Crash landing

Above is another penquin and below is Jonathan at the top of the hill.  On our last ride up the 4 man chair before coming down Andy was thinking to take the big jump, but we all decided NO on the last run it is best to take it easy or it might be the Last RUn.  Anyway coming down, Andy led, Jon followed and Jack and I skied behind watching the guys go over the small jumps.  Almost at the bottom, we watched Andy go over the last two little jumps and then head down the hill, Jonathan went over those two and then headed off to the right right to the big jump!  Jack and I watched him go up, sail out and then we didn't see the landing as the jump was too high for our vision.  Andy below saw him land on his shoulder.  We all skied over to him and he lay in the snow in shock.  He was dissoriented for awhile but nothing was broken.  In the lodge the ski patrol checked his shoulder mussles and thought he was lucky as it seemed his shoulder was close to being dislocated.  It has been over 4 days since the flight without a parachute, and he is still sore, but seems better every day now.

Omachi Hot Spring

Jon, Jack, and Andy waiting for 5:30 when we could start skiing.  We could ski for  1,000 yen from 5:30 to 9:00, but we were too cold with too many miles to drive home to stay that long.
Jon here is walking toward us.  Notice the guy in the brown one-piece snowboard suit in the background.  I just can't get over how those guys can do anything when they have legs the length of penquins because of their low slung suits.
The day skiers were stopped from skiing at 4:30 and then for one hour the hill was repacked for the nighters.  The whole hill was not open just the nice long lower run.
Andy is getting our skis and snowboards down so we'll be ready at 5:30
I wanted to get a shot of the hill while light enough to see!

Post-Onsen

The view from the rest area where we chose to spend some time after the hotspring.  Below is Jack trying out the massage chair.
Andy decided to snooze on the floor and Jon and Jack were just resting.  We wished we'd brought along some games to play.
My cousin's daughter Kata and her husband Josh are so fond of the many flavors of KitKats.  Last summer I took them some new flavors.  Here were some other new ones--apple and spicy pepper.  But since I won't be seeing them for maybe another 2 years I didn't buy them.  Also in this resort area they were beyond what  I thought was a reasonable price.

Onsen continued

Through the window in the hall going to the onsen I saw this perfect cannibal pot!  My father was always wanting to find one.  My imagination says this used to be a personal bath for someone and now just a decoration, but cannibals would have loved to have had this for their cooking.
A wall sketching of how the onsens were years ago.
We had the place pretty much to ourselves since we chose to go at noon instead of after skiing in the evening when it would be crowded.
The waiting area between the males and females where we can wait for the slow pokes.

Omachi Hot Spring

Yesterday we returned from a one day trip to Omachi, Nagano.  In this blog I'll discribe our onsen (hot spring) time.  Above is this cute little girl in the changing room who was willing to pose.  I didn't ask or take any photos of nudes except myself which I was careful to keep decent.
Above you can see the fence separating the males from females.  I was tempted to make some snowballs and pitch over to see if my men on the otherside would respond.  Kind of lonely when I'm the only female in our group.
One of the outside pools was closed.  I was kind of nervous as I figured people in that house in the distance with binoculars could be peeking toms.
Outside looking in and inside looking out!

Eyes for only you!

Katsura's friends who visited us and went to the German Village illumination with us sent us this photo.  I thought it was precious that Nami and I were caught on camera looking at each other with those moon eyes!

I may not pot again for a few days as my schedule this week is very full.  Tomorrow I go to Shinagawa for an interview and help with teaching a new class for them.  Luckily the class will not be there but right here in my own hometown.

Remembering

Here are some more photos that I forgot to post in sequence.  Above is Nami getting this Hello Kitty blanket from Ojiisan for her Christmas present.  
She enjoys attention and here her dad and great grandpa are giving her lots.  Below her grammy (that is me) is giving her some soft cheek skinship.  The men folk with their whiskers just aren't that fun to get that close too!
Guess, I'll have to get out my camera again and start something new.