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!!!

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.