A traditional Newfie breakfast

We decided to go out for breakfast this morning at a local restaurant called Jordan's who are well known for their toutons.  Toutons are traditional Newfoundland fare eaten for breakfast.  Several people had told us to try toutons so we went to Jordan's not really knowing what toutons actually were.  There were three varieties on the menu - three toutons with molasses or syrup, three toutons with baked beans and molasses or syrup, or three toutons with bacon or sausage or bologna and molasses or syrup.  The waitress told us it was fried bread dough, either pan fried or deep fried.  Some people say that pan fried are a healthier option but the waitress said there wasn't much difference as the pan fried is filled deep with fat also!  I chose deep fried with bacon and molasses and Steve chose pan fried with baked beans and molasses, TJ wasn't game and chose pancakes instead.

The best way to describe them is to say that they are like crunchy donuts.  They were very tasty, even just plain or with a bit of whipped butter.  The molasses was a bit too strong for me but Steve really liked it.  We swapped our deep fried and pan fried with each other and there really wasn't much difference in the taste, I think I would choose pan fried next time as I tend to think it would be a little healthier!

Ready to go out for breakfast

Skating and skiing lessons

We had a busy week with skating and skiing lessons starting.  Taylor had her first figure skating lesson on Wednesday night, she had to start with the Canskate kids class who are all five and six years old!  The coach spent some time with her to evaluate her skating skills and gave her the level 1 badge, she spent the rest of the lesson with an older girl who taught Taylor how to stop on the ice.  To stop on ice skates you need to press hard on the ice with one foot, Taylor said it was much harder than it sounds as her foot kept slipping and shuddering instead of stopping smoothly plus her other foot went in the opposite direction.  Poor Taylor felt miserable when she finished her first lesson, she wore short socks and the skates had rubbed on her bare ankles plus she felt disheartened being surrounded by young kids who could skate better than her.  Unfortunately TJ's Thursday lesson was cancelled because the Zamboni machine had broken down, the Zamboni is the machine that resurfaces the ice.

Cooper also started figure skating lessons on Friday, he is in the Kidskate class which is three and four year olds, it was so cute.  Cooper was all over the place, he needed one of the class helpers to stay with him the whole time.  The kids did activities like sitting on the ice and then getting back to a standing position, placing markers on the ice and then skating back to the start line as fast as they could and skating around a circle on the ice.  The lesson was half an hour and when Cooper came off the ice he said "I keep falling over Mum".

Saturday was the start of the Jackrabbit cross country skiing program.  Cooper was in the Bunny rabbit class with the other four and five year olds.  I went along with the class too, Cooper did pretty well and didn't fall over too many times, he struggled on the way back as there were a few more uphill sections on the trail and he was getting tired.  Luckily one of the coaches gave him a tow back to the lodge.

Across the border

Today we drove to Fermont (translates to Iron Mountain), another mining town about thirty minutes drive away. Fermont is in the province of Quebec so it is french speaking and all signs etc are in french.  It is also one hour behind Lab City.  The real reason we went to Fermont was to buy alcohol!  Last week Steve went to buy some beer in Wabush and the guy in the shop said 'why are you buying this here?  You should go to Fermont!' 

Bienvenue

Fermont is contained in one big building, we didn't see much of it but it contains a supermarket, specialty stores, a bowling alley, a cinema, restaurants and a hotel.  We bought some essentials at the liquor store, including some Australian red wine, Steve was pleased that after selling our bottles of red for $10, we were paying $17.99 CAD (plus taxes) to replace them!  The liquor store doesn't sell beer so we went to the supermarket to buy a carton (36) of Coors.  A carton of Corona (24) was $33.99 CAD (plus taxes) which was much cheaper than we were paying in Karratha (and we thought Karratha was cheaper than Queensland).  Steve reasoned that we should make the most of our cool room in the basement so needless to say we stocked up on Corona.

Fermont, Quebec Province

Do all mining towns have a dump truck on display on the way into town?

Crossing the border back into Newfoundland province

Getting colder

It is officially cold now, today is -9 degC and I can feel the difference from the temperatures around zero we've had for the past few weeks.  I used to see parents putting their kids coats, hats, mitts and boots on, just to walk from the car to the shops or from Wee College to the car and I thought "why bother with all that gear?  It's just a quick dash to the car".

Well today I found out why.  They all knew what was coming and are obviously in the habit, Cooper thinks it's enough to have on two layers (a singlet and a t-shirt), he keeps saying "I don't need another jumper".  Well at below zero temperatures you do need all the gear, I dressed the boys up in the coats, hats and mitts to go to the shop but on the way back to the car I already had my hands full so I skipped putting on Ryder's mitts.  We started our short walk from the mall to the car and Cooper slipped over on the ice, he didn't have his mitts on so I told him to put his hand in his pockets, so when he fell over he kept his hands in his pockets and fell flat on his face on the slippery ice in the carpark.  Luckily he thought it was funny and didn't hurt himself, but by the time we were at the car Ryder was howling because his hands were so cold.  I knew how he felt because mine were freezing too.  I had already turned the car on remotely so the heater was going flat out, I strapped them both in their carseats as the wind blew the snow into the car, let's get outta here!!!

The Mall (before the snow)

School was cancelled

It was forecast to snow 20 cm last night and just as I was going to bed I could see heavier snow falling than I have seen before, already everything was white and clean looking again.  I woke up early to see a dozer working on our street to clear the snow at about 5am.  Taylor was waiting and waiting for the bus and it didn't come so she went next door to ask our neighbours and they told her it was cancelled today.  Lucky, cos she would have froze in her only pink dress (students were asked to wear pink for 'say no to bullying day').  We dressed and went out in the snow, it was actually hard work to get around as it was so soft and deep.  Taylor made her first snow angel and then had to go inside as her jeans were wet through! 

