Cold

Sadie and I took Helen and Paul for a little tour of the town, including up on the mountain to see the view - I then realized that the top of the mountain is considerably colder than down in the valley.  We managed to get to 12-foot Davis's grave but could only stay there for a couple of minutes before we had to run back to the van.  I think it must have been minus forty up there.

Christmas is Here

Sadie and I picked up Nana at the airport in Peace River.  Sadie was so happy to see her - she shouted and shouted once she saw her.  It was adorable to everyone around us.

Erin and her class at the Christmas Concert at school.  Sorry, they're blurry.  The video's much better and has Amy singing too.  Erin's the short one in the middle of the back row.

Santa made it to skating class.  Man, that guy is EVERYWHERE!

The girls and I repainted the main bathroom.  This is them drawing the critters on the wall, followed by some of the finished product.  They drew and I painted.  It's basically a winterscape (you can see the mountains in one of the shots) with any animals they wanted to include.  There's a five-legged deer, an eight-legged lion, flying unicorn, alien aeomeba, penguins, and such.  

Sadie and I sometimes stop for a hot beverage on our dates.  This was in the coffee shop in the IGA.  It's a much nicer environment to sit and chat with a two year old than Tim Hortons.

She gets the toy helicopter, then goes and gets the lizard puppet and starts reinacting your favourite monster movie scenes!  She's definitely mine.  I'm so proud!

Skating

The girls had their first skating lesson today - it was... interesting.

Here's a quick rundown of the highpoints:

• lots of kids - around thirty or so
• Amy and Erin were really happy when they got there.  They enjoyed getting their stuff on and saying hi to kids from their classes who take skating too.
• Sadie had a good time hanging out with me in the bleachers
• Amy was a natural - Her roller blading in Ghana definitely helped her with the whole balance thing, so she only needed to hold hands with the assistant coaches for the first few minutes, and then she was off and running.
• Erin wasn't so apt, but definitely showed improvement in a short time.  
• After the first twenty minutes or so, Amy returned to Sadie and I, crying, in the arms of the head coach.  Someone had skated over her hand after she fell.  It was shock and pain, but overall not too bad.  I asked her later this evening how her hand felt and she said fine.  I gave her a couple of band aids and she went right back out to finish her lessons.
• Erin came skating up to me a bit later, with that angry look on her face that meant she was fed up.  She said her feet were cold and she wanted to stop.  The coach said that she did fine, seeing as it was her first day, and that there were only fifteen minutes left.  
• All in all, it was a good experience, and the kids are willing to go back.  
• Here are some photos:

Erin being escorted by the assistant coaches

Amy with her arms out

They were very happy at the beginning - They were happy to see kids they knew here too.

Daily Visitors

I know I always talk about deer on the lawn, so finally here's a photo.  These are two smaller ones. There's a group who come around, conisisting of about six does and one impressive buck.   Apparently there are plenty of whitetail here, but all I've seen (like here) are mule deer.  

Christmas Time has Begun

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here... Sherrie and I put up our lights on the house this weekend, the girls decorated the tree, and we went to the Santa Claus Parade!

All in all it was a lovely weekend.  Here are some photos:

Erin really enjoyed decorating the tree this year, as did Amy.  I'm so glad, because in previous years they weren't as into it as I was hoping they'd be.  I guess they were too young.  It was very beautiful watching them decorate it this time.    That's the same old little tree that we've always had, in Hong Kong and Ghana.  Sherrie and her roommate bought it in '94 I think.  I kind of want a big real one, but there's a definite attachment to this one for us.  

Most of my shots from the parade are blurry, but these two give you a good idea of what it was like:  bright, cheery, and COLD!

As far as parades go, this one was kind of small, but it was packed with cool stuff to watch like horses and fire trucks, costumed characters and ATVs.  The kids had a blast.  Many of the parade participants were handing out candies too, and our girls scored many.

This is a view of our neighbourhood, called Lower West, from across the river.  That's the ski hill behind it.  We're on the opposite side of the River than the downtown area.

And this is just a spectacular view looking in the other direction, that I had to photograph.  I'm buying a kayak when I get some cash so I can go exploring.  

Here are a few extra photos, just because I feel like it:

Sadie at Nana's House this Summer, when we first got back from Ghana.  I bought that hat on top of a mountain in Ghana from a village man for two dollars.  Love that hat.

Amy at the hospital this summer.  We ended up spending three nights there, about two weeks before moving to Alberta.   

At the cottage in the rain.