Yuki 2008

It snowed last Saturday in Tokyo, the fourth (or was it fifth?) time this year. Since Tokyo doesn't get much snow, I kind of enjoy it every time it snowed. Both my kids also love to gaze out of the window at the falling snow - and as cliche as it sounds, falling snow is kind of magical. Very mesmerizing.

Anyway - it's been some time since I last posted an entry and I promised some friends that I am going to post merrier entries, so I guess sharing some pics of yuki might be a good place to start. We didn't get snowy Chinese New Year in central Tokyo, but I heard that it kept snowing in other parts of Kanto, not to mention the rest of Japan. I am grateful that I get to realize a small dream of building a yuki daruma at the top of the mosque. I was too lazy to build a big one - so it was just a tiny one that do not deserved to be called a snowman. A snowbaby maybe. Heh.



I am also sharing some pics of us taken in Karuizawa, Nagano... Went there by car courtesy of Zafran and Shima. Hubby and Zafran had their first experience of putting on snow chains to car tyres. We had to stop twice after that to adjust the snow chain back to the tyres, but after the second stop the chains were in place and we made it to the Prince Ski Resort safe and sound, alhamdulillah. It goes without saying that Zafran was driving oh so very carefully and slowly and we were often overtook by other cars (with snow tyres, and thus could drive at higher speed than 50 km/h)

The ski resort is conveniently located very near to Karuizawa eki, and for those who are into retail therapy, there is a huge retail outlet centre just next to it - 4 complexes that took ages to finish browsing even if one is just there for window shopping. The price were reasonable - Timberland boots and shoes were slashed down by 40% off normal retail price, and Coach handbags were on sale at 50% off normal retail price. Huzaifah had a great time at Lego outlet - he refused to leave the play area in the store that we had to 'pancing' him out by enticing him with a Bob the Builder Lego set. We didn't actually buy it though - which caused him to throw a tantrum all the way back to the car - so later we bought him a small tractor at 100 yen shop to make up for it. The thing is Huzaifah has lots of playing blocks at home but he doesn't really know how to appreciate them as he loves unstacking more than stacking, so we figured it might be better to wait until he's a little older before buying a Lego set.

Under different circumstances, I might had enjoyed the trip more - but since we went there just a few days after I lost my little one - I tried to keep myself warm by staying more in the heated cabin for those who want to take a break than being outside. The ski resort was filled with lots and lots of people and while they have Kids Area, there was no secluded area where we could build private snowman - like we did in Urasa last year. To his father's disbelief, Huzaifah who enjoyed sledding last year, even refused to sled more than twice - but he enjoyed other stuff though. Humaidi is too young to really enjoy playing with snow, and we didn't bring any snow/waterproof outfit for him, so he like me, spent more time inside the cabin than outside. (Huzaifah was not wearing wellies too - which might explain why he didn't want to play in the snow for too long)

It was good to see people laughing and enjoying themselves. It was getting too depressing to stay at home, thus I quickly agreed when hubby asked me if it was okay to go to Karuizawa so soon after what happened. A change of scenery could help, and for me it did. Despite the cold temperature of the ski resort, the smiles and laughters of people sledding, skiing, snowboarding and the bright blue skies with flecks of white clouds here and there - made me felt a lot warmer than being in Tokyo with its (then) dull gray weather.