Can you believe that Taylor was going to school dressed like this today??

I shovelled the driveway, then 30 minutes later a dozer came and did it for me!



Ryder had trouble staying upright



The street is white again

A Lazy Sunday

We spent today at home relaxing, it snowed a tiny bit yesterday but other than that we haven't had any snow since we made the snowman.  Cooper went to a pool party on Saturday, apparently they are very popular here!  The pool is a bit cold for us and Cooper needs to keep moving to stay warm.  I haven't seen many kids swimming here and the pool has two big baskets of arm floaties for the kids to wear, this surprised me since they are discouraged in Australia.  Cooper loves the local pool because it has diving boards and a big slide for the kids, he is such a daredevil and it is fortunate that the big diving board is closed.

Of course we visited Walmart today, this time we needed to buy some more Christmas decorations.  These are the busiest aisles in the shop at the moment, a whole aisle of Christmas lights and lots and lots of inflatables, which I never really saw in Australia.  We have already bought our inflatable Santa (he pops out of a Christmas tree) for the front yard so today we stocked up on lights for the front of the house!  Christmas decorations have already started going up on houses so we have decided to get into it too.  We have ordered a real Christmas tree which is a first ever for us, I will make sure I post some photos.

A Curling Bonspiel

We have entered a Curling Bonspiel this weekend, I had to ask what a bonspiel is; basically it's a curling tournament.  We played our first game last night at 8 o'clock so we headed up to the curling arena a little early so we could check it out, see how to play and pick up a few rules.  The bonspiel organiser was a man of few words, when I asked him how to play he told me to 'take a seat near the glass and watch'.  I have never even seen curling on the Winter Olympics although I had heard about the sweeping, so watching through the glass did not help too much.

We wore warm clothes and our runners to walk on the ice.  We chose not to wear the sliders on our shoes as this would make the ice too slippery, the slider is worn on one foot so you can slide quickly along the ice and also to slide out to throw your rock.  The best way I can explain the game is to compare it to lawn bowls.  We had two teams of four and each of us got to throw two rocks down the ice, aiming for the large target at the other end.  A skipper from your team stands on the target and tells you where to aim and you curl your rock to land where they point to (sometimes!).  The rock slides along the ice and the two other team members slide along with it, sweeping with the broom (when the skipper or the person who threw the rock calls 'sweep'), the sweeping melts the ice a little and keeps the rock moving further along towards the target.  The strategy is similar to lawn bowls, you can knock other rocks out to get your teams rocks closest to the target and also to guard the target to stop your opposition from getting close to the target.

All up we played three games and won two, we had a steak supper (t-bone, baked potato, coleslaw, bread roll- very popular here!) and took home a blender and LED Christmas lights for prizes!

'

The Curling ice rink

Throwing my rock

Our first snowman

It snowed all day Friday and Friday night so Taylor went out in the snow first thing Saturday morning.  A little while later Steve was calling me to come and check out her massive snow ball.  She had started from a small ball of snow and kept rolling until she could hardly push it, it was so heavy.  Steve went out to help her push it into our front yard and they set about making a snow man.  Cooper came to the door to ask for a carrot and we used berries from the tree in our front yard for the eyes.  The final version ended up with arms from our firewood pile and the set of antlers that Steve had found in our backyard last week.  It's as solid as a rock, Cooper can swing on the arms and they won't budge.  We haven't had any snow in the last day or so but it's there to stay now.

A visit to the playground

It looked like a lovely day today so I promised Cooper we could go to the park. It hasn't snowed since the weekend and the last time I went past the park it looked like there was only a light covering of snow (although I haven't seen anyone at the park since I arriving). I made sure I dressed the boys in warm clothes, for Ryder this was a singlet, a fleece bodysuit, fleece tracksuit pants, a fleece jumper, a parka, pants, socks and snow boots!  Cooper wore trackies, a t-shirt, a hoodie, socks, a parka, snow pants and snow boots.  What a mission to get out of the house and then to get the seat belts done up. 

I got a coffee from maccas and we parked on the ice outside the playground.  I got out of the car and put the boys fleece hats on under their parka hats, then the mittens.  I am not well practiced at putting gloves on the kids and it is a bit tricky, by the time I had them on, my hands were like ice, I got so annoyed when Ryder's mitten fell off.  In my preparations for Cooper and Ryder I had sacrificed my own prep so I only had fleece gloves, my parka, jeans and some suede boots on.  I was warm enough on top but the snow was deep enough to make sure that my feet were freezing. 

The clothes, cold and snow did not deter the boys who were so happy to be at the park, they wanted to play on everything and I just wanted to go home.  In addition, the coffee was awful, no cappucinos here, most (all) coffee is drip filter.  I was thinking about those lovely long visits to the new playgrounds in Karratha this past winter, getting a cappucino at maccas on the way, relaxing on the grass and getting annoyed about all the sand in Cooper's pockets when we got home, what did I have to complain about?

We lasted for about 40 minutes which is a pretty good effort, Ryder didn't have snow pants on (big mistake) so his pants were all wet and snow had gone into the tops of his boots.  I warmed up the car and bundled the boys in so they could warm up.  I know I will get better at this and today's temperature will be considered warm in a months time!  Enjoy your cappucino.