Hot chocolate and mini marshmallows

So far this winter has been mild and windy in comparison to last year and although we have had low temperatures of -10_-20 and some snow fall it is no where near as cold as last year, but we have had the freeze/thaw effect making the pavements icy. James and I did not really get into much skiing until the Christmas break and while working in emergency it seemed that the ski hills were needing more snow as the runs that were open were skied out and icy.Not tempting us to go with the kids. In the emergency department we have seen our fair share of ski and snow boarding accidents, but there have been an increase in people falling and slipping on ice.

With some people moaning about the mild winter and and comparably less snow than last year I have been tempted to moan myself, however have stayed tight lipped as I would be called a hypocrite after all my constant moaning about the frigid long cold winter of last year.

We were sharply reminded about that two weeks ago when the temperatures plummeted to -34 with a wind chill of -40 that began on the Monday, school was still on and so were all the activities that they have on our manic Mondays. It gave me a sharp reminder of the length of time in a day that is spend bundling and unbundling layers of clothing just to get from one place to the next.Town was very quiet and people were not venturing far. Tues morning was the same if not slightly colder but really at -40 who is counting!!! Nice quiet warm morning at home doing some baking and cooking with the kids playing. When it was time to start the dressing process and warm up the truck to take Heather to school , the truck would not start. It had been plugged into the timer overnight but had obviously cooled down a bit during the morning -40 temps, no kidding. So I switched the timer to on and hoped for the best, in the meantime was trying to think of the best way to get Heather to school. Any wise mum would just give the school a break, but before I knew it, I was dressing the kids in their winter gear with ski pants, fleeces, ski jackets, hat, mitts, neck scarves up to their eyes and hoods, deuvet on the sledge and me in my ski pants and off we went, I ran the whole way in under 7 minutes and by the time we got to school they were both complaining of cold hands. Heather went off to her class and Finlay and I waited a while until we were ready to make the journey home. Finlay sat with his hands between his legs and kept his head down as I raced back home with him as quickly as possible to the warm house. Sure that the truck would start after 3 hours of being plugged in, I was sure the truck would start, but at 14.45 that engine again was not catching on and there was no way I was making that journey on foot. I had to call my neighbor who was due to be collecting his 2 sons to see if he could take me to collect Heather and then we were joined by another boy who's mum's car would not start either, so in the end there were 5 kids and 2 adults in his car!!We were held in the freezer until the Friday and I then I realised why I had bad memories of last winter .

During the milder times we have still enjoyed time outside on the local skating ponds and Heather and Finlay have been getting used to their skates again. Heather didn't want lessons this season and is happy to continue dance instead, so we have managed to get out and let her practice with us.Finlay can stand and is moving a bit, but at one point he refused to go on the ice unless he had his hockey stick, much to my surprise and slight dread!!! I don't know where he gets the interest from as we aren't huge hockey fans, so never talk about it or watch matches, however he is pretty interested and is always talking about his hockey stick or the Zamboni. Recently we have been going to the rec center for Heather's swimming lesson and now he enjoys  watching the zamboni clearing the ice or watching the team practice. Today he was watching them and asking when he could play hockey....Now if it was up to me...it would be .....only on the pond with family and friends...but for him it may have to be more!!!!!!Lets hope not Eh!!!

 

 skating 101

 On the trails.

The Nordic centre is a great facility that Canmore has for cross country skiing attracting athletes from all over the world, It is a great family orientated place too and is used lots by the young families in Canmore, from novice to expert. They have been lucky with having great snow making this year and there are lots of places to go sledging in the areas where they store the snow. The kids have been on the ski trails and we found that if we put a ball in one of the tracks it motivated them to go quite a distance as they kick it along with their skis......perhaps this will engage Finlay's interest for soccer as opposed to hockey!!! One on particular day I took Heather and Finlay to go sledging and we found these huge mounds of man made snow, so instead of sledging we just slid down on our bums.

 

Hello up there!!!

 

Coming down!!

Days like these are made even better by our flask of hot chocolate and mini marshmallows.

