Today I kept J home from school and we took half of our family and half of my Sister’s family to the Canal for a skate and some Beavertails.

Do I feel bad for skipping school?  You bet.  Did I lie to the school about it?  Not at all, I told his teacher two weeks ago that he might miss some school this week.  And I told the office this morning that we were taking time to visit with family.  I think J learned more today than he would have at school.

I should also admit that a few tears were shed and a voice or two were raised, but in the end the smiles and dancing (yes, both my niece and nephew were break dancing on the Canal for us) made the trip well worth it.  J isn’t quite an accomplished skater yet and we didn’t have Apple and her stroller to hang on to so it was a little extra work.  But the reward at the end was well worth it.

And Wow!  I made it to the Canal twice this year already and we aren’t even finished with Winter yet.

I feel like blogging about our family and fun is so wrong at a time like this.  There are so many people in Haiti that would be happy with some clothes and food and here I am trying to think about what to write.  Trying to keep on going like nothing is going on in the world.  That is what I usually do, I keep on going.  I can do my small part by donating money and supporting charities.  But, it doesn’t help the helplessness that I feel.

Far away from our land of ice and snow there are children without parents.  Babies without their Moms and Moms without their babies. If I could bring them into my home, make them some soup and clothe them put them to bed and tell them all will be OK tomorrow, I would.  But, I can’t and it won’t all be OK tomorrow.  It will be a long time before these peoples lives are even remotely normal again.

So here we go on with our daily adventures and I hope in these adventures, I can use some of these fun times to remind J and Apple that we are truly Blessed. We have a warm house, food, clothing and quite frankly, more toys than most children should ever have.  And even more important is that we are safe here in our warm homes.

So as you look at these photos of us at the Canal on Saturday taking the kids for a skate and a Beavertail, know that we truly feel Blessed in all that we have and know that we are trying in our little way to play a part in helping those in Haiti get through this tragedy.

We have been doing a lot of nothing around here this holiday season.  This is the first year that Hubby really didn’t have to work between Christmas and New Years.  He did go in for a couple of hours one day, but that was it.  I on the other hand have been filling in for my Dad and Sister with our elderly friends, so every day around noon I head over and make sure all is well at their house. They have been doing quite well and have enjoyed the company.  Today, I even brought the whole family which always lights them up when they see the kids playing in their backyard and running around their kitchen.

One thing that we have been doing is some tobogganing.  Unless it was too cold we would bundle up the kids and head over to the park across the street and zip down some hills.

This one early evening I brought my camera along.  It was late afternoon so I was able to catch some of that wonderful blue light that sets in when the sun goes down.  It was lightly snowing and not too cold.  I was no good on the hills with my bum ankle anyway, so why not grab some fun shots.

Even the big boys had a little fun rolling down the hill.

I can’t believe I am going to say this but, I am really not looking forward to school starting on Monday.  It means back to work and back to the grind.  I have really enjoyed having the family around this past couple of weeks.  Which is a huge accomplishment because normally if the whole family is home, I go a little wonky and wonder why we aren’t away somewhere on vacation instead of home. But, not this time, it has been a wonderful break in the school year and I am already looking forward to March Break when we can do it all again… without the toboggans… hopefully.

And the first snow fall.

We made it until November 30th for the real first snowfall and accumulation of the year. But, true to form J was raring to go. Apple doesn’t really appreciate snow yet, but after her ride around the backyard after school yesterday she may be a little more excited when we get another drop.

I was able to sneak a few photos through the window as J pulled Apple back and forth across the lawn.

That was one of those rare Brother/Sister moments that I was so happy to catch. I just feel badly that Apple won’t be able to return the favour for a few years as he is just that much bigger than she is.

Today was Day 1 of the 25 Days of Christmas that Andrea started up. We prepared a little something for the kids that was supposed to be all in one box, but after I spent an hour setting up the Playmobil Advent Calendar for Apple, I was in no mood to stuff it in a box. So we set up the Advent’s on the table with some Old Fashioned (Frosty, Rudolf..) movies wrapped up, Home Alone 2, and some Christmas Music. We were going to throw in pj’s but I was having trouble finding what I wanted so will add those in this week sometime.

Both kids were on fire when they woke up this morning, jumping all over me in bed while Hubby did his shower thing. Finally, we were able to come down to the kitchen and they went straight for the table and started opening up the stuff. It was quite exciting. J was even explaining to Apple how she could only open one door each day to find a surprise inside.

And then, I was off for my shower and true start to the day. 6am is early.

To Winterlude.

To Beavertails.

But, not to the slides at Jacques Cartier Park.

J was feeling a little better today, so we decided to bundle him and Apple up in their snowsuits, with heavy blankets and put them in the stroller.  J is almost too big for it, but we wouldn’t have been able to go without it for sure.

We started out at Dow’s Lake at 9:30am (it may have been 9:45, but it was early enough for me to question having a Beavertail straight away).  There was almost nobody out on the ice, the parking lot was almost empty so we took advantage of nobody in line for Beavertails and got them.  J tried a few bites and enjoyed it, which we were happy about since he doesn’t try new things often.  And Apple was asleep since she got up at 4:30am so she didn’t get any.

We finished up our Beavertails and had they not been $4 a pop Hubby was assuring me he would have had five.  We headed down the skateway.  About two kilometres in, J was all cuddled up in his blanket and we wondered if we should turn back.  He insisted that he was warm and wanted to push on.  So we kept going.  All the way downtown.  That is about 5.5 km (3.4 miles).  A lady took our picture by the 0.0km marker at the end and we turned around and headed back.

