Sunday, January 16, 2011

Christmas 2010 and Pandas in Cochrane!!

It's been chilly out lately--yesterday morning was -39'C with windchill so we've decided to put a halt to the outdoor activities, and hunker down inside watching movies and eating cinnamon buns!  There was a time when the cold weather wouldn't have bothered me and I would have gone about my outdoor activities like normal, but apparently I'm getting wimpier as I age...(or perhaps it's wiser?)

 Anyways, here's an update for Christmas.  As usual, we went to visit Mama G on Christmas Eve to celebrate God Jul:

We arrived on the 23rd and found this little bear who Roger explained is trying to visualize a solution to the Rubik's Cube.


On the 24th, we woke up to fairly mild temperatures, and clear skies that made this trees in the front of Mama G's house sparkle.  We were also able to take advantage of the neary-by groomed x-country ski trails for the first time which was fun.



Here's the God Jul feast at Mama G's house slowly taking form:

We were especially lucky this Christmas because Jessica and Odie were able to join us.


Here's Mama G with the new scarf I made her.


After opening gifts, we engaged in some non-traditional but still festive activities:


The house quickly descended into chaos:


Especially when Roger brought this guy out and Jessica got a hold of it!

Poor Bob!  This wasn't what he was expecting for Christmas!


Somehow, Mama G paid no mind to the chaos, and found a quiet spot to model her new clothes!  Must come with having raised 3 boys.


On Christmas Day we drove to Calgary to spend Christmas with my family.  There was a different kind of chaos here--half of it looked like this:


And the other half looked like this!


We were quickly introduced to Beyblades, and Zhu Zhu pets--and as you can see, these toys aren't just for kids:

Here's feast number 2:


Opening Christmas gifts is an entirely different experience with a 3 and 6 year old around!  Here's Erin with a mouse stuffy that she promptly hugged to her neck after opening.



And my mom with the scarf I made her


And the Doodle Bug that even I wanted to play with:


Joyce with a gigantic can of Chef Boyardee--it doesn't seem to take much to make her happy.. I'll have to remember this for next year.


And Brendan and Erin enjoying some gifts from Mama G's house!

Anyways, this year, after Christmas Joyce, Raymond, Roger and I headed out to Lake Louise to do some skiing.  Unfortunately Louise was crawling with skiers and snow boarders and was icy. We heard that it was the worst snowfall they had in 10 years!  I did enjoy eating though, and also the nice achy feeling you get in your legs after a full day of skiing--and after the initial shock of Raymond and Roger realizing that we were really sharing a room I think everybody had fun.  We made a quick stop in Cochrane on the way back to Calgary from Louise and saw this:



Hmmm... interesting.... 




1 comment:

Erin said...

seems like a wonderful two days!