Where has the month gone, so sorry it has been a month since I updated my blog, I really thought I was going to be bored living in Ralston village but as usual I am so busy and the weeks are flying by. So here goes with an update of what we have been up to.Weather - someone has flicked a switch and changed the weather. As of a week ago I was still walking around in summer skirts and little tops with temperatures around 28 - 36 degrees however on Wednesday last week it all changed. Mornings you can now expect -4 degrees warming up slightly to around 6 degrees I am now just waiting for the snow to arrive, it has already snowed up in Canmore and Calgary this weekend. Since we moved to Canada in May we have on the whole had good weather and for the first time in many years it has felt like a long summer each day putting on summer clothes that for so long have been buried in drawers. This weekend we have bought Tegan and Fraser snow suites, gloves, hats, scarves, thermals, boots - I don't think they realise how cold it is going to be. As the weather is turning deer are returning to the village which is lovely to see as you walk around, Tegan and Fraser love it.
Ice Hockey - I played my first game on Friday 25 Sept what an adrenaline rush! I played with the 2nd year girls against the 1st year boys - I had no idea what I was doing except skating as fast as I could down the rink to try and catch everyone and the puck and then having to try to stop, turn and skate the other way, the time went so quick. That evening we all went to the Prairie Rose club to find out what teams we are in - I am officially a White Devil. Due to the high number of girls this year there are 3 women's teams, Red, Whites and Blacks - so already the rivalry has begun. Every Wednesday night is training and then games on a Thursday night, we play against the Reds & Blacks and all the guy teams from the base such as Icemen, Flames etc - I can't wait. Only down side is that some of the training times are late such as this Wednesday I am not on the ice until 9.45pm - 10.30pm - I'm usually in bed and it will be hard work once all the snow arrives to go out at that time - oh well great fun.
Medman Season - yipeeeee it has finished at last, we have survived our first season. Chris finished the medman on Friday and had a restful weekend, well sort of with Tegan and Fraser around! So we now know what to expect next year although it will be a month longer. Chris now has a regiment of engineers arriving from UK to do repair work on the prairie for the winter, some of who are going to living out on the prairie, good luck to them in -30degrees hope they have brought their thermals! So although he will still be busy weekends should be ours again which is great.
Terry Fox 10km Run. Terry Fox was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete and cancer treatment activist. He became famous for the Marathon of Hope April 1980, a cross Canada run to raise money for cancer research, which Terry ran with one prosthetic leg. He is considered one of Canada's greatest heroes and is celebrated internationally every September as people participate in the Terry Fox Run the world's largest one day fundraiser for cancer research. Unfortunately Terry Fox was unable to complete his run, as his bone cancer had metastasized to his lungs and he died in June 1981. So the base at Ralston holds a 10km T
erry Fox run each year to which Sam and I decided we were up for it, along with Jinx who could have kept on running. Unfortunately due to poor communication we thought the run was commencing at 10am in fact the actual run didn't start until 11am which was too late for Sam & I as we had to collect children at 11.45am and no way could we run that fast so we had our own start time at 10.30 am. It was great as we had the whole course to ourselves and came first!!!! We did the run in 61mins although the winner actually did it in 36mins - so we are up for it next year in record time. Fraser also did a Terry Fox run with Little Gophers - they ran round the running track and then a circuit on the prairie, followed by water and snack.
erry Fox run each year to which Sam and I decided we were up for it, along with Jinx who could have kept on running. Unfortunately due to poor communication we thought the run was commencing at 10am in fact the actual run didn't start until 11am which was too late for Sam & I as we had to collect children at 11.45am and no way could we run that fast so we had our own start time at 10.30 am. It was great as we had the whole course to ourselves and came first!!!! We did the run in 61mins although the winner actually did it in 36mins - so we are up for it next year in record time. Fraser also did a Terry Fox run with Little Gophers - they ran round the running track and then a circuit on the prairie, followed by water and snack.Pat & Rick Visit. We have just had Chris's mum and dad visiting for a cou
ple of weeks which has been great, Patsy is so good at ironing!!!! The weather was fantastic for them with even Patsy getting her shorts on a couple of times. Mon to Fri was dominated around Tegan and Fraser's schedules so Pat & Rick were up to the school & Gophers several times a day and off to swimming lessons. They also got to see Tegan and Fraser ice skating for the first time along with watching me during my ice hockey match. We popped into Medicine Hat a couple of times and managed to go out for dinner at Earls with Chris one evening, who unfortunately wasn't around much. The last weekend Pat & Rick were here I arranged for us to all go to Canmore for the weekend (minus Chris who was working). So we left Ralston on Saturday and set off on the Trans Canadian Highway 1 all the way to Canmore - one road - it still amazes me that I can drive for 4 hours with no turnings on the same road. Saturday evening we were off to watch the Oh Canada show with our friend Sam, her mum (who was also visiting) and girls. It was a very cheesy show but great fun with lots of shouting and participating and the kids loved it.
