Exploring life outside base

Our first night off of base...It is really not that hard to go off base but since we don't have a car yet, we are taking the base taxi everywhere, which is sort of inconvenient and sometimes expensive.
With that said...we packed a lot in tonight! We ventured out of the main gate this evening to go to the Daiso (discount store). We call it the 100 yen ($1) store and they have EVERYTHING there. It is kind like a Target, except smaller, of course and a lot cheaper! After purchasing some trinkets there (chopsticks, house slippers, fans, etc), we headed over to the CoCo Curry House. Tim ate at CoCos all the time in Okinawa and I had a chance to enjoy there when I visited him. So we were pretty excited to go back and take the kids there to see what they thought of it. It was delicious! Rowen's kids meal had so much variety! He ordered that hamburger meal which included a hamburger patty (they call it hamburg), curry and rice, a smiley face potato, a hot dog, some corn and a jello like thing.
Arjun loved eating the curry rice too. Tim and I were pleased they enjoyed this food so we definitely can continue eating there.
After Cocos, we went across the street to the Daiei (shoppers plaza) mall down the street. We basically went in just to look around and enjoy some AC. Even though it was 7pm, it was still pretty warm and humid outside. When we were wandering around on the second floor, we came across the most amazing play structure for little kids! I wish you could have seen Rowen's face. Needless to say, Rowen and Arjun played there. It was 300Y for 20 minutes or 500Y for an unlimited time...I'm sure you know which one we chose b/c Rowen didn't leave until 8:30pm and that was b/c they were closing! (While the kids played, I browsed a nearby Hello Kitty gift shop...they had the coolest things!)
Our night was going pretty well so far. After playing, we kept walking around on the second floor and came across a crepe stand. Crepes sounded yummy so we had one that was filled with vanilla ice cream, bananas, and strawberries. On our way out of the Daiei, there was a Tullys Coffee Shop (originally from San Francisco, I think) and we got a little night cap there before walking back to base.
I'd say we had a great night out, considering we've only been in Japan for one week!