Saturday, July 31, 2010

Blogger vs. Facebook vs. Crazy Internet Rates



Did you think we fell off the map?  Nope, still here. I have been neglecting my blog for two reasons:  1) both of our parents have found Facebook, and 2) on March 1 of this year our internet provider changed and the rates went sky high.   Actually, the rates were already pretty high, but the new provider just realized that we found a nice loophole in our plan and remedied that.  We were on the "Unlimited Midnight-6 am" plan, which meant that we could use as much as we wanted between those times.  We had that plan because that was the only one that was fast enough to handle iTunes downloads (which is how we watch our favorite television shows).  The rest of the time, they charge us by our actual usage, or at least that's what they do now (the old provider never did).  That's right....no flat rate plans over here in the Siberian wasteland.  So if we don't watch it, we could be spending hundreds of dollars on internet each month.  Crazy, right?  I think so.  So something had to go.  It just so happened that right about this time my Mother-in-law joined Facebook, the last holdout from our family.  When I considered the time it takes to upload photos into Facebook vs. Blogger, Facebook won hands down.  I upload via iPhoto, and it takes seconds to do a whole album.  Blogger, however, was taking 10-20 minutes for just a few pictures.  And yes, our "fast" internet is still pretty darn slow.  Not that I'm complaining ;-)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Sapporo Snow Festival


The Sapporo Snow Festival is something that we really wanted to attend while we were here.  There are massive sculptures made out of snow and ice, and they are fantastic to see in person.  They had a whole area set up with ice and snow slides for kids, mini-golf, and food booths from all over the Japanese island of Hokkaido.  We all had a great time and are glad to have been able to attend this year!

The streets of Sapporo were decorated like Christmas

It was pretty cold out there!

I got sprayed with snow going down the slides

Shane on an ice slide

Adam coming down a slide in a tube

Mini-golfing in the snow

Shane and Adam with their clubs

Adam checking out the ice sculptures

Shane liked the mermaid

This ice sculpture of Iolani Palace was impressive

Disney snow sculpture

Animals of the North snow sculpture

Odori Park at night

Adam riding another slide

Dresdner Frauenkirche (German church) sculpture

Baekje Royal Palace of Korea sculpture

Adam on an ice slide

Riding on a train

Ramen Alley

A bowl of Sapporo Ramen soup....yum!

Bailey Being Bailey


I came home one day to find Bailey sitting in the box we keep our hats and mittens in...


Ski Season!


All the snow that fell in Yuzhno while we were gone means that it is prime ski season!  We have been skiing on the mountain every weekend and my neighbor and I have been cross country skiing in our compound when we can.  Skiing is one our favorite activities to do here, and we are trying to get as much in as we can before Spring arrives and all this nice snow turns to slush!

Cross-country skiing around Olympia

Kate and I at the base of the mountain

Shane and I at the base of the mountain

Shane and I at the halfway point with a pretty good view of Yuzhno

Shane the pro!

beautiful view from the top

I love the way the snow sticks to the trees

one of the trails

Monday, January 11, 2010

Back to Siberia, I mean Sakhalin

While we were in Hawaii, Sakhalin received massive amounts of snow, especially for this time of year.  When we got back, our house looked the same as it did at the end of March of last year.  There was at least 3.5 or 4 feet on the ground!  And it was still coming....there was a blizzard expected the night we arrived and it continued for 2 days.  Since then, the temperatures dropped.....WAY down.  I don't remember experiencing subzero (and I'm talking Fahrenheit, not Celsius) temperatures last year.  This morning my thermometer read -16 F!  Yikes, that's cold.  That's probably the coldest weather I've been in.  Last year the lowest I remember seeing was 1 or 2 degrees Fahrenheit.  So who knows what the rest of the Winter will bring us...all I know is I'm ready to hit the slopes!


Adam is dressed for the cold


Our house when we returned


The snow is piled up!


up to my elbows in snow


Adam and Shane sledding down the street

New Years in Kauai

From Oahu, we took a 25 minute flight to Kauai, dubbed the "Garden Isle" of Hawaii.  It has definitely earned that name...I have never seen so many shades of green in my life.  Most of the scenery looked straight off of a postcard, painting or a movie.  It was all so picturesque.  The beaches in Kauai are very different from Oahu, and in the winter months they can can be especially dangerous.  So we didn't hit the beach as much as we did in Oahu.  Instead, we explored the island as best we could with a car.  What we couldn't see by car (only about 20% of the island is accessible by car), we saw on a helicopter tour and boat tour. We saw some incredible things on the helicopter ride, one of which was the so called "Jurassic Park" falls that was featured in the movie.  It was beautiful.  We also saw parts of the Na Pali coast, which is the northern coast of the island that is all cliffs.  We also decided to do some horseback riding, and much to our surprise, Adam rode his own horse!  A year ago he would have been terrified, but he got up there without a second thought.  We drove up to the north shore and visited one beach that looked okay, but within 20 minutes a storm started coming in and everyone took off, so we took the cue and left as well.  One thing that everyone told us, if there isn't anyone on the beach, there is a good reason.  Rather to be safe than sorry I guess.  Shane was even able to sneak in a round of golf at the Princeville golf course, which was something that he really wanted to do.  After our boat tour of the Na Pali coast, we drove up to the Waimea Canyon (dubbed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific).  We had flown over it in the helicopter, but it was different viewing it from the ground.  Our vacation was wonderful, and we hated to see it end, but alas, the real world was calling.... 


the scenery was beautiful


Adam with his horse and guide


the "Jurassic Park" falls


flying over part of the Waimea Canyon


Hanalei


waterfalls everywhere


picturesque lighthouse at the northern-most tip of Kauai


on the beach with all the lava rocks behind me


Adam playing on the beach


Shane and Adam on the boat


Na Pali coast


Na Pali coast


The captain let Adam "drive"


Adam at the Waimea Canyon lookout


Shane playing golf in Princeville


fun in our hotel pool