Being that everyone at work at Nokia typically had their summer party in June, had the month of July off at some summer cottage, and had already been back at the desk for over a month running full speed, the Hoffest was a bit out of place and sync. Yet the unexpectedness of a great event — especially for the kids — made it a bit more special. Like the movie that wasn’t overhyped and turned out to be extremely enjoyable. And that it was, with fun for all.
One day. Two parks. Pure jungle exhibition.
While its a bit early to be choosing careers, Kai seems to have an affinity to the medical core. He would add to a very strong line of Wolfson doctors!
I had found Famille bakery last visit to Japan in December 2010, and now with Kai as my trusted partner, we ventured for some local exploration. The raisin bun has a secret surprise – cream cheese in the middle. Oishi! But I am hooked on the milk cream bun.
It seems once you start the baby process, there is a gravity which seems to draw all attention and activities to babies. Which in this case was a celebration of our friend Takeshi’s brand new baby boy Zen. We started at the baby cafe to be followed with some prerequisite equipment shopping.
While we decided to do a city excursion to Taipei instead of a beach trip to Okinawa, it didn’t mean there would be no coastal activities at all. After all, Kanazawa is on the West Coast of Japan. So after a 30 minute drive, we found ourselves at a quaint seaside spot with some restaurants and shops and then an overpass across the highway to the beach. Kai had the most fun of all I think, but I was a close second.
Wow. As if the first home cooked meal on the day of arrival was not enough, the family pulled out all the stops for the grand clan gathering — sashimi, sukiyaki, and shabu-shabu. It was great to see Kai playing with his cousins — an event sure to be repeated. And while it was a bit old-school, it was relaxing to sit at one end of the table with all the fathers to have drink and food and try to translate English jokes to Japanese (in general, miserable failures but fun trying anyway).
Nothing like a 7 hour time change to help your son sleep until 9am. But it was a great start to the holiday with most of us already on the new schedule. Even though the family offered to take Kai, we decided that going to the aquarium was something for the family. And a great day it was. We saw, played, ate carmel popcorn, flavored ice, crab claws and snow crab legs. Finally around 4pm Kai finally went into his nap (allowing him to stay up late for party with Chika’s family.)
