Winter fun

I sit here looking out the window into a backyard buried under snow and grey skies. The temperature is -13. I had to pick up Miss 3 from school early on Tuesday as they had to switch off the heat to fix the furnace and couldn't keep the kids there without heat. A friend went for her morning drive-through coffee a few weeks ago to find her car window frozen shut. (Awkward.) It makes 'winter fun' seem an odd title to choose (especially for an Aussie who is beginning to feel a little envious of family and friends back home enjoying summer) but there is a lot of fun to be had. And a winter holiday always lifts the spirits too :)

Winter sport in this part of the world pretty well revolves around hockey. With the NHL lockout, I think many fans were feeling devastated, and there was an awful lot of curling on TV too - I guess they had to fill the schedule somehow! Although the lockout did end and the NHL season resumed, we had already made plans to go and see the Ottawa 67s, the minor league team. They were thumped by Guelph, but it was still fun to go and try and learn some more about the game. (Hubby has been watching a bit on TV so could explain most of the rules.) We finished off the weekend with a few hours of skiing at one of our local hills. It felt good to be back on the slopes (I realised it's been 5 years) although wearing in new ski boots is not overly enjoyable. We were glad we went early that day as the wind picked up after lunch and started blowing us up the slopes!

The next weekend was Australia Day. Our traditional activities of BBQ and Hottest 100 were out of the question. Cooking outside is just not an option, and the time difference meant that the Hottest 100 number 1 would be announced at about 4 in the morning. Luckily, an Aussie friend came to the rescue and we went to her house and had drinks. Her kids had put Aussie flags up everywhere and I made sure to take an Aussie bottle of wine. We just hung out, chatted, and let cheese and crackers and sausage rolls substitute for dinner. (Oh, and there was fruit too!) A very laid back 'Aussie' vibe, even if it was -lots outside.

That is something I've noticed actually; it can be harder to entertain in winter, as if you don't have the space in your house there is no option of hanging out on a patio. I think cafe blinds and an outdoor heater would struggle to cut it somehow.... It does mean that when people do arrange something, it just seems extra fun as everyone is keen to make the most of it. Our neighbour decided to have a Ladies 80s night. She sent her husband and kids packing to her sister-in-law's, pushed the furniture to one side and invited loads of ladies from the neighbourhood. It was fantastic - a number of people dressed up (yes, me too) and we had cheesy 80s music blaring all night for dancing. I think I especially enjoyed it as most social events tend to be couple or family affairs, so it was great to have a girls' night. Although I didn't get home until 2am so the next morning was hard work! And of course it never rains, it pours - the next night we had a Wardroom dinner. It was a lovely night out with loads of good food and good company but I confesss I may have enjoyed it more if I'd been a little less tired.

Every winter, Ottawa hosts a winter festival called Winterlude. The Rideau Canal freezes over so they open it for skating, they have ice sculptures and food stalls set up, and across the river on the Quebec side they have ice slides and outdoor activities. Well, we couldn't miss all that could we? Hubby took Miss 3 over to see the ice slides and other activities and she had an absolute ball. Kids love playing outside in the cold, as long as they're dressed warmly enough. Sadly the twins don't really enjoy it yet, but next year the whole mob can get more involved. As a family, the next day we all went to check out the sculptures and the skating. They even had an interactive sculpture that kids could help build - they had little coloured blocks of ice that they'd help the kids add to the mountain of colour that was building. We wandered down to the canal and went for a walk (or should I say 'slide'?) on the ice too. Miss 3 is still pretty clueless on skates so we thought we'd save that bit for next year. I was glad I was pushing the pram though - excellent for balance on ice :) It was amazing to see how many people were out skating and also buying Beavertails and other goods from the stalls set up on the actual canal.

A week of skiing - much easier to arrange from Ottawa then Perth strangely.... We had been looking forward to this week for a while. Mt Tremblant is in Quebec and is quite a large (and it turns out, very pretty) resort which is only 2 hours drive away. We headed up on Monday afternoon and were very happy to check into our large suite at the hotel. It's always good when you don't have to share a bedroom with kids on holiday, and even better when you don't have to share a bathroom. We also had a gas fireplace in our room which is quite fabulous at the end of the day with a glass of red. I feel relaxed just thinking about it! Anyway, we had the twins booked in for 3 days of day care, Miss 3 for a mix of day care and ski school and 3 days of child-free skiing bliss for us. Our first day did not get off to a brilliant start. Miss 3 woke up super early, of course waking the twins up in the process. (Switching on the lights and talking will do that.) The day care drop off was okay, but then Miss 3 went shy and silly when she went to ski school....because her teacher was a boy. "But I wanted a girl teacher!" Eventually he won her over enough that we could escape and hit the slopes oursleves. We caught the gondola to the top, only to discover that we couldn't actually see much at all due to the weather. We ended up sking down the opposite side of the mountain to what we intended! The weather did thankfully pick up. I finished a bit earlier then hubby, so had a chance to grab a coffee and check out Miss 3's form on the bunny slope. She was pretty wobbly, but her instructor was an absolute star to persist with her, as she was apparantly pretty hard work until after lunch. She did decide that she would rather just go to day care then ski again, so we agreed - much easier for everyone!

So after a slightly bumpy start, the next 2 days were fantastic. The weather was very mild (between -6 and -3 at the summit) the snow was good, hubby got out to first tracks, the kids did well in day care and my boots started to be less uncomfortable. We were given free hot chocolates on the second afternoon; the ski patrol noticed hubby look to give way when entering a track so gave us the passes as they were rewarding good behaviour. They had free tubing at night, so I took Miss 3 after dinner and we both had a blast. It's a fun activity that makes you feel like a kid again anyway, especially when you're sliding down with a squealing, laughing, excited 3 year old. Miss 3 and I also took a ride in the free, open topped village gondola on the last morning which she thought was very exciting..."like flying" she told me. A great week, but like all holidays it had to end. Having child-free time was particularly nice too. Of course I still haven't made it to the bottom of the washing basket since we've been back - maybe tomorrow!

When we first arrived, locals kept telling us (with glee I might add!) "Winter is really cold....really hard work.....you'll get sick of it" but I think we've done a good job at staying mostly positive. I don't think we've commented on the cold much more then the locals to be honest. The challenge is now to keep that up, as I've noticed some locals start to complain that they've had enough winter for the year. I'll keep you posted!