Steps to an epic Surprise Party...

Getting birthday presents for my kids is easy, I could probably find 10 things just at Dollarama but for my husband, there isn't really anything that he needs...I decided the best present wouldn't be anything from a store but an evening with his guy friends and of course surprise parties are more fun than regular parties right???

So step 1 - Wait til your husband is sleeping and find phone numbers of his guys friends and text them secretly.

Step 2 - Come up with a legit reason to get him out of the house. Couldn't do this without enlisting help from friends from our community group. We planned a guys night out and Simon went out to the restaurant not suspecting a single thing. Meanwhile, all the his guys friends came over while he was out.

Step 3- Time it perfectly so after he is done at the restaurant, everyone is ready.....and SURPRISE!

Step 4 - Get the party started with my version of Speak Out where the birthday boy has to say lines from his favorite movies and everyone has to guess

 And lastly step 5 - Order a cake (which I had to hide it stealthy in a friend's fridge until party day) and set it off with pyro-technic candles...

Thank you for everyone for coming out ! Some of you have known Simon for a decade or more and some of you are newer friends but we were talking last night about how blessed he feels to be doing life with such a awesome group of guys. And thank you to all the moms that graciously tackled bedtime on their own so the dads could come out and hang out. Much love to you all!

Things that are legit on a farm...

When you are on the farm and away from the city, there are a few things I really love about being here....a lot of it is stuff that you would never get away with back home.
On the farm, you can 'up-cycle' that car hood you didn't need and were just keeping around. It's not junk - just throw an old couch cushion on it  and attach it to a snowmobile. I hope these videos work!

Just make sure the kiddos were a balaclava. Here's what they look like before the ride...

 And here's what they look like after Grandpa toured them around on the carhood

Farm dogs are also different to city dogs. Misha has been learning not only boring commands like 'sit' and 'fetch' like us city folks, she also has a obstacle course where she has learned to jump through hoops, weave through pipes and best of all, she can pull the kiddos on a sleigh. Mush, Misha, Mush!

You can build a fire anytime you want. The kids love helping gathering all the fallen branches. Also, apparently on the farm, if the fire isn't burning hot enough, you can pour old diesel on it to really spark things up. If you ask my kiddos how to make a fire, they will say you need "branches and Grandpa's black paint"

Having 80+ acres has its advantages. Even a four year old can learn to ride a snowmobile when he can go in any direction and not crash into anything. No waivers to sign. Just climb on the snowmobile, Dad tells Little Brother that the right hand means go and left hand means stop. That concludes his lesson and he is off and he is stoked.

When you have so much space, you need to go on a scavenger hunt! Grandma had a great idea and sent the kids all over the farm looking for old tires, tractors and piles of firewood...

And when you have a snowmobile and a 6-year-old that is keen to ski, you can just run into the barn and find some binder twine and invent a new sport called ski surfing. This girl is good!

Even the 4-year-old can get the hang of this sport

So yes, while I do love the city...the farm means lots of big smiles like these

So let's hope Grandma and Grandpa never leave their 80+ acres of endless possibilities...but we just like the fun parts not the endless chores that come with it please!

10 things you should know about planning a ski vacation.

1. Go to Big White. I know Whistler is technically closer but there's nothing like Okanagan champagne powder plus Whistler seems to be catering to a much richer crowd these days ($148 to ski at Whistler for the day?!)  Go to Whistler if you are young, kid-free and don't have mortgage but if you are no longer a spring chicken, have Littles and on a budget like us, go to Big White instead ($68/day with the Biggie card). I think we have been spending post-Christmas to New Years here for at least a decade now and I hope this tradition never stops...

2. Let Costco do the cooking. There is a reason there is a Costco right at the bottom of the road before you turn to drive up the mountain to Big White. In the ten or more years we have been at Big White, I don't think we have ever gone out for a single meal...why would we when you can snack of a Costco-sized bag of popcorn or Ghiradelli chocolates while the Costco lasagna is baking in the oven?

3. Invest in ski training tools. We tried putting Big Sister in lessons when she was 3 but the 6"3 Aussie with his shiny reflective googles spooked the begeebies outta her and we parted sadly with our $70 for the ski lesson where she never even left the lodge with Mr. Aussie Ski Instructor.  Little Brother insisted "only mommy teach" so I ditched my snowboard and bought junkie skis, a ski harness and an 'edgie wedgie' (its in the picture -it's the little clip that goes on the front of skis to keep the tips together). This small little thing has helped SO much. Instead of me yelling, "PIZZA! Just do the PIZZA!!! PIZZA!" and having Little Brother drooling for lunch, he actually knows what I mean now.

4. Be prepared for cold weather. We are from B.C., we are total wimps when it comes to cold weather....layer up and always wear your balaclava. The kids are totally into being ninjas right now so they were totally wearing their balaclavas 24/7 and being 'the black ninja' and 'the pink ninja'.

5. Be prepared to ditch a ski day because of the cold weather. Let's just be honest, if you can't feel your face or your fingers, skiing just isn't that much fun anymore. On one particular freezing and blustery cold -18 day, we decided after a few brain-numbing runs that hot-tubbing at 10:30 in the morning was going to be more enjoyable than any run on the mountain. Good call.

6. Take your Little Ones to the carnival. Big White hosts a free carnival night at least once a week. The kids jump in the bouncy castle, stuff their faces with free cotton candy and popcorn, get their faces painted and play lame carnival games to earn points. If they earn enough points, they will exclaim it is 'the best day ever' because they will have enough points for the limited-edition, coveted, Big White fidget spinner or silly putty. Simple joys people.

 7. Ski with the Littles in the morning. Let them watch Netflix in the afternoon. I guess little legs do have their limitations because by lunch time, they were so tired, I practically had to spoon-feed them their lunch. But this worked out nicely so we could have venture out to more adventurous trails in the afternoon. We carved some insane powder and ventured to some trails that we would never take our Littles...which bring me to the next point...

8. Try to avoid 4 feet deep tree wells. I was following my dear husband but didn't make a turn fast enough and sank shockingly fast in this tree well. I was so thankful that he heard my wails of, "STUCK!!! I'm stuck. Like really, really, really stuck!!!! Like I can't get out of this on my own kind of stuck!!!' He found where I was and helped dig out my board and un-clipped me pulled me out of the hole and managed to find my board after that. I really wouldn't of been able to pull myself outta that hole on my own so always ride with at least one other person and hopefully that other person has tree-well rescues in their repertoire.

9. Pack your skates. Of all the years we have been at Big White, this was the first year we brought our skates and it was free and fun! Neither of our Littles can skate and it's good they have those support bar things. Big Sister was happy to shuffle slowly and try to chase Daddy. Little Brother was just memorized by the Zamboni and was happy to shuffle to follow the Zamboni. Skating on a real outdoor rink makes you feel really Canadian. Maybe in a few years when our kids can actually skate, we can even join the other people playing hockey, eh? For now, we just enjoyed skating as the sun set in ridiculously spectacular shades of pink and purple and then had hot chocolate by the fire. It just doesn't get more picture perfect than that!

10. Ring in the new year with family and fireworks. New Years day recap: ski, eat, hot tub, play multiple rounds of Exploding Kittens  and watch the fireworks. I love that Big White knows that most parents don't want to stay up til midnight so every year fireworks at Big White go off at 8:15 pm and everyone can be asleep before 8:45 pm. Now that's a good start to the new year!