On our way home

Sorry there have been no pics/updates.

We have been in Calgary all week visiting with friends and staying with Wendy & Bryan, the world's best hosts (and friends). We have had a great time. Kat was spoiled beyond belief. Santa and I think each reindeer brought her gifts, she cajoled Wendy into a few baths in the big jetted tub, more like a pool.

Sent from my iPhone.
Sorry for any typos.

Here comes Santa clause....

Well, she's not at all too sure about the big guy in red. But, he did have a bag of toys.....

So he couldn't be all bad, could he?
But he should be watched, nonetheless..

At a recent playdate. Kat believes that beds (and couches and chairs) are for jumping on.

The play place at the mall with Charlotte.

At our volunteer senior driving lunch last week. She made fast friends with the woman seated next to us. Luckily the attraction was mutual, as Kat spent more time with Maryann than with me (and Maryann seemed to enjoy it).

At snowflake lane again last week.

For Aunt Norma

It's 'red on yellow, dangerous fellow; red on black, friend of Jack'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_snake

Snowflake Lane

Second catch up post....

Last night we went to "Snowflake Lane" in DT Bellevue. They have characters, live drummer boys all over the place, mostly on stilts and many handing out peppermint suckers. They play xmas songs and then they make it SNOW. We went last year, though we missed the 15 minute window of snow. But it was really snowing, so we missed the crowds, the characters and the suckers. This year we had it all.

I know this is fuzzy, but Kat's inspection of Rudolph is too funny.

We liked the sucker.

This is the last of the Whistler pics. I pulled out the camera and Kat leaned in to Dan and said 'smile'.

This is how HRH crosses the river...she has people for that!

Back to Spaghetti Factory.

I love the look she's giving the paparazzi.

There was lots of puddle jumping in Whistler.

This is me skiing. We wanted o shoot video so we could show Kat the fun she missed.

Last of Whistler pics, finally

By popular demand, here are the rest of the pics from Whistler. Sorry about the delay. We got home and I got lazy (ier) and wanted to see if anyone was actually reading...

Kat loved playing with the doorstops in the Tantalus lobby. And walking her critters in their double stroller up and down the hallway, sometimes taking them up and down the elevator.....I was happy I brought it/them! Only mention of the pool (or hot tub) would distract her from her regular patrols.
Kat took this one of daddy (with a little help,but not much- she had the camera out and on when I found her!).

At the top of Franz's run.

I loved the snow glistening in the sun.

I taught Kat that better than a pool is the HOT TUB!!! She dug the hot tub.

A peak to peak chair coming out of the mist on Blackcomb.

A beautiful view- you don't always get to see it there.

This was a first in my 38 or so years of skiing. My right ski is completely stuck in the snow. I was having soooooo much fun gliding (floating) over the fresh snow-- my skis are made for those conditions-- that I got carried away and flew way up on the edge of the hill, where my skis promptly sank in over a foot of snow! And I fell backwards, laying down the hill. It was really funny, but unfortunately I had the camera so Dan didn't get pics till after the best shots had gone and I gave him the camera. He couldn't help me, I was on my own. It took a long time to get my boot free and dig out that ski. The snow was very, very deep.

The peak to peak- just 4 towers and an unsupported distance of well over 1 mile. But it looks extremely stable and sound.

From the gondola.

Dan skiing

Whistler day 3 & 4

The internet connection has slowed to a crawl, so I think I'll finish posting stuff from home, where we head tomorrow.

This is the peak to peak gondola, which is really impressive.
At the top of teh Whistler gondola, in the sun!

The sliding track...a luger comes through in one of these pics.

Whistler Day 2...one more first

Tomorrow we are touring the sliding facility in the afternoon, which will be really cool. It will be all lit up and there will be future Olympian hopefuls running the track (juniors). The guy at the desk said that they're setting record on this course, the fastest in the world- 154k/hour! Holy crap. The previous Olympic gold medalist won at 132k/hr (according to him, I'm way too lazy to actually check).

Last night in town....this didn't go as well as it looks- apparently a little ice scraping on a bare belly can lead to crying. Poor baby.

More pure joy pics for Wendy. She clearly hates everything about winter.

I loved this, Kat & Daddy looking at each other.

This is a great series...she was counting 1, 2, 3 and then they were jumping in the snow. Kat hated it, clearly.

Kat's first snowperson. She didn't make it, but came over to meet it after Dan finished.

Dan sledding down the hill.

Whistler Day 1....tons of firsts

Well, we FINALLY decided what to do over the Thanksgiving break, on Saturday. We dropped the boys off yesterday AM and headed to Whistler! A winter wonderland! And so many firsts..

First there was puddle jumping in town, which she has done before. It was raining/snowing and we had a great time. Town is pretty quiet and the Tantalus, where we're staying (and have stayed at millions of times before on our skican trips from Buffalo), is at 20% capacity. Which is nice when Kat wants to race her toy double stroller up and down the hallways. We'll leave Friday, when rates go up and things start to pick up. Though I did buy edge cards today and reserve a spot in day care for Kat on Thursday, so we will ski a day here (and ride the peak to peak chair-http://www.whistler.com/gondola/ (we may ride it separately...I don't know.... 4 supports over 1.88 miles...yikes). There are piles of snow in the village, but no fresh accumulation. Lots on the mtns, however, this is their snowiest November yet, which I'm sure gives them hope for the Olympics in just 8 weeks or so....

She made a little friend and showed her how puddle jumping should be done and ice throwing.

This was a first- catching a snowflake on her tongue! I think she got this one.
Another first (aside from wearing the snowsuit from D&Ls kids, which we LOVED BTW. Thanks again for that) was throwing a snowball at mommy. I think that its the one she hit me in the wrist with.
Sledding in deep snow. She had sledded in 3" of snow in our yard last year, but that was before she was mobile.....LOVED the sledding and we were out for over an hour (and it wasn't her begging to come inside, either).

Kat's first snow angel. I had to move the appendages, but she was a pro at laying at the snow.
Down the hill with a push from Daddy. Tomorrow, we'll all be on sleds, as I borrowed a big one from the front desk.

Another first....eating snow. She liked it!