Whistler Conclusion

Good ski-ing

Great company

Fabulous Sunshine

Amazing House

Ski Whistler

I cannot believe we have been in Whistler, Vancouver for 10days and it is now the last ski day. Sigh. I am here with buddies Craig and Daniel. Craig & I skied Zermatt about 4yrs ago and last time I skied with Daniel was almost 20yrs ago in Whistler. Daniel says that after all these years of ski-ing, I still ski like a beginner..... Guess it's lessons on the next ski trip. :)

Well, in my opinion, the boys are rather dangerous. I keep reminding everyone that we aren't 20 anymore, so we should ski safely, but the boys keep bombing down the mountain! Craig fell on his head the 1st day and had to spend the next couple of days recuperting from whiplash. Just when he recovered, he went off a cliff and tore something in his shoulder. Ya, we aren't 20 anymore! I have been popping anica and rubbing deep heat all over......... The body feels a little battered!

Whistler / Blackcomb has a huge ski domain. We had wonderful days of sunshine and the ski-ing has been great except for a couple of icy days.

Daniel borrowed a gorgeous house with 7 bedrooms, hot-tub, sauna and a kitchen to die for!

Lunch on the slopes (Favourite places : Whiskey Jack (Whitler mountain) and Crystal Hut Waffle Station (Blackcomb mountain).

With Vancouver friends, Kim & Sharon & the Dublin Gate Pub

The new peak 2 peak gondola takes you between Whistler and Blackcomb in 11mins. It's a great place to nap! There are 2 "glass bottom" gondolas but it really isn't anything special and not worth the wait!

With Uncle Harry & Aunty Ruth on the Gondola to the Peak

WHAT HAVE THE BOYS BEEN UP TO?

1st 2 weeks of Dec : Nic & Mat went off to France to spend time with their French family and Steph stayed with me and had a wonderful time as a single child!
Steph with buddy, Bryan from school. He even did a sleep over!

Steph with friends Luka and Mia

Xmas holidays : Steph left with his father and his family to join the boys! I understand that after a week in Les Arcs, all 3 boys are now expert skiers! Their French hasn’t improved much though…………
Nic & Steph in Mamie Anne's garden in the Sth of France (Mat was behind the camera)

2009 : Back to School : It hasn’t even been 2 weeks and the Xmas holidays feels like a lifetime ago! Nic came back from the holidays a complete bookworm having finished all 7 books of the Harry Porter series in 1 month! He reads all hours of the day and night and doesn’t want to do much else! Mathieu's new year has been very exciting; he is buddying his cousin Mark that just started P1, was made vice-captain of his school house and is on the Rugby team. Both boys promised that 2009 will be a serious study year….. hmm…. Nic is doing his PSLE exams this year and has set himself all sorts of targets! I am impressed. Steph is having a whale of a time and enjoying his childhood!

Weekends have been pretty action-packed; Night Safari with friends from Mauritius, 7km Tree-Top run/walk @ MacRitchie with the Wongs, Teongs & friends, Playtime with cousins at Hort Park (This is a great park that joins to Kent Ridge.); Sean-Rai’s birthday party; Excursion to 1degree15 for the Volvo Endurance Race with the Fus (Ya, I am still trying to get my kids infected with the sailing bug so we can sail around the world! Haha!) ……… Busy Busy Busy.

Playing hamsters in WOOF Balls

With Malcolm & Mitchell on Segways

Mat answering questions about the Volvo Endurance Race

B0ys are now having fun with Nana whilst I am in Vancouver before they leave for Phuket on a cruise with their Dad. Ya, they have quite a life, don't they!

AMERICA - To go or NOT to go............

The last post was supposed to be about my trip to the US and I don't know how I got side-tracked into a Tim & I romance story! Oh well...........


I think Tim wanted to show me what a great and wonderful place the US is to live in so we did a little discovery tour.

1st PORT : LAS VEGAS (Tim's adopted home for nearly 10 yrs)

LV is probably not the 1st place one would think of when moving to America ; casinos, strip clubs... sin-city of the world! Well Tim tried to show me another side of it;

a. Great outdoors : Hiking, camping, cycling & running @ Red Rock


Red Rock National Park


(We didn't actually do any of those things this time round as it was snowing and we weren't really equipped. The recce however showed great potential!)



b. Ski-ing @ Mt Charlestone. About 45mins away, there is a great little mountain with about 6 runs on it. (Very comparable to ski-ing in Club Med Sahoro). Perfect place to spend a day out!



c. Amazing houses : yep, we went house shopping and there are huge 4 bedroom houses (w/ outdoor and indoor fireplaces, 2 living rooms, place for a yoga studio/therapy room, mum's room when she visits, 3 bay garage......... ) all for USD400K!



d. Yummy Food. Many celebrity chefs have restaurants in vegas so it isn't a bad place to go to on un voyage de gourmandise! We went to Daniel Bouloud's restaurant @ Wynns (I think he has some Michelin stars), but it was expensive and not much to write home about! The Banana Cream Pie @ Emerald's in MGM is to die for though! The really good restaurants are however not on the strip. Jodie (Tim's flatmate) took us to a delicious little bagel deli out of town and we did a couple of really good jap restaurants that locals go to. The most yummy of yummies was undeniably the Krispy Cream Donuts that I am absolutely addicted to!



e. Shows galore : The great thing about being resident in LV is that you get to do the shows at local rates. $49 instead of the $100s it normally cost! We did Barry Manilow (Yes, Tim & I are closet BM fans!) and the sexy Cirque du Soleil Show, Zumanity (Very good, but not something you'd bring the folks or kids to, if you know what I mean!)


