Fairies and Fishes...

Tegan has decided that she is old enough to go to big college and last week spent every afternoon at Medicine Hat College, attending 'Fairies in Flight' course. She was very excited about going on the course and it was helped with her friend Harriet also going. So each lunchtime we set off for Medicine Hat with Tegan and Fraser in their car seats munching on their picnic lunches in order to get to the college for 1pm. As soon as we entered the classroom Tegan's eyes lit up as she could see lovely fairy things all around the classroom and with a swift dismissal to Fraser and myself she was off. Tegan's week was consumed with wearing tiaras, making fairy door signs, wands, wings, fairy games, stories and finishing the week off with a tea party and fairy cup cakes - that were very large with big swirls of sticky buttercream on top - which of course they all loved. So Fraser and I spent our afternoons either walking Jinx around Kin Coulee Park, walking aimlessly around Medicine Hat mall, which really isn't that exciting, or going swimming in a fab outside swimming pool by Strathcona Park. So Tegan is now planning what courses she can do next year at the college and she has decided that Fraser can do the Bob the Builder course.

As I mentioned above Fraser and I went to a great outside swimming pool in Med Hat with some other friends whilst Tegan was at college. Fraser just has no fear and although he sinks like a brick he just wants to go under water, jump in or preferably go on the slide that was at the deep end of the pool as many times as he could. However I was not allowed to catch him. So he would come whizzing down the slide make a huge splash, disappear, resurface and then bob back under at which point I then pulled him up again for him the to swim back to the side in order to climb out of the pool and do it all again. So up to this point I had Fraser who was a fish and Tegan who enjoyed swimming but please do not splash her face or get her underwater for anything. I have been encouraging Tegan to put her face underwater for the last year and a half but to no avail, even bribery has not worked. Chris then made an appearance on Saturday afternoon and as the temperature was 33degrees we quickly whisked him of to Med Hat for swimming. Fraser had great pleasure in showing Daddy how good he was on the slide, about 80 times!!! Tegan and I just played, until suddenly she wanted to go under the water with me which we did 3 times, she then went off and tried a few times on her own and before we knew it she was swimming under water - hallelujah. Then we couldn't get out of the pool and spent another 30 mins swimming with them both underwater. Tegan went to her swimming lesson on Monday morning and was immediately put up into the next group - she was very pleased with herself.

The weather has been gorgeous here with temperatures most days between 28 - 33 degrees - great you would think but all the mosquitoes have hatched and they are deadly. So much so I haven't taken Jinx for a walk for 2 days as the minute you step out of the house they are all over you. Chris didn't have to go into work on Saturday until 8am so I thought it would be good to go for a run at 6.30am - bad idea - I must have had over 30 bites on the backs of my legs and bottom which have steadily got more painful and not very pretty to look at. Apparently they should die soon - not soon enough.

Jinx is still very interested in gophers and rabbits but made an attempt at a fox the other day which I think she startled and they both went zooming across the prairie at 100mph, Jinx returned shortly after and soon collapsed in a heap at home.

Birthday Week ....

Well another birthday has been and gone - unfortunately for you all there are no cheesy photos of me (so here is a picture of Jinx on the prairie) with a birthday cake, masses of candles, surrounded by presents, breakfast in bed or anything of such kind to laugh at as Chris was out on the prairie from silly o'clock in the morning and away overnight - did he plan it that way?? But a big thank you to you all for my cards, phone calls and facebook comments. I did have a lovely surprise to end my day as I opened my backdoor at 9pm to find Jo and Kay (2 of the girls who live in the village) who decided to come round for a birthday drink and brought the wine with them. However for those of you who don't know my birthday present from Chris (who is really good at surprises) is a flight to New York to visit my friend Harriet who luckily for me has been posted to NYC for 2 years - yipeeee so excited. So I am off to NYC on the 4th August for 3 days whilst Chris is in charge of Tegan, Fraser and the dog. I return to Calgary on the 7th August and we head straight off to Canmore, Banff, Lake Lousie, Jasper and Edmonton before returning to Ralston in time for the annual Ralston Rodeo - so not a bad start to the month of August.

