As 2016 started the girls were in a number of weekly lessons. They were both in swimming lessons, generally going twice a week on weekdays after school. They also were both taking piano on Saturday morning, followed by dance. Melissa in ballet, Kayla in Acro. The full family was involved in enjoying skiing EVERY Sunday. Unlike the 2014/15 year where the local snow was non-existent and made for a sparse skiing year, this season was GREAT! There was lots of snow, so in the first few months both girls were in lessons early on Sunday, and then after lunch we would all ski together. With three out of four of us having season passes at Mount Seymour, and Susan getting a deal by taking advantage of the offer where you get a discounted parent ticket due to having a kid in lessons, we got great value! We fell into a rule of going for dinner at some restaurant every Sunday after skiing. The restaurant we went to each week was chosen by somebody in the family, rotating week to week as to who got to pick where we went.

In early February Glen had to travel to Florida for work, but thankfully due to no flight problems, was able to be skiing on the Sunday the day before flying out, then back in time on Friday to take the girls to piano on Saturday morning the week following (in other words, not missing anything on the weekend due to the work trip).

Althrough the snow was great on the mountains, there wasn't any in town, so we were able to get out for some fun things like biking.

In mid March, for spring break, we went to Big White for some skiing with our good friends Jen and Zac and their kids Jazmine and Corbin (who are identical ages to our kids). We were exceptionally lucky, as Big White is susceptible to having whiteouts (and thus the name), but for while we were there, we had perfectly clear weather! The kids had an excellent time skiing (well we all did). People generally skied two or three days. The third day I went by myself to get some good runs in. We've taken up going to Big White the last few years not because of the best skiing (their runs are excellent however), but because they put on so much fun stuff for families after skiing.

Spring break was two weeks long, and so a week later for Easter Glen's parents came to town to spend the Easter weekend with us. Since snow was still so good on the mountains, Glen actually stole some personal time and ran up to Mount Seymour for one last day of skiing for the year. Skiing alone, he got a lot of runs in fast, then came down and did what Vancouver is famous for and then went golfing with his dad. Besides those sports, we also went for a walk at Burnaby mountain. Our family plus Glen's mom walked on trails to SFU from Burnaby Mountain. Plus the girls of course took advantage of the playground at Burnaby Mountain.

In April we went to Seaside Oregon, but that's another story.

In early May we did things around town, going one weekend to the Rhododendron Festival. The rhododendron festival happens in Deer Lake as an annual event. We took part in some fun opportunities such as drawing on easel's made available, plus taking a few courses such as dreamcatcher making and flower arranging. For mother's day, we took Susan out for dinner on Friday night, then had Susan's parent's over for a BBQ dinner on Saturday night.

Every couple of years with growing kids you need to get them new sports equipment, and this year was the year for a new bike. So Kayla passed her bike down to Melissa, and we went to Obsession Bikes in North Vancouver, where we have bought the majority of our bikes in the last few years, and got a new bike for Kayla. While waiting for Kayla's bike to get a last minute tune up, we walked down to Lonsdale Quay to enjoy the beautiful day. The weekend after we got out for a bike ride, and had a picnic lunch.

Kayla was lucky enough that she took part in school in the Burnaby dance festival. We went one evening to the Burnaby Mountain Gym to see her do a dance performance with her class. Montecito, the girl's school, is generally pretty good for getting a kindergarten class into the festival, so both girls went in Kindergarten, but after kindergarten it becomes a bigger gamble as to whether they'll go. Kayla has been lucky to perform three out of her four years she has been in school.

For the Victoria Day weekend we went to our cabin, opening it up for the first time in the year. We had planned to stain our new deck, but due to it raining most of the weekend, we didn't get much done on that plan. Saturday afternoon cleared up, so we did stain a few upright posts. Glen's parents went out and stayed at Glen's uncle Earl's cabin. Jim and Jessica also went. We had dinner with them on Saturday night at Earl's place. Saturday night Kayla stayed over at their place and went to Church on Sunday morning. Sunday evening is a steak BBQ for mother's day (several week's earlier yes, but our first time seeing Glen's mom). We're not going to be getting to our cabin much for a while due to being busy on the weekends in late May then early June. We plan to fly to Ottawa the day the girls get out of school in late June so we can spend Canada Day on Parliament Hill. We then plan to drive around in the East spending some time at Niagara Falls and time in Toronto, staying at Uncle Richard's place. We're looking forward to that!