Cafe Kandahar...

Sun 19 Dec - Noo, Richard, Chris and I went out for a very grown up dinner at Cafe Kandahar which we could walk to from our house on Whitefish Mountain.

So getting all dressed up - well as much as the Canadians do - clean pair of jeans, bit of jewellery and heels we stomped across the snow to the restaurant (obviously not in heels but snow boots).

Kandahar Lodge is the only hotel on Whitefish mountain and the restaurant has received fabulous reviews - serving out of the ordinary cuisine using very local produce, the restaurant even had white table clothes - not usually found in Canada/America.

So with pre-dinner drinks in the lounge we then took our seats in the restaurant for what was to be a 5 course dinner - thank goodness I had only had a bowl of soup for lunch! Between the four of us our choices of food ranged from pork belly, duck& liver moose, skirt of bison, asparagus & mushroom, rack of lamb, fois grais, scorpion fish, elk roulade, chocolate volcano & chocolate tasting plate - all of the food done in exceptional sauces complementing the different flavours.

Eventually we finished dinner and walked back to our house - very thankful for the walk as our tummies were groaning but happy!!

Snow Ghost Trees...

Sun 19 Dec - A day of glorious skiing with amazing scenery. Again skied from our back door down to the base lift, a quick warm up run on Chipmunk run and then off up the mountain. We skied several runs during the morning before stopping for a hot chocolate and bumping into Noo & Richard. Noo and I decided we would go up to the summit and ski one of the long routes down - this was Noo's first time at the very top of the mountain and she had a great time and did really well.




Chris and Fraser then decided to go off and do some boy stuff including going to the jump park - Fraser is loving his new found confidence but definitely pushing the boundaries of his ability.

Tegan and I took a couple of lifts up the mountain and then skied Home Again to our back door.

Tegan's 7th Birthday...

Sat 18 Dec - Tegan's 7th Birthday in Whitefish, Montana. Tegan started her birthday off with a breakfast in IHOP - International House of Pancakes where she chose the biggest chocolate pancake on the menu - luckily she couldn't quite finish it all. Followed by a little shopping in Kalispell and after dropping me back off at our house on the mountain Chris took Tegan and Fraser off to the cinema to see Yogi Bear. Whilst they were at the cinema I rushed around preparing all the food (with help from Noo) and getting the house ready for a 'surprise' party - that was really Tegan's only request for her birthday.



Luckily for Tegan a lot of her friends were also in Whitefish therefore we were having a party for 10 children. So with everyone here we awaited for her arrival, by which time it was snowing so the drive up the mountain took a little longer for Chris. The house that we have rented has a mezzanine balcony which was a great place for everyone to hide and then shout 'surprise' - Tegan's face was a picture. So with food, helium balloons and music the evening went great. All the children were happy playing so the evening continued with all the adults having a few drinks!

I even manged to get a fudge brownie cake made by a local coffee shop on the mountain and Noo very kindly did some icing on the cake - Tegan was more than happy and had a fabulous birthday - not bad for a 7 year old skiing in Whitefish.

Whitefish, Montana...

Mon 13 Dec - we left Ralston and drove to Whitefish, Montana, USA in 7 hours with a few stops on the way. The drive was fairly painless as the roads were so empty. We arrived at the house we have hired on Big Mountain at 7pm and friends Noo and Richard kindly had tea ready for us all. After a tour round the house, which is brilliant and very comfortable, we ate supper and jumped into the hot tub. The house has 6 levels going from the garage to boot room/den/bedroom/washroom to lounge/kitchen/dinning room to king bedroom to gallery & 2nd king bedroom - more than enough room for us all. Together with 3 balconies and small patio with hot tub where you can ski from our backdoor onto the slopes.

Unfortunately Tue was a day of rain so it became our admin day and food shop. Kalispell is approx 20mins down the road and has all the large shops that you need, along with Churches for every religion. Whitefish is also a lovely town with many boutiques and local small shops.

Wed we were up and ready for skiing, although the lifts do not open until 9.30am so a reasonable start to the day. We spent several hours on Chipmunk (green run) in order to get our ski legs back and then took several high runs including Home Again which took us to our back door - fantastic.

