Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Whistler 2015

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After wonderful trips to Snowmass in 2011 and 2013, we decided to mix things up for our 2015 ski trip out west and go to Whistler in British Columbia, Canada with the Hyatts and the Mettenbergs.

It was a funny weather year for a ski trip in the western half of the continent.  The east had one of the coldest winters in years, temperatures were even in the single digits in DC the week of our trip, but the west experiencing a relative heat wave.  There wasn't much fresh snow at Whistler, but there was plenty of skiing in the high alpine of the two mountains to keep us busy, and we couldn't complain about the sunny skies and pleasant weather at the base.

Nora & Gigi spent the week together in Ski Camp with instructor Glen, who according to the girls was from London and 21 which is 'very, very, very young."  They did a great job advancing from the magic carpet the first few days to skiing down the 'big mountain' by the end of the week. The best part though may have been the 'unexpected surprise' of running into us parents on the slopes and showing the dads the amazing tree fort.

The boys -- Owen, Kaden and Liam --were all in their own groups for lessons.  Kaden kept coming back with reports of various black diamonds he concurred, Liam cruised through level three of ski camp, and Owen was ready for level four by with stories of his own experience on a black diamond by the end of the week.

For the rest of us, the days on the slopes were wonderful, and the evening were filled with friends, food, hot tubs, olympic rings, VR, and a little more than our fair share of Munchkin.

In closing, we all need to remember the words of Edward, Nora & Gigi's ski camp buddy from London, "Glen, why are there so many gondolas in the world?"

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(click here for all the pictures)

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Advice for JK Rowling

I've been reading the Harry Potter books to Owen, and just before our trip to Whistler we reached the third task in the Tri-Wizard Cup from book four.  Harry and Cedric Diggory had competed with each other, but also helped each other and showed wonderful sportsmanship throughout the competition. When they decided to grab the Goblet of Fire together in order to share the victory, Owen felt a deep sense of satisfaction with the story.

That's where we left off before our ski trip, and I was a bit nervous about what was coming, so I warned Owen that the story was about to get much darker, but he insisted we continue reading when we got back from Canada.  Well, we read the next chapter tonight, and despite Owen making up an alternate version where Cedric wasn't killed, but instead awoke from the avada kadarva curse, crawled back to the Goblet of Fire -- which was still a portkey -- and grabbed it to transport himself to safety while Voldomort and Wormtail were distracted by Harry, Owen couldn't sleep and decided we needed to chat.
Dad, why would the author kill Cedric, didn't she want to make more money?  If she wants to write more Harry Potter books after this one, and she wants people to buy them and read them, she shouldn't have killed Cedric, because no one will want to read more of her books if she kills good people like Cedric.
Owen is a very gentle soul, and I think we might want to wait a bit before reading the rest of the series... 

Thursday, February 05, 2015

40

Allen's bday
The passage of Allen's youth was not the rager I initially thought it would be. At 30 we took over a bar. At 35 we took over a very nice private dining room. For 40, I figured a video arcade was the way to go.

But then Allen found out he had to fly to Boston the morning after his birthday. And Owen got really sick culminating in two ambulance rides and one admittance to Children's Hospital for severe croup. Given we were going skiing in Canada just 10 days after the milestone, we decided to scale down the celebration with just a quiet dinner for two at Rasika (plus I let him and Owen play lots of Zelda at home).

It was really nice and I think we both needed a mellow night out. 50, however, is going to be epic...