Forty Minutes To Snow

While the forecast in Ontario seems to be one snow storm after another, we haven't had too much snow in Alberta.  Lots of people dread that kind of forecast but Ron and I go looking for the white stuff.  For us, 40 minutes isn't too far for a couple of hours of winter activity.

Mountains, snow, groomed trails and a few hours means a good day for us.  Since we have been back from Ontario we have cross country skied three days over the past couple of weeks.
Day 1...

There are so many trails to experience.  At first, we went mostly on green (the easy ones).

On this day, I was excited that we tried some blue ones and I didn't have to take my skies off and walk up or down any hills. (It's happened before!)

Although, we did come to a spot where I told Ron to go on and I went another way.  It was a gentle glide down to the main line for me and Ron had more aggressive ride.

After a great morning of skiing, it was time for a snack.  We brought home a new mug to remind us of a great day.

Day 2 of skiing was another beautiful day to be in the mountains.  We still didn't have too much snow around Pincher Creek but the closer we got to the recreation area the conditions looked better.

While we were there the groomers were out which meant fresh trails for us.  In other parts, we used the trails that had been there from the previous days.

It was another great day to be there.

After a good amount of exercise, we headed into Fernie, BC for lunch.  I had goulash while Ron had an elk sandwich.  What a perfect day...skiing in the mountains, lunch in BC and home in the afternoon.
On our way home, we stopped to pick up the mail and found a parcel.

What a nice surprise to find a package from a wonderful friend at work.  Marion sent me a box of chocolates.  Someone had donated chocolates for all of the staff at work and Marion wanted me to have my share.

Day 3....On Ron's change over day (which means he worked days the day before and then worked at 2:00 p.m. the next day), we went for a morning ski.

What a perfect way to spend a morning before Ron went to work.

We really live in a great area.

We got home for lunch.  I made waffles.

After lunch, I sat down to work and Ron went to work.

 

When Ron goes to work, I usually work myself but one day this week I went for a walk for an appointment.  I stopped to take a couple of spicture from a spot that is close to our home.

And this is why we like the area...on the days that we can't get to snow, we can see the beautiful snow covered mountains.  Sometimes, I am amazed that we live so close to the Crowsnest.

Back to Normal

For the past 7 weeks, life around our house has been a little different.  It started with Cheryl being here and then Ron bringing his mom to spend a month with us.  We enjoyed it so much.  Last Friday, we headed to Calgary to begin our trip to take Donna back home.  We spent the night at a hotel and then flew to Toronto the next afternoon.  We were so happy that Donna had been able to spend the month with us and that she did so well in travelling. 

We arrived in Napanee late Saturday night.  Sarah, our eldest granddaughter was spending the weekend at my parents.  She was quick to jump in bed with me in the morning.

Sunday morning, we travelled to Gananoque where we joined Jenn and three other of the grandchildren.  We enjoyed church there and were acknowledged from the platform as being associate pastors there....so long ago!

The rest of the kids went off to a kids church but Emma decided she wanted to stay with us.  There are so many great people in that church but none better than our dear friends, Howard and Hilda.  We went out for lunch with them and a few others.

The grandchildren love Howard and Hilda, just like our kids did.  After lunch, we loaded the kids in the van and off we went to a hotel for the night in Kingston.

After checking in, it wasn't long before we headed to the pool.

The kids had a great time swimming and going down the slide over and over again.  Finally, we headed back up to the room and they all jumped in the big tub to wash off the chlorine. 

Just before supper Jenn, Joe and Anthony arrived.

While Ron and Joe and the kids went to get groceries for our hotel stay, Jenn and I went to the hospital to visit a special aunt.  It felt like we were gowning up to do surgery.  It was great to see Aunt Joyce and know that she is doing so much better.

We then met the rest of the crew at Pizza Hut for a very active supper.

There was some hide and seek and dancing (even flossing...it's a dance) going on through the meal.  After supper, the three oldest stayed with us.  We headed back to the hotel.  Sarah and I claimed the pull out couch while Ron, Jacob and Emma settled into the King side bed.  Ron said that he had very little room for such a big bed.
The next day, we spent the morning having the pool to ourselves.  We then headed to the mall.  Ron and Emma got their hair cut and one of them got some pink in their hair.

