Beth's trip to Whitefish for Crystal's birthday: Shandra, Claire, Crystal, Tannis, Jen, Katherine and Caley.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Girls trip #1: Whitefish
Beth's trip to Whitefish for Crystal's birthday: Shandra, Claire, Crystal, Tannis, Jen, Katherine and Caley.
Crowfoot Glacier - Banff National Park
I (Dave) spent last Sunday on a backcountry hiking/snowboarding day near the Crowfoot Glacier in Banff National Park with Ryan Strom, Tracy Gibbs and Michel. I finally got to use my avalanche awarness course that I took in November so I am sure my more experienced companions got a kick out of me figuring it all out for the first time. As the pictures will show, it doesn't take much to remind us of how lucky we are to be living where we do, and to be able to enjoy such amazing experiences! We are becoming bigger winter fans every day--loving being able to be outside so much, enjoying the snow, and the constant sunshine (although it's cold, it seems like it's always sunny!). We are looking forward to lots of fun winter weekends coming up: Beth is heading to Whistler this weekend to visit Kelly, Leslie and Skye, then for "Family Day" weekend (Feb 17-19) we will be in Invermere, and the following weekend we are hosting many of our Ontario friends for a ski weekend in Fernie. At this rate, spring will be here before we know it!!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Our new Ride!
Here's a photo in the daylight: a little easier to see! :)
Here is our new (well, new to us!) car: a Subaru Forrester. We are so excited about having AWD and winter tires for the rest of the winter in the mountains--and it's a pretty nice looking car too, if we do say so ourselves. Here are some temporary photos--we'll post some daylight photos ASAP.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Classic X-country in Canmore...
We spent a sunny but cold day today at the Canmore Nordic Ski Centre, practising our classic cross-country ski skills. With so many snowboarding days, it's easy to forget about all the other fun winter sports!! We have a few more ski trips planned though: I'm heading to Whistler with my "OT girls" in the beginning of February, then we are doing a weekend in Invermere/Panorama, as well as another weekend at Fernie once our Ontario friends arrive in the end of February!! Phew--lots of snow, lots of visitors, and lots of fun--looks like this winter will go by quickly!!
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Back out West: a weekend in Fernie!
We've been back in Calgary for almost a week now... after a few days of work and getting settled back in our house, we were invited on a last-minute trip to Fernie for the weekend for some fun in the snow! We stayed with friends Keith and Julie, Eric and Marcia, and Tim and Kiersten at the Griz Inn (Keith's colleague's accomodation). We drove up in LOTS of snow, and it continued to snow all weekend--lots of powder!! It was a great weekend: and a great reminder of how amazing it is to live so close to the mountains!
Here's me trying to make it through the powder...
More snow when we woke up on Sunday AM!!
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Thank you!!
Just wanted to say "thank you" to everyone for all of your support during this huge life transition of ours: moving to Calgary. We've had a lot of conversations over the past few weeks with friends and family--trying to come to terms with how this is going to work--living a few thousand miles away from most of our friends and families!!
So far things have gone really well--we've been thrilled by the number of visitors who have shared in our excitement of this place we now call "home". And we've been so lucky to have the wonders of modern technology allowing us to make phonecalls at all hours of the day (or night!), and to keep in touch by email, weblog, and webcam!
While this was definitely not an easy decision, in the long run, the opportunity to live and work somewhere totally new and to enjoy the lifestyle of living near the mountains in one of the most beautiful parts of the country was too exciting to turn down! We have really lucked out in our timing of finding jobs that we both love, and that will help to build our careers in the long term, as well as moving at a time when several of our friends from Ontario are also making Calgary their home.
We have been warmly welcomed by acquaintainces and friends of friends already living here, and have been able to set up a vast network of friends in a very short amount of time.
So far, this has been an amazing experience overall!
But that's not to say that it is without its' challenges...
Being "home" over the holidays served as a very real reminder of all that we have left behind in Ontario. Life there is going on without us, (whether we like it or not!) with new and exciting things happening all the time (including a major "baby boom"!).
While we can try to visit often, it's not the same as sharing in the day-to-day events, as we did the past few years living inToronto. At the same time, being in Ontario reminded us that there is no real "easy"alternative for us right now--we were long overdue to move out of the hustle and bustle of the GTA, and weren't really sure where to go that would provide the opportunities we were looking for... (Ottawa was second on our list--but Calgary had the first job offer!!).
The next few years will be full of uncertainty as we try to sort out how we can get "the best of both worlds". In the meantime, we continue to be grateful that so many of you have made such amazing efforts to be involved in our lives, and to keep us involved in yours.
Thanks again...and hopefully we'll see you (again!) soon!
So far things have gone really well--we've been thrilled by the number of visitors who have shared in our excitement of this place we now call "home". And we've been so lucky to have the wonders of modern technology allowing us to make phonecalls at all hours of the day (or night!), and to keep in touch by email, weblog, and webcam!
While this was definitely not an easy decision, in the long run, the opportunity to live and work somewhere totally new and to enjoy the lifestyle of living near the mountains in one of the most beautiful parts of the country was too exciting to turn down! We have really lucked out in our timing of finding jobs that we both love, and that will help to build our careers in the long term, as well as moving at a time when several of our friends from Ontario are also making Calgary their home.
We have been warmly welcomed by acquaintainces and friends of friends already living here, and have been able to set up a vast network of friends in a very short amount of time.
So far, this has been an amazing experience overall!
But that's not to say that it is without its' challenges...
Being "home" over the holidays served as a very real reminder of all that we have left behind in Ontario. Life there is going on without us, (whether we like it or not!) with new and exciting things happening all the time (including a major "baby boom"!).
While we can try to visit often, it's not the same as sharing in the day-to-day events, as we did the past few years living inToronto. At the same time, being in Ontario reminded us that there is no real "easy"alternative for us right now--we were long overdue to move out of the hustle and bustle of the GTA, and weren't really sure where to go that would provide the opportunities we were looking for... (Ottawa was second on our list--but Calgary had the first job offer!!).
The next few years will be full of uncertainty as we try to sort out how we can get "the best of both worlds". In the meantime, we continue to be grateful that so many of you have made such amazing efforts to be involved in our lives, and to keep us involved in yours.
Thanks again...and hopefully we'll see you (again!) soon!
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!!!
Happy New Year!! Hope you were all able to ring in 2007 in some way/shape/or form, and are not too overwhelmed by "Resolutions"!We spent New Year's Eve in Toronto with many friends--celebrating the New year, as well as Karen Thomas' Birthday. Karen and Blair are lucky to have a common "party" room right next door to their condo, so we put up a few decorations, and they hired a caterer and provided a VERY well stocked bar (Dave said he thinks there was more left over at the end than was actually drank!). It was a good turnout: probably 50-60 people over the course of the night, and everyone had a blast. It was a great "finale" to our Ontario visit--a nice way to spend time with people before we headed back to Calgary.
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