A Typical Labrador Day?

Woken up by a loader clearing snow from the driveway at 4:34am.  We parked the cars in next door’s driveway last night so the snow from yesterday’s snow storm could be cleared properly as the snow was half way up the garage door from the wild wind blowing the snow everywhere.  Got ready and out the front door by 6:30 to find that snow had covered our bridge (pathway) and most of our steps.  Shovelled for 15 minutes to make sure Steve and the boys can get out to the car easily this morning.

Called past Tim’s for a double double and a cream cheese bagel.  Windows frozen so had to open the door to order at the drive through.  At my desk for a 6am start before the New Year weekend.  The snow storm has passed now so I am sure today will be cold but the sun will be shining on my typical Labrador day!

Snow Storm

Short break at the cabin

On Boxing Day we headed out to the cabin.  We let Steve get out of the car first to go inside and get the oil stove going.  When we did finally get out of the car, the snow was knee deep and the cabin was still -15 degC inside!  The boys were crying because of the cold so we sat in front of the oil stove with my Canada Goose jacket on top of us.  We talked Steve into lighting the wood stove for us as well to get the cabin warmer quicker and then he went back outside to shovel more snow.

We watched the temperature guage slowly creep up towards zero degrees, funny how goals and expectations change, all I wanted was for the cabin to get to a positive temperature.  It took at least two hours to warm up and we even put our propane stove on to warm up the other end of the cabin!

Our cabin in the snow

On Tuesday Steve and I tested out our snow shoes, they are awesome.  You can walk in deep snow, sinking far enough to give you a good workout.  A nice solid track is laid as you walk so Cooper and Ryder had fun following me on our adventure into the woods.

In my new snow shoes

Getting a ride

 By Tuesday afternoon heavy snowfall was setting in and we were worried we wouldn't be able to get out.  At about 3 o'clock we headed back to Lab City as a snow storm hit, we took the drive very slowly as visibilty was extremely poor all the way home.  A relaxing time again at the cabin.

Another white Christmas

We had a very relaxing Christmas this year, avoiding the rush of Xmas day by celebrating with friends on Christmas eve.  Despite seeing the massive turkeys for sale at the IGA we decided to go with roast pork and finished with a delicious pudding made by Simone. 

Santa was good to all of us, Steve and I received some awesome Canadian made snowshoes, Taylor got some seal fur winter boots and the boys were very impressed with their snow moto's.  We got some great Aussie gifts from Nat & Jus, tea towels, pencils, an Aussie icon calendar, very Australian books for the kids as well as koala and kangaroo tattoos!!

Cooper and Ryder on Christmas morning

We spent the day playing with gifts including some time outside testing out the snow moto's.  Our evening meal better known here as supper, was spent with our neighbours, the Whittington's.  A great Christmas Day!

Taylor with her gifts

Too cold for snow

Ryder going out to help Dad with the BBQ

Hard to believe but it has been too cold for snow!  We had a bit of snow then it got really cold fast, this meant clear skies and no snow!  Our temperatures have been around the -14 to -18 degree mark. Now we are waiting for some warmer weather, closer to zero, so we can have more snow.

Cooper's first figure skating badge

This Wednesday at ice skating Cooper came off the ice and showed me his very first badge for figure skating.  He was so pleased with himself, he said "Can you believe it? I can't wait to see Dad's face".

Last winter Cooper completed the pre-Canskate program but this winter he is in the Canskate program.  Badge 1 is the first of seven badges and focuses on Balance.  Coops is getting so fast on the ice, speeding around as quick as her can!  He can skate backwards also but not as quickly.  He was tested on quite a few other skills to pass his first badge too.

Toronto, Niagara and Montreal

Last weekend was a busy one.  Fortunately I had a meeting in Montreal on Monday so I decided to make the most of it.  I flew to Montreal on Friday night and then to Toronto on Saturday morning.  I was so excited to be going to a Prince concert at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night!  I had purchased a VIP ticket, a table seat right next to the stage.  The concert was amazing, it went for almost three hours and Prince played all of his hits, Purple Rain, Kiss, Let's go crazy, 1999, Controversy, Cream, Nothing compares 2 U, I would die 4 U, Sign O the times, Raspberry Beret, Alphabet St and the list goes on. 

On Sunday I took a day trip to Niagara Falls.  It is the low season right now and it was overcast and drizzly, although there weren't many people there so I had great views of the falls.  I didn't realise that the Canadian and US sides of the falls are two separate falls (same water source) and it is true that the Canadian side is more spectacular!  The falls were really noisy and at this time of year more of the water gets diverted to power stations downstream so it would be even louder in summer.

I went up the Skylon tower nearby for a different view and had a bit of a look around the place.  To be honest, apart from the falls the town is a bit dreary.  A casino, lots of tacky tourist activities and the US border.  The facilities were pretty old looking with paint peeling off and hardly any good signage to read. The drive along the river was lovely, especially with brown and gold leaves still on the trees.  We also visited a town called Niagara on the Lake which had some great little shops and a bakery with pies! The day trip was good and I was glad to have visited but I don't think I would make the trip back.



At the top of Niagara Falls

USA side of Niagara Falls

Horseshoe Falls, the Canadian side of Niagara Falls

Trick or treat - Halloween 2012

We were more prepared for Halloween this year and much more excited.  Everyone left work at around 4pm so we could go home and get the kids ready for trick or treating.  I bathed and fed the boys, dressed them in their PJ's with thermals over the top and then their costumes.  Ryder dressed up as Batman and Cooper was Optimus Prime.  They were so excited and couldn't wait to get out the door, it was a pretty good night but they still had to wear their snow boots, mitts, hats and scarves.  We were out on the street by about 5.15pm and knocking on doors, TRICK OR TREAT??

We did a big lap of the block, criss crossing across the road, looking at all the Halloween decorations.  We were amazed.  Some houses had their indoor porches all decorated with characters, sounds and lights, lots of people were dressed up, we even saw a dog with a pumpkin costume on, Cooper thought this was hilarious!  Best of all, everyone had treats galore, handfuls of candy and suckers (lollies and lollipops), loot bags, cans of pop, gum, chips, crayons etc.  It didn't take long for the kids to fill their bags.  Ryder couldn't wait to eat his candy, on the walk he ate two bags of chips, three lollipops and a Kit Kat.  By 6.30pm it was starting to get dark and colder, the kids were worn out so we headed back up the street to go home.

Trick or Treat?

Back at home Steve had started to give out the loot bags Cooper, Taylor and I made up a few weeks ago.  Everytime the doorbell rang the kids would race to the door to check out who was there and give them a loot bag.  The costumes were great; twin chickens, Hoops and Yo Yo, fairies, princesses, monkeys, gorillas, witches, Harry Potter, wrestlers, Flinstones, babies, super heroes and more.  We made 60 loot bags and ran out, Taylor ran downstairs and brought up a giant tub of candy leftover from her Halloween party on Saturday night.  By 9.15 we were out of candy, we had at least 80 kids stop by our door.  We turned off our porch lights and our second 'real' Halloween was over.



Impersonating pumpkins

Our inflatable halloween decorations



Our cat is 9 feet tall