Apple was awake by this time and the sun was in her eyes, so she was starting to cry.  We pushed on trying to go fast on our tired legs to get her out of the sun.  About halfway back as we were getting out of the sun, Apple was fine.  Only now J was crying because somehow his fingers were really cold.  We still can’t figure it out, it was warm out, he had his mitts on that he has worn all winter yet his fingers got cold.  We tried to get him to curl them up in a ball and tuck them under the blanket more, but he just wouldn’t do it, so he cried for 2.5km.

As we were nearing the end where we were parked, I saw an opening in the crowds and headed towards the side.  Somehow, my skates caught something.  A crack, a piece of straw, something that made them stop short.  My feet with up behind me, and I flew flat out through the air and landed flat on my front, knocking the wind out of me and bruising my elbows and one knee.  I am fine now, but for a few minutes I was really dizzy and trying to look like I was fine to the few hundred people who just witnessed me flying through the air.  Hubby is still trying hard not to laugh about it, he keeps saying, “You looked like Superman”.  Thanks.

Once back in the car, J’s fingers warmed up with the help of my warm hands, Apple was happy with no sun in her eyes and Hubby and I were happy to spend a Family Day together, outside.  That and we took turns having a nap once we got home.

*Full sized photos on my Flickr page.

I completely forgot that we went tobogganing last Sunday. And I say ‘we’ loosely as Hubby and J actually went down the hill, while I had Apple on my back in the backpack carrier.  It was a little colder than we expected, but a nice time was had by all.

This is a self-portrait, which includes Apple in the backpack.  She was quite happy to be bouncing along, but if I stopped bouncing, she made sure to remind me by jumping up and down.  Not so easy on the back.

Here they go down the hill.  Sadly, I have yet to get a turn down the hill.  Whenever we have gone, I have either been pregnant, newly unpregnant or carrying a baby on my back.  Go figure, since I used to spend every possible winter day tobogganing with my best friend on a hill behind his house when I was a kid.  Hmmmm…. now that I am remembering how much fun I used to have in the Winter, I am wondering when I switched to such a summer girl.  It must have been after that first big trip to the beach, the first one I remember going in the ocean.

 My Little Snow Bunny.  Her cheeks were so red, but she did not want to take her snowsuit off.  This is what she wears every morning to go to school and drop off and pick up J. She loves it.

And that is my forgotten day, I just can’t believe I forgot all about it until I downloaded the photos from the camera.

When I dropped J off at school this morning, we took the truck.  I know we only live around the corner but, there was no way I was even going to try to walk to school with a frostbite warning.  Poor J would have been crying and Apple would have had frostbite by the time I got her home.   -22C works out to -7.6F for my Southern friends.  Add to that the windchill and it was -35C, which works out to -31F.  Ack!!

We even dressed in our snowpants because it was just that cold.  When it gets this cold the kids go straight in and don’t have any recess, so it was from one warm place to the next.  Thank goodness.

I took Apple to get a few groceries before picking J up and while we waited at school I looked over and it was colder, if that is possible. Can you see my smile?  The sun was shining but, the wind was blowing.  This weather is supposed to be around for another five days, so I guess I am thankful I gassed up the truck yesterday when it was warm.  And I am also thankful that we have room in the garage to park.

Bundle up everyone!

 We played hookey today and went skiing.

J has been having a bit of a rough time lately, feeling a little like he isn’t getting enough attention.  Add to that the fact that his teacher retired at Christmas and J didn’t get to say good-bye because he was sick and he now has a new teacher who doesn’t know him.  I wanted to do something just for him.

His best buddy at school’s Mom and I had been talking about taking the kids out of school one day so J could try out skiing when a Saturday full of people weren’t around to intimidate him.  Knowing that a huge Winter storm was heading out way and that today was going to be relatively warm and enjoyable we kept them home from school, packed up some lunches and away we went.

 J did awesome.  We tried to go up the baby hill using a tow rope, but J couldn’t grab hold of is so we headed straight for the chair lift.  A little difficulty getting off (they had to stop the lift so I could get off after throwing J off) we started down the hill.  My neck is feeling the fact that J wasn’t standing up and counting on me to hold him, but by the time we got to the bottom we were getting the hang of it.  Sorry, I should say that since it was his first time, I had to go down the hill without poles in the snowplow position (which they now call the pizza) standing directly behind J and holding him under his arms and guide him down the hill.  It was tough.  After that run, his helmet was bothering him, so he and his Buddy took a break and played on a little hill, without skiis, while I and his Mom took turns going down the hill a couple of times.

We went back up for another run and he did marvelous.  The lift guy saw my wave and slowed down the lift so we could get off easier.  And J was doing so well standing that I was able to let go of him for a minute so he could feel what it was like to glide on his own.  Then at the bottom, I straightened our skis and crouched down so we could bomb the end.  He loved it!  He even asked Hubby if we could go again tomorrow with him.  Which of course would be nice, but we can’t skip another day of school and it is going to be -30C  (-22F) tonight so there will be no skiing for a few days.  That and Hubby has to work.  At least we know he loved it though.  And since I haven’t been on my skis in nine years, I loved it too!

Despite trying to get ready for Halloween yesterday, there was the looming snow storm on the horizon. J and I got out the decorations, but didn’t put them outside for fear they would be buried or blown away in the strong winds.

As the day wore on, I started to hope that perhaps the storm would pass us by. But by 6pm the snow started to fall. J really wanted to go out and play in it, so he bundled up in his new snowsuit and boots and headed out. He got in a good half hour before it got just a little too dark for his liking. By 4:30 am he was up and ready to go.

The walk to school was long but good and the happiness that lingered all day long when he played outside for an hour after school and another hour and a half after swimming was well worth an early winter storm. That and knowing that the hot day they had in Regina today is going to hit us on Friday. Which means all this snow will be gone and we can start all over again in December, late December please.