Another great week! Ben & I have had such great fun skiing...obviously we have been singled out for the next winter Olympics! Well perhaps not me...but Ben was brilliant and whizzed past me a few times on the ski hills! Whilst I was working on my technique (zig zagging slowly down the mountain) Ben just pointed his ski's down the hill and went for it! No fear..I'm so envious! I couldn't even get off the ski lift without falling on my arse! Anyway,enough of that! Olivia & Charlie are great. Olivia has had her school nativity...sadly I missed it as I was skiing but Daddy went and was ever the tearful father. Friday evening we had the Mess Christmas party which was great fun. Scottish dancing (bizzarly!) and lots of carol singing...and drinking.. So as not to let the English down, we were there until the very end! This weekend we went sledging at Kin Coulee park (near Medicine Hat - hopefully you will see the footage below) - it was a great family day and the kids had such fun hurtling down the big hill. And being the biff that I am, I managed to get taken out by a teenage snowboarder (ouch!) Hillarious!. So, a pretty chilled week ahead. Kids at school and Leigh on leave (though he he went to work today)..Ben's Xmas concert tomorrow though Leigh won't be there as he is playing Ice Hockey at the Med Hat Arena v the Ex-pat's. Not many beers after the game then!...

Back from another weekend in The Rockies... It looks even more beautiful there now with lots of snow everywhere. We went back up the Banff Gondola (cable car) to the top of Sulphur Mountain and looked down over a very white Banff with it's frozen river - so pretty and so very cold! We also went back to Lake Louise to see the now frozen lake. Absolutely stunning - there was even a game of ice hockey happening on part of the lake! At -20 (plus windchill) we didn't stay there long though - infact we had a real 'National Lampoons' family moment where we walked the short distance from the car to the lake, paused slightly to take in the scenery and then very quickly walked back to the car! It was sooo cold, it's hard to describe! I don't think the kids were particularly chuffed either! So after a spot of indoor ice skating we went back to the condo with it's lovely real fire to thaw out! Everyone is well apart from the usual seasonal colds. Ben and I are off on a 3 day skiing course starting on Weds so we have been busy kitting ourselves out for that. Sadly Olivia & charlie are too young to come with us on this course, though don't think they are bothered! So Leigh will temporarily become CIC Home Command! The good news is that the weather forecast predicts it should not drop below -10! Positively balmy! I shall let you know how we get on...

Back from a long weekend in Calgary which was great fun and very cold! It snowed alot and the temperature did not get above -16, but as that is the norm in Canada everything was business as usual. We went up the Calgary Tower which apparently is the highest tourist viewing tower above sea level in the world which has fantastic views across Calgary. Part of the floor at the top of the tower is glass which was very wierd to stand on! We also went to the Science Museum which was full of interactive things for the kids to do, they loved it - infact we got turfed out at 5pm when it closed! We had a good look around the city with all it's impressive sky scrapers, had a look around the shopping malls, and went to the cinema (where Leigh & tried not to stay awake!). Another impressive sight there is the Olympic Village (Winter Olympics '88) which is still open for skiing, tobogganning, and ski jumping - what a shame we didn't have enough time! When you get up close to one of those massive Ski Jumps it makes you reaslise just how crazy those guys are It's huge!....!
Other news, Olivia received a Recognition Award at school last Thurday which was presented to her during assembly for all her hard work and enthusiasm - just another day at school for studious Olivia.
Everyone else is good. Its still very white everywhere. The plan is to go back to The Rockies this weekend so my next blog may be from there...

Snow at last!

Yes as forecast we did wake up to snow this morning. Not quite the snow dump of the season, but the kids were very impressed none the less! As you can imagine when Ben woke at 7.45am he wanted to go straight out! More snow is forecast and given that it was -10 today with a wind chill that made it -25, its's not going to dissapear over night!
I picked the kids up from school today with Charlie in tow on his sledge and we then had some decent sledging time before sledging
down to the ice rink for Ben's hockey training. All good fun apart from the extra 1/2 hour it now takes to leave the house with the kids fully kitted up!

