Skiing with Owen

We've always enjoyed skiing, but while living on the East Coast, we never spent a lot of time making the effort to drive somewhere to go do it.  Well here in Vancouver we have no excuses as we have no less than 4 ski mountains within an hour of the house.  A few weekends ago I wanted to get Owen out and let him practice some.... it was kindof spur of the moment.. a nice weekend morning, not too cold... and randomly we ran into our neighbors up there so Owen got to ski with some of his friends too.   We had him out for lessons almost 2 years ago now and he didn't get to ski at all last season as we were moving up here to Vancouver.  I was shocked at how fast he picked it up again.  After getting his bearings, and skiing down with me a few times, he was back on his own.  One of two runs by himself and he was turning, stopping and having so much fun.  We had such a great time and I can't wait to get him back out again!

Here we are with the Peregrym's.

Owen riding up the "magic carpet"  It sure beat teaching him how to ride a T-Bar.

The man in action sporting some good form.

Getting ready to ride up to the top again!

Here's a segment of video of Owen skiing.  I hit the stop record button accidentally so it cuts short at the end... he continued down around the group of people and came to a stop like an old pro.

Snow!

Finally some snow in Vancouver!  This was mid-January and as I'm writing this, it's February and beautiful and appears that this may have been the only snow of any significance for this season.  Being closer to the coast, the winter weather is mild at our elevation, rarely getting much below freezing.  We've had a lot of rain (surprise) which has been all snow in the mountains, making a pretty great season for the ski resorts...  Anyhow, we received maybe 5 inches of sticky snow and we spent most of the day outside making snowmen and sledding!

The snow stuck to the trees around the house and was very pretty in the morning.  Unfortunate down-side was a few big branches broke off and fell to the ground.

Molly is always taking pictures of me with her camera when I'm trying to take pictures of her.  She was getting ready to play and Owen was already out on the porch under the watchful eye of Bailey..  :)  She was quite the blast of winter color with her hot pink snowpants!

Owen in action....

Molly was just running around in the snow for a while....

Then she plopped down and started making snow angels.  She's kept saying Daddy look at my angels!

I can't believe she's almost 3.  Where did the time go?

Owen rolling up the start of the snowman!   Later in the afternoon at his friends house, we rolled a huge snow ball, then the boys cut a big hole in the middle so they could slide through it!

This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.  I wish I could bottle up their laughter sometimes.. it's contagious.

He was so excited to help shovel snow and worked until he wore himself out...... hmmm I wonder how long that enthusiasm will last?

Of course, Molly had to have her shovel too because brother was helping daddy...  she just started working on clearing the lawn.

Later in the weekend, we went sledding with friends over at the community center where their is a nice sledding hill.  Most of the main path was worn down to dirt, but there was still a snow covered run...  Molly was hilarious instructing me...  Daddy, you sit on the sled, then I will sit in your lap, then we will go down the hill... she laughed so hard the whole way down... then of course, it was her idea that I carry her back up the hill because suddenly her legs were tired.  Owen had a blast with his buddies and they were catching air on a little jump in the middle of the hill.

Slightly off topic, here's Miss Molly and her princesses...  Aunt Sarah mailed up a Disney princess dress up kit for Molly for Christmas and she enjoys them so much!  They have a standup cutout and different outfits and accessories that she can stick to them.

She would dress them up and then stand back and say hmmmmm...  the crossed arms and pointy fingers just round out the whole scene.  We laughed a lot watching her, but she was very serious in her efforts.

New Years 2011

We did a variety of things over New Years holiday here in Vancouver...

New Years morning demonstration of how to effectively utilize every surface of a couch!

Owen had his friends Noah and Roman come over and they built an impressive geotrax layout.  Ok, I helped a little with layering the ramps, but they came up with the general idea...  A few strategically placed guardrails to keep all the trains on the tracks and they played for hours...

 

New Years dinner at our friends Greg & Anita's house.  Here's the gang deep in conversation with their party crowns on.

A short movie captured attention for a little while...

Jenga time!

Molly and Allison crashed when we got home, but Owen stayed up until midnight and watched the "ball drop" with me.  He was so excited to do this and thankfully slept in a little on New Years day.  :)

New Years day was the last day for the Canyon lights at Capilano Suspension bridge... so we went over and beat most of the crowd early in the evening.  They had lights everywhere, including the whole treetop adventure area, which was quite pretty.  This is the main entrance from the parking lot.

