Weekend Recap

After a long work week I was able to take a bit easy on Friday. A friend came over for coffee in the morning and after a bit of work in the afternoon, Q and I hit the road for Orillia, after baseball. We had booked a hotel for the weekend but then E had plans with his friends so he and Dave came up on Saturday morning instead. 

Saturday was very warm, and the rain held off for the morning. I got away with wearing only my vest and sunglasses, a true spring ski day.

The end of season banquet was that night. The theme was Olympics (so there were flags from around the world) but of course most people were dressed in Team Canada clothing. 

E got the award for Most Improved Athlete in the U16/U19 group.  He had a great year and his coach noted that he asked for advice and applied it, as well as helping out with setting the course gates for training which helps understanding as well. 

Because of the expected rain (and it did come down in the afternoon), the time of the banquet was changed and it meant we were finished up by 7:00. It was nice to have an early night and get back to the hotel.

Sunday was Club Championship day.  All athletes and coaches get to race and parents are invited to race too (which Dave and I did not do).  

Q had a really great first run, but then hit a gate on his second run and got a DNF. He was really disappointed but got some encouraging words from his coach. 

And then he moved on and had fun playing in the snow with his friends.

E did well too and ended up 4th in his group.

The top 4 U16 boys.

Free Beavertails for the kiddos, I took Q and two friends over to get them.

The race format took a long time and the podium ceremony didn't start until 4:00.  But with the extra evening daylight, it was still light out when we were driving home. 

As much skiing as we did, it seems amazing that the season is actually over.  Good times spent with good people. 

Weekend Recap

If you're tired of the ski weekend posts, just stick with me for a few more weeks and then I'll be morphing into baseball and golf ;)

On Friday both boys went on school ski trips.  Q was with his school and E tagged along with one of his friends. The friend's dad is a principal at a school and he took his son and two friends.  It was a fun day for both kids getting to free ski with their friends. Their ski days are usually pretty structured with training and races, so it was fun to just do whatever for the day.

That night E went to a birthday party at The Keg. These boys love a Shirley Temple.

We skied on Saturday but it was not a great day.  The snow was icy and it was very windy. We did ski but everyone agreed it was the worst day for conditions of the year. 

That night Q had his last baseball tryout and then we all got to bed pretty early.

On Sunday we hit the road extra early to head to Devil's Glen for E's last ski race of the season.  I sat in the back with Q for a change.

Devil's Glen is a private club and it is very nice and the snow conditions were 100 times better than the day before.  I had opted not to ski but Dave and Q did a bunch of runs. Devil's Glen is known for its steep pitch and Q had no issue zooming down. 

And E didn't have any problems either, he put in two good runs for his race, better than many people as there were a lot of DNFs and ended up in 17th place, a strong finish to his year. 

We made some frozen Costco pizzas for dinner and watched Mrs. Doubtfire with the kids. 

Weekend Recap

I disappeared from here last week because I didn't have much to say other than I was watching the Olympics!! Haha. But as much as I love them, I am fine with them being over now.  That chapter is closed.  The Gold Medal hockey games for the men and women were disappointing for us, of course, because I think both teams outplayed their opponents for most of the game. Getting beat by the Americans always stings a bit more, but both our men and women's teams played well and we are proud of them. Same with the curling, men with gold, but Rachel Homan's bronze is nothing to sneeze at. Okay, enough about the Olympics for now :)

If you didn't see it, check out the CBC's final montage, you can find it in their reels @cbcolympics on Instagram. 

Our weekend was filled with skiing again. 

On Friday night Q and I played a game of crib, as a non-screen time activity. He beat me.

On Saturday morning the temperature was pretty good, and although the snow started out a bit icy, it wasn't that bad of a day.  It was quite busy though so I only skied for a little bit after lunch.  

Our ski racers, ready for the day.  They got report cards last week and they got excellent marks, E especially has really improved this year, his coaches have made a point to tell us in person how proud they are of his efforts.

In line for first chair up the hill (and I got on the second chair).

Q and one of his buddies. They have a great time together.

E's ski group had their potluck after skiing and we hung out for a bit with them to enjoy some good food and watch the men's curling finals. 

On Sunday morning, we had a snowy drive up north. Dave dropped me and E off at The Heights for E's race and he and Q continued on to our hill.  I had the hockey game on my phone with an earbud in one year to listen to the game while I skied.  And Dave had brought the Apple TV box to set up the club room TV. It was kind of fun sharing the experience in different ways on the hill, as I updated people around me or noticed that others were also listening under their ski helmet.  When Canada scored the tying goal, I was on the chairlift with some other parents, so we cheered and yelled down to the people below the Canada had scored. 

Ready to race.

It's quite the drop from the starting gate down to the course.  I am so impressed by these kids that can just go for it. 

