Fun, fun, fun

It is always a good thing to go away for even just a few nights to have some good quality time with each other. It is all to easy to keep plodding on with everyday life, as busy and exciting as that might be, there is always something to do, somewhere to go, cleaning, letters to sort, groceries to do, preparing meals, cooking meals, clearing up after meals, washing and work. With James and myself juggling our shift work, roofing work and house renos, there are times when we are often passing ships and giving the run down of how the kids are doing and what is on their schedule as one comes in the door and the other is leaving. So it is quite the juggle, however we do manage and seem to be keeping all our balls in the air!!!
We find that just a few planned days away allows us to recharges our thoughts and we thrive on all being together.
One of our favorite places to retreat to is Baker Creek, just an hour up the road, near Lake Louise. No telephones, no computer, minimal cell network coverage, no television, real wood burning fires, real peace and quiet and for a bonus, our friends are there and they have kids too. And we all have alot of fun in the outdoors.

Heather and her friend Flynn enjoyed ice skating and sliding down the ice slide.

The parents took the opportunity to go for a XC ski without towing, and have 2hrs of conversation without being distracted, interrupted or running to intervene before disaster strikes. The funny thing is Shannon and I talked the whole time, and yes it was all about the kids!
James and I also had a peaceful morning towing the kids as they had a well earned nap, catching up on sleep.

Peek a boo, I see you.

We took Heather and Finlay to Lake Louise ski hill, Heather was all geared up and rented her first pair of proper down hill skis, boots and harness and off she went to the bunny hill with dad. Finlay and I found our own entertainment while waiting and watching in the sun and the snow.

Heather looking the part.

Ice carvings and Olympic mitts.

So happy to be here.

"One day soon !!!"

Olympic torch goes through canmore

Olympic fever spread throughout Canmore yesterday as the torch made its way into the Rocky Mountains on its final leg to Vancouver and Whistler.

On a busy Wednesday I was disappointed that I had to work and the kids were in daycare on the afternoon that all the excitement was happening and knowing that the chances of seeing another Olympic torch being carried through the town where I live in my lifetime are minimal. However, listening to the radio on my way to my ski lesson I learned that the torch would be ran along the main road at the top of our street at 2pm....Great....after my lesson I had a couple of chores to do then drove home, threw on my uniform grabbed James from the basement and raced to the top of the road for 2pm and saw the torch being passed along.

Here it comes.

Passing of the flame.

All good.

And there it goes.

The dragonfly daycare is also in close proximity to this location and I was glad to see that they had taken the children out in the wagons to see the procession also. Heather remembered the big blue truck with all the dancers. However I was impressed the next day when we walked to the local shop and Heather pitched in to say "Hey I saw that yesterday!" while pointing to a poster promoting the Olympics with someone carrying the torch.

The torch then continued its journey through Canmore to the recreation centre and then up to the Nordic Centre for celebrations in the early evening.

Play Dates!!!!

Now that the holiday season is over life has become very busy again now that all the kids activities have started.
Heather and Finlay are both little socialites, but in very different ways. They go to daycare once a week and as I am removing Heather's shoes, Finlay is off toddling confidently into his room. He makes a v line to the toy pit and stands and points and shouts to a little soft moving train that he has become attached to. He sits there as I sign him in and then waves and blows kisses to me.

Heather on the other hand takes a little more time. I take her into her room and as I hang her coat up she runs to hug one of her favorite carers, then turns to run back to me to give the biggest hug, then runs back to the carer this is repeated about three times and then she is ready to go and have fun.

Heather has made lots of little friends at school, and they all seem to be little boys. When she began school at the start of the first term she was a little shy and stayed close to the teacher until she felt settled to go and play with the other kids. All of the girls are 6mnth older than her and the boys seem to be around her age and height. She has bonded with many of the boys and the reports from school seem to indicate that she gives out a lot of hugs and that a few boys report at home their disappointment if they didn't get a hug.


