A quiet weekend in Sylvan Lake

Exhausted! We decided to stay home for a weekend so what to do in a town of 11,000. About 25kms north of Sylvan Lake is the small town of Lacombe. We decided that for weekend of  'quiet time' we would take in the nearby surroundings and get to know our smaller communities too.

Lacombe is gorgeous. Such a beautiful main street with red brick buildings - something very rare in the towns we have seen in Alberta as most are a hardy plank material.

If it's made of cement they have painted a mural to blend in. Love this!

Another mural. How real does it look?

One of the thousands of Red Barns dotted across Alberta.

We also took in a few hockey games at the Arena in Sylvan Lake of friends (aged 4 to 12) who were amazing!! Wow those kids sure can skate!

Greg tried his hand at ice fishing at Gull Lake (north of Sylvan Lake near Bently) with another teacher from Mother Theresa- Matt and between them the catch of the day is below.

The fishing hole

The big catch

Matt inside the tent where they fish and the infamous catch.

Gull Lake

Snow shoeing Sylvan Lake and Edmonton

For the weekend we had booked a snow shoe tour in Edmonton by the river and up to Fort Edmonton. We were hoping to see some wildlife and enjoy a new experience together.

Before we went away a friend at Ecole Mother Theresa gave us a practice tour in snow shoes around Jarvis Bay just outside of Sylvan Lake. Thanks Corrine. Unfortunately it was getting quite late and dark so we didn't go as far as we had hoped.

Greg all kitted up

Corrine helping Joe with his snow shoes

Greg's snow shoes

Ali's snow shoes

The track at Jervis Bay

Greg and Corrine

Greg, Corrine and the boys.

Off we go

If we didn't have the shoes on Paddy would be waist deep in snow now.

But we still had a few stacks.

All good or is that "I see a moose behind you"?

RUN

Through the forest.

View of the town of Sylvan Lake

So we thought we were quite good and felt confident that our Edmonton adventure would be a breeze.

We arrived at the John Janzen Nature Centre for a moonlight river snowshoe tour and walked along the river to Fort Edmonton. Here we enjoyed a talk about the fur trade and then some around the fire stories while we sipped on some hot apple cider - Ali drank 4 cups because none of the boys like it. From here we boarded a horse drawn sleigh and made our way back through olden day buildings and to the end of our adventure.

A beaver

Paddy ready for the snow shoe tour.

Joey in his snow shoes

The boys and Ruddy.

A weazel hole and their tracks.

Inside Fort Edmonton at night.

A dark horse drawn sleigh ride.

Old town at Fort Edmonton park.

From here we went on to spend the weekend with Christine in Edmonton. While Christine and Ali went for some retail therapy, the boys spent a day at the Royal Alberta museum.

The boys and the mountain goats.

Every Canadians nightmare - BUGS. They hate them!!

School and Home Life

Edmonton Oilers (Ice Hockey team) cake

Paddy looking very happy to be 6.

With the Weaver clan.

All rugged up ready for school. And we are definately happy!

Paddy's birthday on the 9th was also time to celebrate because it meant that we started school. Both boys have settled in well and are learning so much about Canada. They come home from school most days and tell me about places that they would like to visit. They also know the Canadian national anthem in English and French.

Happy New Year

The arrival of the New Year means that this is it. We are now in Canada for a whole 12 months. While we are here we plan to make the most of it - cold temps and all. New Years Eve was very quiet for us. Kicking back and relaxing after a whirlwind tour of parts of the USA and then Christmas. With the New Year also brought along Christine who will feature in many of our blog posts as a fellow exchangee and Dubvegan (from Dubbo). Over the New Year holidays we took Christine and the boys tobogganing, attempted iceskating - with not much success when Joey chipped a tooth, we also took in some of the sights of Calgary including the Olympic Park and Calgary tower, we visited our friends in Calgary Gav and Julie (who were on exchange in Mudgee in 2011) and started to get ready for school.

New Years Eve at Boston Pizza

Ali and Christine - hard core snow bunnies

Greg looking a tad cold

Attempting to ice skate

"Cool" dudes

Playing hockey on the pond.

Olympic Park ski field in Calgary (personally I think that slope is huge!)

Playing it safe while skiing.





Just after this pic was taken I slipped on the ice and majorly stacked it.



Bob sled track at Calgary Olympic park.

Downtown at Calgary Tower

Looking down from Calgary tower

January 2012

Our arrival in Canada has meant the weather has improved for Albertans. Everyone is so excited to be having such mild weather. For us, the scenery of snow has provided so much to do.

Happy Australia Day

No homesickness today but we are ready to celebrate in true Aussie style. I spent 2 days in th kitchen preparing Aussie foods for our Canadian friends to enjoy. We sent them all home with a full belly, including grog, and a recipe book so they can enjoy Aussie food all year round. On the menu was vegemite melba toasts, mini meat pies, snags (which Greg burnt) and prawns on the barbie, green and gold salads (avocado and mango; pumpkin and spinach), lamingtons and mini pavs. YUM.

FIRE. The flames were dull by the time I had grabbed the camera.

Trevor, Greg and Corri

Kim, Corrine, Corri, Irene and Ali

Tim, Cyril and Trevor

Jaden, Kalin, Heather & Todd