E ended up having a good race with 13th place.  There were a lot of DNFs and disqualifications for missing gates so he did well to put together two strong runs. 

We got home late in the afternoon and chilled out.  I even got the electric blanket back out, it wasn't that cold on the hill, but after being outside all day I wanted to be extra cozy.  

Weekend Recap

Our cold weather has cleared and we had three great days of skiing.  On Friday Q had a race at Mansfield and E had a race at The Heights. I went with Q and Dave took E.  

Raring to go!  It was great that Q had just been at Mansfield the weekend before because he knew his way around and was comfortable on the t-bar.

I skied with some other moms and took a spin down Ferris Wheel.

It was very comfortable out on the patio for lunch.  

Q enjoyed his race and had a lot of fun with his buddies and did some extra runs after the podium ceremony.

Meanwhile Dave was set up at The Heights to watch E.

We met up at the hotel in Orillia that evening and had dinner at Montana's.

Saturday was Valentine's Day and I had a few chocolates for the boys when we got up that morning. It was a very enjoyable day out on the slopes with the temperatures hovering around zero. 

We headed to Apres Ski at Quayle's Brewery again with some other ski race families. 

Sunday was another great day and the snow was pretty perfect. 

Dave was coming up on the chairlift after lunch and I was waiting for him

Watching Q do a few practice runs. 

We got home on Sunday night and watched the replay of the dual moguls to see Mik the King with Canada's first gold of the Games. Go Canada!

We had no plans on Monday as it was a holiday (other than a birthday party for Q to attend) so that meant we slept in, made waffles, watched the Olympics, and did a little reading. And E and I cleaned his room and washed his sheets. Dave and E also got workouts in.

It was a nice weekend and I can't believe February is half over. Spring will be here before we know it!

Weekend Recap

The word to recap this weekend is COLD.  We had temperatures around -25 degrees Celsius starting in the mornings on the ski hill and "warming up" to about -15.  The sun helped when it was out, but it went away on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Despite that though, the snow conditions were perfect and we had a great weekend.  But because of that cold, I didn't take my mittens off for many photos!

I took the day off on Friday to take Q up to a ski race at our home hill. They had some skills competitions in the morning and the race in the afternoon.  Q had a great time and didn't get bothered by the cold (too much!).

We were happy to get home and cozy warm under the electric blanket! E had school that day and Dave was working so they heated up dinner for us when we got home. 

On Saturday we had another cold day of skiing but warmed up with après ski at Quayle's Brewery with some other families.  

So pretty there.

We were spending the night at the hotel for the weekend.  We got back from Quayle's and ordered pizza to our room so we didn't need to go back out.  It was nice to relax and I was in my PJs and in bed shortly after we ate our pizza and we all got to bed early. 

A beautiful crisp Blue Bird day.

The lunch schedule for the kids was combined that day so E and Q got to eat together. 

We got packed up after race training was over and had a nice drive back.  We tidied up and I watched the first two hours of the Grammys. I was entertained, even with all of the commercials, but couldn't stay up for the whole thing. 

Weekend Recap

On Friday night I took Q to baseball and then spent a good part of the evening getting ready for skiing.  We have to get all of our food ready to go and since we were also staying overnight on Saturday we needed to pack our overnight bags.

On the drive up on Saturday morning we saw many cars off the side of the road, it was very slippery out there! We made it unscathed, thank goodness. It was our coldest morning at -20 Celsius so I wasn't super excited about going out, but it turned out to be the best day!  The snow was prefect and although we were cold to start the day, it wasn't that bad.  

The sun helped too.

After race training wrapped up for the day, E and I headed for Huntsville to stay at the Hidden Valley Resort, and Dave and Q went home with our friends' to spend the night there. E and I checked into the hotel and then met up with the rest of the team for dinner at the Huntsville Brewhouse.

It was a cold crisp morning on Sunday for E's race.

The U16/U19 group.

The ski resort had the task of knocking down this huge icicle.  I was watching the race and missed it fall, but heard it!

Ready to race!

Some parents were great at taking photos of everyone.

Meanwhile Dave and Q were at The Heights for Q's race. The U10 boys warming up by the fireplace.

I was worried about the storm that was coming as I didn't know what to expect for our drive home.  Fortunately it was not that snowy up north and we had clear roads all the way home, except when we got to the 401 in Toronto.  Then it was a white out and I was glad we were at the end of our highway journey. I had thought our whole drive would be like this so I was very grateful it wasn't.

When we got home, we had a driveway full of snow, so we had to shovel before we could pull the car in. We did some good work and could not get over the snow. 

I thought this deserved a storm Negroni (or two).

Dave went out again to shovel and there must have been another 30 cm since we had been out the first time.

The kids went to be knowing school was already canceled for Monday, lucky them! (E actually already had no school because of the exam schedule.)