Whistler

For my birthday we took a trip up to Whistler, in British Columbia, Canada.  We have been to Whistler many times, and we took the kids up there over the summer, just before they turned 2.  It's great because we don't have to fly, which is getting really expensive with 4 tickets.  We stayed in The Aspens which is right at the base of Blackcomb mountain and close to all the family adventure rides.  The kids went into the Teddybear drop off day care for 3 days, which was brilliant.  Scott did a little mountain biking and for the first time in nearly 4 years I did nothing for 3 days straight.  Well I read a book, went to the coffee shop, spent a whole hour in Lush natural cosmetics smelling soap.  It was awesome.
I had a great birthday at the swedish outdoor spa, followed by an amazing dinner at the Rimrock cafe.
Even the weather co-operated. It was sunny and in the 80's each day, so we could swim with the munchkins in the pool.  We also rode up to the top of Blackcomb mountain and did some playing in the snow.  The kids loved the peak  to peak to peak gondola and the family adventure rides.

Such a great vacation, and I'm already looking forward to introducing Max and Zoe to our Jane and Scott tradition of "First turns Thanksgiving."  Opening weekend at Whistler beats rain and turkey any day:)

A waterfall and some skinny dipping

Back in the day my favorite field trip we used to go on was to the Cedar river water shed.   The water shed area is very close to Rattle snake lake, near North bend about 30 miles east of Seattle.  Much of seattle's water comes from there and it is a really beautiful place that can only be visited on a tour.  So I booked us in and headed over there one Friday in July.  We arrived early so we could ride the great trail along the lake shore, and after a little train time in the visitors center we jumped on our bus.  The kids loved the tour and Zoe was obsessed with the map.  They thought the waterfall was amazing and just sat looking at it for ages.  They were sad to get off the bus.

After a picnic at the fire circle, we listened to the rain drums for a while then got back on the bikes to take a swim in the lake.  As we were riding back, Max and Zoe spotted one of the guys from our tour taking a quiet skinny dip in the lake.  I'm sure he was thrilled to have them announce that he was "Nakey, Nake" to all around.  But once they saw that they couldn't get their kit off fast enough and into the lake.  For the record we did move along the shore a fair way to give that guy some privacy.  Anyway they had a blast and really what's not to love about a skinny dip?

Bamboo, Bamboo gotta feed Bamboo

Now naps are over we can finally make elephant feeding time at the zoo (2 pm).  Last week we lucked out with a short line and a wonderful keeper that let M and Z pretty much feed a forest to Bamboo the elephant.  I hope one day to take the munchkins to the elephant rehabilitation center we visited in South Africa, but until then I think we'll be making regular trips to feed these amazing animals.

Camping

It has been nearly a whole month since I have blogged, so finally this week I plan to catch up on a few things we have done during that month.

One of the best (and most totally exhausting) was taking Max and Zoe on their inaugural camping trip.  It took a while to get kitted out for car camping (thank you REI) and even longer to muster up the courage to venture into 'the wilderness' with 2 three year olds.

For our first trip we aimed low, just one night and not too far from a town (read hotel) in case it all went to hell in a hand basket.  We camped over on the East side of the mountains, as that area is pretty much guaranteed sunny and dry.  It was a proper wilderness camp though, just up from Beverly Creek, there was no piped water and Max and Zoe had to get used to the porta potty.

After an easy drive we (Scott and I, with NO help whatsoever from M and Z) set up the massive tent and got out everyones sleeping pads and bags.  Then we hung out and the kids ran around and were shortly called over by our "neighbors' to see a deer that had wandered into camp.  I was quickly acquainted with 'Crazy Joe' aged five, whom informed me that his dad was 'gonna shoot the head offa that deer.'  His dad came over to say hi, with his gun firmly attached to his hip.  The deer was off sharpish, which left the children plenty of time to run wild Crazy Joe and his dirt bike posse.  I was fine with it until the toy guns came out and it became a full on war game.  Then we left on a walk to explore the river, which the kids loved.

We made it through a spaghetti dinner then lit the fire to make smores, which were yummy, then we got the munchkins into bed.  Max was out cold in about 5 minutes, but it took Zoe a long time to settle down.  We'd finished off the wine before she was even asleep.(Note to self-more wine next time).  Anyway we all mostly slept, and M woke us all up at 6 the next day raring to go.

 

It took a week to recover from the trip, but we have agreed to do one more in September. So it can't have been that bad.