New Years

After Christmas we went back home to Vancouver and a few days later, Barb and Raymond came and joined us for a Vancouver visit.

We had a quiet and cozy New Years with them and Chris.

We had a nice roast beef dinner that Raymond made MMMMMmmm!















While they were here on the weekend we decided to go skiing. I'd gotten my new gear from Mom and Dad and Mike got skis from me so we headed up to Cypress.
Raymond was very brave in my opinion and really wanted to ski after not having done it in about 15 years. I thought for sure that he would fall all over the place and give up after one run, nope.

Just like riding a bike, he remembered how to ski and did great.

I hung out by myself because believe it or not, I was actually much faster than Mike and Raymond at least while they were getting used to it after so many years.













After skiing we had much deserved beers and lunch in the lodge and then headed home. I can't wait to get back up there, I finally seem to be getting it this year!

What else have we been up to? At the end of this month, we are heading to LA for a little vacation. Mike put in to get Tonight Show tickets with Conan O'Brien and we drew for Feb 2. We're going to visit LA and see the show. (If it still exists by the time we get there. As you may of heard he is losing the show and Jay Leno is taking back the slot).

We plan to see the Hollywood sign, visit Venice Beach, go on a tour of the celebrity homes and maybe see a hockey or baseball game and possibly visit Disneyland.

Then shortly after that we will be seeing the olympics and Emily and George will be coming to visit us. They are seeing a hockey game and possibly staying up in Whistler with a friend of theirs for a little while.

Here it's been raining like crazy and extremely mild. They are worried that there won't be enough snow on Cypress for the snowboarding, we shall see.

Other than that there has been the horrible tragedy in Haiti. Please remember to give generously, the Canadian gov is matching contributions to the Red Cross, Unicef, etc. for a limited amount of time.

Christmas

This Christmas, Mike and I spent it in Calgary at Tina's place. It was Dax's first Christmas so the family was all meeting there this year so the whole B clan could be together.

The night before we left, Mike and I opened some of our presents since we'd have to wait until after Christmas otherwise. I opened the snowboarding gear that Mom & Dad got me. I absolutely love it and I have got to use it for the first time and it all fit and worked great.



This year Mike's big present was a new ski package. Skis, boots, bindings and poles. This is fantastic now because all we have to do when we hit the slopes is get the lift tickets. No more standing in line for rentals.

Our fabulous friend Chris looked after Unos and Tala while we were away and he did a fantastic job. I'd of felt so guilty leaving them in a kennel over the holidays.

The next day we hopped on a plane very early in the morning and Kim picked us up at the airport *thanks Kim.

We had a great time, lots of good food, drinks, cooking, shopping and laughs.

I even got a chance to hang out with Emily and George who stopped in on their way back from skiing at Lake Louise.












































Mike got hockey gear from the family. He'll have to now find a league to join to get into hockey again. He has been thinking about it for a while.

We also had a great time playing on the wii fit. I'm even considering getting one it was so much fun.

Tina's boyfriend Jesse was the best at the game and there was some stiff competition.

Emily, George, Mike and I all went out for a fun dinner at a restaurant called Japanese Garden. Basically it is a Japanese steakhouse where they do the entertainment grilling similar to Osaka. We went back to their hotel and had some drinks and we had a blast. Thanks guys!





























So that was Christmas, then we home visited with the doggies and Raymond and Barb came to Vancouver and visited with us.

More on that next blog.

Hope everyone back home had a great Christmas too! I called everyone and got lots of great messages, texts, calls over Christmas. Thanks everyone!