Halloween 2014

This year, the kids really got in to the whole Halloween thing, planning of costumes, decorating the house, even visiting a Hallloween store in Kelowna where local theatre groups act in haunted houses (quite scary actually) and they sell everything you could possibly imagine for Halloween.  Even I got into it this year, it's very hard not too…

So, this year Lucy was a Genie…..

Charlie was a zombie…

And Ned was a character from a Japanese anime called Fairy Tail……

The whole school….Ms Leibel was Miss Frizzle from The Magic School bus!

So, after tearing around Big White, terrorizing all those who had been foolish enough to say they would have candy for the children, we all went back to The Blarney Stone for the traditional trading of candy and apple bobbing….

West Edmonton Mall

This was the one place in the whole of Canada that the children wanted to visit!! So one coldish long weekend last October that's where we went.  West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in North America and until 2004 it was the largest in the world.  It covers a gross area of about 5,300,00 sq ft, there are over 800 stores and parking for more that 20,000 cars.  More than 24,000 people are employed and it receives 32.2 million visitors per year…..the Carr family included!  Needless to say, the children weren't there for the shopping because besides all those retail outlets there is also Galaxyland, an indoor amusement park…..

(None of us went on this, I was game but Ned said he didn't want me to die! I couldn't exactly go on it then, now could I?)

World Waterworld, the worlds second largest indoor water park with the worlds largest wave pool…

Also, an aquarium, ice rink, movie theatres, a bowling alley, mini-golf and an indoor lake with a full size replica of the Santa Maria….I kid you not!!

So….Sea Life Caverns

Sea Lions Rock…..

 Galaxyland….lots of roller coasters and the noise was deafening….this is Ned on one of the more gentler rides!

 Charlie and Lucy after one of the most unpleasant rides ever, like a waltzer on rails…yuk!  Ned and Jamie bailed, wise choice!

 And for me, a trip to the first Victoria's secret in Canada, but Lucy thought my new purchase was more exciting than I did (and it's a 34DDD, I didn't know they made them that big!!!)

Charlie at Rope Quest

 Enjoying the ice skating

After an action packed weekend I endured one of the most unpleasant flights home ever, I sat next to a man who was completely shit-faced!  Luckily, the flight is only an hour and when he left, he'd left $20 on the seat…thank you very much, I'll have that!

Walk to the top of Spion Kop with Judy

It was a gorgeous day for a walk up Spion Kop in Lake Country, just outside Kelowna and very handy as it was across the road from Don and Judy's house!  The views from the top were spectacular…all 4 lakes were so clear, Lake Okanagan, Duck Lake, Wood Lake and Kalamalka…

 Where are we?  We're here!  No we're not…we're here!

Rock Creek Fair

Rock Creek is a little town about an hour and a half from Big White.  Once a year they have a fair, a bit like UK shows…lots of crafty type things, loads of animals and a massive fun fair (the main reason my kids wanted to go…not surprisingly!)  So, my friend Marie and her two boys and us Carrrs, all decided to go.  Seeing as we were entering hill billy country we decided to wear the traditional dress of the locals.…plaid!  We wanted to make sure we didn't stand out too much!  And boy, was there a lot of people in plaid!

 Charlie and Jason

 Lucy helping the magician

 Sara, our lovely Summer Camp leader, showing her steer.  She competes every year as a member of 

4-H, the Canadian equivalent of Young Farmers

Plaid and cowboys…and lots of both!

Summer Camp

We had the amazing opportunity to set up a Summer Camp in Big White.  The Canadian Government sponsor one member of staff who is a full time student, and the school PAC decided to pay for a second member of staff from their funds.  So, the amazing Sara, a 17 year old from Beaverdell, and Lucas, an Aussie who ran the ice climbing tower, and who also broke his leg on the last day of last season and so had never made it home, became Big White Summer Camp employees. They organized activities every day, lots of craft and lots of mountain exploring and every week there was a trip off the mountain…sailing, bowling, swimming in the local lakes, parks, museums all for the vast price of $5 per child!!  What a blast…Lucy went every day….every day!  She loved it!  But it was the last week that proved the most exciting, well, for the children anyway, when they organized a camp out at Rhonda Lake.  No electric hook up, borrowed tent, no stove, no swimming pool with slides, not the glamping I'm used to!  Also, we had to do all the bear precautionary stuff like hanging all the food in a tree away from the camp.  These Canadians make out they know what they're doing but I wasn't convinced, especially when there was definitely this sniffing sound outside my tent at 5am…and I really needed a wee but no way was I going out there!!  Plus, we had taken a dog but he'd spent all afternoon barking at stones!!! So, was knackered and just slept all night…some deterrent he turned out to be!  However, besides that it was a beautiful night, sat by the camp fire looking at the stars and watching the space station fly over, we even did some wolf howling and listened to the sounds echo around the cliff.  Glorious experience, but maybe just the once!!

 Yoda…our protection…haha!!

Raft building, sort of!

Ned's birthday

I really should make a point of writing this blog a bit more often, it's 27th October and I want to write about Ned's birthday which was on 11th August...oops!  I think I'm just going to download the photos as I can't really remember the details of the day...but I'm going to try!  Ned wanted the other two Grade 6's to come as well as the lone Grade 5... then he decided he wanted not just the children but their families too...then a couple of other families asked if they could come too and, all of a sudden it had turned into a Big White at Atlantis Water Park day out!  Not too hot which was a bonus, just the right amount of sun, so no burnt children, but no shivering ones too...add in a Dairy Queen Birthday Cake and what more could a boy want for his 12th birthday!

 In the hot tub with the girls...huh!

 Cake for the grown-ups too!

Takes after his father!

Kopje Beach

Every Saturday in various parks in Lake Country, an area just outside in Kelowna, there is a family day...games, bouncy castles, live music and other stuff.  So, Don and Judy asked us to go to the family day to be held at the beach nearest to their house.  Also, as an added bonus, the music was to be an Abba tribute act...what more could I ask for!  The beach turned out to be beautiful, playground, swims in the lake, soccer, the kids were in heaven, especially Lucy who had Judy's undivided attention for the day!  I was really looking forward to Abba, and so was bitterly disappointed to discover they were a couple of fat Kelowna housewives in silver platform boots and mini skirts, thinking they could sing like the legendary Anfridthingy and Annasomething else!  No matter, lots of dancing and beer helped with that!

We thought it was such a pretty place that we went back the following weekend with some Big Whiters!  Next to the beach there's a heritage house, and seeing as we were there, we thought we'd check it out, so....this'll make you laugh!  It's a house next to the lake, lived in by a family who emigrated from the U.K, bought the land, built a house, planted an orchard and raised a family there. The house is open to the public 2 days a week and is celebrated for it's history and age...guess when it was built...1912!!!

 View from the steps of the house...what a spot!