Canada Part 7

We left Banff on the morning of the 30th. We were on a connecting bus to the airport - the bus broke down - but another was sent along in quick time. Funny thing with the bus change- we let everyone get off ahead of us (why hold everyone up with our kids) - when we got on the next bus - our seats had been taken and we ended up spread out throughout the bus (yes - even the 5 year old).

As we passed things backwards and forwards and had the obvious conversations you tend to have on a 1 1/2 hour trip - we did note that it was strange our rude people are in this "developed country". I was going to ask the nationality of the people who took our seats - I didn't want to stereotype anyone, my guess though was that they weren't canadian. Next time we have to do something, we will just hold everyone up because everyone is just out for themselves. Sorry - we just operate under a different code of ethics.

The flight from Calgary to Vancouver was great - quick and efficient. We couldn't get a van taxi to take us to our hotel - so we ended up with a stretch limo, which is a pretty cool way to rock up to the Sheraton.

The hotel room was great, service was better, location was excellent. One block from the resturants that the taxi had dropped us off for between bus and train trip. We had an EXCELLENT dinner at a cruisy little Italian resturant. Each booth was surrounded by books on art, history, war, travel etc. No DS's were needed for this dinner.

We had an excellent dinner (with a tonne of leftovers) and then went to watch the Calgary Giants play the redskins (ice hockey). It was a slaughter. Everytime the home team got a goal some men/boys would strip off their shirts and wave them around. We had to stop the two youngest from joining in.....it was a close call.

It was fun and the kids loved it. There is no way I am EVER letting my kids play - it was a fight fest - which was fun to watch, but I wouldn't want any of my babies being in it.The next day we got a rental car and drove out to the suburbs (BOO to Hertz too - as we picked up the car 1/2 hour early - so they charged us for a FULL extra day and didn't tell us - we could have dropped it at the airport 1/2 hour earlier if they had bothered to ask/tell etc - anyway - vote with your feet - don't go with Hertz).........ANYWAY, back to the story.

We had a friend who really wanted to know what Wallmart was like. So we went and saw. Double the size of Kmart, half the price. We lasted 20 minutes and were out of there - it's just a really big shop - and....... Hubs checked out a model train shop - we were back in the city in record time. We checked out the planetarium - it was 4 hours of excellent entertainment and education.

That night was New Years Eve - but in Aus it was our 15th wedding anniversary. So we celebrated that night in a Greek Restuarant. The kids have come a long way in a year in reference to sitting in restuarants - so it was actually pretty nice.

We didn't wake the kids up for midnight - we didn't even wake ourselves - there was no Eiffel Tower - it just didn't seem worth it.

We left the next day and had an excellent 17 hours of flying, arriving in Singapore on the 3rd (we lost a day). I got my new iphone (birthday present) the next day before happily getting home on the Sat. Very happy to be home - but so thrilled that we got to go on a truly fantastic holiday with the most amazing people in the world.

Canada Part 5

We got into Banff at lunchtime. Planned out the rest of the day and then basically ran (literally). But it was worth it - we did some pretty great things on her birthday.

We fit in Ice skating on her birthday as well. The two girls are naturals, but Bear struggles a bit. It was at Banff Springs (fairmont hotel) - very flash hotel. A bit out of town (and we walked there) - but we don't need to stay somewhere flash when we are on holidays - we live flash at home, it's nice to rough it sometimes (okay - not everyones definition of roughing it, but for us it was alright).

We fitted in a sleigh ride (absolutely the lamest thing we did on our holiday) - far too cold for a sleigh ride - and don't go thinking a sprint through a snow palace. It was a 30 seater, full to the brim, through a back paddock. I asked the driver to let me know when we were 10 minutes from stopping so I could call a taxi. Munchkin tried to sing christmas carols (since it was christmas eve) - but no one joined in - but it makes for a nice photo (we will definitely do it in Europe this christmas as theirs were smaller and more like what you think of when you sing jingle bells).



