Pyjama days, homework, and chocolate cake

 Some of the things we did over spring break....

Max made our favourite flourless Chocolate cake- his latest obsession.

Bruno actually allowing me to take his picture...and he's smiling!

And being a bit cheeky!

Having our Pyjama day.  
The rules are that you:  1. Don't go outside all day.  2. You wear your pj's all day.

Boris, as usual...is trolling for food scraps from the table!

Pyjama days work best when it is grey and rainy outside.

Having a huge English assignment due also adds to the experience of staying inside.....craving chocolate cake...and being cosy!

Lack of snow....means skiing sadness!

This had been one of the worst ski seasons ever.  I haven't skied this season because there has been no snow.  We cancelled our usual end of ski season trip to Sun Peaks because we were tired and worn out by such a lack-lustre year.  We just decided to hang up our skis early, and move on.

So this spring break, instead of being active in the mountains, we have relaxed at home, and taken a huge break from the world.

January - March has been a really busy time.  Now the boys are getting ready for track and field practices, football, and swimming.   This year, I hope to introduce them to rowing.  Let spring begin! 

Leaving Gifted Education

On Friday the 13th, I decided to put my job card in and leave the job I have been in since October.  I was the gifted mentor teacher for the district I work in, but I am leaving this role to go back to the classroom and be a teacher working directly with students. 

I am really excited to be leaving this job, which I never was sure about, and found it to be impossible, beyond challenging, and too political.  I was stuck at a cubicle!!!  

I realized I wanted to leave this job as I was becoming angrier every single day!! I am not an angry person, but I was becoming so frustrated with every little aspect of the job and it was beginning to get bitter and the thought of doing this for another two years made me really sad.  

So, I don't know where I am going or what grade I will be teaching, but I am looking forward to the possibilities and chance to make meaningful connections with students, once again.

I have so much to learn, but I am excited to be moving forward!  Good bye gifted education!  I will always use what I have learned in this field, and I will always have an interest in the highly able learner, but it is time to take a break and move in a new direction.

Max at Provincials

The 2015 Provincials were held at Silverstar Mountain this year.  Here are some great shots of Max.  Thank you to the photography company who took these photos:  Kiss the Monkey Photography.  Great shots!

The ski season has been so awful that we are cutting it short this year, and not going to Sun Peaks, our annual ski destination for the Nancy Greene Festival.

So terribly sad.  I didn't even ski this year!

Tyrol Lodge

 Last weekend, we stayed at the Tyrol Lodge at Whistler, as Max competed in a ski race, and Bruno skied with his team. Conditions are so terrible on our local mountains that we are now skiing at Whistler for our weekend skiing.  We are praying for more snow on our local mountains, but I am afraid that the season may be over for Grouse Mountain.  

This year, we became members of the Tyrol Lodge, which is a fantastic piece of Whistler history.  I remember staying here in high school in the early '80's, with my friend, whose father was one of the founding members of the Lodge.  My friend and I took the train up to Whistler, got off at the Nita Lake stop, and walked along the train tracks to the lodge.  Can you believe that a passenger train went up to Whistler that allowed one to ski for the day and return home at night?  

There are no longer places like this at Whistler. The lodge, nearing 50 years, is a relic of time past - of the old way of spending a ski weekend with family and friends.  Together!

There is a communal seating area, with couches, board games, and books.  Although there is wireless internet, there are no TV's.  This is a place, where after skiing, you spend time with family and friends.

 I love the red wood burning fireplace!

The caretaker's lodge.

The best part is the communal kitchen, with four separate cooking spaces. Brilliant and wonderful.  Each family takes turn cooking meals, and then eating the meal in either the kitchen area or in the dining room. In these kitchenette's you feel transported back in time.  And, there are not dishwashers - the kids actually have to learn to dry their own dishes!

The kitchen eating area:  great for early morning breakfasts.

Living Room and eating area.

The only challenge is hiking down a long path to the lodge.  You need to bring your food and bedding to the lodge, as well, which can add to your luggage!  Here the boys are hiking down to the lodge with their skins, getting ready to wax for the next day!

Here is a link to Tyrol Lodge
A great place to stay, and be part of Whistler's history.  It is important that we have places like this that allow skiing at Whistler to still be possible for families.

Christmas 2014

Updates on the Renovation

Dry walling has been completed, and now we the cupboards are being installed.
The contractors we have hired are Kaverton Construction and we are very pleased with the detail of their work, and their timing.  The architects and contractors gave this project about two months to complete, and we seem to be on time, which is a huge relief, as school is beginning soon, and we need to be back in the swing of things. 

Here are the new cabinets, custom built by Oscar Grann's located in North Vancouver.  

The cabinets are white high gloss laminate.  The doors will be put on last.  Above, is where the oven and cook top will go, under a minimalist hood fan.  Our appliances are by Miele. We decided on an induction cook top and oven.

Because we have a small space, we wanted our appliances to fit the scope of the project and not overwhelm the room.  We felt that Miele's aesthetic worked well in our configuration.

We moved our sink and it will now be located under the skylights.

This angle, looking into the dining room, is where we will put the microwave under the counter.  The entire counter will be free so that we have a larger work space.  We continued the line of counters into the dining room so that we extended the visual line of the kitchen.  

The dining room:  we will have wall mounted cabinets above with glass doors, and below, the same counter top as the kitchen and more space to store dishes and glasses.

Looking into the dining room and living room

 Upstairs in our loft bedroom.  Here, we built a closet above the stairs, in unused open space.  Chris will use this as his closet.

Along the opposite wall, will be my closet.  

The upstairs ensuite:  the new tile and shower basin

New cabinets in the bathroom

Counter tops:  because we live in a small space, we decided to have the same cabinets and counter tops in our kitchen and bathrooms so that we unite the spaces and so that our entire home is pulled together in a modern yet understated theme.  Our cabinets will be white high gloss and the caeserstone counters are blizzard white.

I decided upon white on white because I wanted a clean, simple, bright look that would not date itself in a year or two.  With white, one can always add accents and colour in the room to change it up.

We are changing the fire place insert.  Due to budget constraints, instead of tiling the fire place, we decided to take off the hearth and have the contractors dry wall and keep it simple.

Looking into the kitchen from the dining room

Renovations Begin

After 13 years of deciding whether or not to move, whether or not to renovate, whether or not to swap the kitchen with the dining room space, whether or not to dig down and build a family room and office, we finally came to a decision.

Working with The Andrews Architects, we spent a year figuring out how to use our space more effectively, and deciding out what we needed to update, change, and modernize.

On our list was:

1. New bathrooms (boys, ensuite)

2. New kitchen (new everything!)

3. Closets built in our loft bedroom

4. Refitted deck and better drainage

5. New fireplace and hearth

6. More efficient heating system, and one that would free up venting space

Here is the 1994 kitchen been pulled apart. I was not sad to see the forest green laminate counters being taken out.

In the above picture there is a drop ceiling; this was done to provide venting for the hood fan, running across the length of the kitchen.  The contractors raised the ceiling so that it will be the same as the rest of the main floor.

The boys' bathroom:  glad to see the sea foam tiles and counter top circa the mid 90's being taken away!

Why the accent tiles?  I just never understood that concept.

The kitchen is gone!

Here is the drop ceiling, obscuring the skylights along the side wall.  Pure laziness in design!!

The boys' bathroom once the tile was removed