Hello!! I’m back from my holiday hiatus. It was refreshing and I’ve had been enjoying family time with my college kids. It’s a wonderful time of the year! 2024 should be interesting and I’ve got some big plans. But let’s catch up on what’s been happening around here! Even though I signed up for a holiday workout plan, “Joy to the Run”- from Another Mother Runner, I haven’t really been following along and just doing my own thing. It’s my down time between training plans so the lack of structure has actually been nice! I did run 16 miles this week, and I have been (mostly) doing some PT exercises. Grab a drink, sit back and relax. We’ve got a lot to catch up on!
BIG news – my husband and I got new road bikes! Our local bike shop had a BOGO free sale… so that was a no brainer. Heck YES I need a 1/2 price bike! We both got a huge upgrade with these Trek Emonda bikes. We didn’t necessarily want matching bikes, but I wanted to get the same thing he got in terms of features. So matching it bikes it was! 😉 They have a special color changing paint which changes from purple to green. I can’t wait to ride!! (yes, these pictures are of the same bike)
We got out of town and spent a week in Whistler Canada. You’d think British Columbia could be full of snow in December, but the Whistler-Blackcomb resort was having the same struggles with lack of snow that the rest of the resorts are having these days! Despite the less than ideal conditions, we skied 5 full days, which was a lot. It’s all good!! You can see the bottom of the mountain had green grass, but up at the summit it was snowy.
Fun things: Whistler has a really cool gondola which goes between two peaks – almost 2 miles of cables through the sky! Our condo had a hot tub, which was much appreciated after all of that skiing.
Super fun things: Olympic rings!
Super duper fun thing: one time there was a search and rescue dog in our gondola!! We were told not to pet him, but he did enjoy licking our faces 😂😂
When we got back home, it was almost 60 degrees! Where’s my white Christmas?? Boo!!!
We had a really nice Christmas. We got to visit with family, and relax at home.
We played a fun Christmas lights treasure hunt. You drive around and take pictures of the things on the list (only 2 items allowed per house). We won!
We enjoyed chocolate cherry coffee cake, and shopped. Does anyone in your family have Blundstone boots? 3 out of 4 of us have them now! I couldn’t resist a super deal at REI for my pair 🙂
One random picture to wrap this up – this was my view one early morning. See that purple glow? That is the glow from a greenhouse in a town 20 miles away!! The purple light is for growing strawberries.
And finally… yes, our little foster Camden did find a forever home shortly after we returned him to the shelter. I’m sure he’s living his best life with his new family!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Congrats, you made it to the end of this post! I hope you have a healthy and happy new year!
Q: Do you have any travel plans for 2024?
We will be going international! Our plans aren’t completely solid right now, so I don’t want to jinx anything by discussing it quite yet – but I’m looking forward to it!
Nice job on your skiing and running workouts. AND congrats on the new road bikes! They’re beauties!
Yay for Camden getting adopted! 🙂
Despite the lack of snow, it sounds like you had a fabulous ski trip! And to answer your question, we’ll be traveling next weekend to ride our bikes in Florida from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. I can’t wait!
Debbie recently posted…Weekly RunDown: December 24 – December 30 / Year End Review
Will you be taking your bikes along with you to Florida? I seem to recall you rented a bike before and wished you took your seat along maybe? It sounds like a great trip. Have fun!!
Good memory! Yes, we’re driving so we can take our bikes.
Debbie recently posted…Weekly RunDown: December 24 – December 30 / Year End Review
International? How exciting.
Looks like you and the family had lots of fun the past few weeks.
Congrats on the new bikes.
Travel? Florida in Feb and May. NYC a few times. Cape Cod in Oct. nothing long or big.
Happy new year.
Maybe 2024 will be the year I finally get to NYC! I really need to get there.
I have nit been to Whistler but I hear it’s amazing. We are headed skiing in March. It’s always good to mix up your run training. Enjoy those new bikes! I kind of miss my outdoor cycling time-maybe I will start again this year. Happy new year!
Whistler-Blackcomb is a huge resort, so it was a minor bummer that they only had about 1/3 of the ski runs open. But, we can’t control the weather, so I’m glad we still were able to get some long days of skiing in!
It sounds like you’ve had a great holiday! I don’t think skiing is in the cards for us this year and I am already missing it.
That purple glow is cool — do they sell the berries locally?
That’s a very good question about the berries. I’m not sure! I only learned about the greenhouse because I posted the picture on Facebook and asked what it was. I feel like it would be a really big operations so they ship their produce out all over? They also grow tomatoes which have red-orange glow lights. I really wonder what it looks like in their town. Is it annoying, or just odd?? This picture was taken at 5:45 am, so maybe it only glows early in the morning? I have so many questions still!
Wow, that’s a nice ending to 2023! And, new bikes, yes to that! The color-changing paint sounds like something I could go for. I love my hybrid, but am considering upgrading to a road bike. I have a few months to ponder that, LOL. Sounds like your Christmas was wonderful 😉
With the super deal it was too hard to resist! It was pretty much the pricing my son would have got while he worked at the bike shop. The bikes are carbon so super light. I think mine is 17 lbs? I don’t even know some of the technology it has (a built in power meter and electronic shifting), so that will be a learning experience for me. I’m looking forward to biking *all the miles* next year!
Wow, a BOGO on bikes? You HAD to get them! Sounds like you had a lot of fun these past couple weeks. And, yay for Camden getting adopted! That’s a lucky family.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about the upcoming travel plans.
Happy New Year!
We thought the bike shop was kidding when we saw the deal. I have a couple of friends who also took advantage of the deal. My husband joked that if these bikes don’t make us any faster we are giving up on biking. haha!!
Ok. You could not put me in a gondola next to any kind of animal and tell me not to pet it. I would be unable to comply. What a brave doggo!
I’m so glad you had such a wonderful vacation! It looked like so much fun! And those bikes! I love the paint job – so cool and what a deal!
Happy New Year! We are going to the Keys this week, and then New Orleans in February. From there, we’ll see!
The dog situation was crazy! I have never seen a dog at a ski resort (but obviously they have an important job), but what was even weirder was that the dog was all alone, just catching a ride to the bottom. Seems like he should have an employee with him! Then he started howling as we went down the hill, which was at least a 10 min ride. So funny!!
Ooooh! Love those new bikes! My Trek road bike is pretty old, but I don’t ride it much, so I don’t need an upgrade. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t mind one…
Your trip to Whistler looks amazing! I’m a big fan of Canada after our trip to Banff. I’d love to go back!
Happy New Year!
I wasn’t exactly “in need” of a new bike, but I told my husband that we should just go check it out to see what they have 😂 I can’t wait to get it on the roads!
5 days in a row is a lot! We are heading to Zermatt in two weeks and will have 4 days in a row- and I didn’t want to buy the tickets ahead of time as I might want to take one day off to just explore Zermatt (one of the friends joining us doesn’t ski or snowboard, so I thought it might be fun to spend the day with her.) Anyways, I hope the Alps have a bit more snow- that green grass at the base is a bummer, but I’m glad you still had snow higher up!
That purple light is so interesting! Your neighborhood is very festive too. Happy holidays Lisa!
Actually it was 3 days and 2 days, but even so I think 3 days in a row is a lot and I was surprised that our legs weren’t completely toast by the end! Skiing in Europe would be amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing your pictures of that trip!
I’ve always wanted to go to Whistler! For the beauty, not the skiing.
Sounds like you had a great vacation & Christmas!
Never heard of those boots.
Oh, you went skiing. I am so jealous. I’ll be visiting my family in Germany in the spring and we’ll be going skiing in the Dolomites. Can’t wait.