Girl on a Mission: Fun & flowers

It's been a fun-filled weekend, starting with Friday night when I went out to eat with some teachers.

They were excited when I told them my plans to go to the tulip festival in Karumai, and we took a couple of photos doing "the tulip pose," haha...

Junko (who I taught with at Mugyo Jr. High before it closed) and Kenji (the super outgoing teacher I used to work with at Yamane Elementary. I really miss teaching with him.) He told the other teachers that I'm "ichiban (#1) crazy," but that's a lie. He is most definitely "ichiban crazy!"

But I admit that he does bring out the crazy in me. :)

My friend Georgia is part of a Japanese drum ("taiko") group, which performed at the tulip festival today.

Here's a video I took of the performance:

Other groups played after Georgia's group, but I was a bit distracted by the adorable kid sitting in front of me, who kept trying to hide from my camera. It became a game...

What a cutiepie! (Notice the interesting flannel shirt with skulls on it. The front of it said "A Man of Great Vitality.")

The boys would get really excited when the drumming intensified and start drumming their laps. :)

After the concert, Liz, Derek, Janine and I walked (and sat) amongst the tulips...

I couldn't help but take tons of pictures; there were so many photo-ops! There's a "Tulip Festival Album" on the right side under "My Photo Albums" to check out all the photos. But here are a few of my favorites...

"One of these things is not like the other..."

According to Janine--who lives in Karumai--the windmill and tulips were a gift to Karumai from the Netherlands. I felt like I was in the Netherlands!

The cherry blossom trees were late blooming this year, so it's unusual/special to have both cherry blossoms & tulips for the tulip festival. (And I saw a few daffodils, too. Bonus!)