A Little Getaway

I had been dreaming about this for quite a while now. To spend the week at a nice cozy chalet, nestled in the middle of beautiful mountains. To be sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace while watching the snow fall and listening to the kid's shrieks of delight as they take on the "Dead Man's Hill" with their sleds. To ski on fresh snow and come back to a home cooked meal made by someone other than me. Well, the time finally came. We arrived under clear skies with views of the majestic Shuksan right from the chalet's window.

The next morning greeted us with fresh snow and after digging the cars out of the snow,

it was time to hit the slopes.

Christian asked why he wasn't in the picture. Well, he was off hitting the black diamonds with his dad. I was not about to venture out there. If you want a picture, you got to stick close to mom. He said he would continue to stay far from the camera.

During our 4 days at the chalet, a total of 22 new inches of snow fell.

It was a winter paradise for the kids. Sledding down the hill also meant climbing it back up again, but the kids did not tire! They skied all day, came back to play in the game room, ate, played family games with the whole group and then went out for night sledding! Sleep. Repeat all over again. Do I have to say we had a great time?

We are now resting form our exausting, but oh, so refreshing little vacation.

Contrast

These pictures were taken less than a week apart, in locations less than 100 miles apart in, but about 3000 feet in elevation apart. What a difference these details can make!!

Let the Olympic Spirit Burn On

With the Olympics this close to us, we had to go and take a peak at it. There was much to see and do, even though we did not have tickets to any events. We got caught in the crowd going to the men's hockey game, and felt the excitement without even placing a foot in the stadium. One volunteer called out to the boys how lucky they were that mom was taking them to a hockey game. Little did she know that we were just on our way to visit "Ontario Place", where we saw a cool 4D movie about that province, for free.

The Olympic Village is across from False Creek, and the shore was adorned for miles with cairns. Pretty neat sight.

Our Olympic visit would not be complete without seeing the Olympic cauldron. It's site has been cornered off with an unsightly chain link fence. Due to many complaints from the public, they opened up a ramp to a platform for better viewing.

To get to this newly opened platform though, one had to endure a little line.

We found creative ways to pass our time while in line.

And soon we had an unobstructed view of the glorious Olympic cauldron. The boys rated the view only 5% better and not worth the wait, but you be the judge.

The whole city was adorned and dressed up for the occasion. People and buildings alike, showing support for their team. It so reminded me of Brazil during the world cup. Everyone and everything sporting the colors of their country and cheering for the athletes. I love it!

These eagles were displayed in almost every corner, showcasing various artists and painted in different themes.

How cool is this billboard?

These mittens are the hottest souvenirs around. They were hoping to sell 1 million; there are now 3 million of warm hands walking around town.

With these kinds of crowds, you would think we spent hours at the border and hours sitting in traffic. To my shock, there was absolutely no border wait, in fact, I was able to choose which of the 10 open and empty booth's I would go to. Traffic was light both ways, as a matter of fact, we made it from downtown Vancouver to downtown Bellingham in a little over an hour. That's better then any regular non Olympic game day. Go figure! But somehow the crowds found their way to Vancouver, just take a look. And here ends our Olympic experience.

Olympics

I just love watching all the Olympic events, summer or winter, doesn't matter, the Olympic spirit is contagious. To top it all off, this year the games are in our time zone. The obvious conclusion is that we will be able to watch a lot of the excitement live. Not so if we would have to rely on NBC. While the opening ceremony was going on, less then a hundred miles from here, NBC was taping it, so they could show it to us 3 hrs later. Dah! Good thing we have CTV, a Canadian channel, so we have been watching it all live, with the benefit of listening to the commentators from the host nation. Right now we already know who won the gold in women's mogul. Was it Jennifer Heil? Did Canada finally win gold on home soil? I will not spoil the surprise, if you only have NBC, you will have to wait for another 3 hrs or so. Oh, and don't miss the short track, it was a great finish. Apollo Ohno anyone?

Where is the Snow?

The Olympic committee would love to get some of that snow that's burying the East coast. Instead they are having to truck it in and even bring it in by helicopter ( I don't want to think how much that would cost). We were happy to leave the snowshoes at home and go enjoy our unusually warm temperatures. It sure is tough, but you just gotta do what you gotta do. Not to mention that we will probably pay for this with a long, cold and wet spring. So enjoy it while you have it.

Save the Tulips

My mother wasn't quite sure what those bulbs that I quickly shoved into our hard ground on a fall afternoon would produce. She didn't think that much would come out of my half-hearted effort; and to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect from a big discounted bag of mixed tulip bulbs purchased at a box retailer. Well, we were all surprised! The following spring our driveway was adorned with beautiful tulips. Our neighbours admired them as they commented that it was so amazing that the deer didn't get them. Yeah, well! The word got out and spread really fast in the woods. The following years, the deer came to join the party. They get them when they are just coming out of the ground, nice plump juicy greens. Every year I say I will beat them by spraying the bulbs with my "liquid fence". As we came home the other day, I saw to my surprise and horror, that the bulbs were up several inches. Lucky for me the deer had not smelled it yet, so I got my ammunition out. They are safe for now, but I have not won yet. It takes discipline to keep up with the spraying, and since it's still February with the Winter Olympics in our backyard, tulips are not first on my mind.

Did You Know

That there is a little cabin hidden behind the hills and snow banks around Mt Baker? Christian was going to spend a weekend with his boys scout troop at the Mountaineers Lodge up at Baker. I was puzzled as I tried to figure out where this cabin was. We spend a fair amount of time up there and we never see it. Turns out that all those people I would occasionally see unloading their cars at the side of the road, were not going on a snow camping trip after all. It always gave me the shivers imagining them spending the night in a tent in the middle of a snowy hill. They were heading to a comfortable and warm cabin nestled in the woods. But the cabin was only one of the benefits of the weekend. Christian had a blast snowshoeing, skiing and night sledding. He came home pretty tired and bursting with stories.