After a little bit of shopping, it was time to re-energize.

We took the kids back to their house after a full day and then picked up Jenn and Anthony and headed back to Napanee.  The next morning, we were back in Kingston.  Anthony had to have an ultrasound and a doctor's appointment.  He only has one kidney and this was a follow-up appointment.  They found that he has a pocket in his bladder and it probably needs to removed.  They need to do another invasive test to be sure.  It wasn't what we had hoped to hear but at least his good kidney is functioning well.  We dropped Jenn and Anthony off at home after another full day and then had a visit with my cousin and her husband. 
The next morning, we headed towards Toronto.  On our way, we stopped to have a little visit with a retired pastor and his wife.  They had been a very supportive couple in our last church.
We had a fancy plane for our trip home.

We were chasing the sunset all the way home.

We stayed overnight in Calgary and then did some shopping the next day.  We had an appointment at Foothills Hospital with the Head Surgeon and the person that schedules surgeries.  They wanted to discuss the "mistake" in my thyroid surgery where the surgeon went right instead of left to remove the cancer that was found on the left side.  Their mistake found more cancer on the right side.  Their mistake was a blessing to me.  The total review will hopefully prevent wrong site surgeries but in my case it really was a good thing.  Our trip home was a little nasty.

It was so good to walk into our house and feel like life was back to normal.  Ron went to work today and I worked on college things and cleaned and did laundry.  We like adventure and visitors.  We enjoy travelling but it's always good when life is back to normal.

Celebrations

Christmas day came and went with little fanfare at our house.  We did have a nice dinner but no gifts.  Then came the 26th and 27th and Ron and I played so many games of pool and darts that finally Donna got enough interest in it to try a shot in pool.

That night I went to bed thinking one more night and then our son would be here and Christmas would begin.  At shortly after 6:00 a.m. I was awaken by Bentley jumping up on our bed.  Christmas came a day earlier than we expected.  Our son had worked and then driven straight to our house.  We had a couple of hours visit and then he crawled into bed.  We decided to take "the boys" for a walk while we waited for him to get up.

And then we waited some more.  Everyone was getting a little anxious to open up their gifts.

And one decided to have a sneak preview.

Finally, everyone was up and the gifts were opened.  As usual, we all felt quite spoiled and paper and boxes were everywhere.  Since, "our Christmas" was a day early than expected we had pizza instead of turkey.  The next day, which happened to be our son's 28th birthday, was also the turkey day.

Dinner was followed by games of pool and darts.  The next morning, we woke up to snow.  We packed up the dogs and our skis and headed to Waterton for a cross country ski adventure.  There was definitely enough snow and off we went on the road towards Red Rock Canyon. 

Our son skis fast with his two dogs pulling him.  We saw him heading back towards us with a story and a picture. 

There was a bear up the road from us.  We kept going.  Since Ron had worked there through the summer he was pretty sure who/what the bear was.

The cut out bear did really look like the real thing from a distance and it is never good to take chances with a bear.  It was good for a laugh.
I talked to a friend today who said that her son and grandson had come to visit and how much she loved it when her grandson crawled into bed with her.  We didn't have any grandkids to join us but we did have grandfur babies.

The next morning, we drove into Crowsnest and went skiing again.  The conditions were perfect.

It's pretty incredible that these trails are only 40 minutes away from our house.  (Bruce and Lynne, if you are reading....this is a fantastic place to ski!...book a room at the Chateau Clark and let's go!)

The boys had another good workout.  This time, no bears were to be found.

It was so great to have our son and his little fur family with us for these adventures.

This Christmas has been extra special.  First, we had Donna (Ron's mom) come all the way from Ontario to spend a month with us and then Stephen here and for Bentley to be our Christmas miracle.  Bentley is still looking healthy and acting very strong.  It was a lot of fun having everyone here.

Ron went back to work last night and our boy and his entourage left this morning.  I got busy taking down the decorations, doing laundry and getting the house clean.  Christmas is over for another year but it was a good one.  Now 2019 has started....what adventures will it hold?