.  After dropping hundreds of Yen into the games and machines, we met up with Laura and Mary and headed off to lunch at A&W (yes, they have that here too....I'll let Laura cover that pleasant experience).  All in all a fun afternoon that I was sure was going to be one of those experiences where all you keep thinking is, "I knew it, I knew it.  I knew they'd be scared, I knew they'd be miserable, and I knew they'd hate me for making them suck it up until the ride ended. "  (Well Good, they asked for it!)  Just kidding, I wouldn't think that (wink wink)).