ple of weeks which has been great, Patsy is so good at ironing!!!! The weather was fantastic for them with even Patsy getting her shorts on a couple of times. Mon to Fri was dominated around Tegan and Fraser's schedules so Pat & Rick were up to the school & Gophers several times a day and off to swimming lessons. They also got to see Tegan and Fraser ice skating for the first time along with watching me during my ice hockey match. We popped into Medicine Hat a couple of times and managed to go out for dinner at Earls with Chris one evening, who unfortunately wasn't around much. The last weekend Pat & Rick were here I arranged for us to all go to Canmore for the weekend (minus Chris who was working). So we left Ralston on Saturday and set off on the Trans Canadian Highway 1 all the way to Canmore - one road - it still amazes me that I can drive for 4 hours with no turnings on the same road. Saturday evening we were off to watch the Oh Canada show with our friend Sam, her mum (who was also visiting) and girls. It was a very cheesy show but great fun with lots of shouting and participating and the kids loved it. Su
nday we were off to Lake Louise for the day, the weather was still on our side making it a beautiful day for seeing the mountains. After visiting the lake we had a spot of lunch and then headed over to the gondolas for a ride up the mountains, after watching a short film about looking out for bears! Monday morning Sam and I met up to visit the house that we have rented at Silvertip, Canmore for Christmas so excited as it has a hot tub which will be surrounded by snow and looks out over a golf course and mountains. The house is lovely and big enough for all of us, 4 adults, 4 children and 3 dogs including a den downstairs for the kids. After collecting Pat, Rick and kids we headed to Banff for a walk around the town and then off to Lake Minniwanka for the boat cruise, Johnnie was our guide who gave an 1hr 15min talk on all the animals that live in the Rockies with Tegan having a great time answering all the questions on animals. We did quite well on our animal coverage whilst we were there as we managed to see chipmunks, deer, mountain goats, elk and a very large stag, unfortunately all the bears had gone to the other side of the mountains ready for winter. Tuesday morning we vacated the room and drove Pat & Rick to the airport ready for their flight back to Toronto where they stayed with Pat's sister for a few more days and rested after spending time with us.
nday we were off to Lake Louise for the day, the weather was still on our side making it a beautiful day for seeing the mountains. After visiting the lake we had a spot of lunch and then headed over to the gondolas for a ride up the mountains, after watching a short film about looking out for bears! Monday morning Sam and I met up to visit the house that we have rented at Silvertip, Canmore for Christmas so excited as it has a hot tub which will be surrounded by snow and looks out over a golf course and mountains. The house is lovely and big enough for all of us, 4 adults, 4 children and 3 dogs including a den downstairs for the kids. After collecting Pat, Rick and kids we headed to Banff for a walk around the town and then off to Lake Minniwanka for the boat cruise, Johnnie was our guide who gave an 1hr 15min talk on all the animals that live in the Rockies with Tegan having a great time answering all the questions on animals. We did quite well on our animal coverage whilst we were there as we managed to see chipmunks, deer, mountain goats, elk and a very large stag, unfortunately all the bears had gone to the other side of the mountains ready for winter. Tuesday morning we vacated the room and drove Pat & Rick to the airport ready for their flight back to Toronto where they stayed with Pat's sister for a few more days and rested after spending time with us. So this week it is back to some sort of routine with Chris up early and off to the gym before going to work and me off to do my exercise and run Jinx after depositing Tegan & Fraser at respective schools. Tegan and Fraser have swimming every Tue & Thu, Tegan is off to Sparks (rainbow & brownies equivalent) on Wed and they both start ice skating lessons on Saturday. And of course ice hockey 2 nights a week - shame about the housework which really does get in the way of fun.
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