Before we left though, we had our usual 'just the four of us' Christmas at home. It was very low key and we let the kids open the presents from us early since we didn't want to cart them all the way to Revelstoke. The kids happily played with the present while Josh and I packed and took down all the Christmas decorations! (Yes, we were packing Christmas away before others were even celebrating)
The drive up to Revelstoke was awesome. We decided to get a pizza from Costco the day before. That way we could have both breakfast and lunch in the car. The weather forecast called for snow on the day we were driving so we were a bit worried. Turns out the roads were pretty clear except for the the summit and we made it in just 5hrs! We only stopped for gas once in Merritt and the kids and I didn't even get out of the car. We've come a long way since the road trips in the early days.
The days have been filled with snow play, sliding down the giant hill at the back of the property, swimming, skiing, tubing and even building an igloo (an 'ice house' to be PC). Christmas day with the Blommesteins was fun except that it was cut short because of a stomach flu. Luckily we were able to open our presents and share our 'surprisas' before it all went downhill. The surprisas are always fun to open and takes the fun to a whole new level.
Josh inside his castle and the ice house in the background
I have to admit that the ice house is quite cozy inside.
Three generations of Blommesteins knitting.
Checking to see if Santa found us at Oma and Opa's house.
Cousins bonding over a gingerbread train.
Mady was SO excited to give Kaes the present she made him.
Uncle Aaron's surprisa
Oma's surprisa
Our friends Ed, Liezel and Sophia even joined us for a couple of days and we had a great time with them on the bunny hill. I'll have a separate post on our skiing endeavors up soon.
Dance party with Tita and Sophia
New Years Eve was a lot of fun this year too. Now that the kids are older, we can stretch bedtime a little later and not have to pay too much for it the next day. We toasted the new year at home with some chippies, chocolates and sparkling apple juice. It was the kids' first time with carbonated drink and their reactions to the fizz was quite funny. Maddy commented that she did not like the feeling of all the burps afterwards. The ski hill had some family friendly events so we went up there to check it out. Unfortunately we returned our rental skis that afternoon, so the kids couldn't participate in the glo-stick ski parade on the bunny hill. We did make it in time to get one tubing ride in before the hill closed. We played in the snow for a bit while we waited for the fireworks show. They had a family friendly show at 8:30pm so that the kids could be up to watch. We were quite impressed with the show. We came home and the kids went to bed quite easily, leaving the adults to watch a movie and wait to toast at midnight.
Maddy made these New Years hats for the two of them.
It was too funny watching Ethan drink the sparkling juice and then grimace at the bubbles.
A quick tubing run before the fireworks.
Fireworks with Oma
It felt like there was a lot of snow in Revy this year. Actually on the second to last evening, the roads to and from town were closed due to avalanche warnings. The towns people were asked to open up their homes to travellers who were stranded because all the bed and breakfasts and hotel were booked. That same night, there was a power outage. We heard that in some houses the temparatures dropped quite a bit. We were warm and toasty (still had the sliding door to the backyard a sliver open) due to dad's ingenious house design!
We are now home and the kids are busy playing with all their new toys again. It's good to be back home, but also sad to leave the family time.
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