Note on the hat - I didn't realise it looked that lame when I bought it - I might give it to Munchkin (she's wearing my hat I got in NZ in August). I promise I will spend more than 1 minute looking next time.

The kids hate these jumpers. I got them for last christmas (in switzerland), but when they saw them they just refused to wear them. They have to wear them on Christmas Eve and Christmas night - those are the two dressed up occassions (skiing during the day for christmas, so it's a no brainer). Birthday cake (again) at The Keg - a great steak house (and that is something that you really miss in Jakarata).

Daddy's litle girl. Butter really wouldn't melt in her mouth.



I think her best birthday ever.

Canada Part 4

We left Jasper on C girls birthday. We had pancakes and french toast in the diner next door to the hotel for breakfast (yes, us adults only ate 1/2 the portions because they were huge, the kids ate them all, but then didn't eat lunch). We made sure we had candles and sang happy birthday. You never know where you are going to end up - best to make sure that the singing and candles are definitely included in the day.

We got the bus from Jasper to Banff with Sundog tours. On the way the bus stopped due to the boot (you know - where the luggage is stored) light came on. When we arrived in Banff - much to our dismay, one of our bags had disappeared into thin air.
The driver was casual -I'm sure it's back at another hotel, it must have been taken off earlier. We never did hear back from SUNDOG tours. We rang twice (which was as good as useless), they never rang us. We had 3 brand new helmets in that bag - at least CAD300 worth. So if going from Jasper to Banff - do not go with these guys - no interest at all was shown in our lost luggage - we are just grateful that it was new stuff we lost- stuff we hadn't grown attached to (and not the xmas presents).

We went past 80 icefields (not glaciers we were assured - as they move, these don't). Spectacular stuff - deadly though. I couldn't imagine being stranded with a flat tyre in this country.

We left Jasper on C girls birthday. We had pancakes and french toast in the diner next door to the hotel (yes, us adults only ate 1/2 the portions because they were huge, the kids ate them all, but then didn't eat lunch). We made sure we had candles and sang happy birthday. You never know where you are going to end up - best to make sure that the singing and candles are definitely included in the day.

We got the bus from Jasper to Banff with Sundog. On the way the bus stopped due to the boot (you know - where the luggage is stored) light came on. When we arrived in Banff - much to our dismay, one of our bags had disappeared into thin air.

The driver was casual -I'm sure it's back at another hotel, it must have been taken off earlier. We never did hear back from SUNDOG tours. We rang twice (which was as good as useless), they never rang us. We had 3 brand new helmets in that bag - at least CAD300 worth. So if going from Jasper to Banff - do not go with these guys - no interest at all was shown in our lost luggage - we are just grateful that it was new stuff we lost- stuff we hadn't grown attached to (and not the xmas presents).



Beautiful trip from Jasper to Banff. We went past 80 icefields

Twas the night before christmas and all through the hotel - not a family member was resting, not even the littlest one (okay lame, have you got better?).

Canda Part 2

This is the view from our apartment (of Blackcombe)

The first week we stayed in a two bedroom apartment in Whistler. A truly bucolic village that was experiencing freezing conditions (-40 degrees celcius with wind factor) and as such there wasn't much fresh snow. This caused people to cancel their holidays in droves. So we had a week of skiing without any crowds.

A huge plus for whistler was that it has a free bus service that runs every 7 minutes. This meant that we could get around from our apartment to the centre of town without any issues, at any time of the day (we still took a few taxis because luggage should not go on buses unless it's for the long haul).

A huge minus for whistler was that it had a pylon issue with a gondola (as in ice built up in the pylon and it popped the top on the structure, causing a gondola to crash land on a bus stop (luckily). People were stranded on the gondola for about four hours. This happened on the tuesday we were there. This meant that the next morning every person wanting to get onto the mountain was going up one gondola. Instead of opening other lifts to get people up to the top as quickly as possible, they let people wait an hour (in below freezing conditions) to go up one lift (yes I know how to read a map - it would not have been hard, it would have just meant herding people from one lift to another one).

