Brock and the kids and I just got back from Whistler, British Columbia in Canada. We left a week ago Saturday, and got back this past Saturday night. It was our Sanders Family vacation and we had a really good time.
We flew to Seattle with Justin, Maria, and Julia and met up with Grandpa Sanders, my mom and dad, Dane, Annie, and their girls. Justin, Maria, and Julia stayed in Seattle for the night to go to the Brandee Carlisle concert while the rest of us made the drive to Whistler. Its a town kind of like Park City with cute shops all around, lakes, mountains, trees, and rivers. In fact, the 2010 olympics will be held in Vancouver, with a bunch of the events to be held in Whistler, just like when they were here and we used Park City for a lot of the venues. Anyway, it was sunny on Saturday and Sunday so we took advantage and went swimming at the hotel.
Monday through Wednesday was cold and rainy most of the days, but we still managed to have a good time. Luckily the Olympics were on, so we watched them, played card games, and went to yummy restaurants around the village.
Monday we went to a fun lake with a little sandy beach area, volleyball courts, and a big grass area. Again, it was cold, but Brock and Justin didn't mind. They went ahead and jumped in. They must have been excited from the olympics because they each thought they were as fast as Michael Phelps and decided to have a race. Justin won by about a hundreth of a second!
The kids played in the sand, and some of us played with some little plastic rackets seeing who could hit it back and forth the longest. Julia and I lost, even with our record of 5! Justin and Brock got something in the 20s. (these are the games we play when its too cold to get in the water!)
Tuesday Mom, Dad, Justin, and Brock went golfing. The weather cooperated just enough for them to golf. It had rained a little that morning, but stayed dry while they golfed. Brock came home a little upset at his game. It was a beautiful course (so they say) and even though he did win, he was disappointed.
Wednesday we did something called Hydro Bronc. Unfortunately we have no pictures of the contraptions we floated down the river in, and its kind of hard to explain, but we each got in these huge floating "hamster cages" and floated down a rapid river for about a kilometer. (everything in Canada is measured in kilometers) It was really cold slipping into the already wet wet suits, but then once we were in the water I had totally forgotten about that. It was so much fun! Click here to see a picture
http://www.whistlerriverball.com/Thursday mom, dad, Justin, and Brock went golfing again. This time the weather was much better, and Brock played much better. He was 12 strokes better than Tuesday, which made him extremely happy.
Friday it was a beautiful day. We spent the morning in the pool. Jace has become quite the swimmer. We bought him some arm floaties and he loved them! He loved being able to swim by himself. He would jump in and go under the water and just love it. He never wanted to leave. Then we all headed out to go BUNGEE JUMPING! It was so awesome! Justin, Maria, Julia and I all jumped. Brock is a little afraid of heights (okay, a lot) and my grandpa and parents were way to afraid! Annie is pregnant so they didn't jump. We were on a bridge 160 feet from a raging river below. Maria almost didn't go. They had to count down from 5 like 4 times before she finally decided she could do it. Everyone on the bridge was counting! Then it was Justin's turn, and he didn't even want a countdown. As soon as they opened the gate he said, "Am I good to go?" They said yes and he walked right off. Then Julia went. They counted her down and she paused for a couple of seconds and then jumped. Then it was my turn. I decided to jump backwards. They counted me down and I jumped! I screamed for a couple of seconds, and then I couldn't even make a noise again until I bounced at the bottom. I just kept thinking holy crap, I'm still falling, I'm still falling, I'm still falling! It was seriously so much fun. I love stuff like that.
Saturday we got up and packed and made the 5 hour drive back to Seattle. Brock was stressing out so bad because we had to wait an hour and a half to get through customs back into the U.S. By the time we got through, it was 2:00 and we had a 2 hour drive to Seattle from there and our flight was at 5:00. We still had to get gas, return our rental car, and check our bags. We rolled into the car rental place at 4:10, and now he was really freaking out. When we got to the airport we hurried to check our bags and then saw Justin, Maria, and Julia coming in. The gate agent said they only had three minutes to get checked in before the computer wouldn't allow it. They hurried and made it. Then we had to get through security and down about 6 different hallways carrying two carseats, two kids, a diaper bag and Brock's laptop bag. Thanks to Justin, Maria and Julia for helping out with that. We walked on the plane just in time, and Brock had practically no fingernails left! We both sat down and let our breath out! It was crazy. Anyway, we made it home, and look forward to our trip to Disneyland in October!
