A Nicht Wi' Burns ...

Needless to say Chris didn't manage to win our millions in Las Vegas but did have a good time. Their one night stop over in Vegas actually got extended to two nights but unfortunately the weather was not kind to them as it rained the entire time, apparently the worst weather in the Californian desert for many years, great as Chris forgot to take his jacket!

Chris returned home on the Friday night to find a house of 3 children - Tegan's friend Harriet come to stay for the weekend as her mum was off playing hockey whilst her dad was back in UK on work. So I got to see what it would be like having 3 children - I think I'll stick to 2 and a dog. However Harriet was a great girl to have and the 3 of them had a great time, along with us all going to the cinema to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, it was great! The snow also decided to return last weekend and dumped quite a bit, the drive into Medicine Hat was quite scary as the snow was blowing across the highway making the road similar to an ice rink - on the way home we saw 3 cars in the ditch.

Wednesday night Chris made his debut ice hockey game Icemen (the team Chris is in) vs Orange Oilers - a riverting game with the score 7-0 to the O/Oilers! Chris made quite an impression as it was his first time on the ice he lasted approximately 30seconds before being sent to the 'sin bin' for tackling another player - he was thinking ruby not ice hockey!? I must add that he did actually do really well considering the other players are either 2nd yrs or 1st yrs but they have been training since September - so there is hope - for next year!

Friday night we attended Burns Night in the mess. The evening was organised by our friend Paul (on the right in the picture) who did a great job and we had a fab evening. During dinner we had the Selkirk Grace, Address to the Haggis, Chieftain o' the Puddin Race piped in, highland dancing, Immortal Memory, To a Mouse, To the lassies, to the Laddies, Tam O' Shanter. Dinner was finished off with Atholl Brose which Chris sampled fully by the jug along with all the whiskey, a slow start to Saturday morning for some!

The Selkirk Grace - Some Hae meat and cannae eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord by thankit. Robert Burns 1759 - 1796

Saturday night Chris was packing his bags again this time off to Phoenix for a week playing golf with 6 other guys from Ralston - hopefully better luck with the weather. So Charlotte (another golf widow) invited myself and the kids round for Sunday lunch which was great and before I knew it it was time to get Tegan and Fraser into bed. The snow has returned and there has been a gentle flurry all day - temperatures this week have hovered around -15degrees so not bad.

Olympic Torch Comes to Ralston...

The last week has been quite extraordinary as the weather has been mild for January especially in Canada, last year the snow remained for the entire season with temperatures usually around minus 30degrees. This week most mornings have begun at zero rising to 5degrees during the day, with this change the snow has melted during the day but frozen to ice overnight causing hazardous conditions in the morning, the walk to school and around the village has been quite dangerous. Snow is forecast for next week - so I can get my 'duvet' coat back out. We have also had the deer in the village with a couple visiting our neighbour's garden - they are not quite so keen to jump into our garden to be greeted by Jinx.

The highlight of the week was the Olympic Torch coming into Ralston Village on Saturday. Tegan and Fraser had their ice skating lessons in the morning and then back to the arena in the afternoon as the Devils (girls hockey team) were playing against the PSP staff (Canadian gym staff). There were 4 members of the PSP team against 20 Devils - so game on. The PSP guys were dressed in tuxedo on skates and kept everyone entertained - needless to say they could have won very easily however it was a draw at full time, it was a really good fun game. After the game refreshments were laid on in the gym which was full of the local community, then at 5pm we all went outside to line the route round the village. It was like a little carnival with a procession of vehicles all handing out flags and bottles of coke and then finally the flame - an amazing thing to see pass my nose.

Monday morning began with Chris leaving at 3.30am to fly to California for a week with work, however there is a good ending as they have Friday evening in Las Vegas, I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures and spending the millions that Chris is going to win!!!!!

Christmas is over...

Happy New Year to you all.

Our christmas has finally come to an end after 3 weeks in the glorious rocky mountains staying in Canmore. Tomorrow (Mon) Chris is back to work (what a shock after 4 weeks leave) along with Tegan and Fraser back at school and I will start to rearrange our house to accommodate all the lovely christmas presents Tegan and Fraser received.

We left Canmore on Saturday lunchtime after spending the morning packing and ensuring that we hadn't left anything behind, although luckily Andy & Sam were staying for an extra night so could sweep up anything we had left. To say the house was amazing is an understatement, it suited us all perfectly especially with 4 children and 3 dogs to also contend with. There was enough space for us all, walking the dogs on the golf course was very handy and the views from our front balcony were breathtaking.

Our final day skiing was on the Friday and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day as the sun was out with blue sky and a temperature of zero and hardly anyone on the slopes. Chris and I skied together in the morning, then with Andy & Sam after lunch and finally the highlight of our holiday was Tegan and Fraser skiing off the mountain all the way down to the car park with us. That evening the four of us managed our first night out on the town or rather a quick trip to the Tapas restaurant in Canmore with our friend Jo kindly babysitting.

So with our holiday over we are planning our next trip to Disneyworld, Florida.

For those of you in the UK hope the snow isn't causing you all too many problems!!

Happy New Year ...

Happy New Year to you all. We spent the day on the slopes of Sunshine Valley as we were half way through our ski rec lessons - 5 days of skiing tuition which was great fun - our instructor was called Ernie - that fastest milk float on skis! We had half the week at Lake Louise ski resort and then moved to Sunshine Valley. Unfortunately we did not have glorious weather as the clouds came down and it snowed for 3 of the days but had great fun - even skiing at -20 degrees. New Years Eve was fairly quiet as we all went round to our friends Jo & Pete for a few drinks but the Teskeys and Leonards were home at 10.30 pm to put very tired children to bed but we managed to stay up until 12.30am to see the new year in with a bottle of bubbles it was then straight to bed as we were up at 6.00am on New Years day for more skiing. Breakfast was eaten in the car with chocolate brownies in the cable car - energy food!

Prior to N/Y's eve Chris had a boys night out to see Calgary Flames vs LA Kings ice hockey in Calgary. He had a great night out with the Flames winning 2-1 and was home just after midnight - the following morning was another 6am start for skiing.

Tegan managed to complete 4 1/2 days of the ski rec which was great considering that she is only just 6 years old and was skiing from 9am to 3pm with only a 1hr lunch break - however by Friday lunchtime she couldn't speak due to tiredness so spent the afternoon with Chris sitting in front of a fire and drawing. Tegan and Chris did ski off the mountain on Friday night which was great - amazing to see how well she has progressed with her skiing. Fraser and I skied to the halfway point and then caught the bubble car down.

Today (Sat) has been a day off and tomorrow we are off to see the Calgary Flames hockey team on the Super Skills day which should be good fun.

Unfortunately our camera has packed in so no pictures for the moment. Wishing you all a happy 2010 - bad luck if you are back to work on Monday as we have another week here in Canmore skiing and hot tubing!!!