Awesome!!

Here we are at the summit of Sulphur Mountain just outside Banff.  We travelled the 698m on the Banff Gondola to an elevation of 2,281m where there is a viewing platform, restaurants to satisfy hungry children, and a walk along a snow covered decking boardwalk along a mountain ridge to the adjacent summit where there was an old observatory.  The views were absolutely spectacular and we all managed to brave the temperatures so we could experience the beauty.  I came back down with Charlie and Benjamin so I asked them what they thought of the views....awesome, sweet, immense, cool, fantastical!!!! With prompting we then came up with... magnificent, breathtaking, beautiful, stunning and heart beating.  As the guide book says 'more mountains in a moment than most see in a lifetime'.  In the afternoon we walked around the town which is very old colonial in style, had a look at the lovely shops (although we were pre-occupied looking for antifreeze for our useless car that wouldn't start in the cold!) and then headed back to our hotel which has a very child-friendly swimming pool with water slides.  If asked...guess what our children will say when they are asked what was the best bit about Banff!!!

Kennels in Canada

I'm so behind in blogging I can't believe it....the Kennels arrived safe and sound almost a week ago now and have embraced all things snowy with open arms.  Benjamin has already gone up one group and Victoria and Jack have gone up two groups.  Andy and kerry are up the mountain....hurray!!! and can now see Big White and The Monashee Mountains in all their glory...an amazing achievement by the whole family in such a short space of time.
They have all skied non stop since they arrived so today we are taking a few days off to explore The Rockies.  We left Big White at 8.30 this morning and arrived at Banff at 6pm this evening having done one of the most amazing drives of my life, the time just flew by, I had no idea it had taken so long. The beautiful jagged peaks were just breathtaking and now we have 3 days to explore this stunning country some more.  We will have to get used to the real cold though, as we dropped down into Banff, the temperature dropped too and is sitting at a slightly chilly -26 at the moment. According to the weather the temperature is set to drop a bit more tomorrow.  I've never experienced such temperatures before and am wondering just how it will feel and more worryingly if I've brought enough clothes for the children... all I know is that it feels very weird when your nostril hair freezes in your nose!!

Here we go again!

I really underestimated Valentines Day,  I thought it was bad enough having to send a card and sweet to everyone (all bought in Walmart!) but some children handmade all their cards, gave bags of sweets to all the children, some gave presents like little pots of play dough or party favours and one girl had made bracelets for everyone!!! It was so overwhelming, the children came home with bags full of stuff, four days later they are still wading their way through the sweets!  In the afternoon the gym was set up with stations and each group of children moved around each station doing Valentiney activities, painting, sticking and quizzes.  There was Valentines party food and even a 'love punch', then they all watched a movie... it was just like the end of term!

This is Big White Community School before it goes out on a Thursday afternoon, Lucy is sat on a boy called Connor who is the latest object of her affection (he's 13!), Ned and Charlie are behind the right hand stripey girl.  Two hours later came the call from Charlie's teacher saying he was at Ski Patrol with another hurt knee.  He had fallen at the top of the mountain and not satisfied with a skidoo ride this time he was strapped to a stretcher and pulled by a Ski Patrol skier down half the mountain before meeting up with the skidoo and being pulled behind that for the rest of the way!  When I got to him there didn't look to be much wrong except for being completely over-excited about his adventures, what had happened, who'd called who, which run he'd thundered down and at what speed.  Not wanting to think Ski Patrol had wasted their time, his teacher had tried to tell them that she thinks he's lost his confidence in his knee and assumes he's hurt it again badly before fully trying it out, not to mention he is also complete drama queen!
The Kennels arrive tonight...hurray...2 adults, 3 children...and none have skied before...I so, so, so hope they enjoy it, if not, it's going to be Apres ski all day!

Ice tunnels

Today we had gorgeous blue skies although there was a bitterly cold wind at the top of the mountain.  We had a family ski morning, up and down the Bullet chair and then a few runs in and out of the trees at The Black Forest.  The children's skiing improves every day but they still need to put in the miles and practice what they've learnt at ski school.  On one of the ways back to our house Jamie had spotted what he thought was an ice tunnel so this afternoon we went to investigate.  There were two entrances, both quite small which the children immediately dived down, not caring what might be down there and came out saying that someone had built an ice cave at the bottom and that I should look.  I got half way in when I passed the walkie talkie back out to Ned giving him strict instructions to radio Jamie if I got stuck, another few feet in and the claustrophobia set in and I had to get out of there, not feeling the same kind of panic for my children I sent Ned in with my camera to take some photos, you can just see Lucy's feet poking out of the tunnel (I would have definitely got stuck down there!)

Also this afternoon the children have been writing their Valentines.  This is huge over here, they have to send a card to everyone in the school (lucky there are only 30ish children) and attach a sweet to each.  Every child has an envelope on their desk to collect them in and then they have an activity afternoon when the children's families are invited to participate in Valentines arts and crafts and party tea...I'll know more about how this will pan out on Monday.

Happy Birthaday Jamie

Yesterday was Jamie's birthday so we took a tour on a snow mobile into the forest.  There were 5 people in total each with their own snow mobile and a guide.  We followed old trappers trails that led over 30 kms deep into the forest and reached speeds up to 50 kph.  There had been a huge dump of snow the night before, over a foot of powder which made going pretty hair-raising, we had to follow the tracks made by the guide and match her speed or you were left behind (which I was several times!) It was an amazing and for me, terrifying, experience, I even managed to fall off at one point, and got it stuck in the snow several times which meant literally digging it out with your hands. Luckily they are simple to drive, just an accelerator and brake, which meant I could concentrate on keeping up, not on the controls, but they are really easy to turn over, which our guide reassuringly told us before we set off! Today, though, I am so stiff, I must have been clinging on for dear life more than I thought as my back is killing me, and I thought Pilate's was bad enough!

It's Friday...

We've got past Thursday without a disaster, no skidoo rides, no twisted knees, in fact all three children had really good lessons with their school yesterday.  Well, we're half way through our adventure, eight weeks gone, eight weeks to go and the time has passed so quickly.  The snow keeps coming, the people of this village work tirelessly to keep the snow from building up, it is a constant battle to keep roads, car parks and driveways clear using an army of different snow vehicles for each job. Yesterday, diggers were piling snow on to the back of a lorry and taking it to a site at the bottom of the village, by the childrens school, where there is literally a mountain of snow, the children are sitting on it in the photo. The motto of this village is 'It's the Snow' as they have an average annual snowfall of 24.5 feet, we still have quite a way to go before we get that much!
We've been exploring some of the outer parts of the mountains and have come across old trappers cottages and dog houses, remnants of an age before skiing when animal pelts were a more lucrative market than chalets and pistes!  The skiing is so beautiful beyond the boundaries, the forests are silent and still, all noise is extinguished by the soft snow, the perfect place for a sleeping bear!!!!!  Hope we don't find one..
GRRRRRR!!!!