From tropical Calgary back to Narnia (aka Ralston)

We are back in Ralston after a lovely long weekend in Calgary where we had warm sunshine, a high of +8 and even melting snow! We did get to see some of the Snowboarding Championships which was very impressive, though the average age of a snowboarder (and spectator) seemed to be about 15! With lot's of funky music and totally radical dude's, Ben was most entertained (whilst pretending not to be with us!). What happened to good old Ski Sunday & cow bells?!! We also went to the Science Park again, which a favourite of the kid's. There's lot's of interactive things for them to do which is great and Leigh & I can leave them to it and grab a coffee and read the paper! So we all had a great weekend away. We left balmy Calgary on Sunday afternoon and as we were driving back down the highway towards Ralston, the temperature guage on the car was steadily dropping down
the closer we got to Ralston! As we turned into the village the thick snow was still everywhere and the tree's were completely white. When we left the house this morning on the school run it was -25. Again! It was foggy too so Ben was more than hopeful for a 'no school day'! It really is just like Narnia here, though as Olivia pointed out, 'We haven't seen Mr Tumnus yet and we didn't walk through a wardrobe to get here either'! Thanks Olivia - good point!

Yet another quiet week in Ralston! At least it's warming up a bit now and I think we have even achieved a high of +3 which started a bit of a thaw. That has now frozen again and we now have a thick layer of potentialy lethal ice underneath the snow. Marvellous! We had some friends over for supper on Friday which was really nice (and very grown up!). On Saturday evening there was a hockey match on at the arena here - 'The Battle of the Border' which was the Canadian ladies v USA ladies. Leigh & Ben went and had a great time. (I didn't go with Olivia & Charlie as they are not in the least bit interested!) There were about 400 people in attendance and as Ben plays in the Minor Hockey League, he and the rest of his team played a quick 'shinney' at half time. He was playing for The Wildcats and did brilliantly. He wasn't at all bothered that 400 people were watching! So cute! (I'll try again in vain to post the video on this blog - he's Number 15). So not much else has happened. It's half term here this week and on Thursday we are going to Calgary for a long weekend. Hopefully we will catch some of the Snowboarding championships at the Olympic Village and if it's warm enough we may even go to the Zoo. I wonder if they have anything there other than Polar Bears and Penguins!!

Where does the time go? We've had a quiet week here in Ralston with the exception of Dinner at the Commander's house, which was nice (!) and an evening over at our friends house, The Flavell's at the weekend. And yes, at -23, we drove the 200 metres over to their house!!! It's still very cold here, though the school hasn't closed so that must mean it hasn't dropped below -40! But we have had some beautiful sunny days which is almost blinding against the white snow. Speaking of which, there is another 5cm of snow forecast for tomorrow (yawn!). I am sure that when the snow thaws, we will find many things in the garden that we have lost over the winter months - we haven't seen any grass since it first snowed in November! So not much to blog about this week. Just the usual school runs, ice hockey & after school clubs. Leigh is busy at work and next week is half term. Our plan is to head up to Calgary for a few days & hopefully get some skiing in at the Olympic Park. It's also the International Snowboarding Championships there so we hope to catch some of that too. Hopefully you can see the footage below of a much improved Ben practicing his 'hockey stop'. If you saw the previous footage that I blogged about 3 months ago then you will be impressed! Leigh and I are studying it trying to pick up some tips!

Well Mum, myself and the kids did make it to The Rockies after our unplanned stop over in Calgary! We woke the next day to find the snow storm had passed and it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day. Still very cold though - minus 35 with a windchill of -47! A tad chilly to say the least! The weather warning regarding the frostbite limit of 5 mins outside was still in place but the roads were clear so we went for it! Such a perfect day to see The Rockies - the snow covered mountains and trees set against the clear blue sky - just gorgeous. Needless to say the ski slopes & cable car were closed but I drove Mum around Banff, part way up Sulphur Mountain & Canmore so she had a good tour of The Rockies. We stayed overnight in Canmore in the same hotel that we had over New Year, and of course the kids wanted to go back into the outdoor hot tub! Trust them - I think that would have been suicide! Needless to say I wasn't up for it and it didn't happen! So I dropped Mum off at Calgary airport on Tuesday and she is back safe and well in good old Blighty! I think she enjoyed herself here!! So things are back to normal again, though the school had been closed for a couple of days. In Canada if the temperature drops below -40, the schools close (thank goodness!), but it has warmed up a bit now. It's funny to think that all of us here in Ralston get excited when the weather forecast in only -25! Positively balmy. We might even hit a high of -2 over the weekend. What a treat! It will feel like summer! I took a photo of our thermometer which is fixed to the wall outside my kitchen window. The lowest it goes down to is -30 and as you can see the red line had almost dropped off the scale that day! Brrr!