This is from the top of Whistler mountain. Breathtakingly beautiful. Refreshingly freezing (after Jakarta).

This is the symbol for the winter olympics. It is an indian marker and snow falls off it naturally (very clever).

The kids had lessons all day for the first 3 days. They were meant to do 5 days of lessons, but the format has the kids spending the entire time that the lifts are open in ski school, which means we don't get to ski with them. So we took them out of lessons for the last 2 days. This way we could see their progress and spend some time with them.

The middle child (with dark camoflague pants) is a friend of C girl from her school in Jakarta. His whole family were there and were WAY better skiiers than our family. But they thankfully joined us on a few occassions (including one with just Hubs and I that included a cross country excursion down the mountain - but it was fun to have an adventure). We also met up for dinner a few times, plus a few lazy afternoons (after intense skiing) in the local pub. It was fantastic to meet up with them and it was great to make some new friends. We don't meet up with people on holidays overseas generally, not because we don't want to, but because we don't seem to know people going to the same place.

Sorry this is out of sequence, but this is on the first day of ski school (you can tell by the shallow angle of the slopes). Munchkin and Bear were in the same class. They are absolutely adorable together though. On the day off from skiing, we went shopping. They wore the same hats, same gloves and together kicked a piece of ice from one end of the village to the other.

We liked Whistler, we might be back (after we have done everywhere else). We left on the sunday before christmas (21st I think). Our bus left without us (but they did end up reimbursing us)....I had to run from our unit through our friends complex down to the village, where I could get two taxis to take us to the centre of town.........we ended up getting a greyhound bus back to Vancouver.....hey those things are really cheap (CAD80 one way for 5 people).

The trip back was a bit hair raising. While we were in Whistler it had snowed up a storm in Vancouver, so everything was packed with snow. The highway was closed to one lane each way and the bus detoured into every little town to pick/drop people off. BUT, the driver knew what he was doing AND we got their in one piece.

At the bus stop at the end, we were 100m from the train station - for our next leg of the journey - an overnight train trip to Jasper.

Canada Part 1

The kids were thrilled to be called out of school an hour early. We were at the airport an hour later. I was busy reading a really good book and the kids had been happily singing with the ipod. So no one was in their travel clothes.

No problem, that's what drivers are for - to wait while they get changed in the toilets.

Our flight took off on time - 5pm. Big wide world here we come.

Friday 12th December - 7pm. Land in Singapore. The land of many rules. 5 in a taxi - off to our favorite hotel - The Perak Hotel. This hotel is nothing to look at. It's in Little India. BUT, we have the family suite (a rarity for 5 people in Singapore). It is the attic of half of the hotel. It is a long L shape and has three seperate areas (including a kitchen). Breakfast is basic - but provided. It is HUGELY expensive - BUT - we HATE seperate rooms that are not adjoining (means no sleep for anyone) - so we suck it up princess.

Sat morning - the excitement was mounting. We took off at 9:30am. Landed in Korea many hours later (I don't remember - I just know it was about 6 hours - don't remember if they were behind or ahead). We stayed for 1 hour - during which we had to buy food for the kids (for some reason Singapore Airlines only served asian food as kids meals - well derrr, you may say, but they have western food for adults. So they ate - nothing.

Anyway - back on the plane for a 9 1/2 hour flight from Seoul to Vancouver. Kids slept for a lot of this. We slept for some of it. It didn't seem too bad.

We landed at 11:30am Sat morning (a whole 2 hours after we left - work that out (15 hours time difference, 17 hour travel time)).

We hung around for an hour - then boarded the bus for Whistler. We alternated between sitting up and looking out the window - then falling back asleep (hey, look at that, we went from city to sea within a blink of an eye, hey look at that.....snoore).

Arrived in Whistler at 4pm 13th Dec.

Jason went inside with the kids - I caught a taxi to the supermarket to stock up (oh the joy of jet lag, but I was in a real supermarket - without bans on imports).

