Sunday, January 13, 2013

Sunshine!

You know when its nice here… its REALLY nice.. meaning when the sun comes out in the "winter" it reminds you how beautiful this area really is…. so we jumped in the car and went skate skiing…



Looking out the window you wouldn't think "skiing"!!!
Going up the mountain and still… looks more like a cycling day….

But then it starts…. from none….. to...
almost 400 cm!!!! 
Nice trails on Cypress Mountain.. 1/2 hour away from all that green!

First ski of the season… its always hard !

But fun! 

The nice thing is that tomorrow I can go skiing, skating, running, cycling, or even golfing…! And we wonder why so many people want to live here!!!!

Till next time, happy chatting…….

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Good intentions...

So this time I have an excuse… seems that you can't post pictures with an iPad mini onto blogs.. well if you can I could not figure out HOW to make it happen.. so here we are, days after I promised some stories and pictures I have provided neither….so I will try to make up for it over the next couple of weeks…!

So lets start with my family Christmas; a real one with kids, a dog, food... And more food, presents and did I mention food? I can't tell you how much fun it was to see my brother and his wonderful family.

The "this is awesome" gift response
The "I don't know what it is but I can cut off my nose with it" response

And the "I love being a little girl" response

I am not sure I mentioned that my brother lives in Winnipeg, as most people know its rather cold there… how cold is it you ask? Well try -28 on for size and with the "wind chill" -34! Yes a tad different than my Vancouver days of +5 in the dead of winter…. I wish I could tell you that it was great, it was not that bad…. or even that I got used to it…. unfortunatley not!

Notice the facial covering…. exposed skin freezes quickly!

A leisurely walk… well a walk thats fast enough to keep you warm!

Vancouver Winter jacket versus a Winnipeg Winter jacket!



I poke fun but even though the weather was extremely cold… it wasVERY sunny everyday.. and most importantly I got to spend time with family………

it was very hard to leave…..

We then shifted gears and headed to Lake Louise in the Rockies for some relaxing and some skiing….the weather was perfect, sunny everyday, -10 average, snow was dry and there was lots of it….. did I mention we were staying at the Fairmont Chateau… yes it was that nice!

Night view from the lake after a nice night time skate!

View from the suite...

Grand staircases everywhere

A tribute to Charlie Brown… how awesome!


Did I mention the Ice bar…? 
Then we started skiing… one day on the skate skis and some awesome trails then three great days going up and down the mountain!


Views, views and more views





So all in all I think I can say this was one of the best Christmas's I have had…. I got to spend some wonderful time with my niece and nephew, went skiing in the Rockies, and came home all in one piece!!!

Till next time happy chatting…….