The bridge itself was lit the entire span. 

Me and the crazy snowbirds...

January 2nd, we visited the Vancouver Aquarium in the afternoon...  They recently re-opened an exhibit and had the boa-constrictor back on display.  Allison cringed at this, but Owen thought he was pretty cool.


Owen and Allison getting ready to watch the Polar Express 4D short movie!

Molly with her starfish

And when it got dark, we went over and rode the Stanley park train through the light exhibit they have set up during the holidays.  The kids really enjoyed this....

Grandma & Grandpa Horvath & Christmas 2011

So I hear that this was a chain barrette event...  Owen was putting them in Molly's hair... who was putting them in Allison's hair, who was busy putting one in Bailey's fur....  :) 

I think he looks a little embarassed.


And this is what happens when we leave Owen alone with Molly and a sheet of stickers. 

We were so happy to have Mom & Dad visit us here in Vancouver for Christmas.  We had several days of absolutely beautiful weather and made it out to some of our favorite spots to see the sights.  Here's Mom & Dad on Burnaby mountain overlooking Burrard inlet.

Owen and Grandpa on the pier at Rocky Point.

It was a beautiful afternoon and Allison got some great pictures of the scenery.  This is a along the walking path at Rocky Point.  The lone seagull is quite stoic on his perch.  We're starting to get some snow now at elevation so the mountains are turning white again as time goes on.

Looking East.  The tide was in and the inlet was quite full.  The mountains are really pretty in the background.

The weekend before Christmas was rainy, but it cleared up in the evening, so we drove up Cypress Mountain to the lookout to see the city.  It was really cold and Molly was throwing a fit, so here's a very happy Owen with Grandma & Grandpa

Vancouver from the North.  The bridge in the center is the Lion's gate bridge.  It connects North Vancouver to Stanley Park.  Directly behind the bridge you can see the lights from Canada Place and to the right of that is the city center.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house.....

Christmas Eve getting ready for church.....

Of course the silly crew came out a few times.  Why is it that kids never want to stand and smile when you want them to? Owen's leg just cracks me up....

We let the kids open some special gifts from Grandma & Grandpa on Christmas eve.  Owen with mom, very excited for a video about trains!

This year Dad made the little grand-daughters a bunk bed for their dolls.   Molly was absolutely in love the first time she saw it.  She carefully puts her dolly's to bed every night in it and covers them up.

Making sure everyone is snug as a bug.

Owen had the opportunity to buy something special from a sale at school for Allison and I.  This was his gift and he was so excited to give me the "crazy" pencil.  It means so much that he put thought into something just for me...

Can you just feel the attitude?  We have to remind ourselves a lot these days that she's only 2.

Hmmmm which ones are for me?

Serious discussion about something important I'm sure...

When we were growing up, Mom encouraged and supported a love of reading.  Now she's working hard to pass it along to the next generation!  Owen just loves to sit and read with her....  here they are, with a book about trains of course.

We've had some Christmas morning traditions for decades now and one is having delicious home-made sticky buns for breakfast.  Owen was an addict and devoured more than just one!

Molly was less interested in the sticky buns, but she and Grandma had made a favorite of hers earlier in the week.... pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  I have no idea how many she ate. :)

Excitement and Anticipation!

   

Owen has a few hex bugs now and this was a new controllable crab.  He and Grandpa had a lot of fun playing with them.

 

 Molly and her play doughnuts!  Look Dad, they have sprinkles! 

 

Owen introducing Mr. Crab to Mr. Spider. 

For close to a year now Owen has been talking about a model train and how much he would really really like to have one of his own.  Grandma & Grandpa Stapler made the dream come true this year.  He was and still is enthralled with this train and plays with it just about every day.

A new kind of Christmas sharing... Opening present together via Skype!

A quiet moment with Grandma and Bailey on the couch.  Molly is a great little snuggler.

Lego Time!!

  

Molly and her princess scooter... She was so excited to ride "just like brother"....

Christmas was certainly different this year.  It was wonderful to have mom & dad visiting, bringing a familiar feeling and family closeness to our home in Canada this year.  At the same time, we also missed sharing the traditional annual celebrations with our family in Lancaster.  In the end, the reason we celebrate Christmas is a steady and unchanging influence on our lives and for that we are truly blessed.