afraid of small animals

"Here he comes!"

Look Mum and Dad, I can snowboard!  Pay no attention to Chito's comment at the beginning.  I was doing so well he thought I was Stan!

Hokkaido!

Ready to see my pictures from Hokkaido?  I was super excited to be there on the first day and get my first cone of tasty, tasty soft serve.  It was nice and cold outside so it lasted forever, too. 

Here's where we stayed, a cute pension called Grandpapa, which was full of Christmas decorations (I thought they were slow to take them down but Megan pointed out that the place is actually Christmas-themed and the decorations were out all through the year).

This was the view from our bathroom window, although we often couldn't see the mountain through the snow.

Our trip was fun!  It took hardly any time before I got back into the swing of things and no major bumps to the tailbone.  I was in good shape! 

Me with Megan and Stan.  We all stuck together for most of the trip with the exception of the one day that Megan and I took off to relax and knit/crochet.  It was fun actually being able to keep up with the crowd for once.

So cold!  There was so much snow while we were there that this is usually the kind of sight we saw off the slopes--pure white.  But it was a lot less scary when you didn't have to see the whole steep slope stretching out ahead!

Look Mum, no hands! 

On my birthday, I made the mistake of going all the way to the top of the mountain.  This is what I looked like, mad, scared and close to tears at the summit.  No peace signs up there!! At least I (we all?) can laugh about it now.

That's it!  I hardly took any photos so most of these were stolen from Stan and Chito.  I was busy relaxing and trying not to hurt myself, and I can report success on both counts.

After a few days of work this week, I am heading to Australia with Chito for his friend's wedding.  I am so excited!  It will be the total opposite from my snow trip, and I still have to dig around in the back of my closet for some summer clothes.  Hopefully I don't come back too red!

Mount Fuji from the plane on our way to Hokkaido.

Last night I dreamt that my apartment building burned down and I lost everything I owned.  It was actually kind of a relief.  I want to focus on getting ready to go to Australia next week (yay!) but a lot of details have started to emerge about my impending move.  My apartment building is being knocked down at the end of March so my school is scrambling to find a new place.  It's starting to look like I might have to settle for a one-room apartment, which anyone who has been to my place knows will be very hard with everything I have accumulated in the past few years.  I have been a little stressed about fitting my belongings into one room, and not having any idea when I have to move (could be the weekend when I get back from Australia) doesn't help either.  But don't get me wrong, I don't want the place to burn down or anything... 

Family pictures from New Year's

With the adorable Koutarou, who is still small enough to fit into the sweater I made for him!

The older kids, who played games with Chito nonstop the whole time they were there.

Ringing the bell just after midnight. 

And the new baby Cocoa.  Kae's observation:  "Wow Molly, you really don't have a lot of hair."    

25!

Well, I survived my 25th birthday (barely) and I'm happy to report I'll be heading home tomorrow without any major snowboarding injuries!

I had a great birthday thanks to the all the kindness of my friends and family. I am especially lucky to have a boyfriend who didn't leave me on the mountaintop when I was crying like a baby and flailing about trying to get out of waist-deep snow. I thought Fuji was the last time I'd be at a mountain peak in this lifetime but turns out I was wrong. It was a memorable birthday, but I might be feeling it for a while.
Even a late-night mochaccino isn't enough to keep my eyes open tonight.

Postcard from my winter holiday

Hi from Niseko! I survived my first two days on the slopes and really surprised myself (and Chito) with how fast I picked it up again. We're having lots of fun and I am not too sore to walk so things couldn't be better!

Today is my day off to recoup and rest up for two more days of nonstop boarding. It's pretty warm today so hopefully we get another blizzard for some nice powdery slopes again before we leave!

Happy New Year!

I sure do love Japanese sweets so the extensive holiday displays are always pretty tempting for me. But this year I just settled for a picture and a lot of funny looks from all the other shoppers in a rush to get home to their families.

Chito and I are spending the New Year in Nagoya with "the fam" and we are off to Hokkaido for a week of boarding tomorrow. I hope you enjoy your holiday whereever you may be!