Whistler Day 1

Note: We have our new computer now and it is up and running!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blogging is so smooth now and photo uploading works like a charm. I hope to be back to my normal blogging routine now and it feels so good to be back.

December started out with a huge treat for The Mr. and I. On the 2nd we headed up to Whistler BC for three nights and four days of fun. Sallad, Grace and Bri came up from the Seattle area, and The Mr.'s sister and her family came all the way from Missouri! Expectations were high as we drove up to our condo since we had spent several hours making our way up to Whistler. It seems that the more people you carpool and caravan with, the higher percentage of stops there are! We had a great time though, and stopped for coffee of course as well a stop at Nester's Market in Squamish BC for some quick groceries.

Anyways, back to my story. We pulled up to our Mountain Star condo and noticed that there were no lights on in any of the condos and soon found that the power was out! We sat in the freezing cold condo for 30 minutes before the power came on, it was definitely a strange welcome! Usually you expect a bright, warm and cozy hotel room to walk into.

The Mr., Sallad and Mrs. Missouri engaged in a bidding war to determine who got which room, resulting in the Mr. and I staying in the master bedroom (yippee!). Once we had settled in and unpacked a bit, we bundled up and headed over to the Whistler Village Stroll to find a place to eat dinner. After walking around and visiting a few different shops and restaurants, we finally settled on Earl's where we ate like kings. Later we went back to the condo (which was finally nice and warm thanks to those who cranked the heat and turned on the heated floors before we left) to play games, eat dessert and have a nice Bible reading in Acts.

Bri modeling clothing from "Auntie Char" as she heads out the door at our house, ready to go to Whistler.

A bridge on the Sea to Sky highway.

One of the many gorgeous views on the way to Whistler.

My first glimpse of a ski run.

The pitch black living area of our condo, I used the flash.

Princess Bri being carried by her loyal servants.

The room that The Mr. and I ended up with was so nice. It was on the highest level of the condo all by itself with an attached bath and awesome view of mountains and Whistler village.

The Missouri clan's room.

Sallad and Grace's room.

Mr. and Mrs. Missouri

Ready to hit the town.

A chilly stroll on a quest for dinner.

Whistler is neat at night. See the globe in the middle of this photo? That's the moon!

The 2010 Olympics have some strange creatures as mascots!

Above our table at Earl's.

Our feast.

Okanagan BC

My trip to Regina was officially over, but it was not yet time to pack my bags. The Mr. picked me up at the Everett, WA train station and from there we drove directly to B.C. Canada's Okanagan Valley! We were kindly invited by Droo's family to stay a couple nights with them there, during part of their one week stay at a lakeside trailer that belongs to family. We were eager to go because the Okanagan is so relaxing. The cabin has everything you need, and is just perfect for a young family and a couple of friends.

The Mr. showing us his superb diving skills. The trailer is just a few feet away from the lake, such a perfect setting!


Amazing clear water.

Who I missed second most when I was in Regina.

Baby Cake


Droo


The trailer is complete with retro lawn furniture. I love this old swing!


These grapes were growing on a trellis along the walkway, aren't they pretty?


The SS Sicamous is beached at Pentiction BC as a Museum and Theater. In Wikipedia's words:
"SS Sicamous is a large five decked sternwheeler built by the Canadian Pacific Railway for lake service between the fruit communities of Penticton, and other towns of Kelowna and Vernon. Sicamous ran for many years connecting rail lines and areas. The vessel is beached as a museum in Penticton, BC".








Pentiction has Starbucks. Cake loves coffee cups and will most likely follow closely in her father's coffee-loving footsteps!

Look at that huge water wheel!

The skies were so pretty that evening!

To Chasm and his Lady, Thank you so much for inviting us to stay with you on the lake, we had such a fun time and hope that this will be a tradition!!!

Homeward Bound

It was time to say goodbye. Goodbyes are always sad and it is hard to say goodbye to family that you live a 23 hour train trip away from. One good thing about the goodbye is that for me, it meant I had a hello soon to come. I was going to get to see The Mr. again after two weeks of being away from home!

Four hours away and across the Canadian border from my parents house.


Watching for the train.


If it wasn't for my parents' willingness to spend a day driving (or more like 16 hours when you add both trips together) this trip would not have been possible! Thank you both so much! I had a wonderful time and I loved spending the extra in-car time with you both.


I love how the photos through the Amtrak windows turn out. Almost as if you used some sort of beautiful Pioneer Woman photo shop action on them. This is straight out of camera and looks very retro to me. Almost as if there should be some cowboys and Indians out there somewhere. :)


See the shadow? The bridge for the rails was WAY up. Pretty cool!


I got to see so much pretty Montana landscape on the trip home. More than usual. I guess the train times must be different during different parts of the year because I am pretty sure I slept through a lot of the pretty parts last time. You can see my posts from my 2007 trip here and here. If you go look at those posts, the first thing you will notice is that you can barely see the photos! I'm very thankful to Jenn for helping me out with photo sizes.


A blurry photo, but it's a fun one. This was the first time I had seen the Continental Divide.


A coveted photo for train lovers—when you can see the train curving along the track ahead of you. Although maybe it's not such a cool photo when there is little natural light to be had and the glare of someones laptop computer on the window. :)








Glacier National Park is so beautiful!


I had a great sleep on the train- about 5 hours, which is a personal record. This is what I saw out my window when I woke up. There is a waterfall somewhere over there and this water was rushing towards it.

Well, these photos are the last of my Regina trip photos, but do not dismay. I don't plan to disappear again. There are about eleven more posts in the cue. Hold onto your hats!

Regina Bible Conference

As a child, one of my favorite things was the Bible Conference in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was at the Canadian Bible College that had tons of hallways and rooms to explore and I have so many fun memories of the conference. This year I got to go once again but this year it was held at the Regina Christian School. It was a great place for a conference and one of the best things about having the conference at a school is that there is a playground!

The bible readings were in Ephesians 3 and were very good. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole conference and bought an MP3 disc if anyone wants to borrow it. The food looked amazing even though I didn't eat it because I eat gluten-free. One day they were serving pieces of lasagna as big as your plate! Literally, they were touching the edge of the plate on all four sides. One tip for gluten-free eaters at conferences is to take your own food! If you want a hot meal, just make spaghetti, put it into disposable tin containers with lids and warm them up in 1 inch of water in the bottom of a crock pot on high. I just set it up and turned it on before the morning reading meeting and it worked so good. I stayed out of the caterers way, and had yummy gluten-free hot food the whole weekend.

Hi there Kit!


Bye for now!


Playing nice with Chirpee.


J and H with their Grandpa E.


Watching for the ball, where did it go? It was so funny that she stopped and played with the big boys.


All comfy with Mommy at the Saturday night bonfire and hymn sing.


Empty chairs beside the gals and a bit of silly acting.... will the guys get the hint?! :) I love my sister's fuzzy blanket in this photo, maybe that is scaring the guys away?


Thanks for the great fire dad!


It was a small young people group this year, (30-40?) but it was a lot of fun. Sometimes small groups are great because you can really get to know everyone.


A busy mama kitty on the farm makes me glad that it is not common for humans to have this many babies at once!


Flax blooming in a field we passed on the way into town.


Kitten cleaning up after Lord's day lunch.




Some not so wild wildlife at my grandparents home.


Hello little finch. Why do you look at me so strangely?