We had an amazing weekend, full of new experiences! My favorite part was getting to witness the birth of baby Kloe. Kloe was supposed to be born via planned c-section on Monday. However, she couldn't wait! Her dad was out of town and her grandma wasn't due to arrive until that night. So another friend and I took her mom to the hospital. The doctor was able to slow down the contractions, but Kloe was insistent that she wanted to be born on Friday! Therefore, my friend Kelly (who is fluent in Japanese - very important since none of the nursing staff spoke English!) and I were there to witness Kloe's birth. It was an amazing experience, definitely the most memorable of my of my time in Japan! Both mom and baby are doing great and I feel so grateful to have had a tiny part in such a miracle!
My wonderful husband filled in for me and left work early. He picked up the kids from school plus an extra friend who came for a play date. He made dinner and watched another one of the kids' friends while his parents were at a concert at the school. He didn't even complain!
The next morning we headed to the International Food Festival at the kids' school. Both Laura and Katie were a part of the opening ceremonies. They were supposed to dress in a costume from either their own or another country. Laura chose to dress in her dress from China. Her friend went as a cowgirl from the U.S.A. and Katie wore one of her favorite dresses. It has a vaguely Mexican/Spanish look. They sang two songs to start the event and were incredibly cute!
Matt and I both volunteered at the American booth for an hour. Then we were free to eat! The food was incredible! There were booths from Korea, Thailand, India, China, the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada, Philippines, and an international booth with treats from many different countries.The food was made and served by parent volunteers. It was sooooooo good! We ate until our stomachs hurt. They also had beer/wine, strolling clowns, balloon animals, and face painting. We saw lots of people we knew, both from the school and the larger community. We all had a great time!
On Sunday we decided to head to the local zoo. I was tipped off by friends that the cherry blossoms at the zoo were gorgeous and they were right! The zoo is kind of small and the enclosures are smaller with more animals in each pen than we typically see in the States. However, we were able to get much closer to the animals too. They had some animals, especially those from Australia and China, that the kids had never seen in person before. They also had a small amusement park, which the kids loved.
All in all, it was a really fantastic weekend!
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