At 1am, we were all wide awake. We had french toast and pancakes. At 3 we were asleep again. Waking up at 11:30 on your birthday (mine) is not what I recommend. But, unfortunately I was not ALLOWED to celebrate my birthday when Aus was in time zone (event though that was where I was born), I had to celebrate when Canada was. Well, I missed half of it sleeping. Yes, someone was bitter (and I'll give you a clue - it wasn't the kids).

We went out for a lovely lunch and wandered around the village. We went out for an even lovelier dinner - but forgot to take a photo because we were all exhausted. But we did organise our ski boots and skis for the mornings skiing.

The holiday was about to begin.

HOME

We are finally home.

The kids were only just containing themselves for the last week. Thanks in whole to Santa who was just a little too clever. Knowing that last year he spent all night trying to find them and eventually caught up with them in Switzerland (they hadn't left a note telling them where they were). This year, they left very specific instructions on where they were on Christmas eve.

Knowing that they couldn't possible take a Barbie cash register and a Lego viking ship home from Canada - he gave them a photo of their present with a note telling them it was waiting under the christmas tree. C girl got a soccer top and hat - she had asked for something computer or soccer related (her birthday was the day before and she got the accessories for the laptop (which was her combined present that she had been given 3 weeks before we left (we thought it was too fragile to take for 3 weeks away)). Anyway - her words were - I think I should have been more specific - I don't like this team. TOUGH.

Anyway - Bear and Munchin carried the photos of their gift with them everywhere they went from Christmas onwards and were seen whispering "I can't wait to get home".

When we landed - contained excitement. One of the suitcases were lost (still in Vancouver - but on it's way now - Singapore Airlines (at least they knew where it was - left behind)) - that took an extra half hour.

When they saw the drivers they ran up to them and laid on the biggest hug you have ever seen from 3 kids at the airport - not sure if it was embarressment or pride on the drivers face - not what people at airport see every day.

When home - two youngest ran out of the car - the housekeeper and nanny were thinking they were running up to give them a hug - thankfully, they gave one - then kept running - all the way upstairs to the xmas tree. Bear went straight to the Lego room and was in there for the next 5 hours making his viking ship. Munchkin and C girl spent the time setting up a shop upstairs.

I like that everyone was happy to get home. We had a fantastic holiday. With 9 days of skiing (8 days of 7 - 8 hour lessons a day) plus living in apartment / hotel rooms that are smaller than our bedroom. Everyone is exhausted (although you wouldn't know it - we were all up at 4 this morning). But we have tonnes of photos and experiences.

We had snow for the entire time that we were away. Which is unheard of for Vancouver. The day we had landed - snow everywhere, when we went back for the train (after a week) - huge snow everywhere. For the two days we were there at the end - remainder snow - and on new years eve - another huge dump of snow. For all our travels around BC and Alberta - every scene had snowfall. 3 weeks of white.

We left on new years day (our 15th wedding anniversary). Two days earlier we had hired a stretch limo to get us from the airport to the Sheraton (cheaper than two taxis). On the 2nd day there - we hired a car - so we drove to the airport in snow on the wrong side of the road.

School tomorrow - and we were even responsible - home 2 nights before school starts - not the day school starts like last year.

Photos will follow when I have downloaded AND backed up (we lost 99% of our Europe photos due to this little oversight (and it was totally devastating)).

Happy to be home - life will now continue as normal (aren't we the most BORING people in the world). Next year we are going to go around Italy for 2 weeks and do 1 week of skiing in Austria for christmas (we had a family vote - Hubs is outvoted - 1 week skiing next christmas) - we are not in the military (someone gets upset if we want to sleep in).

C Girl Word

Hi,
I am C girl and this is C girls word. I will be writing on this website a least once a week. I am looking forward to 2 special celebrations, 1 is my birthday and the other is christmas/x-mas. Right now I am in Canada, I have been skiing for the last week . Yesterday I went skiing with one of my friends from my school in jakarta. He is an amazing skier and so is the rest of his family. If you have a question to ask me, remember I am only 9. Anyway goodbye.

from c girl