Tomakomai Skate Festival

 Yuiko and Nigi going down the ice slide

 Ichiro, Nigi and Yuiko on the Skate Ride

 This is the 'grill' we used to cook the lamb. It was delicious!!! 

It was a great way to cook it and I kind of felt like we were tailgating!!

Chris and Nigi watching the entertainment stage.

Last weekend Chris and I went to the Tomakomai Skate Festival with Taka and The Takahashi Family. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and we love getting the opportunity to spend time with the Takahashi Family. The festival had everything from Ice Slides, Tube Sledding, Entertainment Shows and TONS of food. We had a great time and even went sledding with Yuiko, Ichiro and Nigiro.

Sapporo Snow Festival

On Monday afternoon Chris, Taka and I headed to Sapporo to attend the Sapporo Snow Festival. The Festival is one of Japan's largest celebrations and each year attracts over 2 million people from around the world. This year there were over 250 snow statues and ice sculptures scattered among three different festival sites within the city of Sapporo. We visited the Odori Park site, which is the same location the Sapporo Christmas Market was held at. 

Chris spent the day practicing his photography skills, and we sure got ALOT of great pictures from the day! (Check out our Shutterfly page, as we uploaded over 200 pictures and videos from the festival) While Chris was snapping away Taka and I decided to celebrate the Packer Super Bowl victory and sampled a wide variety of 'celebratory' beverages. My favorite of the day: Hot Cherry Beer. My least favorite of the day: the Russian Vodka that tasted way too much like hairspray. Yuck

Odori Park is composed of 12 different blocks, each of which held its own 'theme' for the Snow Festival. The Festival also had an ice skating rink as well as a Snow Boarding Hill right in the middle of the park! They held snowboarding competitions throughout the week, with many of Asia's best snowboarders in attendance. We were able to watch the boarders practice and take part in an Opening Night Exhibition.

Here are some highlights from the festival!!