Florida visit with Mom and Dad

I (Beth) spent a "mini-vacation" from Saturday until Wednesday in North Fort Myers, Florida with Mom and Dad. I was able to get a cheap flight, despite it being March Break, as I flew into Tampa and out of Orlando--making for a bit of driving for my tireless "chauffeurs".
We spent a relaxing week enjoying "retirement", as Mom and Dad showed me around the retirement community in the golf cart, and we enjoyed floating in the pool, sampling the local cuisine, and of course, a bit of shopping!
Aunt Judy joined us on Monday night, and it was great to spend time with her, as our family get-togethers can often be busy and don't allow for much "visiting". Likewise, it was great to see Linda and Ian Campbell and their daughter Laura's family, as well as to catch up with Tom and Julia Skinner at their nearby vacation rental. It seems like Fort Myers is the place to be for Ontario Retirees! Mom and Dad have had lots of chance to visit with friends in the few weeks they've been down there.
It was tough to come back to the cold and snow here and Calgary after such beautiful weather in Florida! And of course always tough to leave after a brief visit with Mom and Dad, but we already have our next visit scheduled for the summer!
We will try to enjoy the last few weeks of winter here, as spring comes late, and then we're off to Mexico in just under a month for Shandra and Dave's wedding!

Dogsledding

For our anniversary back in September, we planned a dogsledding trip in Kananaskis, which we did last weekend. It was a cold, snowy day, so the visibility wasn't great, but the dogs are pretty fun, and it was definitely a different and interesting way to get out and enjoy the winter! (Although I'm feeling pretty much done with winter these days! Looking forward to my trip to Florida March 20-25th to get some sunshine, and some much needed time with Mom and Dad).

More photos from Family Day

We tried out our new camera on Family Day weekend--(it's just taken me a bit longer to upload the photos...)

Ice Gala

Dave and I were invited to a Gala supporting Kids Care Cancer through some of his colleagues at the Health Region. It was a lovely event, supporting a good cause! (Unfortunately we didn't "win" any of the auction items--including a day in a Fighter Jet--$5500--or a day in a Nascar Car--also $5500!). The cool ice scuplter...and some of his work...

Our salad was served in an ice "bowl"...pretty "cool"!

The cool couple...

And my cool new shoes! (Sometimes you have to sacrifice being warm for fashion...haha).

Dave goes Backcountry

As much as this year has not been a great one for not having much snow in the mountains, it also makes for much safer backcountry skiing conditions.
Dave headed out today with Marc Binkley and his friend Mason for a day of hiking and skiing--they got some great photos (more to follow)...

Family Day Weekend in Fernie

Hiking the "mountain" with the girls: Lucy (up top, pink hat) and Victoria (bottom, blue hat)

Ryan posing...

Dave is getting great on his skis too!

Lucy is getting great on her skis!!

Sitting out by the outdoor fireplace...

Ryan's "pretend" wife for the weekend does NOT look impressed! (Sorry Mel!)

We were lucky enough to spend Family Day weekend this year with the Wrigglesworth and Strom families at the Labine's home in Fernie (well, Mel and Ryan and the kids at least...). It was a great weekend on the hill, as well as at "home" where we got a taste of the "Brady Bunch" life of having two almost sets of twins: Victoria Strom and Lucy Wrigglesworth (who are both about 3: Lucy's birthday is tomorrow!); and Oscar Wrigglesworth and Bennett Strom (who are both about 1: Bennett's first birthday is today!). We had a blast with the kids, and of course it's always great to catch up with Mel (okay, and Ryan too!). Thanks so much to the Labines for hosting us!

(More photos to follow of the kids...)