Our Adventures

A few more days of our break and then we are back to the grind. It has been a good break but like usual, it went too fast. We started it off by trying out my new snowboard up at Hemlock. There was tonnes of snow and my board rode really well. By the end of the afternoon it was getting hard to tell the difference between the mountain and sky because of the fog so we packed it in. Other than almost sliding into the rear-end of a truck on our way down the mountain, it was a good day. The next morning we had Christmas with just us and Molly. I got spoiled with a new mini-ipad, which I figure was a ploy for me to not use Chris' anymore. But the ploy worked and I love it. Chris got a new watch, jacket (that needed the sleeves lengthened), a map and an outdoor magazine subscription. That evening my mom and bro came over for turkey supper and presents from my mom. Then we headed to bed early because we had to wake up the next morning at 4am so my brother could drive us to the airport for our early flight to Herbert.

We enjoyed a nice relaxing evening once we got there because all the other brother's were with their wive's sides that night. Christmas morning we had brunch with everyone except Alysha who was working. The boys pulled out the old Super Nintendo and reverted to being 8 year olds again. I had some fun building towers with Cole or more like letting Cole pull apart what I built. After being cooped up for a bit we headed outside, Chris had already cut trails for cross-country skiing and now was time for the boys to play another childhood game, hide and seek in the bales. I just watched because I wasn't prepared to fall down to the bottom of the stacks. Poor Jake watched from the ground and nearly froze his feet off because he didn't want to leave us. Then before heading to Chris' Aunt and Uncle's for supper Chris had to wear his dad's Clipper jersey for losing a bet that the Lakers would be ahead of the Clippers by Christmas. Alysha joined us a little after we ate supper and we got to meet Jason's new girlfriend Ashley. I don't know if she'll ever want to play games with us again because the boys got a little out of hand during jungle speed. We saw Darren on FaceTime from Prince George, I think it confused Chris' grandparents that he was inside a computer. The next morning we opened presents...or watched Cole open presents. We gave him a puppy that we named Molly, he sort of figured out how to walk it but sometimes would end up pulling it backwards and upside down from its neck. Might have to work on that one. He also loved his Potato Head and Elmo from Papa and Budda (what he says for Grandma). After playing some games, we headed out to do some cross-country skiing in the trails that Chris made the day before. Then we had delicious ham for supper and Chris worked his magic with Cole, giving him a potato head show and singing him lullabies (that he randomly made up). The next day at the farm the boys tubed behind the quad and then later I decided to drive so Ryan put on the welding mask as a helmet and I ripped him and Chris around the field. Supposedly I was the most wild driver of all of them. The day after we went on a trek through the snow to a dugout about a mile away. It was quite a workout, Jake almost froze his feet off but it was a beautiful blue sky day to get out. That night we all went to Kevin and Alysha's for supper and Chris and I stayed the night. We enjoyed a lazy day at their house playing with Cole and then we headed back to Herbert for the Braun gathering at the church. Andrew and Janette showed up on their way back from Calgary so it was great to see them there (we usually are in opposite places at Christmas and summer). After supper, the games were pulled out and the room was full of tables with a variety of games going on at once. While I was helping the girls sort out a puzzle you could here stomping and loud noise above us so I went to check it out. Turns out the boys decided to have an impromptu band session. I don't really know what to call it, karaoke? Loud voices? Noise? Anyways it was entertaining to watch for while. We had a fun night of game playing and it was great to see everyone. Then we enjoyed one last day at the farm and as we were descending into Abbotsford we were greeted by an amazing sunset over the snow covered mountains. It was quite beautiful, hard to capture.

We got home around 5pm and then had Mike, Sarah, Eric and Carmen come over around 8pm for our New Years Minute to Win It party. We played a bunch of games of different intensities and entertainment levels. I did a lot worse than I thought I would and in the end Mike was our champion. I'd have to say that the most entertaining game to watch was nose dive where you had to put vaseline on your nose and stick a cotton ball to it and then transfer it to a different plate 10 feet away, all without using your hands. Junk in the Trunk, shaking ping pong balls out of a kleenex box was also funny but people were too good at it. Our games brought us until 30 minutes until the New Year so we found the Seattle channel and chatted for a bit, got the champagne ready (yes Chris had to get real champagne) and then when the clock struck 12 we clinked glasses and kissed the appropriate spouse.

Christmas Break
Now that the partying is over we have decided (well Chris decided and I'm going along with it) to do a 30 day Whole Food diet where we only eat things like meat, eggs, fruit and veggies. Basically no processed food, sugar, grains or dairy. Should be interesting to see if it effects how we feel. So far we have survived, we'll see how it goes. Yesterday Chris and his co-teacher for Outdoor Ed, Jason, went up to Manning Park to scope out cross-country and snowshoe trails that they will do with the kids soon. They took a trail that leads to an old cabin that you can use to sleep in and that had some pretty good views from the top floor. Tomorrow we are heading to Manning again with some friends to snowshoe around the lakes there. Should be fun!