Italy 1

Our journey to Italy went relatively smoothly. We spent Thursday packing while Elise was in school. Pam picked Elise up at about 1:30 pm and we headed to Vancouver, dropped off our van and took a taxi to the airport. We checked in early, hung out at the gate for a couple of hours and boarded the plane on time. We walked through first class and looked on with envy at the sleeper seats (they looked like small fold-out couches) - they'd make the flight far more bearable. Elise was indifferent to this luxury and was extremely excited about the journey, far more so than Pam or I, it seemed.

Elise on the gangway toward our Europe-bound flight. Note the "princess" carry-on luggage and the "love" tracksuit.


In her seat. She was very excited about this trip, and it shows.


We arrived in London, waited in endless line-ups, then found a place to rest. The new terminal (Terminal 5) had some large, leather sofas and we all lay down and promptly fell asleep. Good thing Pam woke up because we almost missed our connecting flight! No kidding. By the time we got to the gate, they were almost boarding. Close call...

We landed in Nice a couple hours later, picked up our rental car and immediately started driving in the wrong direction toward Marseilles. The decreasing exit numbers clued us in and we turned around, with difficulty. Not a good start. We then found a large grocery store and rushed around buying breakfast and lunch staples as they were about to close. We snacked in the car while we drove to Albenga along a highway with the most tunnels I've ever driven. Elise and I stopped counting at 28, there were just too many. The drive was surreal as the night was clear and we could see all the city lights down by the Mediterranean, but had no impression of the landscape. We made it to our apartment without any more wrong turns and were immediately relieved - the house was beautiful. We unpacked, curled up in our beds and all fell into a deep, long sleep.

Two weeks wont' be much time, but we are looking forward to starting our climbing and explorations. We pray for decent weather.

Marc

Christmas Concert

This past Thursday was Elise's first Christmas Concert at school. She was extremely excited and we were counting the days (sleeps) for her leading up to the big event. The morning of the concert, while I was getting her breakfast ready, she came up to me with a small basket of clothes. She said, "Dad, can we put these in my school bag? They're my change of clothes in case I have an accident in the gym today." Explanation: A couple of weeks ago, Elise's class was playing in the gym. She was having so much fun that she didn't heed the warnings to visit the bathroom, and had an accident. Obviously, she'd spent time thinking about this and didn't want to be caught unprepared in case it happened on the BIG DAY, hence the extra clothes... Very cute, I thought.


The school put on a good show, and Elise's class eventually got up on stage and sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". There were pictures with Santa and a movie night as well. Elise had a wonderful time, and watched the entire movie on the gym mats with her friends, eating popcorn and cupcakes. I think the day lived up to her expectations and was thoroughly enjoyed.



Last weekend we purchased Elise a new ski coat that's warm, colourful, and has a nice fuzzy collar (an important attribute). She and I tested it out last weekend, and found the Whiskey Jacks at the bottom of the Harmony Chair, much to her delight. This one bird sat on her hand for at least 30 seconds - a real treat! The adults in the line up thought it was very cute.


Anyway, we are getting ready for our trip to Italy. We leave next Thursday afternoon and fly to Nice via London. We have a small apartment booked just north of Albenga, Italy and a rental car booked for the entire time. Santa has been informed via letter that we will be out of our house over the holidays and all necessary arrangements have been made.

A week of sunny weather here is looking like it's coming to an end.

Marc

Friday Skiing

Here's some pictures from a nice, sunny day skiing last week. We went up first thing in the morning and the light on the Tantalus Mountains was beautiful. The day was clear and we skied packed powder on all the runs. As you can see, the terrain on Blackcomb can still use more snow - it's pretty rocky in the bowls. Elise enjoyed going through the Blackcomb terrain park and going off the jumps (small mounds) with me spotting her. Around us were young skiers doing flips, spins, etc. Impressive...

Riding the Catskinner chair.


Secret Bowl and Cougar Chutes on Blackcomb.


Cougar Milk, a blue run on Blackcomb. This is a favourite because the bottom of the run has a forest with skiable lines that she likes to explore.



Morning light on the Tantalus Mountains between Squamish and Whistler.

Winter is Here!

Winter arrived with a vengeance in Squamish last night. When we went to bed we could see stars, and when we woke up, there was at least 20 cm of new snow outside. It was beautiful, but the shovelling was not! The forecast is for heavy precipitation all week, but most of it will come in the form of rain at out elevation. Therefore, this winter wonderland will not last, but Whistler Blackcomb will be getting major snow in the alpine as the temperatures are supposed to hold at just above freezing on the valley floor. I'm not sure what happened in Vancouver overnight, but it's a mess up here. Luckily, we'll be getting our new snow tires installed tomorrow...

Opening Day!!!

Whistler Blackcomb opened on Friday, and I did what any responsible parent would do - I pulled my daughter out of school to go skiing! We teamed up with Patrick Franz and his son Everest and hit the road at 7:30 am.

The day began cloudy, but slowly cleared and we ended with gorgeous weather. I could tell Elise was a little pensive in the morning. I think she was worried about how it would feel after a summer off. She did well on her first run and, partway down, said to me, "I remember how to do it!". She did very well, but her stamina was poor compared to the end of last season. It will come back fast, I'm sure.

It was a cold day, and we only did five runs. It was also very crowded because everyone was skiing just three lifts on Whistler due to the limited early-season terrain. Pam plans to go up today with Elise for a few runs, and then we hope to go to the climbing gym in Vancouver tomorrow.

Winter is officially here and Elise starts her ski lessons after New Years. She's excited!

View looking west from the mountain.

Riding in the sun. Snacking on gumdrops. Life is good...

Back From Kentucky

After a 5:30 am start in Kentucky, I made it to Bellingham around 7:00 pm, Pacific time. Pam and Elise were waiting for me at the airport, and it was great to see them. We had dinner in Bellingham and then drove straight into a one-hour border line-up to get back into Canada - ugh! I think we got back to Squamish around 10:30 pm - it was a long day...

We went to the climbing gym on Sunday and Elise did a lot of climbing, both on a rope and bouldering. It was the most she's ever done, and she was exhausted. I had to force her to rest. She wants to go back next weekend.

Now it's back to the work-school grind until Christmas. Whistler is set to open on Friday! Stay tuned.

Here's a final picture from Kentucky. It's one of my travel partners, Pete Lindgren, on a route called Kaleidoscope.

Halloween

Here are a number of pictures of Elise on Halloween. She dressed up as Rapunzel and my mother made a fantastic costume for her. Look at that hair! "Tangled" is one of her favourite movies, so Rapunzel was an obvious choice...

I've got just over one week left in Kentucky and then I'll be heading home to the family. I'm really looking forward to seeing them again...