New Years Eve and it's freezing!!!  Gorgeous sunny skies but bitterly cold with wind chill. The children don't seem to notice though and still want to go to ski school.  Lucy was put up a group yesterday on the strict instructions that she follow her instructor or they would put her down again!!  When we went to pick her up yesterday and asked if she was back the instructor said..'well, we haven't heard her yet...we tend to know when she's about', it seems as if she's making quite an impression!!  Today, Charlie was put up to Mountain Explorers so clean sweep all round.  Yesterday, we saw a "snow dog"..it's an amazing natural phenomenon that looks like a rainbow that goes straight up into the sky, it's when the sun shines through ice crystals suspended in the air..spectacular and apparently quite rare.
It's 1 in the morning in England so Happy New Year to you all from The Carrs.

It was a beautiful day here yesterday, blue skies and gorgeous powder snow.  Jamie and I went to investigate some off piste that Jamie had done the day before with some friends, fantastic skiing...until he got lost and I ended carrying my skis in 3 feet of snow!!!  Ned's so proud today, he has gone up a group in to High Fliers and Charlie and Lucy only need one more tick each to go up groups too.  Lucy needs to learn to follow her instructor rather than doing her own thing in true Lucy style!!
Day off today, the temperature has plummeted and so we decided to go to Kelowna (our local town an hour away!) to spend the childrens christmas money, more pokemon for the boys and another zuzu pet for Lucy, all very happy children.

Carrs and Kynastons say goodbye

It's just us Carrs on Big White mountain now....Steve, Jane, Joe and Ellie went home at lunchtime today and we're really going to miss them.  Thank you Kynastons for coming all that way to see us, it's been such a pleasure having you here to share our festivities and to watch our children zooming down the mountain after one another and more often than not ending up in a heap at the bottom!!
Have a good trip home and we'll be thinking of you getting ready for ski school tomorrow!!

Christmas Day

Christmas day is nearly over... Santa came at 5am and after breakfast we all went skiing, it's been a beautiful day, the best we've had by far, blue skies and no wind.  Santa was also out on the slopes this morning if you could catch him, we only saw him at the bottom having a well deserved coffee break!  We all managed up the T-bar today (except Lucy) the highest point of the mountain, it's the first time we've been able to see the top so I took a few pics of the view.  Back home for more pressies, the traditional turkey and a dip in the hot tub.  All the children are very tired, the grown-ups too! Happy Christmas everyonexxx

Happy Christmas to one and all from the Carr family in snowy British Columbia!!

It's the Christmas eve village parade tonight, with all the ski instructors joining in a torchlit parade, followed by a big firework display at around 6.45pm
Father Christmas has been seen in the village today, he is obviously more prepared than us! No doubt he is having a bit of fun before he gets busy tonight.
The kids are progressing fantastically in ski school, both boys are tearing the mountain up and Lucy seems to be charming all her instructors, so they are all having a great time.
Joy has had to buy a helmet today after blatting down a run 2 days ago so fast that she got a fit of nervous giggles half way down. I think that she decided it was way to much fun and if she was going to do it again she should at least try and protect herself a bit.
Have a lovely Christmas from BigWhite.

White out at Big White!

It's snowed non stop for 3 days here in Big White which makes skiing conditions a bit dodge!  We've still sent the children up the mountain though, even if we're a bit reluctant ourselves (Jane feels sick when she can't see where she's going, not helped by the ice on the inside of her goggles!)  Kids still skiing beautifully even though Charlie fell off the chair lift today, he dropped his pole just after he got on, then leant forward to pick it up and fell off.  Luckily, he was only 3 feet from the ground and the chair lift was stopped so he could get out of the way and catch the next one.  More video will follow when the skies turn blue again...

Day off from skiing today, went and did a small food shop in Kelowna $438.00!!!! and no beer!
That should keep us going for a while!
Decided to investigate tubing this afternoon, most of the kids enjoyed it, only Ned didn't he said that he couldn't breathe going down hill.
Finishing off decorating the house for Christmas, all the lights are up and the kids are making paper chains.
A quiet night tonight and back on the slopes tomorrow

Lucy's best day so far, her new pink heart ski's have finally turned up and she was in pink heart princess heaven.

This video is Lucy leaving ski school with her instructor on her new ski's.

Charlie has now gone up a group to trailblazers and gets to ski with his poles, which he has been desperate for so he is a happy chappy too!!

We were going to go to kelowna food shopping today, but clear blue skies changed our mind

time for skiing!!!

Looks like takeaway pizza tonight, at least we have a local shop up here for essentials like milk for tea!

Showed a bit more of the mountain to Steve and Jane today including a couple of unbashed pistes, i never new that Jane new so many swear words!

At least it made Joy laugh and Steve said he quite liked them, so not all bad.

We also had the best fall of the season so far and i am not sure that it will be bettered.

Joy had obviously consumed too much lager in Snowshoe Sams at lunch and stood up  to go to the loo and fell face down on the floor spreadeagled, honestly no one in the bar laughed too loudly.

Obviously 1/4 pint of lager is too much at her age at altitude, better off sticking to coffee in the future!!

Bless

Posted buy Jamie



Today all the children went for a taster day at their new school here in Big White. Ned was so nervous especially when he saw there was only one other boy the same age as him and all the other children in his class were at least 2 years older. Mr G soon sussed him out though, gave him some maths to do and found him a friend who loved Pokemon and he was happy as larry!  Charlie and Lucy are in the same class and had a great time, all three are keen to go back in January so..result!  Spotted a sign in the school...do we need it in Upottery???

All up at 4am for the third morning in a row, it's getting a bit beyond a joke now! How long does it take for the jet lag to go?  All the children went to ski school today, Joe and Ned together as Trail Blazers and Charlie and Ellie as Snow Rangers.  Ned and Joe did one run and were moved up a group and are now Mountain Explorers! The weather was a bit dodgier today, nice this morning but it closed in this afternoon and much colder.  The children were exhausted when we went to pick them up, they had been up the mountain all afternoon in the snow and Charlie had frozen hair!  All the kids went in the hot tub to soothe their aching muscles and should sleep well tonight (they'd better!)

'All because the lady loves milk tray'

All the Kynastons arrived yesterday and we went for our first ski.  Lucy went to ski school, not quite ready to ski the whole mountain, but the boys and Joe and Ellie were desperate to get on the chair lift and get skiing. Everyone did great, the conditions were perfect, beautiful blue skies and powdery snow, and the milk tray man only had a couple of tumbles!

Ski kit

Today we went to buy skis and boots for the children, Lucy's managed to persuade the poor guy in the shop that she had to have pink ones with hearts on!  He said she made him feel so bad that he didn't have the ones she wanted that he's getting some in specially!

Well we have arrived at last, only to be welcomed by a blizzard! Driving up to Big White from Kelowna was interesting to say the least. 30mph max was the order of the day with 6 inches of snow on the road. I still managed to be overtaken by every car that came up behind me, i guess that's why Canadians are called crazy Canucks.
7inches of fresh powder awaited us as we woke up this morning, hopefully that is a sign of things to come!
Bring on the powder.

Here we are at Heathrow departures ready for our great adventure!!

Last night before we leave for Big White, I think we are all packed and ready to go
36ish hours until our first ski run of the season!!