Family Week Ski Trip

For the family week, Jared took the week off too and we decided to take the kids skiing.  We headed out early Tuesday morning for Castle Mountain. There was thick fog all the way to Pincher Creek, but once we got to the hill the sun was shinning and it was lightly snowing. A beautiful day for skiing.  We got the kids in their rentals and lift tickets bought and away they all went!  I watched them get on the lift then I headed into the lodge to read my book! What I found out later though was Armin was having a tough time and Calum didn't like to turn!  But they came in with smiles on their faces and were having a great time!  The weather was just below zero so nice and warm.  We wrapped up just before 4pm and headed to Fernie for the night!

It was great splitting the trip up like this, it hardly took any time to drive to Fernie and we were there before dark.  We stopped for supper at Boston Pizza then headed to our hotel.  The kids were beyond excited about the hotel, it had a water slide!  Jared and the kids swam until around 9:30pm then we all crashed.  Everyone slept pretty good and we weren't up until 8:00am.  We got ready, had breakfast and went for another swim until it was time to check out.  Then we headed to the ski hill where we did half a day of skiing!  Fernie was much busier than Castle, lots more people!  I can't say I like one more than the other, there are good things about both.  Fernie has nice long, very easy runs that were great for Emry to practice her turns on. But the kids hill at Castle is longer and a little more challenging for Armin and Calum.

Jared decided to get the kids right into it so the 4 of them headed up the deer chair and I headed into the lodge (I like the lodge at Castle better, way less people) I hadn't heard from or seen anyone for quite some time so I finally texted Jared and asked how it was going!  His reply was "It's NOT going good at all!" It took them an hour and a half to get down one run!! I'm thinking it was a little more difficult than he remembered for the boys!  Once they got down Jared left Armin at the little conveyor belt and came into the lodge to get Emry to do a few runs with her.  I took Calum to the conveyor belt too and I stayed out and watched them.  The weather was cool but bearable in my hoodie!  Armin just kept going up the conveyor and then ski down the hill, Calum got a little bored with that so he ventured over to the little t-bar.  I wasn't sure how he would do with that all by himself but I was surprised when I saw him going up with no trouble at all.  Until he reached the top! He fell just after letting go of the tow rope and couldn't get up!  NO ONE helped him, I bet I saw him laying at the top for half an hour!  Finally I texted Jared and told him where Calum was and he and Emry skied over to him and helped him up and sent him on his way down the hill.  He made it half way down and then wiped out pretty good.  Thankfully it was 4:00 and time to return the rentals!  The boys had a blast even if they did stick close to the kid runs.  I had fun watching them and helping where I could! 

On our way home we hit some pretty nasty weather so we took it slow and steady.  Just before Claresholm we came upon a car that had just gone in the ditch.  Jared drove a little further up the road to find an approach then walked back to where they were to see if they were okay.  All was well, and they already had a tow truck lined up to come and pull them out.  We made it to Claresholm and stopped for some supper and a much needed break from the very icy roads!

It was a great two days, the kids had fun skiing and swimming and I had a great time with my family!  At Castle I was able to visit with a good friend, and our neighbor, for the afternoon!  It was great to catch up, its funny we only live a mile apart but we had to be two hours from home to have a nice long visit!!!

And That's a Wrap

Saturday marked the end of a season for basketball for Emry.  The girls played in the League Tournament and although they didn't place they sure had fun.  Emry's confidence and skill level increased so much.  So much in fact, she was taking a shot at the basket when the other team fouled her and she was able to shoot two free throw shots.  She didn't make either one but you could see the excitement in her whole countenance!  I was so proud of her for the effort she put in.  She made some great friends, had amazing coaches and is looking forward to next year!

Monday, the Junior boys and girls played a game of scrimmage to wind up the season.  They mixed the boys with the girls and Emry ended up on the winning team!!! She was beyond excited to win a game!!  She took a couple of shots at the basket, made one and even got fouled!  She made one of her two free throw shots and had the time of her life out there on the floor!!  It was a great experience for her and despite all the extra driving we had to do for it I know it was totally worth every minute!! I loved watching her play!

An Adventure

Sunday it turned really cold here and we woke up to a good 4 inches of snow!!!  Crazy, but it is still winter so we can't really complain!  Saturday we knew a storm was to be rolling in, quite a severe winter storm.  Temperatures would drop and snow would fly!  It wasn't Jared's week with cows so he helped me around the house!  We loaded up all our garbage and the kids and headed to the dump Saturday and then into the church to shovel walks.  Only they had already been done for us!!  There was one little spot not done so the kids grabbed the shovels and got to work!  It maybe took them 5 minutes but they were happy to have helped a little!!

Sunday Jared stayed home from church with Calum, they both were under the weather and needed a little extra rest!  Still wasn't Jared's week with the cows but he would look out the window at them to see what they were up to and noticed they were out of feed.  He put his coveralls on and went for a walk through them to see if they were going to behave!!  The cows were all gathered around the bale yard wanting some food pretty badly, little piggy's they were just fed the day before!!  I think they were hungry because it turned cold and snowed and there was nothing visible for them to graze!!  So, Jared fired up the tractor and fed them, he didn't want to leave it until Monday in case they did break into the bale yard!!  It seems like cows follow their own schedule and not a set one we would like to have for them...don't they know better?!!
Monday Jared took over doing the water for the cull cows.  He got the semi lined up we got from my moms and used that to haul, only it wasn't good on the snow and he got stuck :( So he fired up the tractor again and went to get a bale to put on the back of it for added weight, which worked great!  Only the tractor quit because the shop ran out of fuel to heat it, so it sits in the bale yard until it warms up a bit!  So Jared fired up the old tractor, which runs like a dream, even in cold weather!  He got the water delivered to the cull cows and then wanted to fill the shop's tank with fuel so he could continue to heat the shop.  The only problem now is the fuel tank is on the back of the one ton and the carburetor has been removed because it is shot and the truck doesn't run.  Jared came in and asked if I could help him, did I mention that this all happened at 10pm.  So out I went into the blasted cold and got in the tractor to pull the one ton as close to the fuel tank as possible in order to fill it!  It took us two tries but we got it close enough...I may have cried a little!! It was cold and dark and I always forget how to run the old tractor!! But we make a good team.

Tuesday Jared did the water for the cull cows again, morning and night, and then at 9pm decided the bulls desperately needed their water filled.  It was getting pretty low!!  He didn't know if the bulls could actually reach the bottom of the basket thing with their huge heads!! The only problem was the semi has no working lights!! So I drove the van out ahead of him so he could see the edge of the road good enough to drive! Once in a while I would flash my brake lights so I could see him and I would feel better to know he was right behind me!! Thank goodness the brakes work good in the semi!!  We made it to the bulls and he backed the truck up and started getting everything ready to fill the bulls water!! The only problem now, the bulls were indeed very thirsty and came to investigate what was going on!!  As Jared filled the water tub one bull would just drink and empty the basket so Jared would move the hose and the bull would follow him to the next basket to drink!!  It took forever for the water to fill the tub, and it still isn't enough!!  So I'm sure we will be doing it again later tonight!!  Jared usually takes two loads of water to fill the tub to last a week!!

I know it is a good experience for us to have the cows but I still don't know if it is really worth it!!!  I keep telling Jared we should sell the herd and buy yearlings and just run them on our pasture and sell them in the fall.  No more baling or long cold winters of hauling water!! I would miss the calving but that too can be a pain when both Jared and Dave work during the day.  Oh well, it was an adventure...one not soon to be forgotten!!