Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all our friends and family. We're missing you all!

We've had a busy few weeks so the blogs been collecting dust. We'll be adding some posts in the next few days.

A couple of weeks ago we had a pretty special trip to see the Snowy Owls who come down every five years or so from the Artic due to a shortage of lemmings (which follow each other off cliffs in early 90s 2d I imagine!). Here's one of our favourite pictures...

And this is what Christmas looks like in our Vancouver home featuring Sideshow Bob, our Christmas tree...

An ex-pat Christmas...

We both knew that Christmas was going to be slightly odd this year, given that we were so far from home. It was still good fun though; here's how it panned out....

It started on Christmas eve, when we Skyped my family (10pm our time, 6am there time) & watched them all frantically open presents. Complete chaos in the Sherry household!

On Christmas Day, we also had to get up at 6am to open our presents before David went to work (yes, rubbish, working on Christmas Day). We spent time with both our families as we unwrapped gifts...

As well as being surprised to receive two kindles (thank you Steven & Sarah!), we also got fabulous matching hats (thanks Auntie Debbie!):

At 8am, we traveled to Grouse Mountain for a few hours; I hung out with my friend Cathy, watched Christmas movies & played with Reindeer while David worked.

We then headed home, with our friends Cathy and Dan in tow, for our Christmas dinner. If you were wondering what an ex-pat Christmas looks like, this is it:

It consisted of two borrowed chairs, stolen ketchup from Grouse Mountain and a house plant decorated with lights (AKA our Christmas tree). It was thoroughly amusing & really good fun.

Our minds then turned to one of David's presents that had 'challenge' written all over it - a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle (thank you Steven!). This was the scene at the start:

And by the end of the evening, when all the wine had been consumed, this is what it looked like:

Obviously we didn't complete it that night, despite us going at it for a good couple of hours. We were trumped by the Sherry family who finished their 1000 piece jigsaw on Christmas Day. We are determined to finish it though & hang our masterpiece, once complete, on our wall.

All in all, fabulous day - thank you to everyone who made it so. And Merry Christmas!

CS

Winter birdies

Word on the street told us that Snowy Owls were in town. This was exciting news - as Snowy Owls only migrate through Vancouver from the Arctic once every 7-8 years.

So naturally we went to see if we could find any. We headed South, towards Boundary, which is near the U.S. border.

And I'm delighted to say our trip was an outstanding success. This is what we saw:

Our two foot tall, feathered friend sat happily for hours while we - along with many other tourists - took pictures. I'm pleased to say he had other feathered friends with him too - 23 of them!

We were also visited by many bald eagles (David's favourite). Here's a picture:

Good day all round. The Snowy Owls will be leaving soon to continue their journey, so delighted we got to see them.


CS

Harrison Hotsprings

The weekend of my work Christmas party was rather memorable.

Rather than getting drunk in a club (common Christmas party concept), we headed to Harrison Hot Springs - a tourist hot spot with - you guessed it - hot springs.

When we arrived on Friday night, we dove straight into the water - check it out:

The water was boiling so we couldn't stay in too long - but continuously switched between the hot & luke warm pools. Strangely I woke up in the morning looking like I'd had a perm; the water had a funny affect on my hair.

On Saturday we went on a hike, before doing a treasure hunt around the hotel. It's in a beautiful spot:

We finished off our weekend in true style with a dinner & dance. Fabulous food, delicious wine (Malbec) & good company.

CS

When in Vancouver...

Since we've been in Vancouver, I've noticed a trend.

Virtually every young-ish girl walks around carrying a yoga mat under her arm.

So I've decided to join in & have signed up to 20 classes at Robson's yoga studio.

I've had two so far & loving it. Need to keep practising my 'warrior 1,2 & 3, 'downward dog' & 'sideways crow' if I'm going to improve, but feel better for living the Yogie/Vancouver lifestyle already. 

CS

Tis' the season...

Yes, it is the season to be jolly...and also the season to ski.

Consequently, we're spending most of our weekends on the slopes. And with Whistler being only two hours away, it has become our favourite destination.

Here are some pics of recent adventures...the first is on top of Whistler...

The second is of David's excitement - caused by powder:

The third is of Cathy, Dan & David, enjoying a nice lunch spot:

And the fourth & final is of us posing at the top of the mountain:

The snow has been immense. Anyone fancy a visit?!

CS