Fairly quiet week (apart from the usual hockey of course!). The Canadian winter is definitely creeping up on us...today we had a high of -14 with a windchill that made it -18. So tad chilly on the school run this morning at 8.30am! The kids were well wrapped up in all their winter kit and I am happy to say my snow boots have had their first outing! The temperatures are not set to improve much now and there is snow forecast tonight. I'll be able to pull the kids to school on thier sledges soon(well of course I mean Leigh will be able to pull the kids to school!). The winter driving course I went on last week was all theory so although useful,a little dull! We are going out on the airfield as soon as the conditions are bad enough to practice some skidding - apparently no one has rolled a car yet..! We are off to Calgary this weekend for 3 days with another couple and their son. Its apparently even colder there! We have driven through Calgary a couple of times and have seen the Olympic Village and the big Ski Jumps etc. We shall have to keep Ben away from there as he was eyeing the jumps up trying to decide which one he would do first! We also have tickets to see Medicine Hat Tigers play Russia (ice hockey) on Thursday eve so that should be fun too. I shall blog the snow tomorrow...if it arrives...

The main event this week has been Ben's birthday. He was 7 on Saturday, so a big thank you for all the cards, presents, money and emails he received. He put his money towards a BMX bike which he went and chose with Daddy. He is chuffed to bits - especially as the bike has 'stunt pegs' (dont ask me!). As you would all expect from Ben,he was out on it at 8.15am Saturday morning when it was a balmy -9! The rest of us were still in bed! In the afternoon he had a party at the bowling alley (which is literally across the road) with about 10 of his school friends,so he had a really great day. In the evening we went over to a friends house for supper and had a really nice time and on Sunday we went to the public skating at the ice rink.Charlie had a chance to try out his new skates.He did really well on them though a few times his dear little feet were going nineteen to the dozen trying to stand up! Olivia has really got her confidence on the ice now and really enjoys it & Ben is still annoyingly good! So this week it's ice hockey as usual - infact Leigh is down there now playing the Orange Oilers! I am on a Winter Driving course on Thursday, which I am not sure whether I am looking forward to or not! I'll let you know how I get on...

Another hockeytasctic few days since my last blog! We girls did play the Officers on Thurs eve and we managed to hold them to a 2-2 draw, which was a great result. I managed to score a penalty after being on the receiving end of a dangerous tackle which sent my flying! Leigh & I were part of a hockey tournament this weekend (which neither of our teams won!) and that was followed by a party which was good fun. During the tournament lunchbreak the kids were pushed around the ice on what can only be described as giant frisbee's, there were prizes for the kids who went the furthest! On Sunday we had the rememberance service (outdoor brrr!) & then lunch in the mess, which was very welcome after freezing at the parade! Ben, Olivia & Charlie are all well. Ben spends most of his time outside the ice rink where there is a big snow pile (which is dumped there by the machine that smooths the ice regularly during the day). He and his friends make snow tunnels which they then crawl through. Crazy kids! The photo above is of Leigh playing for his team - The Icemen - he's the one with No 6,'Maverick' on his back (obviously!).

Just had to do a quick mid-week blog to show off my new fluffy snowboots! Comforatble to been worn as low as -40, and stylish too (well I think so atleast!). Ben & Olivia laughed and Charlie put them on and they came up to his bottom! Bring on the snow! Won our hockey match 4-0 last night (think the pre-match vodka jellies & lager in the changing room helped!) and am now playing again tonight - women against the Officers. It will end in tears - thiers!

Lots of halloween and hockey this week. As you know, halloween is such a huge thing out here (completely OTT & very funny!)- alot of people made a huge effort decorating their houses and gardens...someone here turned thier garden into a graveyard complete with grave stones...very spooky...another house led trick or treaters through a maze of cobwebs and skeletons in order to get to the goodies...I went completely out of my way and carved 3 pumpkins....and lit them...! It was good fun and the kids came home with bags so full they were dragging on the ground! The rest of the week it feels has been spent mostly at the ice-rink. Leigh and Ben have been training and I had a match against the Orange Oilers (an all male team!) They were very kind to us and didn't play hard at all...so we only lost 6-3...it could have been alot worse! Last night we went to the firework display here at Fort Whoop Up (!) which was very cold! Today we woke up to SNOW! So the kids were out first thing (apparently the novelty wears off, so all the boring ones keep telling us!). Twas only a smattering and its all gone now. A taste of things to come though. The other morning it was -10. So lots more hockey this week. Leigh is playing tomorrow, Ben on Tues, me on Weds, Leigh again on Thurs...it's starting to take over! Olivia was skating yesterday, she's really enjoying it now and today I got Charlie some 'Bob Skates'! Basically they are like the really old roller skates we used to have that buckle over the shoe, only these have two blades on the bottom so he will be bombing around the arena with the rest of them. No doubt he will have some top tips for Leigh and I aswell!