First Snow of the Year

We had an interesting start to our snow season this year.  It started to snow really hard mid morning while the older kids were in school.  The school waited too long to release the kids early from school and by the time they did the traffic on the base was horrible.  As hard as I tried to get the most up to date information from the bus office about where the kids bus was and what time I could expect it to arrive at our bus stop, I found myself getting frustrated at the lack of information that was being given to me.  After an hour or so of phone tag with the bus office I learned that the bus was still on base waiting in a long line of traffic just waiting to get off of the base and they weren't sure exactly where the bus was in relation to the gate.  Mike had already left the base by the time I found this out and so I called him and he turned around to take the train back to base.   Since the traffic was as equally bad off base Mike thought it might be a good idea to stop at some of the stations along the way to the base to see if the buses were stopped in traffic on Rt. 16.  We had no idea when the buses would leave the base so it was worth a shot just in case he got to base and the buses weren't there.  After searching for the buses on Rt. 16 and stepping in a frozen puddle of water Mike decided to head back home before his toes fell off from frost bite.  After warming up he headed out once again but this time headed all the way to the base.  The buses were STILL waiting in traffic on the base.   I was so livid that the bus office hadn't contacted all the parents to let us know that they were still waiting on the bus on the base.  For over 2 hours the kids sat on that bus.  They did let them off the bus to use a local bathroom but their  feet got wet in the process and so they sat quite cold on the bus.  To make matters worse, the heat on the bus wasn't running because the bus wasn't moving and they wouldn't let them eat or drink on the bus even though it wasn't moving.  Mike walked right up to the bus and got the kids and they all walked to the train station to head home.  No one except for Mike was wearing winter shoes and by the time they all made it to our station, they were frozen, tired, and completely upset.  Peter and Emma had a hard transition getting warm again and there were lots of tears shed in the shower.  It made me so sad to hear them cry but I was super grateful that everyone was safe and together again.  It was dark by this time so there was no time to play in the snow BUT we totally took advantage of the next day of no school to play ALL DAY in the snow at our park.  It was a sweet reward for all the trauma experienced the day before.  Our second day snow wasn't the softest snow but we still managed to go sledding and build a snowman.

Skiing at Fujiten

We didn't want to leave Japan without experiencing at least some time on  the slopes.  For our first round of skiing we decided to just take the boys and leave the girls with a sitter.  We went with our good friends the Holley's. It had been almost 4 years since we had been skiing with the kids so we were a little rusty.  This was Mike's first time on downhill skis and so we knew there would be a lot of learning going on.  Luckily I was pretty confident that I could pick it back up quickly.  We started on the bunny hill with the boys.  Andrew just took off with his friends Sean and Morgan while I hung back to help Peter.  I always find it interesting how the easiest run tends to have the steepest pitch at the beginning.  Peter could not seem to stay up on his skis and I had a hard time managing to teach him how to go without falling.  After too many times of picking him back up we decided to head over to the practice hill to teach Peter how to snow plow and turn.  After 30 minutes of practice Josh came to my rescue to help out.  I went off to ski with Mike and to look for Andrew who didn't seem to have any problems keeping up with his friends Sean and Morgan.    Mike didn't really need my help as he quickly picked it up.  There weren't too many places to go at this ski resort as there were only 3 ski lifts with one of those designated for the snow park and the other one for the bunny hill.  Most everyone used the middle ski lift so that is where we all converged.  Eventually we grabbed Peter and took him on the real ski lift with us.  It's amazing how a little practice can do wonders for a kid like Peter.  I don't know what Josh told him but Peter was a master turner and snow plower by his next real run. We ended up having a great time skiing with our friends.  By the end of the day the kids were getting pretty good.  Andrew could definitely go down the mountain at speed but didn't turn quite enough.  That will be something we have to work on in the future.  Peter went down, knew how to turn, but went a little slower than Andrew.  Mike was able to keep up with me by the end of the day and I was happy that for the first time in my life I actually felt like a good skiier.  Something finally clicked with me and skiing.  It was a fantastic feeling.

New Year's Day Hike to Kamakura

For New Year's Day we decided to head out to our favorite local hiking trail.  We took the train up to Kanazawa Bunko and then a taxi to one of the entrances to the trail leading into Kamakura.  Parts of this six mile trail reminded us of hiking in Washington and maybe that is why we are drawn to hiking it so much.  There are lots of ups and downs and it is by no means an easy task with a four year old.  We made time for plenty of snack and water stops along the way to break up the distance.  There were lots of times when we could barely see Andrew, Peter, and Emma ahead of us.  They were super hikers and didn't want to be slowed down but were good about keeping within eye distance from us.

Once in Kamakura we were able to be amongst the masses of people going to the big shrine in Kamakura to pay their respects.  We did not wait in the big mass of people to get up to the shrine but rather enjoyed eating chocolate covered bananas, steam buns, candy coated grapes, yakisoba and even cotton candy from the various vendors.  There were many other interesting food items that we saw but did not eat.  I do love most Japanese food but there are just some things I am not willing to try.  The kids had fun on our adventure today but were excited to head back home while sitting down on the train and then taking a taxi from the station back to our house.  It was a great start to the New Year!