So far so good, but it is still SIN-CITY!

2nd PORT OF CALL : SEDONA ARIZONA






Tim always talked about this place and when I discovered that it was filled with Energy vortexes, we decided to pop over and check it out! Sedona is a bit of a New Age Hippie place for Energy healers, psychics and the likes of it. We did a couple of hikes to the Vortexes for meditation and it was very very nice. Sedona is a beautiful place; the color of the sky and mountain really takes the breath away. We stayed here much longer than planned cos it was so nice but I still don't think I would want to live here!

BOYNTON VORTEX : in the pouring rain all decked out in our ski gear and the most inappropriate footwear : Tim in his Prada's and me with my suede boots cos we had no walking shoes!

CATHEDRAL VORTEX

Little cottage we rented @ Oak Creek


Photo on the left by Tim (photoshoped sun!), Photo on the right by Elaine (all natural!)

Tim's brother Todd and his family live in Scottsdale Arizona so we hopped over for the day for a mini family reunion with Tim's parents! All very nice. It seems that there are some very good schools in Arizona and I learnt to my amazement that everything is free (school fees, buses, everything............) Now, that is tempting! If we can put the kids in a good school (one that does not cost an arm & a leg) and prepare for Nic to go to college paying in-state tuition fees, that would be good! Anyway, that is definitely something that I am filing away for future consideration!
Tim w/ niece Gracie. (Emma & her would get along like a house on fire!)

LAST STOP : CALIFORNIA

We had planned to ski Big Bear or Mammoth before heading to LA to see my best friend from boarding school, Armgard! But, we ran out of time and had to give ski-ing a miss. There was no way I was coming to Califonia and not see my darling friend Armgard though!

Armgard, Tim & I have quite a history too. When I was studing @ KU in 1987, Armgard came over from London to visit. We decided to do a road trip to Tennesse to visit Tim, got into an awful car accident that lead to my parents flying out to America to pull me out of school and drag me back to England. Yep, I was a very naughty girl! Anyway, Armgard moved over to LA a few yrs ago and now lives in a beautiful & charming historic cottage; biking & hiking and loving it in America! Listening to her talk, I couldn't believe this was the same Armgard that hid with me in the toilets to skive PE all those yrs ago! (Well, I guess the same can probably be said about me; who would have imagined that I actually exercise for fun now!) Well Armgard tells me that I HAVE TO MOVE TO LA; great for the kids, amazing weather, things to do, fun people............


So, Tim & I said we'd think about California. He is thinking about going back into the kitchen to do healthy cooking (yep, video editing wasn't his thing afterall) and I think doing yoga & massage in sunny California, might work for me!

We said we'd THINK about it! Spore is still such a wonderful place though. And the boys like it. And my mum is there. And my nephew and nieces. And my ex-husband would make my life hell if we moved. And And And..... sigh. Guess we need to meditate on this more.

Christmas with Tim

I was supposed to spend the month of December in India whilst the boys are in France. I had planned some yoga & meditation time : Shivananda Ashram in Kerala, Ama Ashram, Osho in Pune...... After the bombings in Mumbai, my mother kept telling me not to go to India ; and though I adore my mother, I wouldn't normally pay much attention to such doom and drama. But for some reason, my inner voice told me I shouldn't go. So, I was debating if I should follow mum & dad on their Dubai holiday (but wasn't sure if they really wanted me along!); go with Chin and the girls to Hawaii and do the womens marathon (would have been great but I could not get tickets); or just stay here and learn to do nothing and be by myself!

Anyway, in the midst of searching for tickets to Hawaii, I, with no apparent reason, prior planning or warning, asked for a ticket to LA. 1 week before xmas, I managed to get a flight to LA on redemption miles on SQ. Either the recession is really bad or God thought that it was time that I made that trip to America to visit Tim!

Tim and I have quite the history. He's my very 1st boyfriend and we have a love story that spanned 2 decades and 4 countries : America 86-87, England in 2000, (where we both lived but didn't manage to get back together) and eventually in Singapore & KL 2006-2007! Tim returned to the US 1year ago and there was talk about the boys and I following, but nothing was cast in stone. 2008 was quite a special year for me though: My new spritual awakening, quitting my job ...... and the boys just seemed so happy and settled in Singapore that moving to America really didn't seem like the thing to do.

1986 in Kansas (Ellsworth Dormitory, KU)

1987 in Kansas (@ Cedarwood Appartments)

Nov 2005 in Bangkok (when we got back together again)

Dec 2005 in Whistler
Feb 2006 in Spore (when he decided to move over)

April 2006 in Vegas (when he proposed by the Bellagio fountain)
Sept 2006 @ Mum's Place (Tim's birthday)

Dec 2006 in Brisbane
Dec 2006 in our house in Bangsar
2007 Miso Ramen @ our favourite restaurant in KL
Dec 2007 in Spore (just before he returned to America)
Dec 2008 in Vegas (@ the Barry Manilow Concert! :)

So, here we are now; 22 yrs of history and living on 2 different continents!