Whistler

Last week, we spent 5 days in Whistler, a ski resort town just north of us in Canada.  We made plans hoping to give the girls a little taste of real winter fun, knowing that Seattle rarely gets snow.  Then Seattle's uncharacteristic winter storm hit the week before, stealing a bit of the excitement.  Nevertheless, we had a fabulous time and we are glad that we went.

I really wish I had video of the girl's first day sledding.  It went a little something like this: 

• Top of the hill - smiles; screams of joy and excitement
• Middle of the hill - eyes clamped closed; faces scrunched; silence
• Bottom of the hill - faces splashed with snow and tears; screams of misery; "I don't want to go again!" shouted multiple times after stopping.

I suppose it was not the most successful first activity for a week in the snow.  In retrospect, we should have started out a little slower.  (For their first time down, Jason put both girls on the sled by themselves and let them go.)

We realized we better adjust the girls to the climate slowly and played at a park - familiar territory for any child.

We stopped to pose by the Olympic rings.  After the picture, Gabby explained to Claire, "I have no idea what those are for."

Then we discovered Gabby's niche: ice-skating.  She was a star on ice and surprisingly stable.  We had to return the next day for more.

At the (free!) outdoor ice-skating rink, they had these little cart things for kids to push, which really helped Gabby learn quickly.  This freed up Jason to show off his North Dakota ice-skating skills from his youth.

Day two of sledding went a lot smoother.  Possibly due to the fact that we didn't have to use our feet to stop before crashing, spraying the girls with snow in the process.  Of course, there was still the time that Jason decided to create a jump and went over it with Gabby.  Poor thing went flying up in the air and almost swore sledding off for life:

Our friends, the Hammonds, joined us for the weekend, including our sledding adventure.  For some reason, they couldn't ever go down straight.  (We'll pretend it was their sled's fault.)

 The oldest Hammond kids are able to babysit, so we even got a kid-free night out.  I wish I had taken a picture of the enchanting chalet-filled walking streets.  Everywhere we walked looked like a scene from a fairy tale.

We ate yummy food at Flipside Restaurant and enjoyed good (uninterrupted) conversation.  We are so glad they were able to join us!  (And not just for the babysitting perk, though it didn't hurt their case.)