Winter wonderland in Whistler

The weekend before Christmas, we headed up to Whistler to spend two nights with Ashley and Amanda and their five kids in the beautiful townhouse they had rented for their 9 nights in Whistler. Another Aussie family, Jason and Rachel and their two daughters, who currently live on Vancouver Island, were also visiting Ash and Amanda for a few days. With six adults and seven kids there that weekend, it was a busy household!

We arrived on Friday night, and on Saturday Ben went snowboarding with Ashley, Kyle, Jacob and Jason. It was "dress like Santa and ski for free" day at Whistler, so here are a few photos Ben took on the slopes...

The Santas getting ready for a group photo

My day on Saturday was much more relaxing. I didn't leave the house at all! (Although I did spend a couple of hours babysitting five of the kids while the other ladies ducked into the village.) Here are some of the views I enjoyed from the windows and balcony...

On Sunday we drove to Pemberton for the meeting and were invited to stay for lunch. The last time we had been there was almost exactly one year before, when we spent Christmas in Pemberton with Roxy, Delle and Heidi! Here are some photos from the drive to and from Pemberton. We stopped a few times for Amanda to take photos, so we made the most of it too!

Unfortunately we didn't take any photos of people... just of snow! But we had a great weekend with both families. :) Thanks for letting us join you!

Visitors from Queensland

In December, a friend of mine from Australia landed in Vancouver, along with her hubby and their 5 kids, for a 6-week Canadian winter adventure! Their first week was spent in Vancouver, so on December 17th we had Ashley, Amanda, Kyle, Brandon, Jacob, Zach and Keely over for dinner.

After a feast of sushi, tempura and gyoza, we occupied ourselves with a very fun networked car racing game that Ben had discovered recently...

Jacob and Brandon providing commentary
while Amanda and I race

Amanda

Kyle and Ben going for a spin

Amanda and Ashley battling it out

... and various other forms of relaxation...

Kyle

Zach, Keely and Ashley

Zach and Keely

Me

Thanks for visiting us!

Vancouver Christmas Market

On December 9th, we went to the 3rd annual Vancouver Christmas Market (see our previous years' visits here and here) with Gerard, Janelle, Claire and Julia. This is a German-style Christmas market in downtown Vancouver, and always brings back fond memories of travelling through Europe over Christmas in 2007!

We all took the Skytrain downtown and spent a couple of hours enjoying the crowded market. This involved consuming schnitzels and chocolate fondue fruit skewers, sipping hot drinks to keep us warm, and riding the carousel!

Here are a few photos...

Claire

Julia

Us in a sleigh with Julia and Claire

Claire and Gerard on the carousel

The most extreme sport I can currently participate in!