Skiing in Japan

My idea of a perfect weekend or vacation is soaking up the warm sun rays, in minimal clothing, while engrossing myself in a good book. My husband's idea of the perfect trip is flying down a cold, snowy mountain with your feet attached to two skinny pieces of plastic. You can probably guess who wins from pictures of all our past vacations.

Matt has really been hoping that at the ripe age of 35 I would suddenly develop a love for skiing. I have to admit, the slopes here are beautiful, but as Diana Ross loved to sing there "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" to make me want to play in the cold, wet, snow all day long.

Skiing is a popular activity in Japan. And unlike almost everything else, it is actually decently priced. It doesn't actually snow where we live, so you have to drive at least 3 hours to find decent skiing.  Matt loves when the weather turns colder and he can head North and hit the slopes. Last year we took a family trip to Gifu, where Sami learned to ski. This year, thanks to my knee injury, there will be no skiing in my near future. (Can you sense my disappointment?) So this month I stayed home with Sami since she isn't ready to brave the slopes alone quite yet, and Matt and the other two kids took a few day ski trips to Hachi Kita.

This year, Chris and Matt traded their skis in for a snowboard, and surprisingly they did very well. In fact, Chris is way better at snowboarding than skiing. We have a store nearby that sells lots of used ski and snowboard equipment so both were able to find themselves some good, cheap gear. Emily wasn't quite ready to trade her skis in, but she is planning to next weekend when she goes to Fuki Ski Jam with her two friends.

Matt, Chris, Emily and our neighbor Maggie getting ready to brave the slopes

 Beautiful mountains

 Emily and Chris on the slopes

 Chris and his gear

 Chris trying to be cool

Emily & Maggie

 Matt & Chris on the chairlift. As you can see it is really snowing.

I think Sami was feeling a bit left out of all the fun, so Matt helped her practice the proper ski look at home. 

Splashin' Around Rokko Island

One of the fun things on Rokko Island during the warm months is splashing around the Rivermall. There is a long stretch on the island that is full of fountains and waterways. When the weather gets warm, this area is filled with chlorinated water and the kids have fun swimming (well as much swimming you can do in 2 feet water), getting into water fights and just cooling off.

This past weekend we took Chris & Sami, along with a few of their friends, to the island to meet up with some other kids and play in the water.

Hopefully the rain will stop and we can go back this weekend.

Pottery Making in Kyoto

Japan is very famous for its pottery. So I was more than excited when I heard that CHIC would be offering a day trip to Kyoto to make your own pottery.

I didn't quite know what to expect, as things never wind up being what you expected them to be here. There was nine of us in our group. We took a train, then a bus, then walked to the studio. Outside there was a sample of sizes and colors that we could choose from. You could make any shape really, the cost more depended on the final size of the piece.

Once inside there were seven potter's wheels and finished and unfinished (ready to be fired) pottery everywhere.

 

There were three potters there, two of which spoke very good English. They first explained to us how to work the wheel and clay and then they let us have a turn at making our own piece.

 

 

First the clay is shaped into a small ball with an indent on the top.

 

Next you wet your hands and start shaping the clay. There are different techniques you use to make the shape and form of your piece.
 

 

Now I was very nervous about doing this. I do not have an artistic bone in my body. However I am very proud to say that not only did my piece turn out darn good, but the guy praised me several times and said he was surprised this was my first time making anything on a potters wheel. Yes, I am being a bit self-righteous and braggy here, but considering my past history of trying anything artistic I think I have a right to be. Just ask those who have attended tea box classes with me or my good friend Keri. Matt, however, was not as thrilled about my bowl as I was. I think he is afraid this may become an expensive liking.

 

  

I choose a dark brown with a speckled color on the top for the glazing. I cannot wait to see what it looks like finished.  I should get it in about two weeks.

Next we went to lunch at a cute little tempura and noodle shop. Very yummy.

After lunch, the real adventure began. But that will be saved for my next entry. After all, I need something to make sure my readers come back.

Fire Station Field Trip

I had high hopes that one benefit of moving to Japan would be no more field trips to the fire station. However, I was wrong. So being the good mom that I am I offered to help chaperon the field trip and off we went.

There are two 1st grade classes, totally 32 kids. I am not sure if the kids were more excited about the fire station or riding the train.

The kids got partnered up with someone and they were supposed to stay together the whole field trip. Obviously Sami was very happy with who she was assigned.


The time at the fire station started with a talk from the police chief. He answered the kids questions (with the help of a translator) and told the kids all about the fire station and the people who worked there. The questions the kids asked were funny. The kids seemed very concerned about the fire station catching on fire and if they had games like an xbox 360 to play while waiting for fire calls.


Then the kids got a tour where they were able to see where the firemen sleep while on shift and their workout room.
Then came the fun! We got to go see all the fire trucks and climb on them!
Then the teachers tried to get a class picture. As you can see, that didn't work out so well.
After everyone had a turn to climb on the firetrucks, try on the clothes and see everything, we said goodbye to the firemen and took the train back to school.
More pictures from the day can be seen here.

Speed Blogging

Our summer consisted of 8 weeks covering 9 states and sleeping in 11 different beds. Needless to say no free directory assistant would have been able to find us this summer. So to share some of our summer adventures I thought I would do a bit of "speed blogging".

The kids and I flew back to the states on June 12. We spent the first week at the beach with Keri, Shannon and their kids. It was relaxing to work my jet lag off with my feet in the sand.



See more beach week #1 pictures here.

The following week Emily went to gymnastics camp, the kids and I spent visiting North Carolina friends, at the pool and attending Sami and Ryan's "wedding".




See more Hanging in NC pictures here.

Matt flew into North Carolina June 26, where we spent our annual week at the beach with college friends and their families. This year the beach crew consisted of 5 houses with 23 kids aged 13 and under.





You can see more Beach Week #2 pictures here.

On July 5 we headed to our parents house, but not before stopping in Columbus to attend a "Blackburn Hall" reunion and staying overnight with our friends Josh and Laurie.


The next 3 weeks, before Matt flew back to Japan, were full of spending time with family and friends, soccer camp, an overnight trip to Put-in-Bay, a family reunion at Lake Erie and camping with all our nieces and nephews.






Lots more pictures can be found here, here and here.

Matt flew back on July 23, while the girls and I took a road trip to Missouri and Illinois for a week. (Chris stayed back for some one-on-one time with the grandparents) It was a very nice and relaxing week.







Lots of Missouri pictures here and Illinois pictures here.

After Illinois it was back to Ohio for 9 days, before driving back to North Carolina for a day and then flying out.





It was a jam packed summer, as you can tell. But it was also a summer full of memories, laughter and even some tears.