Merry Christmas!

Christmas was very exciting.



I love how thoughtful the girls were. They purchased gifts for each other - earrings for Alison from Sarah's trip to Colorado, and the "I am a skier" t-shirt Alison searched for to get for her sister. Even the note for Santa was thoughtful. I wonder how often he is told he's doing a good job by the children?



And they made the pie. Yummy!


It wasn't as much fun for Rustle since he is banished from the living room and couldn't be with his people. He took his bones to a place where he could guarantee to be in our way as soon as we were done!

Training Camp

Since our days around the holidays are filled with skiing, I thought I'd show the other side of things - life in the after-hours, as it were.

The girls get together with the other skiers in the club and do Christmas-y things, like dancing with Bendy Santa,

(this is our friend Cleodie. She's lots of fun.)

or dressing up in war paint to dig tunnels in the snowbanks,

or playing a rousing game of Pee Spoons (if you lose, you have to drink a glass of water. First person to pee, loses. The coach thought this was a great way to get the kids hydrated after a day of training....)

or invite more kids for a Pee Spoon Tournament. On the floor, of course.


I also like to explore some of the non-ski related activities. I took Alison snowshoeing on the Bow River Loop, but she thought it was boring. And she was hungry. And miserable.

But Rustle loved it.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Sarah is now 13. A teenager. Nearly as tall as me. Yikes.


We celebrated at home, since ski season prevents a lot of opportunities to have parties. We figure that a half birthday party in June will do nicely, since skiing should be over by then.

Some photos of our girl:

Love the Glee wear!

Apparently, a birthday montage is incomplete without the new birthday ski photo.

World Cup

The Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup Alpine Ski Races were held over the past couple of weekends. Alison and the Lake Louise KD team were flagbearers for the opening ceremonies.


And Sarah, in a very exciting happenstance, was invited to a Fast and Female event on the day of the Ladies Downhill race. She got to meet Karen Lee Gartner and see the gold medal, listen to Kelly Vander Beek, hang out in the VIP area, and meet Lindsey Vonn.



Alison met Lindsey Vonn, too.

Happy Birthday, Alison

Alison is now a full decade. She is not letting her old age get in the way of her silliness!

Alison's 10th Birthday Party

Yes, I'm a few weeks behind, but we are a busy household. Sarah was away for two weeks in November, which hopefully she will share about soon... But in the meantime, we had to plan a party to celebrate Alison turning 10.

This year, Alison wanted a dinner party. She's been watching a lot of Food Network and is quite intrigued, especially by the cake shows. So I suggested one of those murder-mystery dinners and we found some on the internet, designed specifically for kids. It was on!

Her friends got right into it. Some came in costume, but every one of them was interested in the scripts and the mystery of The Ghost of Marnie Anderson at Anderson Castle. Sarah was back from Colorado just the day before the party, and she gladly took on the role of the 85 year old aunt who basically ran the show. They all had a great time.

(Turns out, the jealous maid did it)

Happy Halloween!

Creativity ruled this year. We ate spooky food and got funky with the costumes....

Breakfast - Devilish Eggs



Dinner - Mummy Pizza



Sarah - Sunflower (from Plants vs. Zombies)



Alison - The Cereal Killer! On the side panels it read: SOURCE OF FEAR * LOW MORAL FIBRE * NO ARTIFICIAL MOTIVES * LOADED WITH TRANS FATS * SOURCE OF 7 ESSENTIAL NIGHTMARES and had a Nutrition Label - Serving Death and Destruction where the contents of fear, doom, peril, horror, shock and cholesterol were all at maximum daily values. It was translated into French on the other side panel. On the back it read "Look inside if you dare."



She got a lot of compliments for her costume! It was a lot of fun!

Hawaii is amazing

We love Hawaii. We had such an amazing week and so many wonderful days. I think my favourite activity has to be surfing, but maybe next time I'll get someone to take pictures of it. No way I'm not going to be back out there on those waves!

Some interesting photos:

Our first breakfast saw a slightly rainy day (apparently a rainy day means lightly sprayed with mist as you continue to enjoy the outdoors) which meant a rainbow over the ocean. Spectacular!

Girls with good balance at a park near the hotel. Love playing near palm trees and the ocean!

Our hotel pool had a waterfall area. It was great for cooling off and for shoulder massages!

The girls were missing 4 days of school, so we took small sun breaks so they could keep up. Alison was missing an author visit, so she emailed her teacher some questions she wanted to ask.

We found some very cool lava formations. This area is known as Dragon's Teeth because the lava cooled straight up like teeth against the ocean. Here are the girls exploring as Dad searched good photo ops.

Sunsets are pretty spectacular. Lots of families headed to the beach to watch the sun slip behind Moloka'i. Here are my lovely girls splashing in the last waves for the day.

Maui is glorious! We love it!

Hawaii - The Hike

A new event for us this trip was taking in a bit of the hiking that lots of people recommend when you go to Hawaii. The girls and I hiked up to see the Iao Needle, the last vestige of the West Maui volcano. It meant we got to spend a bit of time in the lush rainforest part of Maui, rather than just our favourite hangout, the beach. Poor Bob missed out because he was golfing. The girls fought over who was going to take pictures, and then the battery died. So we pulled out the video camera to take some bonus footage of the wild roosters prancing about the hillside beside the parking lot.

Our Needle impression.

Wild Roosters! Or is it: Roosters? Wild!

Hawaii - Snorkeling

We made it back to Maui and it was amazing once again. This time, we have an underwater camera, which means we can share a whole new perspective! I actually took a zillion pictures (estimated total!), so here are just a few favourites.


Yes, we look a bit silly in the gear, but it means we get a great view. Sarah was an excellent fish-spotter and had to direct her impatient mother to where she might actually see some fish...

Alison really struggled with the breathing tube, so she finally decided to go with just the mask and flippers. We thought she was ready to give up completely, until somebody mentioned that there was a turtle swimming nearby.

In this shot, photo number 812 of the turtle, it had turned itself around and was checking Sarah out! Later on, it came very close to Alison. I was a bit surprised at how patient the turtle was with the throngs of snorkelers invading its space. Guess it wasn't the first time.

I took lots of pictures of very colourful fish, but this guy is my favourite. He's Humuhumunukunukuapua'a and he's Hawaii's state fish. The name is Hawaiian for fish with a pig snout. I love the stripes on the back, too.

When we returned to the beach, Alison the artist created this sand sculpture of the turtle. She's very proud of her work, so she dug a small trench ocean-side to hopefully protect her masterpiece for a couple of hours, at least.