The Not-So-Relaxing Vacation

Last weekend we decided to take the kids and get away for a few days to Whistler. I'm always amazed at how much stuff we need to bring for just a couple of nights...

Seriously?

We booked a hotel in Squamish at the recommendation of Doug & Elissa. Much cheaper than staying in Whistler and it was a really nice place. Our room had a full kitchen and separate bedroom. Even a washer and dryer (which came in really handy later... keep reading to find out why).

It was nice to be able to cook and eat in our room, plus have a separate bedroom to put kids to sleep at night. We even had two TVs so the kids could get their Treehouse fix while we enjoyed a little HGTV (we've been living on basic cable, so both of these channels were a treat!)

Erik was playing a bit of catch with the kids here. We've had some bad luck with hotel rooms and the splitting open of heads so I tried to keep the horseplay to a minimum this time. But really, boys will be boys. Even the grown-up ones.

This was our view from our deck (a golf course). So pretty. It was raining in Squamish the entire weekend and the snow was pretty much gone there.

Micah was very curious as to how Whistler got its name. I was stumped so I turned to Google for some insight. I found out that it is named for an animal called a marmot that makes a whistling sound. We even found a great video of it here. When we prayed for our time in Whistler, Micah thanked God that he would get to see a whistling marmot. He was convinced that this was going to be the highlight of his trip. Of course, we never did see one but I think there were enough other highlights to trump the missing marmot.

Side note: we had a little (big?) mishap with our macbook last weekend. It was on our table during our weekly Saturday morning pancake breakfast when an ENTIRE pitcher of orange juice was spilled. We thought the computer was totally fried. The guy at the Apple store even thought it was done. But then he decided to try fiddling with one more thing and it totally worked! Our computer is fully functioning and we are SOOO thankful.

Now onto the drama of the weekend. Our first night Silas came down with the flu (this is his THIRD flu this winter. Not that I'm counting.) The first throw-up was all over in his playpen and we were immediately thankful for our convenient laundry facilities. The 2nd throw-up happened in the middle of the night on the bed that Erik and I were sleeping in and we had to request new bedding at about 2 am. I felt bad for the ladies who had to clean those sheets :( Silas was feverish and clingy and down-right miserable for the rest of our time away. And Erik wasn't feeling so hot himself. But at least Micah and Keziah had a great time!

I had to try out this rolling slide in Whistler village too :)

Silas was a bit of a bear. He was fairly content in his stroller, but we didn't spend too much time in Whistler Village. It was late in the day, cold and we didn't want to risk going to a sit-down restaurant with him feeling so lousy. We saw the sights, walked around a bit, and then headed back to the comforts of our hotel.

But we couldn't leave without getting a picture with the Olympic rings...

Our favourite part of the weekend was heading up to the Whistler Olympic Park where they held the cross-country skiing and ski-jumping.

The amount of snow up there was unbelievable. I was so thankful we brought all our winter stuff because the kids loved it. Well, 2 outta 3 of them anyway.

We decided to rent some sleds for their little tobogganing hill. The hill is right at the base of the big ski jumps.

For some reason, eating snow is a novelty for these kids.

I managed to get Silas to go down a couple of times but he was SO miserable. So, him and I went back to the day lodge to hang out while Erik played awhile longer with the big kids.

Pausing for some refreshment in the lodge.

And some ipod time.

My poor sick boy. He is addicted to his Mama. My arms were so sore the last night we were there and I couldn't figure out why, but then Erik reminded me that I had held Silas for about 80% of my day. And even though he's feeling better, he still believes that I am an extension of his body and that he cannot function unless we are physically touching in some way. He's constantly coming up to me and whining "Smee, smee!" It didn't take long for me to figure out that he was saying "sit with me".

Here's hoping our next family get-away is a lot lighter on the sickness side and a little heavier on the "vacationing".