We have been busy hosts...

Our friends from le petit village arrived January 30 for the trip of a lifetime - a Canadian winter holiday!

Day 1 was sledding at Christie Pits with Sebastian

Alice gives it her best try

Day 2 was Niagara Falls

Day 3 was exploring Toronto - including China town

Day 5 was skiing with us at Horseshoe and then stopping for a Tim's experience

Joao approved

Eva appreciated it too

Thomas was less convinced by a double-double 

After 10 days of travel, the friends returned and bravely tried Ethiopian cuisine with us

Let's just say that Joao has a limited palette 

Followed by Ed's ice cream - which Joao did approve of

Alice insisted on returning on their last day in the city (it is only a block away from home!)

The final weekend was Family Day and we rented a cottage and even took the dog! Mr M managed to disconnect from all his craziness and enjoy the great winterlude with us. There are no photos of the excellent toboggan run that Seb and the other kids created. Sadly Darwin was leashed or banished because he just wouldn't let them zoom down the track without chasing after and grabbing the sled or worse - them!

We headed to Arrowhead provincial park one day - where the ace skater (Joao) and his dad did the skate loop over and over and over again! The rest of us skied and tobogganed; it was gorgeous day!

Clearing a skating rink on the lake beside the cottage

in his Canadiens gear

a little shinny

Taken from my snowshoe trek onto the lake (that's the cottage behind)

A few days later, the girls had an hour alone in Dufferin Mall - where they ate popcorn and discussed how they are not allowed to wear makeup or leggings without a tunic top, etc.