Golden Week Vacation

Everyone in Japan looks forward to Golden Week.  It always falls on the first week of May, and is connected with several Japanese national holidays (to find a list of the specific holidays, click here), so many people get the whole week off.  The English school at church and ECC (where I'm currently working) both take Golden Week vacation, so Haidee and I enjoyed a week of free time!  It's like a late Spring Break for us.

The first part of the week we took life at a leisurely pace:  we slept in, skyped with family, tried new restaurants, when shopping for some home improvement projects, and watched some movies.  It was SO nice!  We finished the week by traveling to Tokyo for a friend's wedding, and participating in another Kids Camp.  I'm not a man of many words, so I'll let the pictures tell the story:

We've been trying to optimize our kitchen space for a long time, so I was pretty excited about these 'home improvements'.  Notice the complete lack of counter space in our kitchen. . .

Home improvements part 2:  more shelves in the kitchen and pantry/clothing room.

The Hobbit just came out on DVD in Japan!  So we watched it a second time.

And a random picture of some chocolate, which we ate in plenty this week.

Movie number 2:  Tangled (actually titled "Rapunzel" in the Japanese version)

Bowling at Round One with Pamela and Joel.

Here's a picture of Pamela's bowling ball!  (Actually, Pamela also bowled, with Nathan in tow.  It was pretty impressive.)

Don't ask.  It's Japan.

Our friends Natsuko and Jaguup came over for dinner.  It was our first time to meet their new baby girl, Riina.

Haidee with baby Riina.

Haidee, Cindy, and I visited a friend in Yokohama, the port town just south of Tokyo.

Haidee in front of the bay.

Haidee and I found a fun amusement park, so we rode the Ferris Wheel.

Our friend, Efrain, and his wife, Seiko.  It was a beautiful wedding!

Kids Camp in Inawashiro.  The kids were a lot of fun!

One final movie, a classic!

Now it's back to our regular schedules.  The next vacation to look forward to is summer break in August!