What a weekend?!?!

This past weekend was probably the best one we've had in Japan so far!!! Kenny & I took our 1st trip while living in Japan, and we went snow skiing. We drove the 3 1/2 to 4 hours to the Nagano prefecture. It was absolutely gorgeous there!!!!!!! Once we saw it we knew exactly why they hosted the 1998 winter Olympics there, amazing! We got to see the ski jumps that were used in the Olympics. I never realized how steep those things are; I'm thinking the ski jumpers are nuts! We stayed in Hakuba at a little hotel called Monkey Rider, more of a hostel than a hotel, but it was a great little place. There was a pub down the street called the Cherry Pub that was super relaxing & had great food. Most of the people in the area spoke English. It was nice to actually understand what was going on around us. =)

1998 Nagano Olympic Games Ski Jumps

Our Motel - Monkey Rider

On Saturday we took to the slopes. It was then that I realized it had been about 9 years since the last time I snow skied....not as easy as I had remember. Give me a water ski & I'm good to go, snow skis are a different ball game! But we still had a blast! This Arkansas girl had never seen that much snow in my life! The weather was perfect in Hakuba. There was at least 3 -4 feet of snow everywhere, it was great. After skiing on Saturday, we met up with some of our Yokota friends who were up there too for a relaxing dinner.

Kenny & I after a long day of skiing

We opted not to ski on Sunday since we had both survived Saturday in relatively good condition. (My 1st time to ski in 9 years & Kenny's 1st time to ski since his back surgery). We drove back to Yokota & enjoyed a lazy day. The guys were all off work on Monday for President's day, so several of us loaded up to go sledding on Mount Fuji. Unfortunately it rained on us most of the time that we were there, but we still had fun.

Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture - Japan

Overall we had a great weekend getting out & exploring this beautiful country that we live in now. While we miss home, we are enjoying the opportunity to see parts of the world we otherwise wouldn't have seen. That's not to say that I am not super excited to be heading to Arkansas for a visit in 2 weeks!!!!! =)