Snow Festivals and New Home

This has been quite the ordeal - trying to finally update our blog. With interesting internet access at the library, and serious issues getting our internet hooked up in our home, I have finally managed to begin a blog update (against all odds!).

Having said that, our last month has been a whirlwind of unpacking combined with exploring. We managed to take in both the Hirosaki Snow Festival and the Lake Towada Snow and Light Festival. Thankfully, we went to the Hirosaki one first (it may have been a bit of a let down had we gone to Lake Towada first). The issue was that this winter has not been one of much snow (for this area), so the Hirosaki festival did not have a lot to work with. It was still very beautiful, and the castle (top picture) was gorgeous at night time.

Abi's question was, on a scale of 1-5, how did we like the festival. We agreed that it was around a 4, but the experience of the drive there (which was close to 3 hours) and learning what a snow lantern was (that they were not hanging lanterns, but rather standing lanterns with electric flashlight type things inside), was priceless.

The Lake Towada festival was the next weekend, and it is up in the mountains. So, it was a little more treachorous drive, but also gave us the greater reward of plenty of snow (read: snow stage, snow igloos, snow sculptures, etc.).

The highlights of the Lake Towada festival included a very interesting musical performance - an odd stringed instrument, as well as different drums than I have seen before, with plenty of Japanese commentary scattered between numbers.

We're still not sure if the main performance was supposed to be the lady who was talking (maybe she was a comedian??) or the musical performers. They had a fabulous musician, though, who played a type of flute, and that was my favourite part. Also, watching Sadie watch the fireworks was pretty funny (she's 11 months old), as she really wanted to see them, but they were too bright. So, she had her head tilted back and eyes squinting and blinking often. The ride to and from the festival was also an adventure, as 7 of us (6 adults and 1 baby) all went in our Mazda Proceed (which is a Japanese Mazda SUV with a third row of seats that flips up in the back).

Now, for a couple of pictures of the house, and an updated picture of my growing belly (picture taken at 27 weeks)!