Fateful weekend in Fernie

A long weekend. YAY. Having now got the ski bug we are once again keen to hit the slopes. Friends from school Matt and Ange invited us to spend the weekend with them in Fernie. Reports had been done, PT interviews had finished and Book Fair was over so off we headed. We decided to take the 'cowboy trail' to see some sights along the way.

Black Diamond at Black Diamond

Cowboys at Longview along the cowboy trail

The jerky store at Longview

The jerky selections.

We had elk and bison jerky for something completely different.

Some awesome sights along the way. We really did feel like cowboys and such beautiful countryside.

Reminded us of a summer drive between Wello and Dubbo

Hats along the fenceline.

Still a little snow

As we got closer to the mountains the snow was back. We stopped at Frank where in 1912 there was a massive landslide off turtle mountain and buried nearly the whole town. We all enjoyed the interpretive centre and it made us realise the impact of coal mining in such a fragile environment. Weirdly enough there are still a number of coal mines in the Rocky Mountains.

Where the town of Frank used to be.

We crossed through the mountains via Crowsnest Pass and past Sparwood where Joeys Grade 3 teacher grew up - she asked us to take a picture of the World's largest truck - so Tracey, here it is.

We arrived in Fernie and had a good nights sleep before hitting the ski slopes early Saturday morning.

The adventure is now on hold. At 12.09pm on the Saturday Ali gets brought down the mountain by the ski patrol with a suspected broken arm. She had mastered the bunny hill at Fernie and felt slightly confident about attempting a green run. Unfortunately she made it about 200m down the slope before she fell on her arm. A sled ride from the first aiders down the slope, an ambulance ride to the hospital, copius amounts of happy gas and a shot of morphine confirmed the worst - a fractured humerus.














In the ambulance she suggested that the family keep skiing as it cost so much money to be there.
















Ali was very brave and didn't cry one tear the whole time. Trying to keep it together so that the boys were not too scared. Ange and Matt took them home so that no more injuries could have occurred that day. They had lots of fun building forts and playing air hockey in the meantime.

Skiing adventures - Canyon (Red Deer) and Lake Louise

The snowfall in March has meant that we have been able to go skiing. Greg has had a few lessons with the ski club at school so is feeling quite the professional. Ali and the boys took an afternoon off and went to Canyon Ski Resort near Red Deer for some lessons. A great family adventure.

Joey

Paddy

Greg

Paddy

Joey - had enough

Lake Louise lodge

Our friends the Coopers who are awesome skiers offered to take us to Lake Louise for some skiing fun. A relatively easy bunny hill for Ali to practice her falls and gentle blue and green ones which the boys had mastered by the end of the day. We didn't want to go home. After all of us mastering our specific runs (Ali still the bunny hill), beautiful scenery, great company and 6 degrees what a perfect day!

Joey, Keegan & Paddy

Greg, Ali & Cyril

The boys

The clan at the summit

Lots of skiers enjoying the day

Coming down on the gondola - Ali wasn't skiing down that mountain but the boys all did.

Cyril helping Paddy after a fall (taken from the gondola)

                         

           

St.Patrick's Day

It is so nice to see a community band together to celebrate a feast day. Here in Sylvan the church community held a feast of Irish stew in the schools multipurpose centre. Friday evening we help lift tables and chairs and decorated, cooked Irish stew complete with Guiness and ate and chatted with others. A great night with a great sense of community.

Our first visitors from Oz

Some huge snowfalls this week saw us shoveling our way out the door to get to school - luckily for us MTS is only a short walk so we geared up and trekked through the snow. On heavy snow days many of the roads are closed so school buses can't run. Poor Paddy had to come to school with us - which he loved hanging out with Joey in his class and running amock with Dad.

The icicles formed on our back deck and as the snow melted we avoided being shish-kebabed by them.

Ali was very excited to have some visitors from home this week. A work colleague from DE Annabelle and her friend Kate. Joey and Ali drove to Calgary to collect them from the airport - very proud moment and back to Sylvan Lake. The girls were exhausted from a month long drinking fest around the USA and parts of Eastern Canada so we tried to take it easy on them sightseeing wise.

The boys had a pupil free day on the Friday so decided to take the girls sledding and snowman building.

A tour around Sylvan Lake and a trip to Walmart kept us all entertained too. We also took the girls to a Hockey game at the Centrium in Red Deer to watch the Red Deer Rebels play the Edmonton Oil Kings. A close game but the locals got done.