Day 7

We decided to hit the town of Vancouver for some sightseeing and some fun. We went to the local aquarium in Stanley park which was great. They had a dolphin show and a 4D imax show. We then went to the P&G house where we ate lunch. We were able to walk to the Cauldron where “Ratachewy” was once again filmed by a local new crew. He even introduced him and explained he was from Utah. We walked downtown to Robson square to see art sculptures. We headed back to the P&G house for dinner and to watch the men’s half pipe snowboarding finals.

Day 8

We awoke early and decided to get an early start for Whistler. Although Noelle’s race wasn’t until 4:00, we didn’t want to take any chances of being late so we left by 9:30. We stopped in Squamish to take a bus ride up to Whistler. We were able to get up there early enough for some of us to take the peak-to-peak tram that overlooks all of Whistler. The remainder of us ate lunch and shopped around. Of course we were all able to keep and eye on each other due to our bright, crazy hats. We then headed up to the event and had some great seats right at the finish. It was great to see Noelle in between her runs and wish her luck for the next. She was ranked #5 going into the next day’s races. She usually has a little saying she writes on her sled prior to each race. She initally had a thank you with over a hundred names of people who had helped her get to where she is, only to be told she could not use first and last names. So the 3 hours of writing went down the drain, however, I really liked her new phrase... "100's of loved ones, 10 years, 4 runs, 1 sled, 1 DREAM!" That just summed it all up. We returned home late, watched more Olympics and went to bed.

Day 9

We had a relaxing morning at the house, watching the Olympics and eating breakfast. We geared up for the cold weather in Whistler and took the hour long bus ride up. It was a little more crowed with it being the finals. Noelle had 2 incredible runs placing 4th overall. We are so proud of her and her accomplishments. It has been a long 4 years, but definitely well worth the wait! We gave her a Chocolate gold medal we bought in Whistler (which knowing Noelle, she would probably appreciated more then the real thing) and a bouquet of flowers. We met her in downtown Whistler where others thought she had won a medal and started taking pictures not knowing who she was but knowing she must be someone special especially since she had a nice shiny Gold Medal around her neck. We went back to the house to eat pizza and celebrate.

Day 10

We had enough time to pack up, do a little shopping, eat at the P&G house and say our Goodbyes to a fabulous vacation. We actually left Vancouver a little later than we had anticipated and almost missed our flights. I felt like the family on Home Alone as they rushed through the airport to make it on their flight. We had about 3 minutes to spare once we were seated! It was an amazing vacation that will be forever remembered! Thank you Noelle for the great journey!

Kiddies

I had pictures of the kids taken in the late summer and loved the way they turned out. Jennifer Elliason took the pictures and did a fabulous job. Thank you!!!