A weather update - things have improved, our last thunderstorm was on Tuesday and since then the temperature has steadily risen, getting to 32 degrees on Saturday and that was at 8.30 pm. The downside would appear that after so much rain the mosquitoes have all hatched and are gorging themselves on our newly imported flesh. Poor Tegan woke this morning with her eye totally swollen after one had had a nibble last night. They get everywhere and even smothering yourself with 'OFF' a deet repellent they take no notice, obviously they can't spell. It sounds as though in your second year of living in Ralston the mosquitoes don't bother you so much as new blood has arrived, looking forward to it. Due to so much rain the prairie is very lush and colourful but this will turn to burnt brown very soon I have been told.

So I have just completed week 3 of the children's 9 week summer holiday and I have to say that it seems to be going ok - or could that be because my very large order of wine has just arrived from the Wine Society (thank you to Sophie and Chas for introducing us!!!!). On Saturday evening I took Tegan and Fraser into Medicine Hat to see the Horse Show and Jumping that was taking place at Med Hat Stampede Park which is a prelude to the Med Hat Rodeo which starts on Wednesday this week. Fraser was fascinated especially at the horse and hound competition - basically a rider and horse jump their course, then a dog has to jump his course followed by another rider and horse and the best team wins on time. So along with swimming lessons each morning and our daily dogs walks days are being ticked off.

Chris was at home on Sunday afternoon for a few hours so we had friends Paul and Jeanette round with their children Erin and Molly for a bbq. Although we got out the paddling pool and filled it it managed to spring a puncture so towards the end of the afternoon Chris and the children decided to have a water fight. We are not sure who was on who's team but they all got very wet including Chris who then had 15 minutes to get ready for work and off he went - again!

Today (Monday) Tegan has started her Fairies in Flight course at Medicine Hat college which is for the week - I shall let you know more next week.

Friends from Hohne have arrived in Ralston today, Les and Jackie McCulloch for those of you who know them. So I popped round to say hi this evening and see if they were ok, Jackie was looking a little shocked and dazed - needs a good nights sleep.

A Man In The House ....

Chris had 31/2 days off at the end of last week (the first time since Calgary) so again we set out to to do as much as possible, well for as long as Chris could stay awake. Finally Chris has managed to have a game of golf with his new clubs and shoes which he bought in Dec 08 and has been desperate to play with - he needs to make the most of it before the snow arrives! So Wed afternoon he played Cotton Wood Coulee Golf Club in Med Hat with 3 others in glorious sunshine. He came home a happy boy as apparently his clubs were awesome.

Making the most of Chris being home I went into Med Hat with Maryanne, Ophelia (Maryanne's little girl) and Clare M http://www.claremansell.blogspot.com/ to have lunch at a lovely coffee shop called Zucchini Blossom - more like a small mediterranean coffee shop rather than a brash fast food coffee shop in Canada. So we had a good girlie lunch and then the girls kindly showed me two very interesting shops in Med Hat. One called The Post which is all the charity shops you can imagine in a town under one roof - you could find everything in there, there is even a 'vintage' section and wedding dresses - the place to go for fancy dress. That evening we invited 3 of the guys that Chris works with along with their wives & children round for a bbq. By which time the weather had changed from sun in the morning to a day of black clouds and rain - however we were determined to go ahead - even if we had to all sit huddled under the gazebo in the rain. Luckily by 6pm it had settled down and was ok - could have been a little warmer but with the help of Mark's firepit we all managed to stay outside to just gone midnight.

After a slightly slower start on Friday morning we decided to set off to Elkwater Interprovincial Park for the day. Elkwater is where Tegan spent 2 nights with the Guides camping so she was eager to show Chris what was there. Elkwater is the highest point in Canada between the Rocky Mountains & Labrador (maximum elevation - 1466 metres above sea level); the Cypress Hills are unique in that they were not glaciated during the last ice age; the park's montane environment is an oasis of mixed & lodgepole pine forests in the midst of the Canadian prairies; the park features a wealth of plant & animal life, including 14 orchid species. We had a great day ambling along the shore line watching the speed boats zoom round the lake. So with running races between us all, playing in the parks and a mini golf tournament (which I might add I won) it was a lovely day out with a great change of scenery.

