What a Week at Whistler

We just got back from spending a great week at Whistler, which is about 1.5 hours north of Vancouver, BC. Eamon was really looking forward to going to Canada, and had a blast playing with our friends Brian and Anne's twin boys, Lucas and Finn. He loves to get silly with the twins and make a ton of noise. Also, as you can see in the picture below, he loves playing the "FREEZE!!" game.

FREEZE!!

Eamon and Finn

From the balcony

The weather could not have been better for us. It hasn't been a good year for snow in the northwest, but it snowed about 3 feet(!!) while we were there and the snow was light, soft and fun. It snowed every single day we were there, and occasionally the sun poked through which made for some beautiful days. On the last day we had a beautiful sunny day.  Our rental house was situated right on the slope, so we had lots of opportunities to see the conditions. From our living room we could see all the way down the valley, or we could look across the slopes to the woods and houses on the other side.

Eamon was super excited to go to ski school. We signed him up for 3 full days. When he started he was solidly level 1, which means that he was still learning how to stop and turn. But by the end of the 3rd day, he was an official shredder. He can turn and stop really well, and loves going fast. We're still learning to cope with that last one :)

The ski school is great there. Its called Whistler Kids, and the instructors come from all over the world (Eamon's instructor, Valentin, was from Cologne). Every kid gets a hat at the end, and Eamon has declared that his new favorite hat is the Whistler Kids hat (in large part because its orange, his favorite color).

On our last day there, Eamon and Daddy skied together all afternoon. It was LOT of fun. We started skiing on the magic carpet (which is a special conveyor belt lift), but after just a few runs on that, we moved up to a chairlift that served a green run.

on the trail

We also had a lot of fun cross-country skiing together. Whistler has lots of nice cross-country trails for all skill levels, and Mommy discovered a new snow sport that she LOVES. We spent thursday afternoon skiing around the lake together. We all rented skis so that we could enjoy the day together. It was the first time on cross country skis for both Eamon and Mommy, but by the end of the day they were both complete converts. Mommy went back for more on Friday, when Eamon and Daddy were downhill skiing together. 

The trails were really pretty. On the green trails there are a few hills, but nothing too steep so they were a great place to learn. 

Getting ready

Both Mommy and Eamon took a few minutes to get the hang of it. Mommy didn't fall very much, but she was a little wobbly at first. Eamon fell, but even so he was having a blast. Its amazing how much more fun a fall can be when its followed up with a shout of "WIPE OUT!!"

After not very long though, they were both sliding and skiing like pros. 

After a great 6 days up on the mountain, we headed home on saturday. It was a great vacation, but its nice to be home :)