We had Eddie for dinner and a movie one evening while his parents had a date. James and I were sitting on the side lines smiling to ourselves as they sat on the couch cuddling. I said to James that it seems we need to get that basement renovated sooner rather than later, for these dates!!!
They have also enjoyed time outdoors together.


We also looked after Cayden for the day who is the older friend of 5 yrs old, at the end of the day the pair of them were watching Bob the builder kneeling at the end of the couch. Cayden engrossed in the TV and Heather pursing her lips to try and get a kiss!!!
Oh how we laughed!!!
So we are back in the swing of things, two mornings a week of Heather's preschool, a day at daycare while mum has her skate ski class, music and movement, swimming, gymnastics and then all the fun stuff that we try to fit in ourselves. Thank goodness I only work half time.

Heather skating

And they are off.......!!!

Boxing Day and the weather was warmer, so we grabbed the opportunity to get out in the mid day heat!!!! And went to the Nordic ski centre for a xc ski. Finlay had a good nap as I towed him around and Heather enjoyed practicing her down hill skiing in the tracks .We then went to the Banff Springs hotel, which has lovely decorations and a famous Gingerbread castle.

Heather was beside herself when she saw the ballroom and in her mind she was a princess at the ball, dancing with her prince...Daddy of course. I was the fairy Godmother and Finlay was the mouse!!!!! Even on the way home she was talking about the horses that were pulling our carriage and when we were fueling up...well that was us stopping so that the horses could get more food, cause they were hungry !!!! A three year olds imagination is such a glorious thing.

In the big open rooms and corridors, Finlay was able to work on his walking, now he is there, fully confident although still a little shaky, but he is doing it without his walker

Merry Christmas

Heather really began getting excited on Christmas eve after going to a service up at Silver tips golf course and was very keen to get home and prepare Santa's and Rudolph's snack.

Thankfully, due to the later than usual night, the kids slept in until 7.30 am.Heather asked to go downstairs to see if Santa had left her a present..... Well she was so surprised at just how many presents he had left her, the amusing thing was that she even checked out the advent calendar to see if the Christmas fairy had been and was in fact a little disappointed that there were no treats in the calendar !!!!

After all the presents were opened we were able to go out for a walk in -20 ! Finlay had a well earned nap and Heather enjoyed sledging. We then returned home and they both had time to play with their toys while we made dinner. It felt a little unusual, while standing at the cooker and not having little people crawling around or tugging at my trouser leg or shouting from the living room !!! It did make me smile.

The kids played all day and were still on the go at bed time!!!

The beauty that exists at -30

Frosted glass in the true sense.

This is the window in our "mud room" (poarch)....not our bathroom!!!

Last weekend we had blizzards and freezing temperatures of -20 and the cold temperatures stayed with us and gradually became colder as the week went on, reaching as low as -30 in the mornings. We still managed to get Heather to school and even managed a trip there by sledge and I managed to get them out for a quick bit of sledging in the afternoons . There is a little play park two doors down from us that has a little hill and the kids had fun being towed around in their sledges and then having fun going down the hill. We arrived back home with rosy cheeks big smiles and I had a bit of frost around my chin!!!!

The beaty of frost.

We all felt the benefit of the fresh outdoor air. The kids are less irritable, they can then return to playing with each other as opposed to trying to annoy each other. The house seems to get a break and I come home with new energy .
It seems that as long as the sun is shining, temperatures of below -20 can be bearable for the kids for about 30-60 mins before the sun disappeared behind the mountains.


The house feels warm, almost too hot sometimes when the sun is shining and we open the blinds to allow the heat of the sun to warm the air in the house. As soon as the sun sinks behind those tall mountains at around 3pm the "heat", or supposed heat, disappears and you can feel the air in the house cooling down, that is when the thermostat goes up and the blinds are closed. If you are outdoors, that's the time to come indoors!!!

I am so glad that we live on the sunny side of the valley!!!!

The people who live on the other side of the valley loose the sun at 11am during Dec and Jan and the snow can last an extra month. Brrrrrrr can you imagine how cold that would be!!!!