Somewhere around Thursday we decided the Olympics will never (well, never anytime soon) be within driving distance of us again so we decided to head north and check out Vancouver, BC while the Olympic craziness was still going on. We drove as far as Seattle last night, crashed at Scott's brother's house, and took off this morning for Canada! What a fun (random!) trip. TONS of people, although we expected that, but very cool to see the flame, feel the energy in the air and watch the world come together. Here are a few pictures from around Vancouver. Go USA!

We finally had a chance to load some videos from our Quebec trip!

Here are two from the Ice Hotel – relatively long, but they reflect the “feel” of the hotel far better than any of the pictures:
Hotel de Glace – part 1 of 2
Hotel de Glace – part 2 of 2

This is a shorter video back in Quebec City just looking at one of the main areas where Winter Carnival takes place.

It’s good to be home, but what a fun trip this was!
Enjoy!

Have you ever been in a public place and gotten annoyed at some other parent that let their kid do something you just told your kid not to do?
We're usually those other parents.

Every now and then you catch the boys in a moment of really enjoying each other - here are a couple of those moments that Daddy captured yesterday. Playing together and reading together:

The day after Scott & returned (Monday) we stayed home and spent the day with the boys. We promised Carson that we would take him to Chuck E. Cheese and, as it turned out, Nolan managed to rupture both of his eardrums shortly after we arrived home Sunday night so we spent part of Monday with him at the doctor as well. Nolan’s fine (his hearing might be off for as long as a month), but apparently he feels considerably better with the pressure off his ears and Carson has now been to one of the places he’s been asking about for months – the other two being Disneyland and pbs.org (because whenever he watches Curious George they say, “To play more games with George, go to pbs.org).

Five days of just Scott & I together – who knew that was still possible!!???

We flew out early Wednesday morning and arrived in Quebec City, Canada late Wednesday. After a late-night stroll and some yummy early-morning crepes we headed out to the place that had drawn us to Quebec to start with – the Hotel de Glace!!

I have no idea when we first heard about the ice hotels, but we’ve talked about staying in one “some day” for a long time now. When we started thinking about doing something fun to celebrate our 10^th anniversary (and when we discovered we could use miles to get there) we knew it was time to cross one of our random life-goals off the to-do list!

The hotel is built in December each year and opens in stages as they complete sections throughout the month of January. It is typically demolished in early April, as the weather starts to warm. We decided to go in early February because it coincided with another annual Quebecois tradition – the Winter Carnival.

In a nutshell – we had a blast! We ate amazing food (actual multi-course meals in restaurants… with conversation… not once cringing about how long it was taking…), experienced one of the oldest cities in North America (Quebec was founded in 1608), hung out together and even learned a bit about Canadian history (yes, we’re nerds - in the middle of a fabulous festival we took a couple hours and toured the local history museum).

A gallery of pictures is posted here– along with somewhat extensive captions that will walk you through our journey. (Videos to follow in the next few days.)

I hope you enjoy a peek at our winter escape as much as we enjoyed escaping!

We're finally escaping on an anniversary trip in Quebec City, Canada! First impressions? It's beautiful!
The architecture and dining is like being back in France (we're about to head out to a creperie for breakfast), it's not nearly as cold as I expected it to be and I don't speak a word of French (I try, but it comes out in Spanish). Will post more about our winter adventure soon - not sure if we're going to have power tonight or not:)

I just realized there are now three pictures of my kids watching TV on the main page of the blog. Apparently I need to think of some other things to do when it's raining:)

"Please Mommy, can we eat our breakfast on the couch and watch Monkey George?"

Shortly after finishing (decimating?) his hot dog last night Carson discovered ketchup, mustard and fry sauce, with the aid of a straw, can be used for painting pictures on the napkins, table, fry bag – pretty much everything. The poor sweet college couple sitting behind him (who were obviously on a date) tried to play along, but were noticeably terrified each time he turned around and laughed at them with a giant clump of mustard poised precariously on the end of a straw.

I like to think of taking my kids out in public as a service to the community... it keeps young people from thinking they’re actually ready to have children. :)