The last time we went to the snow, I think Kiera was 4 and finlay had just turned 8. That was the first time they had ever seen snow. In all honesty, I am not sure how much of it they remember but I’m pretty sure they will both remember waking up in Hakuba with mum opening the curtains squealing “it’s snowing”!!!

Going from Queensland summer to Japan winter is quite a shock to the body temp and I don’t know we were really prepared for how cold we felt on day 1. The temp got down to well below freezing overnight and barely got above 1 degree during the day… that’s COLD!

Getting ready to go skiing takes effort. Getting kids ready to go skiing takes even more effort. Getting Kiera + Finlay ready to go skiing was a LOT of effort and I think I was almost ready to go back to bed after. Eventually, after fifteen various combinations of thermals / t-shirts/ jumpers/ socks/ gloves we eventually left the hotel.

The hotel is only a short walk away from the ski lift so thankfully we don’t have to bother with shuttle bus anywhere. We decided to get to the snow early, before the start of the lessons, so kids could have a little play on the snow and familiarise themselves with their chosen apparatus, before their lessons started at 10am.

Kids all signed in to ski school, Andy and I set off up the mountain and probably our first time out together without the kids in a really long time. The higher up the mountain we went, the lower the visibility became. At one point we found ourselves standing at the top of a run with a group of others, all having no idea where you actually started the run or how steep it was.

Weather aside, we had a fun morning and managed to navigate our way back down the mountain in time to pick Kiera up from her lesson at 1.30. Fin opted for full day lessons so Kiera had a few hours in the afternoon to show us her new found skills. I honestly thought she would be over it by 1.30 and ready for heading back to the hotel but it turns out that a hot chocolate was all she needed to get back out there and last the full day.

I am quite sure we were all ready to snuggle up for an early night but our plans for an early night changed when we heard about the annual fire festival that evening. Despite all feeling a little sleepy after day one on the snow, we mustered up some energy to get ourselves all dressed up and walk down into town to check out the festivities.

I have to admit, it was quite cool to see 50+ ski and snowboard instructors, riding down the mountain in the dark carrying fire torches. The last rider carries a torch to light a large bonfire, marking the start of the fire festival. Kiera wasn’t convinced it was ‘safe’ standing so close to a bonfire (clearly not had the pleasure of growing up in the UK with bonfire night as part of her childhood memories!) so we left the boys to enjoy the fireworks and a pretty amazing end to our first day on the snow.