Good morning from Canmore

The gang is all up. It's nice outside:

Making breakfast and then... start the day, not sure with what yet but we will figure that out. 

Coolidge Clan - Day 4, ski day 2

Lola is on vacation so it is Arizona Adam resuming his blog. 

Day 4 ski day 2 started about the same as day 3 - up before 7 to leave the condo at 7:30. We arrived at Sunshine in good time getting parking in the first parking lot. 

Once everyone had their ski gear we loaded into the gondola and rode up the mountain. Here is a picture of the crew:

Sorry about the picture quality folks, it was cloudy out and snowy for most of the day. Here is a better photo courtesy of Lola:

Here's a picture of the ride up the angel chair:

Some of these photos are taken from our GoPro camera which can be mounted to my helmet and video taken while I snowboard. It works well except I fell today and sorta tumbled in the soft powder and popped the mount off my helmet. Oh well, some double sided tape will fix that when we get back. But I was able to get a few videos from yesterday and today. 

Here are a few more photos from the hill:

Lola setting the camera up. 

Lola and the black diamond skier (Big Bad Blair). 

Bailey eventually got up the courage and (pretty much) demanded a challenge of a bigger hill. So, Stu and Grandpa took her up the strawberry chair to come down an easy green run. From what we heard, she did well but got a little scared from some of the steeper part of the run and had a pretty decent wipeout which had her scared for any further runs. All in all she did well and just needs a little more practice. 

After skiing we came back to the boys, Charisse and mom/grandma at the condo. Mom was busy making supper (rice, soup and smoked turkey), Riley was busy playing and Charisse and Jasper were napping. 

After supper, the skiers/snowboarders needed some hot springs time so we packed up swimsuits and G and A, A and G, B and N and Bailey made their way back to Banff to the hot springs. It was quite busy but well needed an deserved. We came back loosened up - so much that Ashley is almost ready for more skiing. Here's a screenshot from the waterproof camera (camera #3 from this blog post, we have a total of 4 cameras, 2 iPhones, 1 iPad and 1 laptop...):

Well time to conclude this post. Ashley, Riley and Stuart are crashing, Jasper is wide awake and everyone else is slowly starting to wind down for the day. Tomorrow is a "maintenance day" so no skiing. Should be a good adventure day probably with some pool time at the rec centre in Canmore. 

Coolidge Clan - Day 3

It was an early morning, where everyone packed up to go to the mountains to try this thing called skiing.  Graham had a rough start as his phone time didn't adjust to Alberta time, so they were up 1 hour before they had to. We all left the house at 7:30am to head to Lake Louise. 

The Torrent leading the pack, with the Caliber in the middle and the Passat last.

Don't worry, only the Passat understood the signs for purchasing a park pass... Blair drove right passed with Stuart following as he didn't know why Blair wasn't stopping. Oh well, I think they got away with it this time... (I am sure Blair wasn't too happy about misunderstanding which lane to be in).

We had a great time at Lake Louise! But I think Bailey had the most fun after being enrolled in ski school. Couldn't get her off the bunny hill once she had a "professional" teacher! After the 3rd time going down the hill with Grandpa, it was all by herself for 3 more times!

Jasper had a good first day, but the best part was likely the 2 hour nap on grandma after all that hard work.

As for us, Adam and I had some good runs! We helped Ashley get through the chairlift experience, she was a little freaked out when it stopped at the highest part and started swaying...a lot of screaming, but we made it through. Graham and Ashley had a great time, they were "pretty pro" by the end of the day but enjoyed the backside of the hill better than the front side. It was a long "last" run back to the base.

We all made it back to the condo, and had an excellent refuelling supper of spaghetti and meat sauce! A very relaxed evening of watching Go Pro videos from the day and watching movies on tv.  It's going to be an early night as we have to go to sunshine village bright and early for another day of skiing/snowboarding!

Lake Louise

The bunny hill where Bailey and Jasper had a great time:) Grandpa spent some time there too!

Graham and Ashley sleeping on the way back to canmore.

Signing off for now,

Lola

Coolidge Clan - Day 2

Today was another fun day of travel! We all got up for breakfast at the hotel and left 10 minutes before 10, after pushing the Passat out of the snow drift that formed behind the car over night. 

