Pierced!

 To my sweet girl,

Today was our mama-daughter date and it was special one. You have been asking to get your ears pierced for the last year or so and I told you that you need to show me that you can be responsible with taking care of yourself first. I don't know how many times a week I ask the same question, "When was the last time you showered?" and then we both furrow our eyebrows and try to think back and it always turns out to be a sad 3, 4 or sometimes 5 days ago. Fail. But recently, you have stepped it up. You made a plan to shower every other day and you would color in your calendar with a purple marker after you did. I was impressed. I haven't had to pester you to take a shower in the last month. Pretty decent.

So today I decided to surprise you. I think you were in shock.

We went to Geronimo Tattoos and XStaci Piercings. You said you were so excited but nervous too. The lady there (Staci) was really nice and explained everything to you. She used the needle and did a great job. You said it hurt only a tiny bit. 

Then we celebrated with our mama-daughter favourite meal - Pho! So good on a pouring wet and cold day. We went to the mall after and picked out pretty earrings that you can wear once it heals up in a couple of months.  

When I was little, I had to wait until I was 11 and on my birthday, my mom brought me to Claire's to get my ears pierced. It was super special taking you to get your ears pierced today. It's a milestone. Double digits and growing up to a young lady. You are beautiful inside and out. 

Love you to the moon and back.

XOXO 

Mama

Spring break at Manning Park.

Last time we went to Manning Park was in the first week of March 2020. We went with some lovely friends. It was extra special because we had no idea that would be the last time in a long time that we would be able to share a cabin with friends, enjoy a meal together or go skiing without a mask...

March 2020 at Manning Park before the world changed...

Fast forward 2 years, we are back at Manning and the world feels almost back to normal. This time, we went with my parents and my sister and rented a premium cabin. They are newer and yes - it was worth the extra money. They are nicer than the standard cabins and the chalets.

The kid’s loved having the loft upstairs. It had two single beds and a couch and a table.  They called it their treehouse. They ate their meals upstairs and watched movies upstairs which we didn’t mind because that meant the adults had the living room and dining room downstairs to ourselves. 

The place had two full bathrooms and a nice kitchen where we made our simple Costco-sponsored meals. It is a bit sparsely stocked (as in there’s not even salt and pepper) so you’ll have to remember to pack everything you need to cook with or take some condiments from the lodge when you go skiing! 

So now onto the skiing … 

It’s not ski in, ski out. You have to drive 15 minutes to the lifts or take a shuttle. You park right at the bottom of the lift so it’s really nice. We had a beautiful clear day and got in a ton of runs. I wish they there was a bit more new snow but hey, it’s spring skiing so the snow was exactly as it’s expected for mid March. 

There’s two chairs but we stayed on the quad chair. There was no lift lines so got a great momentum going. There's a little terrain park and the kids worked on getting enough speed to clear the fun boxes. The snow was pretty fast and there are some steep sections. Little Bro had a brutal bail at high speed and it was an epic yard sale with skis and poles flying in all directions. It was good that happened near the end of the day because he was done after that. He took the shuttle with Gung Gung back to cabin and the rest of us kept riding until last lift at 3:45pm. 

Other than skiing, we also swam in the pool and relaxed in the hot tub, sauna and steam room. The kids would run in the sauna - try to survive the heat for 2 minutes and then run out and cannonball into the pool. And repeat. Over and over and over again.

We also checked out Lightening Lakes. It was hard trekking in the snow without crampons, we were surprised we only made it 6km around in over 2 hours. Next time, we’ll bring crampons and hopefully we can make it the full 9km around the lakes. 

And the games room. That was another highlight. We all had a blast with air hockey and ping pong.  They also had a life size Jenga - I should have been wearing a helmet because the whole thing came crashing down on me when I picked the wrong block. 

For just 2.5 hours away from home, Manning Park is the perfect getaway for everything we enjoy. We’ve already booked again for next year… 

Cheers!