So we have skied Wed/Thu/Fri and the weather each day has improved - today we skied in glorious sunshine still with not many people on the slopes. All the lift guys are really helpful and friendly and the amenities are great, along with gorgeous scenery. Tomorrow it is Tegan's birthday so a surprise party has been ordered by the 6year old going on 7!!!

Dec 10 Catch Up...

Fraser doing a bit of surfing down the only hill in Ralston. Great fun going down shame about the walk back up the hill.

We are in full swing of winter with temperatures going from zero down to -24 degrees - your nose hairs start to freeze at this point!







SSAFA Christmas Fair - Father Christmas arrives by helicopter to the joy of the children.

The fair was held in Ralston's theatre on Sunday 28 Nov and was well supported by the community. It was fantastic seeing Tegan and Fraser's face as the helicopter landed and father christmas stepped out onto the snow. They both decided to whizz inside and get into the queue to see him - their quick thinking got them 2nd in the queue.

During the fair a raffle was held which we bought tickets for. The table was full of good prizes and amazingly we won a prize. Chris let Tegan go up to the table and pick the prize - luckily she chose a nights stay at the Copperstone Hotel up in Canmore - fantastic more skiing.

Treasure Island at Ralston School. The Missoula Children's Theatre came to Ralston School and gave the children a chance at performing. Tegan was picked from Grade 2 to take part - as a seagull. She was thrilled to be picked and thought her seagull costume was great. The children had rehearsals Tue - Thur and then put on 2 shows during Friday. So we all went to Ralston theatre to watch the performance which was surprisingly good considering the very short period they had to learn the play. Well done to everyone.

Canadian Pacific Railway Holiday Train....

Holidays are coming, holidays are coming...

Tegan, Fraser and I took a trip to down town Medicine Hat to participate in an annual community event tonight - to see the Canadian Pacific Railway Christmas holiday train, which visits over 140 communities along its network. This is a huge annual event with lots of locals turning up to the railway siding to witness the magical illuminated train with all its flashing sparkly lights. The Medicine Hat community provided free hot chocolate and cookies (as much as you liked much to the delight of Fraser) for everyone that came with donations made to the food bank. Noo, Lexi and Harry also joined us with all the children very excited, or was that Noo and myself!

After a short wait the train arrived much to our delight, just after 5pm. The main locomotive was lit up followed by four carriages carrying the Canadian Pacific name, two more carriages decorated with lights and then a carriage with a large metal section in the middle, this was positioned infront of the crowd. Then the metal side was lowered and there was Rocking Santa and his band. We were then entertained for 20 minutes by a brilliant band - Noo had a beaming smile across her face - this really felt like Christmas had arrived. Obviously we were standing on snow with temperatures about -15degrees.

At this point we were in high spirits and decided that we all deserved to go out for Pizza. So after a visit to Boston Pizza, which we all admitted was very nice it was time to drive back to Ralston with tired children, especially as it was only Tuesday night.

History:

The Holiday Train Program began in 1999 with a handful of communities and a few lights on a freight train. Today, with its hundreds of thousands of festive lights and a live show featuring well known performers, it's one of Canadian Pacific's main ambassadors in working with communities in Canada and the United States and is the only fundraiser of its kind for food banks in North America. Since the program's inception, more than 4.8 million in cash and over 2.3 million pounds of food has been collected in Canada and the United States.

Winter Has Arrived...

Mon 17 Nov - Chris left BATUS on Monday afternoon for a 1 1/2 week trip back to the UK visiting Engineer Regiments around the country.

Tuesday morning I woke up to hear a message on the radio announcing that Ralston school would be closed for the day. I then looked out the window to see a snow storm going on and 70mph winds, by which time Tegan and Fraser were excited about no school. Some of the day was spent in the gym and ice arena and then an afternoon at home, during which time the snow storm had not stopped and the village was covered in snow but also ice due to the high winds and low temperature. Needless to say it has snow for the last 6 days and it looks like christmas has arrived - or so says Fraser.

Each morning now begins 1/2 hour earlier in order to put on all our winter clothes, including Jinx with her coat. Instead of cycling to school we are back on the sledge. So with Chris in England and a broken arm shovelling the path is not much fun but Fraser does insist on helping - then I'm back to square one. Some of the days have been sunny which makes everything look beautiful, once the sun disappears it is time to hibernate.