Quietish Week in Ralston...

Wednesday evening was the last meeting of the Girl Guides prior to the summer holidays. Laura (who is the Guiding Leader) had kindly opened up her back garden for the Guides Advancement ceremony. Luckily the weather was perfect and everyone brought along dishes for the 'pot luck' supper. All the Sparks, Brownies, Guides and Pathfinders were awarded with their certificates, badges and other awards that they had earned. Unbeknown to me Tegan also had to 'jump the toadstool' as she will go up to Brownies at the start of September. We had a great evening and it was good to see how many girls from the village are actually part of the Guides, although like most things in Ralston there is a big turnover of families due to happen this summer so numbers will change. So we left Laura's garden with more badges to be sown onto Tegan's sash but a happy girl with the thought of moving up to Brownies.
Thursday morning I dropped Tegan and Fraser at their respective schools and jumped onto a bus with 11 other girls and we headed off for a trip onto the Prairie. We had been invited out to the village of Hetar, this is a mock Afghan village out on the prairie which is used during the Prairie Thunder exercises. After a briefing of what to expect and our role for the day we again boarded the bus for the hour long drive across the prairie to the village, however this time with our Berkas at the ready. Whilst travelling on the prairie we had to wear helmets as we bounced along in the bus. The bus stopped just outside the village where we donned our berkas. The construction of Hetar is amazing and a very important part of the training for the soldiers going to Afghanistan. There are actors who work within the village as market stall holders and elders who remain in character at all times including speaking the language and wearing tradition clothes. So wearing our black berkas we were told to find ourselves a husband and follow them around the village, we soon learnt that Afghan women must walk behind their husbands and are not allowed to speak the husband does it all. Wearing the berkas in the sunshine was hot - also at one point I had my hands outside the berka, this is not allowed as it is taken as a sign of flirting with the opposite sex. Unfortunately during our time in the village the soldiers on exercise did not enter the village as the exercise is very fluid and our timings did not cross paths. However it was a very interesting to see a little of what goes on on the prairie. My appreciation of the distance Chris can sometimes be when he says he will be home in an hour and the environment he is working - still beats sitting behind a desk.

The remainder of the week has continued in glorious sunshine. The weekend has come and gone with doing a few jobs including mowing the lawn where I managed to break the lawn mower - I need to make a phone call Monday morning. I took Tegan and Fraser to the splashpark on Saturday morning along with friends and their children. Sunday we were kindly invited to a bbq where the 9 children had a great time running around in the water toys and playing in the park which is very conveniently situated just across from Sam's house whilst we soaked up the sun. We were supposed to be watching the England v Germany football game - but hey living in Canada with the time difference everyone already knew the score and it was better sitting on Sam's decking. Prairie Thunder 2 finishes next week so it will be great to have friends to our house for a bbq and I can prove I have a husband - once again Chris does miss out on many things.

For those of you who remember last year Jinx's catch and kill record for gophers stood at 5 - well she caught her first gopher of the season today, still not a pleasant experience picking up a dead gopher with a dog looking very pleased with herself.