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!