Hakuba again

The alarm went off at 3:40 a.m. on Saturday morning so we could hit the road early with a couple of friends. Off to Hakuba we went! We met a group of about 10 others there for a fun day in the snow. We spent the entire day snowboarding on Saturday. Travis went for a half day again on Sunday, too. I opted out of day two and read a book and magazine in the lodge instead. It was quite relaxing.

Hakuba is so beautiful. I'm pretty sure it's one of my favorite places on the planet.

Travis has been so patient with me while I continue to try to snowboard. I've really started enjoying it, but as you might expect, I'm a slow learner. He never makes me feel bad for being slow or for needing to take breaks to enjoy the scenery.

Travis' face in this picture shows how he was really feeling. We chose a difficult and speedier course, and we decided we should stop and snap a few photos because they might be our last. We had both just endured a couple of pretty nasty wipeouts before these pictures, and people were zipping past us at incredible speeds. Ahhh!!!!

The mountains are just amazing. I can't believe how small I feel next to them. Being amongst them is such a humbling experience, and I'm so grateful I get to enjoy them.

This picture cracks me up because I definitely look pregnant. And, I'm pretty sure snowboarding when you're pregnant is a really bad idea. Rest easy, I am not. I was actually working so hard that I started sweating terribly. I had to take off a layer, roll it up and stuff it in my jacket. Aren't you glad I shared that with you?

After snowboarding all day, we headed to an onsen with some friends and then went back to our cottage for dinner. After dinner, someone had the great idea to build human pyramids. It was so fun! I ripped these pictures off of facebook. Hope my friends don't mind.

Here's the girls' pyramid. Only one hand!

And, the entire group! What a fun picture. We couldn't quite pull off the top, but we got pretty darn close. Lorie (the topper) had to push all the camera timers and then try to climb to the top really fast. Needless to say, it took us a few tries.

This weekend was a lot of fun, and I felt like a kid all over again. I mean, how often do you get to have a big slumber party with all of your friends? I don't know why we don't do it more often. When I get home, I'm totally throwing a slumber party. Who's in?