Skiing and Sculptures

Last week our family took our first international family vacation up to the north island of Hokkaido for some skiing and to enjoy ice and snow festivals.

First we spent three days at a ski-in/ski-out resort in Niseko, Japan. Niseko's powder is supposed to rival the best in the world and our experience affirms that claim. During the 3 days we were there, it snowed 10-20 cm a day. And the best part is that Niseko is a little know secret that even most Japanese don't know about, such that we pretty much had the mountain to ourselves and found pockets of fresh powder until late in the day. Charlie and I took turns watching Nathan while the other one skied. Fortunately for me, Charlie ended up meeting a couple of awesome Aussie telemarkers who let me tag along with them since I was unfamiliar with the terrain. They were also good for a night of drunken revelry for Charlie. To top everything off, there were an on-site natural hot springs or onesen that was awesome for soaking and soothing sore muscles at the end of the day.

After the wonderful skiing, we traveled back to Saporo for their famous snow and ice festivals. Hopefully Charlie will post some of his photos of this soon. There was one festival of snow sculptures of cartoon characters and huge murals and then a completely separate festival of smaller scale ice sculptures. Unfortunately we couldn't stay outside too long for either one because I was so worried about Nathan getting too cold despite his cozy snow suits!

On the right is Ross, an Australian now living and teaching lessons and organizing international skiing trips from his home base in Crested Butte, Colorado.

Hokkaid

Happy boy with cold cheeks!

Nathan's happy with a dusting of snow! Unfortunately we were so worried about him getting cold that we completely forgot to let him sit in the snow and see what his reaction might be to touching it :(

Nathan sitting at the coffee table in the lobby of our hotel in Niseko, killing time waiting for our bus.

Nathan and Hillary

Tina and Will

Nathan and his girlfriend

Haven't had much opportunity to venture off base recently as I worked a crazy schedule over week leading up to and including Xmas since other folks were on leave. But Nathan enjoyed opening tons of presents from very generous family members (he enjoyed the wrapping paper most of all). He got a boucy chair, tons of clothes and lots of toys that make various noises. Charlie and Nathan spent Xmas Eve at the Hiles' house in Ikego, braving the Japanese roads off base for the first time and getting lost in the process. Xmas dinner was spent at our friends' the Arroyo's house. New Year's Eve we got a nice visit from an old college friend Will Taylor who's been living in Japan for the last 6 years. We brought him on base for a tour of the shipyards, but the highlight for him was going to the center of base for American pizza, cereal, beer and Taco Bell! New Year's Eve evening we had a wonderful time playing lively games of Apples to Apples and Balderdash with friends The Frenches and The Arroyos. New Year's Day and the 2nd we spent watching the Sun Bowl and the Rose Bowl. Our teams lost both games, but it was still fun. The evening of New Year's Day was a major milestone for Nathan - his first meal of (semi)solid, or at least non-breast milk, food. We tried out some oatmeal, which he loved, but, of course, made a HUGE mess

After Nathan's first real meal

Not sure how he got oatmeal above his eyebrow . . .