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| On the road between Vancouver and Whistler |
Going out of the country wasn't anything new for our kids. However, crossing a border easily and stress-free, was! The borders of African countries are anything but easy, so as we approached the Canadian border, our kids anticipated hours and hours of stressful paperwork, questioning, and waiting for approval to enter. I was thankful we could show them a peaceful, organized, stress-free border crossing!
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| *Video currently not working* |
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| Putting the AutoSocks on, trying to get into the campground. |
The drive from Vancouver to Whistler was so breath-takingly beautiful! Despite the winding roads, the kids loved looking out over the water and at the islands and oooooing and aaaahhhing over God's wonderful creation. We had already booked campground near the mountain, so we had planned for a quick pull in and unpacking before Erik was to head to the mountain for a meeting. The meeting was with a race team he joined for Whistler's famous Peak to Valley Race. This race is the longest GS team race in the world and Erik was excited to participate. Our plans were slightly altered when we got stuck trying to just get up the road into the campground! Even though they knew of our arrival, the park hadn't prepared the road at all. It was a bit frustrating and time consuming, but we eventually made it up with the help of some sand, which Erik shoveled by hand all the way up the road. The RV park overlooked the mountains, with lots of beautiful trees. The kids appreciated all the snow and immediately headed outside to make a snow fort.
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| our cute little campground |
We were originally heading to Whistler for an Emergency Medicine conference, but went a couple days early for Erik to race. So the first two days were full of race-time activities. Two of Erik's teammates raced on day one and Erik raced on day two.
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| Whistler tree house |
The kids and I enjoyed a full day of skiing the first day while Erik helped carry coats and other things for the racers. That night Erik turned the RV into a ski waxing center to get his skis waxed and edges sharpened perfectly for the race the next day!
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| Ski waxing in the RV! |
All of us were up early and headed to the mountain with high hopes of seeing Erik place well in the race, even against the Olympians he was racing against! Klaasen slipped the course with Erik in the morning, they went for a fun run while I skied with the three other kiddos, and then we met back at the coffee shop for a quick hot chocolate before escorting Erik to the top of the race.
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| All ready for the big race! |
He was number 130, so when we left him at the top and racer number 119 was just going down, we knew we had only a certain amount of time to get spaced out on the course. When we got to a good position to watch a little over halfway to the bottom, racer number 125 went by. So, I quickly sent Maida and Klaasen to the finish line to wait for Erik there. I got my camera out and the video in the on position, ready to hit record. Racer 127 and racer 128 went by. When racer 129 went by, we were all anticipating he'd be next (in fact, I was surprised he didn't pass 129 yet, since the course is over 7 minutes long!!). As number 131 came around the nearest gate, I gasped, knowing something had to of happened. Racer 132 came by and racer 133. Then my phone rang - it was Erik - calling from the ski patrol's sled.
Unfortunately, Erik's ski season ended that day with a torn ACL. In disbelief and disappointment, we reconsidered the rest of our trip. With Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe, Mammoth, Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Telluride, Vail, Aspen, and Taos still on the agenda for the following three weeks, we had no idea what to do. After much prayer and discussion, and advice from the surgeon (who happened to be one of Erik's friends from medical school), we decided that it would be better to get his knee fixed sooner rather than later. Erik finished out his medical conference while the kids and I took full advantage of Whistler Blackcomb mountains. I was worn out after skiing two full days with these kids! It was lots of fun, but they never get tired, and want to go, go, go (sounds like someone else I know...).
During our last few days, we tried to find a few things Erik could join us for. He did so well on his leg with the brace that we were able to go shopping, walk around Whistler Village, play on the Olympic village playground and sledding hill, and take a ride on the Peak to Peak gondola!
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| First ski day without Daddy :( |
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| Daddy met us at the top for lunch! |
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| On the glass bottom Peak to Peak Gondola! |
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| So happy Erik could ride the gondola with us! |
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| So much snow!!! |
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| Biggest flakes I've ever seen. |
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| Tim Hortons donuts after a great day of skiing! |
As I write this, we're on the way home. Erik's MRI is scheduled on Friday and surgery on Monday. One of our good friends is doing the surgery, which is comforting, and we're hoping that Erik will come right out of surgery and start on the road to healing pretty quickly. The Skimobile is definitely not over, yet, and even though we're short a ski team member, our ski season isn't over yet, either. Our travels haven't been perfect and there have been plenty of learning moments, especially with the RV, but I feel so blessed to have had this winter season to spend with my kids and make memories of a lifetime. I know there aren't very many people who have this opportunity to drop everything in life and do something like this and I'm seriously so thankful.
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| Goodbye, Whistler! |
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