Mt Washington March 4th 2014

It's our turn to cook breakfast.  Katey soaked Texas toast style bread overnight in a French toast mixture, for a baked French toast breakfast.  It turned out to be great tasting soggy baked bread w bacon.  I liked it.

Catherine, oli and myself went Nordic skiing, which was just a stones throw from our condo.  We rented our gear and skied our way around the Nordic park.  Katey did better than I thought, but Oli and I separated to do something more challenging, or at least to pick up the pace a bit.  Sorry katey,  you too slow for the big boys.

Gold medal for effort

Over dressed

PIZZA! PIZZA!!!!

Noon came quick, so we headed back for lunch.  Afterwards, oli, kasia Thomas and I bought the half day pass and had about 2 1/2 hrs to board.  Time flies and the Mt closed at 3:30pm.  Perogies and sausage tonight, since the sztaba's are cooking.

Thomas and view

Thomas and Amelie

Mt Washington March 3rd 2014

The sztaba's prepared breakfast.  Great polish style breaky with sausage bread & boiled eggs.  Kasia oli and I headed out for a day of boarding. 

Sztabas

Monday, and the Mt is almost vacant

Terrific day. The kampioni's are cooking tonight.  Salmon and taters.  Drinking beer and relaxed this evening.

Mt Washington March 2nd 2014

I picked up the truck from the folks and Catherine stayed home to make the beef stew.  Three couples are heading up to Mt Washington resort on Vancouver Island and we're all responsible for various meals  Catherine took first night and precooked some Guinness stew for everyone.
 We took the 10:30 am ferry to Nanaimo and met up with Thomas a few cars behind in line.  He's been in Chicago for months on maternity leave so this is quite the reunion, especially since we get to meet Amelie for the first time.  Super cute 2 month year old with big curious eyes.

A time for silent reflection

We did some shopping in Nanaimo and made our way to Mt Washington on the no 19 hwy.  arrived around 3pm and Thomas was already there.  It's a big condo, a stones throw from the Hawk chair lift and nordic ski area.

View from driveway

The Sztaba family showed up later in the evening.  Catherine warmed up the stew, cooked the Hawaiian rice and we all sat down to a terrific meal, then played Pictionary and Monopoly till midnight.  A highlight of the evening was watching Olaf Sztaba attempt to draw a paperclip while Thomas rapid fired his best guesses. 

I can't see a paperclip

Sun Peaks February 25th

Feb 25th - Going home today.  Dean's dropping me off in Kamloops and picking up Shawn. But first I tagged along as Catherine and Dean prepare the twins for their first attempt at skiing. 

It gets better, trust me.

G or C? No idea.

Waiting at the Greyhound bus terminal:  The only highlight about this place is an authentic Gun's n Roses pin ball machine.  So cool.

Sun Peaks February 24th

 I planned to board all day again, but I wasn't as quick to jump out of bed.  I'll have that second cup of coffee...I left for the Morrisey lift around 9am with the intention of returning for lunch and meeting up with Dean.  It's Monday and the Mt is nicely groomed with little competition for space.  The skies are clearing and the runs are well lit.  As planned, I boarded alone for a couple hours and then headed back for some grub.  Dean was able to board for a bit in the afternoon, but he was sharing his afternoon pass, so he headed back after a couple hours.  More random shots.

 Dinner was chicken pot pie and Greek salad.  Sorry no food porn photo available.  It was chicken pot pie; use your imagination.   In the evening, G & C watched a children's show which emanated an annoying high pitched voice not intended for 42 year olds, so I hid in my bedroom.  After the children we're separated into their separate sleeping quarters, we watched Crash. Not the weird 1996 crash, but the 2004 Crash about race and stereotypes in America.  Spoiler alert -  Stereotypes are not to be relied upon to accurately predict an individual's future behavior.

Gratuitous hot tub pic

Sun Peaks February 2014

February 22 2014  - I took a cab to Dean's around 9:30am Saturday morning.  It was lightly snowing. We left for Sun Peaks soon after I arrived.  Originally we planned to stop in Chilliwack for a visit with Dean's Mom, but due to snowy conditions she didn't feel comfortable making the necessary decent to Tim Horton's.  We continued on to Hope and stopped for lunch there.  After a quick bite, Dean and Catherine gave the kids a shot of liquid gravol which put them to sleep till the Kamloops Costco.  Silence is indeed golden.  We Loaded up on bulk everything and arrived in Sun Peaks soon thereafter. The condo was a stones throw from the Stones Throw.  It's 15 minute walk to the village, but close enough to a chair lift to be considered ski in ski out.

We all ate Pizza and Veggies and watched Thomas the Train till the kids went to bed.  Times have changed.

Feb 23 - Woke up and discovered Canada won the gold medal in Olympic hockey.  I think many people decided to stay up and watch the game at 4:00am because the hills were vacant first thing in the morning.  The prior tenants were good enough to leave behind a huge can of coffee so I had ample energy to start my day at 8:30.  I hopped on my board and slid down to the Morrisey express lift.  The other side of the mountain was larger and had better conditions so I spent most of the day there.  Here are a few random shots I took throughout the day

Dean made it out in the afternoon.