A Christmas break at the trailer

Between Christmas and New Year we had a long weekend at the trailer, arriving on Boxing Day and leaving on the 30th December. It was nice to be able to unpack for a little longer than usual and get settled there, though it was a little colder than we would have liked, varying between -10 and -25 deg C.
Lara had a double session of ski lessons, with a full day on Saturday as well as the usual Sunday lesson, then on Monday we had a change of scene and went to Canmore for brunch, on the way to Lake Louise to do some skating on the lake in front of the chateau hotel. It was -25 out on the ice, and we took it in turns to take Dan into the hotel for a warm up, where he loved the big model railway they have in the reception area. Lara demonstrated some of her developing skating skills, and even I stayed up on my skates for a few circuits. Even the dogs came along for a run about on the lake, although always on their leads - there are too many tasty little animals running around, and at -25 you don't want to be trying to chase down a single-minded terrier through a forest!

We stopped in Canmore again on the way back to the trailer so the kids could use the prepared sledging hill at the nordic centre there. It's free, and there are no queues when it's that cold!

Dan enjoyed kicking his sledge down the slope rather than riding on it, but then Lara liked the challenge of chasing and catching the runaway sledge. So they were both happy!

I was determined to have a campfire no matter how cold it was, until it was time to go inside for a fondue..

Hernia today, gone tomorrow (well, February)

Back to earth with a bump today. After her 7th birthday yesterday, today we booked Lara in for a hernia repair in February. The Alberta Children's Hospital is the brightest, most cheerful looking hospital I've seen though! The inside matches the outside, too.

I'm not sure how it would have worked under the NHS, but once Lara had been assessed today by a surgeon, they agreed it required surgery to resolve, and they commit to scheduling the operation within 3 months. We have a certain amount of say in the matter, and we've picked a date just before Lara breaks up for half term, so she can recuperate at home. She's to avoid exercise for 2 weeks after, and she'll only miss one ski lesson, although she will miss more skating sessions. It's only a day procedure, no overnight stay needed, and Lara gets to choose the smell they'll use to disguise the anaesthetic gas. She's agonising between candy cane and bubblegum at the moment...

Happy 7th Birthday, Lara

Lara turned 7 today, she enjoyed opening her presents before school, with Danil's help - he was a bit confused, and thought it was his birthday too. Grandma joined us via skype for the big unwrapping session. Lara took her cookies to school, and then came home to a little party here. Dan enjoyed helping blow out the candles, and we had to re-light them several times so they could both have a go at blowing them out again.

Yesterday was Lara's school Christmas Concert, which was streamed live on the internet, so Grandma and Baba Luda and Aunty Lucy could watch. Olga and I tuned in too to the afternoon matinee. There's Lara, in the middle row, second from right:

Nearly 7

Lara is fully into her preparations for her 7th birthday on Wednesday, and that includes preparing cookies for her class.

She has her Christmas concert - completely in French - on Tuesday, which will be streamed live on the internet by her school. We're having a party for 8 of her friends on Saturday afternoon, in the music studio where she has her piano lessons, and her piano teacher will be there to supervise the kids as they have a go on his instruments.

After her party we'll be clearing up and heading straight out to the trailer, as Lara has her first lesson with her new ski school at 9am on Sunday morning, and we don't want to be late. Having said that, we were late last weekend when we stayed there and had to get Lara to the resort (8 minutes drive), but we'll blame the -37 degree temperatures for that. This week it's forecast to be +13 for a few days midweek, before dropping for the weekend, so some of that 50cm of snow that fell should have melted by the time we get there on Saturday teatime.

Whilst the focus for the age group Lara is joining is still on fun, rather than competitive racing, all the children are considered as athletes. so we have been advised to send her out with protein snacks in her pocket rather than chocolate bars, and there are recommendations on what she should eat after her all-day lesson to help her body recover! Serious stuff...

Back at home, Lara has been asking about getting another pet. We've had a look at hamsters, rabbits, cats and fish (my preference is fish) but we've kind of ducked the issue by suggesting she officially adopts Jackson as her pet, so for the past two nights he has been allowed to sleep in her room, which in reality means, in her bed:

A chilly and snowy weekend

A proper winter storm came through south Alberta during the end of last week, dumping 50cm of snow in the Kananaskis valley where we keep our trailer. That's good for skiing, but it made getting to the trailer a bit tricky, We chose not to drive out on Friday, in the dark, as it was still snowing and the road conditions weren't great. So we drove out on Saturday lunchtime, with temperatures in the mid minus 20s. Fortunately the campground people had ploughed some of the roads around the site, but not the ones that gave us access to our trailer, so we had a fun time hiking though snow that was thigh deep for Olga and I in places. We could have lost Dan completely in some of the drifts! Rather than go skiing that afternoon, we hung around the trailer and had a go at clearing some pathways, and Olga (weighing less than me!) cleared the snow off the roof of the trailer. We found the plough man and got him to plough our access road, so I could get the truck close to the trailer, but not onto our campsite.  Maybe next weekend he'll plough me a parking space.
We have three electric heaters in the trailer to keep us warm, but they struggled against temperatures approaching -40 outside through Saturday night, and even the gas furnace in the trailer gave up and refused to light on Sunday morning, hopefully simply because it was too cold, something had probably frozen.  We had to drive to Nakiska at 9am as Lara had a lesson with a coach from her new racing club, and the temperature gauge in the car reported it was -37 outside. We didn't believe it at first, but it was insistent, and stayed like that for 15 minutes at least, so it must have been true. It felt like it.
Olga joined Lara on her skiiing lesson, while I took Dan and the dogs for a drive to get some petrol, as much to keep us warm as anything else - even with the sun coming up and the heaters on, it was still hovering around zero degrees inside the trailer. They had a very good lesson, and the coach thought Lara was a strong, confident skier, which is very encouraging.
The forecast for the next week is for it to warm up to a low of -8, which is much more comfortable. We might not be there next weekend, as we need time at home to put the Christmas decorations up, and prepare for Lara's birthday on 10th December.

I set off walking along the access road to the trailer but turned back, and went to find the plough man!

After it had been ploughed, I could get the truck close to the trailer

A rather blue photo of Olga clearing snow off the trailer roof

It really was -37 outside

Before we found the trailer

 

A Snow armchair

Snowshoes for Christmas perhaps?

The drive out along the Trans Canada Highway is spectacular