Holiday time

Its Good Friday and the start of a week's holiday for us, we're off to the trailer today. The photo is one I took last weekend, just as the sun touched the top of Mount Kidd, I'm hoping for similar weather this coming week, but the forecast for the next few days is colder and greyer, but that might give us some snow so we can go skiing. We're taking the bikes, so if it does warm up we'll go for a ride.
The week is starting well, it's 9.30am and the kids are still in bed..

"Can I cut its head off?"

Olga and Lara are enjoying some mother-daughter bonding time this teatime... Preparing some bream to cook. Lara's checked the stomach contents, descaled them, and asked if she can cut its head off. Apparently she has to wait until it's cooked before she gets to do that..

Postscript: After the fish had been cooked and delivered to Lara, and she duly removed its head, Dan - sitting next to her at the table - chimed in with "I want to cut a fish's head off too!"... that's my boy:-)

Skating progression

This week has seen a slight yet important step forward for Lara and her skating; her coach has given the OK for Lara to skate without wearing a helmet. It shows the coach has confidence in Lara's ability, but also makes Lara feel a bit more like one of the older girls. The question arose after Lara saw the costume she'll be wearing for this year's skating gala - a mermaid - and she wondered how the helmet would fit into the ensemble. So, now she's helmet-free.. Dan starts his skating lessons next month, in a parent and tot group with Olga. He'll definitely be in a helmet. And face guard. And bubble wrap if we could arrange it!

Spring is here

Spring arrived here at 4.45pm on Friday 20th March, apparently. I'm not sure how they know the exact time that Spring arrives, but that's what I heard on the radio.
The weather can't decide what it wants to do, although it is still relatively warm, but snow has also fallen this week. Here at the trailer this weekend, Saturday started warm and sunny, so we set out to go for some short walks in places we've not visited before, but soon enough the cloud rolled in, and we've had light rain and snow this afternoon. This hasn't stopped us from putting a chicken in a pot on the campfire, we've just watched the fire from inside the trailer and popped out from time to time to stoke it.
The mild weather these past few weeks and months has meant that bears are starting to wake up. I asked the local ranger this morning about that, seeing as we were heading out for walks in the area, and he said that yesterday evidence had been reported locally of a bear having left its den. We took the bear spray with us, but also the dogs, and between those two and Dan - who isn't known for being quiet - we were sure we wouldn't accidentally disturb a hungry bear.

The walks we went on were next to the Kananaskis lakes, which were still frozen enough in places for people to ice fish:

Last night Lara and Dan gave us an impromptu rendition of numerous songs from Frozen. Lara knows the words, Dan just did his best. It was sweet to watch though.

Tonight we're watching "RV", the must-see movie if you're used to staying in a trailer. Some of Robin Williams' finest work, too..

A damp day for once

Saturday was very unusual - it rained most of the day. Not a heavy rain, just persistent light rain, but it's so unusual as to be noteworthy. It also reminded me that I don't miss rain. The girls snowboarded for a while on the bunny hill, and Dan had a few runs down on his skis. We decided to return back to the trailer for lunch, and watched Night at the Museum 1 and 2 while cooking roast chicken in the oven. That's living!
Dan had only gone to sleep at midnight, was up at 8am, and didn't have a nap all day. No wonder he fell asleep at the table at 6.30pm!
Lara has a ski racing day on Sunday, a little snow is predicted, and the resort needs it.