Whistler 2009

My parent flew in from Boston to visit us for a week in Bellingham and then came up to Whistler for the weekend as did my sister Deb and her husband Cecil
We love Whistler! Papa, Nana and Ella walking in this wonderland.
Ella was so excited to ride the bus!
Auntie Deb on the mountain
E's first gondola ride up to the tubing park
E and Papa after their first fast ride
Uncle Cecil and Ella head back up the hill
After about 5 rides Ella decided it was time for hot coco and no more snow in her face. Papa and I each took a turn riding down form the highest fast runs of the tubing park. I'll admit I screamed the entire way down!
On Monday my parents flew back to Boston and my friend Mary flew in form Minnesota. We used to work and ride together (i.e. snowboard) when we both lived in Colorado.
The Peak to Peak gondola is an 11 min ride between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.


Gearing up for the Olympic Winter Games 2010!





Ready to play in the powder. The snow was amazing! It snowed every day we were there which made for unbelievable conditions.
Ella was in Ski School for 2 days from 9- 3:30, she did amazing she tells us that on day two she didn't even fall once. They said that she learned to stop on her first day and that she was a super star (and that her height helps her) She also told us before day one that she was excited to do flips. humm... perhaps letting her play Amped (x-box snowboarding game) and bringing her to see a ski/snowboarding show with very cool jumps and flips was not the best way to gear her up for beginner lessons. The pink on her face is face painting.

Hot tubbing in the hot tub, I think the hot tub may have been E's favorite part of the trip. She loved getting into the snow then jumping back into the tub or surprising us with snowballs.

Ella is the one with red bottoms, black top and pink gloves. Sorry that the video is so shaky, it was on full zoom.

The Songs being Sung

This is the song Ella is dancing to in her ballet/tap recital this summer- notice that she still has her Boston accent.

Ella's February

Ella is growing! Her shoe size is now 10! She is very excited about this, she wants me to tell everyone (as she is now dictating this blog post) She has an affinity for shoes which she didn't acquire from me. On the day she discovered her new shoe size we visited the Mt Vernon Children's museum and Chuck E. Cheese, both in a mall, when she veered off course straight into a shoe store and began trying on anything sparkly, we then brought Greg dinner at work.
Sushi!! We read a book called Yoko by Rosemary Wells and Ella insisted that she wanted to try Sushi so we went out to the Public Market and got the smallest roll they made. It still didn't fit in her mouth but she enjoyed pulling it apart and eating the inside.
We brought Ella to her first classical piano concert at Western Washington University here in town. She was very excited, and with the help of a lollipop was able to make it through the whole concert.
Sunday afternoon at Zuanich Pointe Park
Ice Cream at the dairy

For Valentine's day we brought E to Build a Bear, where she made "Princess Woof" and then we all enjoyed ice cream at Mallards.


Play date tea party with Emma
This picture is to show Mimi and Pubah how well the bedspread they gave Ella for her birthday matches her walls. Ella wanted her room painted blue and green and we put magnetic paint under the colors, which makes for a fun play surface.
Go Bruins!!

Nature Therapy

This week we received some difficult news. The beautiful little girl in Ethiopia that we had been told would be ours will not be. The orphanage said that they made a mistake and gave her to two families with two different agencies, ours and one in Italy. We were totally sideswiped by this, to us she was our daughter and we loved her so much already. Thankfully and oddly enough Greg was home and took both calls, first last Tuesday letting us know the situation and then this Tuesday saying the orphanage claimed that the Italian family was the first to pursue this child. It was a difficult week of uncertainty but we feel peace now that we have our sad answer. We trust that God has his hand on our lives and on our adoption and that He will bring into our lives the child that is meant to be ours, in the mean time we wait...
My good friend and old college roommate Christina was visiting from New Hampshire this week. Christina lives to be outdoors and is always good at pulling me into beautiful hikes in even the most inclement weather. It was great to have her here!

On Monday we hiked in the Chuckanut Mountains just south of Bellingham. The hike totally kicked my butt! It was very steep and I was sore for 2 days. The view on the way up was of the Islands (San Juans, Lumi, Victoria BC.) and the Olympic mountains beyond.









On Wed we did a beautiful hike but it was pouring out so I didn't bring my camera. On Thur it snowed for the first time since Christmas so we went for a walk to Whatcom Falls park and lake Whatcom.

A weekend in Bellingham

The weekend before Greg left for Nigeria was cold but sunny and if the sun is shinning in Bellingham people get outdoors. On Saturday we hiked up to Fragrance Lake right here in town.
The tree without a trunk

Unfortunately Ella did not do much hiking, she cried, we caved and poor Greg carried her most of the 5 mile hike
The fog


The fog blocked our view of the ocean.





Ice on Fragrance Lake

On Sunday afternoon we took a 1.5 mile bike ride down the trail from our house to Whatcom Falls Park.