Whistler, eh?

Since we had never taken a really big vacation by ourselves, and since we missed the Minnesota cold so much, we decided to bite the bullet and take the kids skiing in Whistler, British Columbia.

There were a few reasons the kids were really excited to go to Canada. First, Colin and Ian were avid followers of the past two Olympics, and they were excited to go where the last winter Olympics had been. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the boys love playing Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (which takes place in Vancouver), and they were beside themselves to be able to go to the same place. So naturally, before we went, Colin and Ian each had their own list of things they wanted to do which all came out of the video game. (They pretty much did all of them.) Last but not least, the kids were really excited to go up to Vancouver, because Grandma Lana would be meeting us there! (It was a blast, Lana! Thanks for coming!)

First on Ian's list was ice skating. He made us promise it would be the first activity we did. It was.

The kids immediately learned that ice skating is not as easy as it is in the video game!

They spent a lot of time sprawled on the ice, but they kept at it and ended up having a lot of fun.

Colin set a goal to be able to skate a lap around the rink without any help from the push thing and without falling down. Not only did he make it around the rink once, he did it twice without falling down!

Brett had fun reliving his glory days of Rollerblading.

Brett tried to impress me by doing a hockey stop, but instead . . . SPLAT!

Thanks to Grandma Lana volunteering to watch Evan, I was even able to get some time on the ice! It was fun skating with the kids, but skating with Brett took me back to our high school days at the local skating rink! :)

One end of the rink was closed off for pickup hockey games. When the local kids took a break, Colin and Ian got a chance to play hockey with their dad. But when the local kids came back, the game was too intense for the boys. In fact, it was too intense for Brett who insisted on playing anyway. (He now has the bum knee to prove it!)

After a couple of hours on the ice (and one more group shot),

the kids were tired, and it was time to go back to our place for a break (and a nap for Evan!).

Our place was right at the base of Whistler Mountain, and the view was really amazing.

The kids seemed to like it! They also didn't mind the cold and were eager to spend as much time outside as possible.

Our vacation was off to a good start!