We had a great time in our car today, listening to fun facts about space from teacher graham, having dancing and singing parties to the tunes, playing car games and enjoying the excitement of Ashley experiencing Alberta and the Rockies for the first time!!!

In the car- day 2

Scraping the inside of the window so Ashley could see all the antelope, big houses, elk and rolling hills in Alberta 

Ashley overly excited about how pretty the mountains are:)

The awesome view out the car window!

And we made it to canmore:)

The condo is super nice and so big! We went to the store and made our first meal, BBQ'ed chicken and perogies:) We are all very excited to go skiing tomorrow so bed time came early! We are going to Lake Louise:).  Wish us luck!

Cheers, Lola

Coolidge clan go to Canmore - Day 1

Well day one was super:)

We all left from different locations, Warren, Winnipeg and Morden. We thought someone would be "late" but we all arrived at the Smity's at pretty much the same time! Go team Coolidge. 

Driving from Morden to Brandon

After lunch we rearranged passengers. Graham and Ashley came with Adam and I, Jasper went with Blair and Nadine and Riley and Bailey stayed with Stuart and Charisse.  We drove from Brandon all the way to swift current. With a few breaks on the way for refuelling and emptying. It is a great time travelling with someone who hasn't really been on a road trip before! Ashley is excited to see Saskatchewan and the different topography and cities along the way! And of course the story teller Graham keeps us all entertained!

Travelling in the Passat!

Sunset and rolling hills approaching Swift Current, SK

Arriving in Swift Current, we checked into the hotel and headed to supper, we were starving. We went to Houston's Pizza. Great food!

Table no 1

Table no 2.

After supper straight back to the hotel to get into the pool! We all had a great time :) even the ladies who usually think the water is too cold.  This pool was super warm and so enjoyable to stretch out those stiff muscles after 8 hours in the car!

Here are a few shots from the pool party we had!

Graham and Ashley underwater 

Jasper cannon balling.

The 3 boys... Who is who?

Nadine and Bailey taking a rest

Blair enjoying the water (and rum)

Bailey and Charisse, Riley and Stuart

And last but not least Lola and Arizona Adam, goofing around.

Well hopefully day 2 goes as good as day 1. Next stop, sleep!

Cheers, Lola

It begins...

My phone says it is time to start our trip:

We will be starting at 08:30. More to come...

Work present

I can't figure out who the secret Santa was at work but anyways...

I guess it (somewhat) pays to have the hardest project in the company:

Going Pro

So time to go pro!  Lola gave Arizona adam his Christmas (and anniversary and birthday) present today... He is so excited he is reading the manual while he eats supper... Guess he won't be helping me pack for all the Christmas festivities coming up. Just wants to learn how to use the Go Pro camcorder!

Can't wait to use it on our ski trip:) and tobogganing and skating and all the fun outdoor activities we enjoy doing.

Hope all have a merry Christmas!! 

Hopefully Arizona Adam and Lola will post some of the fun adventures out on the Rockies!!

Lola

Moving up!

Times are changing and so is our household.  

In the last couple of days we have started to move up.

Yes we moved up the furniture back into the living room.  Help from Eric and Jamie, the couches, recliner, and coffee table are back in the living room! Felt good to be able to sit down in the living room again!  Here is a sneak peek, but maybe you need to come over to get the full effect!

Not only have we moved up with our house, but we are also moving up in the garage.  Trading the Jetta TDI for a Passat TDI :). We are hoping to have it around the 16th of December.

Here is a sneak peak of that too:)

Arizona Adam and Lola have a busy weekend of Christmas and birthday parties, plus adam has hockey and Lola is Christmas baking with her mom.

Excited to entertain again in our upstairs and also excited for the new "automatic" wheels!

Cheers, Lola

Getting closer

Well Christmas is fast approaching and our house is almost back to normal. The contractor came back today to do a few things, including putting the new doors in the china cabinet (still missing glass though), putting crown moulding up and fixing one of the drawers (not pictured).  We have been busy trying to get out house back together but difficult when I can't help Arizona Adam move the furniture up.  Maybe I can still convince him to buy new couches for upstairs...

We also moved the radio back in the hallway! Getting closer!

Hope you are all enjoying the curling.  I have been taping and watching it in the evening.  Go team Nedohin and Team Martin!!

Safe driving out there,

Lola