Golden Week

I always felt that in the U.S. I got ripped off for not having enough national holidays...real national holidays...not like Columbus Day. We don't even get one a month there. It seems as if everyone else in the developed world gets far more days off. And it's true. In Japan, on top of getting about one national holiday a month, there are two times a year when there is basically a week's worth of holidays right in a row. One happens over the new year and one happens in the last week of April / first week of May. It's called Golden Week. This isn't to imply I don't like working. But I just like having time off more.

Our Golden Week was a bit early and a bit short, since our baby girl is hopefully due any day now. Shelley's Mom is en route and we have a backstop date to induce Shelley in case it gets to that point. So the end is near. Stay tuned, we'll post pictures and let everyone know when Ella arrives.

Anyway, we spent the time off doing things locally - zoo's and parks. In retrospect, a very animal-centric long weekend. You can see pictures by clicking here. My favorite of these pictures is of Anthon trying to feed the goat and the goat getting too hungry and nipping at Anthon's fingers. The look on Anthon's face is priceless.



In other updates...
I've uploaded a few more videos from recent outings - mostly of Anthon during cherry blossom season.