Homelife

Ballet, Swimming and the Tooth Fairy

It's been a busy weekend here in our household.  Two ballet recitals on Saturday and a swim meet also on Saturday as well as Sunday.  Thankfully, the recitals and swim meet were in the same building! 

I'm just gathering all the photos and videos from the weekend.  Suffice to say, Hanna is tired and exhilerated.  She did well on the stage and in the water.  Most impressively (to us her proud parents) was her first place in the backstroke -- that and the fact that she finally lost the terribly wiggly front tooth.

Bits and Pieces

Lots of miscellaneous items to add to the blog.  Over the next few days, I'll be adding some videos of Hanna skiing, playing the piano, a panorama of the view from the top of Apex and her cousin Dawson going for his first downhill ski.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          In the meantime, here's a photo of Hanna in a new dress from Grandma.

Officially Outdone by Hanna

Today Hanna skied a double black diamond run at Apex.  She skied "Make My Day".  I'm thrilled for her -- she's having a lot of fun out there and her confidence is showing.  It's great to watch.  I get a kick out of it when she tells me where I can ski to meet up with her after a difficult run. 

On another note, it was fabulous sunny day.  Spring is in the air and the skiing is fine.   The bulbs will be coming up soon at the house and the greenhouses are gearing up for the season. 

Nickel Plate Loppet

The annual Nickel Plate Loppet was held this weekend.  For those who don't know, a loppet is a cross-country ski race.  The club puts on a 15km and 30km loppet for adults and an 8 km loppet for the older kids.  The youngest kids can take part in a 1.1km or 2.3km "loppet".  It's a great event with lots of competitors showing up from the Okanagan as well as the lower mainland.  It's quite inspiring to watch athletes young and old take part in the event.  I love cross-country skiing for that reason.  Seniors compete along side teenagers.  In some cases, technique wins out over youth.  I hope to be cross-country skiing when I'm in my 70s or even 80s.

Hanna took part in the 1.1km loppet and was thrilled that she completed it in 8 minutes.  I think she was nervous and not sure what to expect out of the entire situation.   She held it together though and had a good experience.  She enjoyed watching the older kids start out on their 8km race.  One day, I hope she'll take part in these races too.

A Fabulous Visitor

We've had our place at the ski hill for four years now.  It's about time my good friend, Louise, decided to visit us there.  I think she enjoyed it.  We went for a lovely snowshoe hike where she got soaked by misbehaving snowshoes.  Then we went to a birthday party at the local saloon where much hilarity and frivolity took place -- including a once-in-a-lifetime ride on the groomer up and down the hill.

The second day we all recuperated by resting and enjoying the intermittent snowstorm hitting hill.  It was lovely to sit inside, drink coffee and be lazy by the fire.  Even Hanna took it easy that day.  All in all, a fabulous weekend. 

Happy Birthday

Happy 41st Birthday Steve-o! 

We celebrated Stephen's birthday with a deBoer dinner last Tuesday.  As usual, Stephen chose marinated flank steak with salads and potatoes as his birthday dinner.  It was absolutely delicious. 

Dave, Sheila, Renn and Connor all joined us for the celebration.  It was great fun as usual.  Much laughter was enjoyed as was much wine and a tad bit of port. 

Fire and Snow

Turns out that we're sound sleepers.  On Thursday evening, an abandoned sawmill just half a kilometre away from us caught fire.  We didn't hear, see or smell anything.  The next morning when I left for work, the road was covered in an icy slush and the fire crews were still working on site.  The bushes around the old buildings were covered in thick ice.  Quite beautiful.

More photos of the sawmill and icy bushes.

We had a splendid weekend at the ski hill.  Cross-country ski lessons in beautiful sunshine followed by a fun couple of hours with a family photographer (Tara Morris).  We're stoked about seeing the photos in a few days.  We took Hanna night skiing for the first time and she absolutely loved it.  She rode up the T-bar by herself and took off down the hill in her cautious manner.  She did manage to sneak in some mogul runs and jumps. 

I've posted some photos of the kids playing around on the terrain park at Nickel Plate Nordic Centre.  Check them out at: http://picasaweb.google.com/gwen.marsh/NickelPlateKidsLessonsFeb108

Beautiful Day

One of the luxuries of working from home is that you can change your hours a bit.  Today, I worked from home early in the morning then headed out for a snowshoe hike.  I met up with some friends and we hiked up to the top of Mt. Riordan beside Apex.  It's a superb hike.  We were surrounded by huge pine trees loaded down with snow.  There were some steep parts but they were over quickly and the rest of it was a good climb.  I've posted a video below which shows the coast and southern (US in many cases) mountains. 

More Photos

Hello all,

I hope to get some more stories up online about our trip.  We're up at the ski hill now and it's been snowing all day.  Hanna has downhill ski class all day tomorrow so hopefully I'll get a short cross-country ski in and then some downhill with her.

In meantime, I added a new web album  which is all Dawson.  The first photo is actually a video of him taking his first cable car ride.  What fun! 

http://picasaweb.google.com/gwen.marsh

The second link is to Joanna's blog.  She's got great Catherine and Andrew wedding photos.

http://web.mac.com/jthomas_44/The_Thomas_Family/C_%26_A_Wedding.html#21

*You must check out the Viv dance video*.

San Francisco Photos

It was a sunny glorious day yesterday in San Francisco.  We enjoyed playgrounds; strolling through Cow Hollow; riding the cable cars and finally a trip to Ghiradelli's chocolate!

Photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/gwen.marsh/SanFranSundayJan13