Cold x Two!

My house has been infected be a nasty cold... it is working its way through all of us and we are just hoping to clear it mostly away before we leave on Monday.

Also the cold weather has returned with a vengeance. Maria has been anxiously wanting to see a blizzard... now she has! We had a horrid north wind along with snow and temperatures around -22 not counting the wind chill... all I can say is bbbrrrr!

We are really looking forward to leaving on Monday for our trip to Mexico... we just have to get through the sickness and a very busy weekend first!

Chinook!

A seriously warm chinook has been blowing our way, we have had almost a week of temperatures near +10. It has been heavenly... for me at least! Not only has it been unusually warm, but it has also been beautiful and sunny. We have been out and about; going to the parks, walking ON Charlie Lake and just enjoying being outside.

Today it has clouded over and cooled off again so I think we are heading back to normal winter weather (hopefully not quite as cold as before) but having that brief chance to defrost our bones before we head to the tropics was certainly welcome!

High On Ice

This weekend is the High on Ice Festival here in Fort St John. This is an annual event which has done quite well in attracting lots of spectators and competitors. The big thing is the ice carving, similar to the sand sculptures in Parksville but (obviously) done in ice! This year they were able to harvest the ice from local lakes (because it was sooooo cold) so there was an added element to the event.

The theme this year was "The Ice Age" so there were carvings of dinosaurs and fossils

There were also quite a few carvings of the characters from the movie "Ice Age" The kids particularly like any that had the squirrel in them!

Apart from the carving competitions there were also an ice fishing derby. They also have lots of kids activities like toboggan races, horse drawn sleigh rides, crafts and this amazingly awesome ice slide that they made for the event.
The ice slide was probably the highlight for my kids, I am hoping we get a chance to go back this evening as the slide had Christmas lights frozen inside it which would look very cool and all the sculptures (which should be completed this afternoon as they are still working on them when we were there)

This sculpture of the characters from the movie is still under construction...

had special lighting. They also built an ice chimney which they will light a fire in to end the event.

This is the chimney that they will be lighting up tonight

Quite a fun way to spend the weekend anyway, something unique to the North!

Even the concession stand was made of ice!

Home

For all of my complaining (so sorry, I looked back and realized I was complaining a lot recently!) I have also realized something the other day which shocked the heck out of me.

This is home.

I didn't expect Fort St John to feel like home so quickly, I almost wondered if it ever would. I don't know if it was having Christmas here, or the friends that I am making, the way my kids are blossoming and doing so well, or if it is being able to see the Island through my eyes that are no longer rose-tinted (it is still beautiful, but it isn't perfect!) Maybe it is all of those things.

The winter is damn cold and well, damn cold. But it is beautiful too. The trees twinkling with the frost and ice, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets that colour the entire huge sky, the wildlife (we have seen loads of deer, elk, some moose, an ermine and a fox! Not to mention Buffalo, horses, donkeys and cows!) The people are really good too... they are different from Island folk, but they are good.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to live through a "real" Canadian winter, I have never experienced one before and they truly are a wonder. I still haven't seen the Northern Lights up here... but I will. From home.

Where for Art Thou... Mexico???

I am soooo ready to go to Mexico. I think I have a mild case of Seasonally Affected Disorder, or whatever SAD is. We had a few bright blue days and I felt so recharged and ready to go outside, but it has been snowing again for the last few days (week?) and I am tired of it... Although it is starting to warm up, a bit. The damn weatherman keeps promising temperatures right around zero (which would be great!) but we are still around -17 to -20... sigh.

On a positive note, we got some work done in the house, since we were stuck inside. I think we have officially unpacked more boxes in this house than we did in the entire time we were in Saltair!

Mike did a great job on cutting the mats to fit

Mike and I attacked a room that had been a stash place for "stuff". The room is now empty, completely. In fact it echoes like crazy and the kids love to play tag in there, which is great since they can't really run around outside. This room was used as a billiards room by the previous owners of our house - for us it is known as the "Wrestling Room". Although exercise room might be more apt. We are getting a treadmill so we can get our blood moving from its current frozen state. I had plans of getting into cross-country skiing, but apparently I am too wimpy to brave the cold. Also a place for the kids to run wild and bounce on the bouncy castle thing... We have a big house, so we are taking advantage with a completely frivolous space. I just need to do something about that echo... any suggestions?

I Need to Thaw

That isn't snow on the trees... it is frost/ice

Happy New Year! We have had a very nice winter holiday and thoroughly enjoyed some time off, but man... this cold snap has got to break. It has been between -25 to -40 for weeks now it seems. I know that the weather has been nasty everywhere, but I am just about frozen right through.

The view out Maria's bedroom window!

Even the people who were born here are complaining about it, so it isn't just me! In all seriousness though... it is too cold to go outside so we are probably suffering from a bad case of "cabin fever". I think the cure is two weeks in Mexico...

Check out Hubby' eyelash extensions! Again that isn't snow on him, it is ice from shoveling the driveway!