The most wonderful time of the year

This year we have had lots of fun in the run up to Christmas with crafts and shows and school concerts.
Finlay's school, the one that he is so proud about when we drive by the little white church on Main Street, that he shouts "That's my school", but so far he has only attended with me and has not actually allowed me to leave him. The Waldorf school had a candle making workshop and for the week before we were collecting bags of nature on the way to school and back, we had bags of pine needles, pine cones, red berries, juniper berries and then had cinnamon and cloves and nutmeg to add. Heather chose the scented oil to mix with the soya wax and then we created our Christmas candles.

The plan for Finlay is to go to a Waldorf parent and tot class for the month of January and then after that he says that he will go on his own. It seems that Finlay is quite set on doing things in his own time and when he is ready, and only when he is ready will he do it full heartedly. This has applied to getting used to swimming, going to his own bed and toilet training. You may remember that we tried the toilet training in the summer of 2010 and he was successful for a month, until he decided that it wasn't for him at that time and was happy to sit in a dirty wet diaper. Encouragement and opportunity was available where he would run around naked and sometimes make it but mostly not make it, however when we returned from the UK  I let him run naked again and within the first week he was dry at home, using the big toilet, having a few accidents when we were out and about. But this only happened a few times and by the second week he was managing to stay dry during the day inside and out. By the end of the third week he decided that he didn't want a diaper at night and he has been completely dry since. He certainly has his own mind and each child has their own agenda and timing, the best thing is to offer opportunity and they will take it when they are ready and this is when they are more successful it seems

 Anyway...back to Christmas preparations, the kids also enjoyed making a gingerbread house, snow globes  and some Christmas baking.

We went to a pantomime at the high school and as we were walking across the road to make it on time we saw Santa Claus riding on a motor cycle. Finlay was beside himself and stood in a gasp waving to him as he rode by yelling" Merry Christmas". After we enjoyed a bit of slap stick comedy and a bit of " Oh No he didn't and "He's behind you" at the local pantomime, we then had to go on a hunt  around town for Mr Claus. We drove to the civic centre and Heather shouts"He must be there, there are big snow flakes and it has red decorations"...sure enough we walk into the building and see Santa sitting in a chair with a line up of children eagerly waiting to get their photo taken. Finlay runs past the line up shouting "SANTA!!!! I saw you riding your motor bike and dancing and smiling around him." It was just magical to see and then he beamed as we waited for our turn to have our photo taken.
When asked by Santa what he wanted him to bring for Finlay, Finlay replied that he wanted five bells. It feels so wonderful at this age with the true magic of Christmas still alive and real in childrens hearts and alot of the time you just want to bottle those moments and keep them forever. 

Heather had her Christmas concert the week before Christmas and the Banff Springs Hotel host the Kindergarten children for gingerbread  cookie decorating, hot chocolate and a look around at all the beautiful decorations, the main attraction is the huge shredded wheat castle which is displayed in the main hall. It is a very special time for them and they all get dressed up to the nines. The girls feel like princesses and the boys are dressed all dapper, but still have all the rouge and cheek about them. Heather enjoyed wearing her flower girl dress and looked like a proper wee princess.

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 This is a picture of the two classes doing French immersion.

At the end of the morning all the kindergarten children from the English program and the French program do a Christmas concert for all the proud parents.

