Happy Christmas from the Rockie Mountains...

Happy Christmas to you all - hope everyone has had a wonderful time. Tegan, Fraser and myself joined Chris in Canmore on Friday 18 Dec along with our friends Andy, Sam and their children Francesca and Millie and all 3 dogs. The house we have rented for a month is great, large 4 bedrooms along with a den downstairs for the kids. We back onto Silver Tip golf course which makes dog walking easy and we have our own hot tub in the back garden - fantastic after a day of skiing. The view from every window in the house is of the snow covered mountains, very picturesque. The golf course is also home to a large herd of elk which roam around.

Saturday afternoon we went up the mountain to have a look, Sunday we started skiing with Tegan, Fraser and Millie having lessons whilst in Tiny Tigers and Francesca having a lesson for older children. Tegan and Fraser had lessons over a couple of days and have done really well, Tegan can now snowplough her way down a green run, however Fraser is not quite there as he doesn't have any control - as normal just goes fast. Tuesday was a day off from the slopes and was spent tobogganing on the golf course, swimming at the local pool and finished off by going to watch the Canmore Eagles vs Calgary Canucks ice hockey which was really good.

Christmas eve we didn't ski and spent the day doing a few chores and popping into Canmore. That evening friends from Ralston invited us all around for drinks and mince pies then it was home to get all 4 children ready for Father Christmas, we left out milk, a carrot, sherry and mince pie, which all promptly froze. So with very excited children we were ready for our first Christmas in Canada. Fraser did wake up around 4am to say that 'he has been' but we persuaded him that he had to go back to sleep - then all 4 kids were up at 7.05 am - not bad. After a mammoth session of opening presents, a quick jump into the hot tub Chris and Sam were then in charge of cooking christmas lunch. After a splendid lunch and more playing tired children eventually went to bed.


















One of Chris's christmas presents was a day of snowmobiling along with Andy which they have both done today (Sun 27th). They left at 8am and didn't return until 5.30pm after a great day of zooming around mountains in glorious sunshine, a good boys day out.

Tomorrow we start a week of ski rec lessons at Lake Louise which should hopefully improve my skiing, as for Chris not sure if they will get him to slow down for long enough!

More to come in the next few days...

Nativity Play, Mess Xmas Party & Tegan's Birthday Party...

It has been a week of parties, plays & carols this week, with the snow outside it really does feel like Christmas. Friday morning started off with Little Gophers Nativity Play in which Fraser was one of the 3 kings, pictured here with our friend Millie as Mary. The children all did really well with their parts and then singing several well known carols - all the mums and dads were there squashing their bottoms onto the rather small chairs with cameras in hand. Fraser just smiled all the way through it and then put his fingers in his ears during the singing, I don't blame him.

That afternoon Ralston School Choir put on a carol service in the theatre which was brilliant and we again got to join in at the end with more carols, much to my delight as I do like the odd carol, not that I can sing. Friday night was also our Christmas party in the mess which was DJ for the guys and posh frocks for girls - although a little strange all dressed up and wearing my snow boots as it was minus something on the thermometer and snowing.

Sunday we had Tegan's birthday party - we decided to do it the weekend before her actual birthday as school finishes on the 18th and we want to drive up to Canmore so Tegan was happy to have a party and she then worked out she would get another tea party and cake on her actual birthday as well - its all about the cake. We must have been mad as we had 20 children for 2 hours but I did hire Sparkle Fairy to entertain the children although whilst she was face painting one child there were 19 others running around and screaming so as you can see below I know how to entertain children - wrap them up in toilet paper!

Tegan had a great afternoon and came home to a pile of presents which of course had to be opened that evening. She had decided it was to be a 'smart & pretty' party hence the new party dress.

