Minus 47. Again!

We've had a week of all work and no play (well for Leigh and the children anyway)! Leigh is back in one piece after his advanced ski course and although he took the camera, he didn't take any pictures! So I guess we will have to take Leigh's word for it that he did have a hard weeks skiing in the Rockies and it wasn't a 'cover' for a boys week in Vegas!

We've also had another week of the extreme Canadian weather. Last weekend temperatures plummeted to around -40 and the school had to close for a day on Monday as the windchill brought the temperatures down to -47. It was definately a day to stay indoors, hold a Wii Olympics and bake cookies!



I thought it would be
interesting to show how different the view looks from our garden in Summer and Winter... We have all forgotten what green, lush grass looks like!

A spot of Cross Country skiing

We've been enjoying some really beautiful weather here in Canada this week; blue skies, glistening white snow and temperatures hovering above freezing. Perfect weather for enjoying outdoors; the children are sledging everywhere and on Thursday a bunch of us girls decided to try our hands at Cross Country skiing.

We went to a place in Medicine Hat called Police Point park where we hired skis and shoes for $4 (what a bargain!), given a 2 minute talk on how to use them and were then left to our own devices! After a pretty wobbly start we all got the hang of it but it was a little more `cross country`than I imagined it would be; there wasn`t a cut track and it was very, very bumpy! I had visions of gliding along deep powder, picking up speed and a good rhythm... but it was more like shuffling along whilst trying to stay upright and work out where we were going! It was great fun, a good giggle and a really good workout. And as I`m not much of a downhill skier, it`s a good alternative for me!

Over all it has been a pretty quiet week. The children are all happy and well. Leigh went off the the Rockies on Sunday for a weeks adventurous training, so he is having a great week of `extreme` skiing. Can`t tell Ben where Daddy is - he`ll be gutted to be missing out on double black diamond hills!

Mostly sledging!

Leigh & I have had a lovely week; the children have been in school and Leigh was still on leave for a week! Luckily for me that meant Leigh did the -20 morning school runs; the children were very happy that Daddy was pulling them on the sledge to school! So, at the expense of our waste lines, Leigh and I took full advantage of being child free and for 3 out of the 5 days went into town for a spot of shopping and lunch - what a treat to order food in a restaurant without having to do colouring in or make towers out of ketchup sachets whilst waiting for the food to arrive!

On Saturday, with the warmer Chinook winds blowing in our direction, we saw tropical highs of +2! This weather could only mean one thing - Sledging! We had a great fun filled day at Kin Coulee park in Medicine Hat. You may remember the footage from last winter - not much has changed except the children are a bit bigger! Charlie was still very cross at not being allowed to go from the top but settled for a mid-hill start!


Olivia had a great day too with many goes down. She hit maximum speed on this one coming down with Daddy! They both had a face full of powder at the bottom!



And finally... Ben had a fantastic time too... along with a few choice words!

The Arctic Tingeys!

It's been a while since my last blog update as we have been away in Calgary for three weeks, (which was great!) but frustratingly we did not have Internet access. So there is a lot to catch up on; Nick (my sister) and Stu's visit, Calgary, Christmas & New Year and of course the good old Arctic weather!

I'll start with Nick, Stu and the Arctic weather as they both arrived on the same day! About an hour after getting back from Calgary airport the severe Arctic weather front that we had been warned about finally set in. The temperature dropped to around -47 (with wind chill) accompanied by strong winds, blizzards and snow drifts! We were very relieved not to still be on the
Highway! That weather, whilst occasionally warming up stayed with us for about 10 days! Sledging was out of the question, Ski Hills were closed and school had to close for a day. However in true Canadian style the Mess Xmas party that was planned for that evening still went ahead; there were a couple of empty tables as people couldn't get in from Medicine Hat - but we had a great 'cowboy' themed party never the less!


We all headed up to Calgary on the 16th Dec staying the spacious Army house, where after unpacking we promptly ordered our first take-out Curry in what feels like years! Stu is as Curry starved as the rest of us as he is currently working in
the U.S. and had to depart back to there the next day. Nick stayed on with us for a few more days and courtesy of Leigh, Nick & I had a lovely day out to Lake Louise & Banff. We had a posh lunch in Chateau Lake Louise with amazing views of the mountains... so peaceful without three fighting children in tow!


The day Nick left was the day the weather warmed up; it would be fair to say that she has experienced some of the most extreme weather this part of Canada has to offer! At a balmy -12, Leigh and Ben were finally able to hit the slopes. First they Skied at the Olympic Village so Ben could get some practice in before hitting the big hills in the Rockies and it wasn`t long before Ben was going down the Black runs with Leigh in Banff. Amazing. Leigh got to try out his new skis and Ben had his first snowboarding lesson which he really abolutely loved.


We had a great Christmas Day; the children were all very pleased with their Christmas Presents and a `Family` present which was a Nintendo Wii. We spent most of the day playing Tennis, Bowling, Boxing and racing cars! I`m not sure who had the most fun and Leigh definitely turned into competitive Dad! Even Christmas dinner was enjoyable; none of the usual arguments and food fights from the children which has been the case in recent years!

New Year was good too. Though it was -22, early evening we all wrapped up warm and went to the Zoo to see the lights, entertainments and fireworks! Yes, we are mad but there were about 2000 other people there so at least we were not the only ones! There was lots of Hot Chocolate & fires to keep us warm but in true Tingey style our kids favoured the Haystack field where we spent most of our evening having hay fights! At least it kept us warm!


And finally... Leigh's Christmas present from me... A trip down the Calgary 1988
Calgary Olympic Bobsleigh track! Yes, with 14 neck breaking turns and speeds up to 120k per hour, I can only hope he doesn't get me back some day! He had a really great time and Leigh being the adrenaline junkie that he is absolutely loved it... maybe the Eddie the Eagle Olympic Ski Jump next time...