So, after some recuperation at lunch during last-weekend's visit to Makino Ski with Anthony, we went back for some more sledding. Anthony took the photo above as I zipped past on a world-record run.

Some random pics of others sledding, having fun, and/or crashing....

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The weather during our visit to the Makino Ski Area wasn't the only thing that was wild... some sledding was pretty wild, too.

Each run started with a long climb....

It's difficult to show the steepness. It was pretty steep. Few people actually ventured all the way to the top of the groomed area, where we came a few times...

It was exactly like the safe and wholesome summertime sledding I wrote about in "Slippery Green Slidy Day of Fun", except for two little things: the cold, and the ever-present threat of a horrible and painful death.

If you started [...]

Anthony has been wanting to go skiing ever since last year's YMCA ski experience, and finally yesterday the schedule allowed for it. Anthony and I took off early in the morning for the almost-two-hour drive north to the Makino Highlands, to the Makino Ski Area.

I didn't intend to pull my camera out much, wanting to concentrate on actually being a parent and helping him with the confidence-building experience that learning to ski could be. But it turns out that the 20 seconds of total ski time he had during last year's YMCA event was enough, and yesterday he basically [...]

Anthony received his First Communion at Mass today, along with his friend Joe. They'd been meeting with Fr. Graham McDonnell (an American priest who has been in Kyoto for more than 50 years) on Saturdays for the past few months, and he thought they were ready. He suggested that they serve Mass, so that with their street clothes covered by their cassock, they'd not have to bother about getting dressing up. 🙂

Anthony has been serving Mass on and off for about two years, while Joe's been doing it for two and a half years.

Joe's little sister Kyoko (seen [...]

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