Chris has know finished work for four weeks so set off on Monday morning into Medicine Hat to do his Christmas shopping - a little worrying what he may have bought as Med Hat is not known for its designer shops! Before jumping into the car he did take a picture of the temperature this was taken about 9.30am - all week the temperature has been between -25 and -30 degrees but then today (Wed 16 Dec) I had to look twice as it was zero degrees - shorts & T shirts weather nearly!!!

As of Tuesday Chris decamped from Ralston and has gone to his bachelor pad for 4 days in Canmore, lounging in the outdoor hot tub, skiing at Sunshine Valley and out to supper with mates!!! Actually we decided that it would be a good idea if he went up earlier with all the children's presents and things that we would need. Luckily a friend has kindly lent me their second car so I will drive up on Friday with Tegan, Fraser and Jinx. So two more days in the village and that is it for 3 weeks along with our friends Andy & Sam and their children and dogs. I think most of Ralston village are actually going to Canmore and we already have several invites to other friends houses during the time there. Hopefully whilst in Canmore I will be able to update my blog with all our daily events - getting Tegan and Fraser on skis is going to be very interesting.

Chris, Tegan, Fraser and myself wish you all a very happy christmas and new year. Take care xx

Winter Has Arrived....

We woke this morning to -30 degrees rising to a barmy -22 degrees later on in the day and that is without windchill - so we are finally experiencing a Canadian winter - mind you the sun was out! I have to say my new boots and coat which is actually called 'Duvet' are great it's just the exposed bits that started to freeze, even my eyelashes. Jinx was ok in her coat for the first 30 mins and then she was ready to get home quickly.

Sorry yet again the weeks have run away with me so here is our update.

Tegan and Fraser are still busy with all their activities and their ice skating is getting really good, we can't keep up with Fraser as he is so quick. On the 19 Nov Tegan lost her first tooth which she was extremely proud of and the tooth fairy made a visit leaving a hefty $2 after drinking her drink and cookie - Tegan has the same principals for the tooth fairy as for Santa. The next event for Tegan has been having her ears pierced this weekend, she was very brave and didn't flinch. Having her ears pierced was her birthday present but done a little earlier so that hopefully they will have healed in time for skiing.

On Friday 20 Nov we went to the Ralston Theatre as a squadron of Gurkha's were visiting BATUS and hosted a curry evening, for those of you who have not eaten a Gurkha curry it is great. They also provided some entertainment by doing a marshal art display/Khukuri patter, traditional Nepalese Jhyaure dance, Gurkhaali Khukuri dance, comedy dance and highlander bagpiper - Tegan and Fraser had a great evening.

On Monday 23 we hosted an evening at our house for some of the Engineers who were over in BATUS helping to restore the prairie after the summer medman exercises. The CO very kindly sent round the chefs to my little kitchen who prepared some amazing food for us all.

Sat 28 Nov we had another 'Progressive Supper Party' round the village which again was great fun. It takes a lot of organisation to sort out who is cooking what course and where everyone is going but really good fun - mind you we had a dump of snow the day before so everyone wore snowboots and nice clothes.

The following day it was the christmas fair with Father Christmas arriving by helicopter which all the children thought was amazing. The SSAFA girls had worked extremely hard and transformed the Ralston Theatre into Santa's grotto with lots of things going on for the children, from face painting, decorating baubles, guessing the weight of the cake, traditional sweet shop - needless to say Tegan and Fraser came home after eating far too many 'E' numbers very happy.

It was our wedding anniversary on 30 November so instead of a romantic meal for 2 - well we have been married for many years - we were off to see the Medicine Hat Tigers play ice hockey. It was a great night however I couldn't believe how young they were 16 - 19 years old and I often lost sight of the puck as they were so quick. Unfortunately the team lost the game which apparently is the first time in a long time, on the way home we stopped of for donuts at Tim Hortons - we know how to be romantic!!

So although we haven't left the village except going into Medicine Hat the weeks have whizzed by - the change in weather has been quite significant and it now takes an extra 20 minutes to get us all kitted out before we step out the door, by which time I feel as though I have done a work out.