In another list of accomplishments we have all learned to downhill ski.  While we were in Seattle visiting family in December Caleb went with is siblings to Steven’s Pass.  Caleb had good teachers (his siblings)  and has natural athletic ability and was confidently skiing down new trails.   He had such a wonderful experience he was very quick to try to convince our family that WE HAVE TO TRY SKIING once we get back to Japan.

Here he is with his 2 brothers, sister!

Visiting Sapporo Snow Festival and skiing are two things that are very popular winter activities in Japan. So made plans to enjoy the winter with these activities.  We were able to snag a decent (small) apartment in Sapporo and get flights to this city in the northern island in Japan in February.  It wasn’t necessarily a budget friendly trip since we booked so late but since we are trying to embrace this time in Japan we decided to go for it.  It was a quick flight (a little over an hour)

We spent our 4 day 3 night trip enjoying ice sculptures, huge snow sculptures (some with light show projections), eating tasty ramen, and skiing.

Here are pictures from the snow festival and fun things we ate: ( hover over picture and click arrows to scroll through the pictures)

While in Sapporo we could take a quick 30 minute bus or taxi ride to a small ski resort.  We got private lessons for our family since this was the first time skiing for 3 of us.  It was nice to have an instructor help us with our learning.  The kids were quick learners and quite fearless.  I on the other hand was quite terrified, fell over A LOT and squealed “I CANNOT STOP”  on at least one instance.  But through all the falls I continued to learn and was feeling much better by the second day.  I am so glad we decided to do this together.   Stay tuned to hear about the kids ski trip with school and Caleb and my get away!

Skiing pictures: ( hover over picture and click arrows to scroll through the pictures)