Saturday was a lazy day in Ralston, Fraser went to his first birthday party in the village for a little boy called Ben who was 4 years old. So whilst I went with Fraser, Chris and Tegan took Jinx for a walk on the prairie. That was then the end of having a man in the house .... 5.00am Sunday morning Chris was back out on the prairie.

Back to the topic of weather - it is mad here. It should be in the high 30s and one minute it is gorgeous sunshine then the sky goes black and the lightening and thunder starts and then lashings of rain. Our gazebo has had such a battering by the wind one of the metal struts has been snapped in half - so a repair job is now in order.

The gopher population is doing well this week as so far the gophers are winning. Jinx does however have her eye on the rabbits that keep going into next doors garden!

Canada Day & High School Musical

Wednesday 1st July was Canada Day so our day started off with breakfast at the Canadian Commander's house who had kindly opened his garden to everyone and was providing breakfast. Most people came wearing red and white - I wasn't aware that this was the normal thing to do but for some reasons dressed Tegan, Fraser and myself all in the appropriate colours - must have been a subconcsious thing. It was a beautiful morning and we arrived just gone 8.30am and decided to go for just pancakes and syrup - yummy. Tegan and Fraser both got Canadian tattoos which they thought were great, thankfully by Saturday with a little scrubbing they have come off. So with breakfast over we took Jinx for a lovely dog walk on the prairie. Later that afternoon we decided to go into Medicine Hat to Kin Coulee Park to see the rest of the Canada Day festival. Our friend Maryann and her daughter Ophelia (18 months old) came with us so we had a leisurely walk round and finished it off with a tractor ride round the park, which was actually the highlight especially for Fraser. Instead of coming home we decided to pop into Starbucks - before we knew it it was gone 6pm and the day had disappeared.

Chris is predominately living on the prairie and this week he has seen quite a bit of wildlife including 3 elk, several different breeds of deer and managed to run over a rattlesnake which he backed up to make sure it was dead. He has managed to fire up his new toy a very large gas bbq.

We are now on week 2 of our 9 week summer holiday and Tegan and Fraser started swimming lessons on Monday. They are having lessons each morning (Mon - Thu) at the swimming pool in the village which is great. Their lessons start at 9.30am and we only live a 2 minute walk away from the pool - or a 30 second cycle ride for Fraser. Hopefully by the end of the summer both of them should be able to swim and have more confidence in the water especially Tegan getting her head under the water - no fear for Fraser except he just sinks at the moment.

The weather (as I said previously a big topic of conversation) has been extraordinary since last Tuesday. Chris was due to leave for work at 4.30am on Tuesday morning but at 4am our bedroom was ablaze by lightening and tremendous thunder that was rolling across the prairie followed by a downpour of rain and very large hailstones. We had a couple of other days that started off with sunshine but during the day storms would roll in and then disappear. The last one was on Monday evening when Chris had managed to come home at 5pm so I took Jinx for a quick 30min run. As I set off running I looked right and the whole of the sky was black and flashing but there was a strong wind from the left which I thought would push the storm in the opposite direction, how wrong I was. Needless to say I ran very quickly home just in time to shut the back door before the storm rolled over Ralston and it was as though someone had turned out the lights the storm then raged for over an hour.

Last night was a girls night out for Tegan and myself as we drove into Med Hat to see High School Musical performance at the Arena stadium along with a friend. I did have to explain to Tegan that it wasn't actually the stars from the film so Zac Efron wouldn't be there himself - shame! Tegan and Harriet had a great night boogieing to all the songs and finally got home at 10pm.

Finally the war of Gopher vs Jinx - there has been 1 more catch and kill this week - score 5 to Jinx.