decisions and crossroads of life

While visiting in Aviemore, a strange feeling of regret came over me. after all the decisions and life changing paths James and I have been through in the past six years. It was Inverness area and Aviemore that I had said that we would consider to return to after our year in canada, which had turned into 18months. When we had arrived in Aviemore during our three weeks at home in Jan 2006, we had enjoyed the area and had visited the Fire hall there, during our tough decision whether to return to the UK or to continue our adventure in Canada. The fire hall had stated that there were no jobs at present however they would keep James' contact details and communicate in due course. We had had a brief look round Inverness as it had been a few years since we had holidied there, but to be honest, were a little disappointed, but had loved Aviemore with my parents.
During our time in the UK I had been feeling very emotional and during the three weeks there found out that we were pregnant. This now threw a whole new dimension to our decision making. Would we take up our old jobs in Nottingham, live in our old house have family surrounding us and look at moving up to Inverness in due course once jobs were in place, with a new baby and no maternity income. Or would we see how James got on in his final exam for the Calgary fire department and continue our new life in Canada. The next two weeks was an emotional roller coaster and found me feeling that it was time to come home, however there was something also pulling me toward a lifestyle in Canada that I knew I couldn't give my children in the UK. However they would be close to family.
Well we never really made a decision as such and we decided to see if James passed his final exam, if he passed then we would stay in Canada, if not we would try to pick up our life in UK.....He passed, so we put the house on the market, came home for a week in the May to  placed our belongings in storage, shipped it to a storage unit in Canmore, hunted for a house in Canmore and continued with our jobs and James completed his training for the fire department. We had a beautiful baby girl, Heather in September and our life seemed to be on track, grandparents visited when Heather was born and I was able to visit Scotland in Jan 2007 and then again in May 2007. I had thoroughly enjoyed my maternity leave, made friends through parent groups, ran lots and continued our outdoor life xc skiing, hiking, biking, running with Heather in tow. Life was good hormones were making me feel content and settled.
When we finally got possession of our house in April 2007, we painted our house, moved our belongings in set up our laptop and checked our e-mail. James had received and e mail from Highlands and Islands fire department...18months later...saying that there were job vacancies if he was interested in applying!!! But we had just finally moved into our house after 18 months of transition and settling in and we had settled nicely into Canmore life.
Looking back now I see that if we had decided to return to the UK at that point in Jan 2006, our lives may have pathed out successfully with our goals to move to Inverness area.
Well Finlay came along not long after that July 2008 and  life continued to be successful and we have enjoyed our active life here in Canmore and have shared so many amazing experiences and and out door pursuits with our children. I have a fantastic job at the Canmore hospital with a rotation that was practically made for me , 0.5  8 hour evening shift in emergency. Allowing me to spend a substantial amount of time with Heather and Finlay without having to rely too much on daycare, it also enable us to manage with James' shift work, although now he is on regular days and it continues to work well. We are both in well paid jobs.
However over the last few years as I get older, see my children grow and develop and see my parents getting older, missing family events and special moments, Heather and Finlay missing out on that all important family connection which I feel is becoming stronger and stronger within me I suddenly realised perhaps we were missing out on more than we thought. Life and time passes so quickly, nothing stays the same forever, and you cannot buy back the time that you miss. There is nothing quite like family and despite all the good friends that we have made and have been a support to us, I still feel that family are the people who are there for you no matter what or where you are...it is their wish to help out, they have invested interest and unconditional love for us and our children. When I think of all we have been through to live the lifestyle for ourselves and our family. I wonder if we have strived so much for a better lifestyle and opportunity that we have maybe gone too far and have gone passed what is actually important in life. Is it that the meaning and purpose of life is to spend it and share it with the people that love you the most...and that is your family. This is the way I see it, James, not so much. However we have now lived two lives, one in the UK and one in Canada. I want both these lives simultaneously and I cannot do that. People and friends that I know, back home have never lived another life and seem settled and content, they may not appreciate their family the way I do, and some say that they don't spend quality time with family members, whereas we do when we go home and maybe that is why I have realised the important things in life for me. I now endeavor to return every year to enable my children to embrace the culture from where their parents are from, to maintain that important relationship with their family and make that time special.

This visit that we had recently was mainly to take in Craig's wedding and again enjoy a family reunion. James and I had spent time in Ilkeston, enjoying aunts,uncles, cousins and grandparents and then we spent time in Scotland doing the same. We took a mini break to Aviemore prior to the wedding with my parents. that is when i felt the worst, when I revisited the turmoil of the decision making process we had endured 6 years previously, staying in the place where we potentially could have continued our life. As soon as we drove into Aviemore I felt at home, relaxed,yes, I could live here...I like this place. This feeling continued and released a whole bag of emotions that I wasn't expecting. Could we have made it here? Could we have enjoyed the lifestyle that is offered in Scotlands answer to Canmore? In the same country as our family and still at a distance where you are not underneath them, but enjoy regular visits. I spent alot of my time here in tears, thoughts of our life running through my mind. Wishing that we had perhaps not pursued our dreams or driven ourselves so hard and settled for a life here. However this was not reality, we were on holiday. there was no hospital until inverness, fire hall inverness an hour commute for both of us. Child care would have continued to be a problem.