[vacations: Sun Peaks 2012.]

It's an annual thing ... 

Every year we head up to Sun Peaks, just outside of Kamloops BC, with my folks.  It's been a little family tradition for many years - back when my nieces were able to miss a few days of school, and long before we had our own kids.

But now, it's our turn to enjoy the slopes with our little family and it truly, truly is one of the highlights of our year.  After a very busy Christmas and New Years (we have 4 family birthdays in 7 days from the 25th to the 1st!) ... we look forward to some "forced" quiet time.

Mattias has been skiing for ... two years?  I think?  Last year both boys were in ski schools and such ... so we weren't sure what to expect for this year - but they were both really excited.

Our first day was on the Bunny Hill, "Gentle Giant".  Tias zoomed down after a couple of goes, and weaved onto the off-trails just a bit (as much as you can on a bunny hill *grin*.  Siah?  Cried.  Hated it. 

GONG SHOW.

For day two, we decided to get Siah a 1hour lesson with Teresa.  She was his ski-school teacher last year, and he was SO excited to see her again.

Honestly ... it was amazing what one hour with her did for him.

So while Siah had his lesson - Lu, Tias and I followed along.  Tias would race down, catch the t-bar up, and catch up to wherever we were on the Bunny Hill.

By the end ... they were exhausted.

And SO proud of themselves.

I was in charge of all of the meals and our evenings were spent in the hot-tub, playing games and watching movies ... 

Josiah won the "Sorry" game.  Fair and square.  He just about lost his mind, he was so happy *grin*. 

And Katia?  Well ... next year she'll be joining us on the slopes.  But right now, she isn't potty trained  - so we decided to wait one more year. 

By day three, Siah was already going on the chair lift to the TOP.  We did "Rambler", the boy's favourite green run ... over and over and over.  It was the perfect run for us ... lots of trails and small jumps for Tias (and Lu *wink*) and smooth sailing down for Josiah.

Can you see the boys in front of Lu on the hill?

This was SO funny.  Lu was showing Tias a trail, put his pole down for some grip and the pole sank down into the snow - and Lu leaned and fell over.  It was impossible to get up - and the boys and I were laughing SO hard.  And so was Lu.

Tias had two 1hr lessons as well ... best thing we could've done for both boys.  I'm a big fan of teachers who teach well.  Teresa is one of those people (and she's finished up her education degree back east ... you can sure tell).

Then, we had to say good-bye to my parents.  Tias cried (he always does).  He loves SO much.  

But, everyone was really excited for our friends the V's to come join us for a few nights.  Their three kids were awesome ... and it was like a brand-new time away.

Mattias and Owen ... Now.  Let me tell you ... this kid  can ski BLACK runs, straight down - no fear.  He's incredible.  And was such a great little friend to Tias.  It was positive peer pressure at its best, and Tias did his best to keep up.  Owen was kind enough to do blue runs with us - and then he went off with the dads to the black runs later *grin*.

I love how the dads were on one side of the lift ... tiiiiiiiiilt.

Debbie and I hung out with the girls and Josiah.  It was sunny, pretty warm and so much fun. At least for the first day of skiing with them ... the second?  Snow ... like icing sugar.

The kids (dads!) built a slide into the hottub out of snow.  I didn't try it ... no thank you.  But they loved it.

The nights were full of family time ...

And they even built a toboggan run in the back too ...

It was a fantastic way to spend the first week of 2012.  A massive "thanks" to my parents for bringing us up, once again, and for blessing our friends with a little weekend get-away too.  It was just what we needed to regroup and slow down  ... 

Can't wait for next year!!