Merry Christmas from Japan!

 Japan was stunning!  Michael and I had never seen so much snow.  There was snow up to the roof tops in Niseko.  This picture of us driving there does not do it justice.  The weather helped put us in the Christmas spirit.  The food was delicious and the people so genuine and helpful.  Michael and I were in Japan in March 2012 and enjoyed our trip then too.  We wanted Caden and Beckett to learn how to ski so we decided to spend our Christmas in the mountains of Japan.

The boys attended ski school for 3 days while Michael and I skied.  It was a wonderful program with several New Zealander, Aussies and European instructors.  The kids were exhausted at the end of the day!  By the end of our trip Caden was going down the big mountain with us!  Beckett is still working on stopping but can snow plow, turn and ski down without fear.  We will hope to ski again next year so the boys can work on their ski skills.

Beckett is the middle one riding up the small hill to ski down during ski school.  Michael and I couldn't help but pop in to check out their progress each day!

Woo hoo!  Go Caden!

On our arrival on Christmas Eve there was some entertainment outside of the Vale Niseko where we stayed.  This included building a snowman:)

The boys LOVED their new Syder ski suits from Mom and Dad.

I couldn't help but bring back sea salt chocolate covered caramels from Williams Sonoma during our trip in early December.  Santa enjoyed these as he left his goodies under our origami tree in the wee hours of Christmas morning.  Thankfully he left us some too!

We took a break while walking around Tokyo in one of the parks to play a game of Ugly Doll...one of the gifts from Santa:)

Boys will be boys.

The kids actually ate a lot of sushi while we were in Japan!  We regularly eat it in Singapore now.  Some friends met us for dinner at a restaurant with Ninja entertainment in Tokyo.  The kids enjoyed 'beer for kids' which was ginger ale served in a guiness pint!  It made me remember drinking Shirley Temples after the community plays I was in as a child...good times!