Friends, Holidays, Parties, and "The Snow"

This past week has been a blur, highlighted by a visit with long-time BFF (we've known each other since we were 12 years old) Shireen who was visiting with her husband Brett from Australia. Seeing as they live about as far away on this planet as you can get, it's always a super-special treat to get to see them.

Getting dressed up for Diana's 40th -

"Glitz and Glam" theme. I felt like

a human disco ball all night!

Brett really wanted to see "the snow", and of course we had to explain that here in Canada we just say snow, there's no "the" first. I guess when something's as common as snow in this country, there's no need for an article. However, snow isn't actually that common here on the island, so we had to drive over 2 hours to a ski resort in the mountains.

The day started with a frantic search around the house to make sure the four of us had enough warm clothes to wear. Jason and I put our winter boots away for safe-keeping a year or two ago (that should tell you how much snow we get), and of course we couldn't find them anywhere. Nice to know they're safe though.

Sandwiched into the car with all our gear, we headed up-island. Brett kept a close eye on the car's outside temperature gauge as made the turn up the mountain, and pretty much gasped when it went below freezing. But it didn't go much farther, and it was a nice sunny day so conditions for our chosen activity, snow tubing, were perfect.

After a yummy lunch in the nordic lodge (they tend to have healthier fare than the alpine lodge), we headed to the alpine area and trudged across the runs to the tubing zone. Being that it was a holiday week, it was pretty busy and there was a wait for the "lift" to get up to the top.

Riding the tubing lift.

All bundled up but enjoying the sun.

After a couple of hours, the track started to get really fast as the sun set and the temperature dropped a few more degrees. After a particularly speedy trip down, we were all sufficiently frozen (especially the Aussies) and decided to call it a day. One quick stop at Brett's favourite Canadian treat - Beaver Tails, and we headed for home. It was a fast trip back down the island as we all (except Jason who was driving) slept almost the whole way home.

Me with S&B - I guess it's our turn to visit next

as I think they've been here 3 times since we

were last in Oz. We have to figure out how we

can do Ironman Western Australia!