Winter fun and goodbyes...Jan - March 2017

The New Year dawned bright and shining and Matt set to work on my car.  We suspected it had a blown headgasket and the engine seized completely a bit before Christmas.  Never one to back down from a challenge he decided he could change the gasket himself and with the help of a few tools he set to work.  To his credit and everyone who came to look's amazement we fitted the gasket and after not a little anound of swearing and heated moments (lucky it was below 0 outside with the garage door up huh...) the car started beautifully and he now has a head gasket repair under his belt - my hero!!

While all that was going on winter rolled on.  We had some pretty big dumps of snow and the temp spent a lot of time below 0.  The upshot of the cold cold weather was when the snow cleared the ice was fantastic.  We would collect up our skates and sticks and head over the back of Shaun and Michelles' to skate on the lake.  Really awesome!  A bloke up on the other side of the lake had cleanered a patch and built up an ice rink that he was pretty protective of, but it didnt stop us skating on it, or clearing areas for ourselves.  It was great for developing skating skills and the kids loved playing hockey with snow goals!

I did the hypothermic run in mid Jan and ran 10km at -6 degrees.  The wind chill was pretty low and it was reasonably pleasant!  I would not have wanted to do the half marathon tho - everything was starting to get a bit creaky....

We discovered some really awesome ice formations in the Moirs Mill stream down from the piano teachers house - I must have taken a million photos!

Alex's birthday came and went with more pokemon cards and a birthday party at Hatfields farm.  We had a great day  and he seemed to really enjoy himself :)

All of a sudden it was February and our March moving date was looming.  Matt was away most of Feb, so the kids and I made a list of stuff that we wanted to revist befored we left.  Top of the list was the lighthouse... So before Matt left we headed back to Peggys Cove just one more time.  The kids just love climbing on the rocks so Matt and I huddled out of the wind while the kids ran around wildly....

After Matt left we made the most of early February.  We made snow ghosts - mounds of snow with glowsticks poked into them for eyes.  I did mean to go back and make some more when we got a bit more snow, but the conditions were never really right again (wrong snow) and I kinda forgot...

We also hired snowshoes from the Rec Centre and went showshoing and sledding up on one of the local golf courses.  It was brilliant fun!  The showshoes were great for me, and a bit annoying for the kids, but the sledding was awesome for everyone - the sandtraps had great little ramps down into them!!  The snow shoes were great for going for little walks during piano lessons too - I'd tow Amelia behind me in the sled and go marching around the place looking for cool icicles :)

Mid Feb it started to snow.  We had three snow events pretty close together with the middle one being a pretty major blizzard.  The snow around the house drifted up to 4 feet in places and the snowbanks on the drive were over 7 feet by the time we were done.  In our immediate neighbourhood we had four households with absent husbands including Shannon next door with a wee baby.  Her snowblower had broken down too!  Shaun across from us was a total legend.  The snow was too deep for the blower so we shovelled it down to a reasonable height and he blew the rest off.  His blower was working pretty hard for its age and by the time we had finished his drive it was already strating to make funny noises...  So we all got together and shovelled the horrible wet heavy stuff off all the driveways so he could get in to the uncompacted stuff behind.  I spent more time shovelling snow off the top of the snow banks to make room for the snow that had to come off the drive than anything!  All in all it was an awesome community experience (that I'd not like to repeat possibly ever!)

 I met more neighbours in the 2-3 days it took to clear the snow than I had the rest of the time we were there.  Really tired arms tho...  I was dreading the footpath plough coming through because the banks were so high and most of it would end up back on my drive if they did it the way they normally do, but the city bought in diggers and the dug the footpath out, carefully depositing the snow onto front lawns or into trucks where there was no room.  Once the sun came out it was brilliant.

Alex had an awesome time sliding down the footpath on the sled and it felt like a waterslide it was so enclosed!

When the roads were cleared and the sun was out I packed the kids into the car and headed up to the lake for one last visit.  The Butlers Lake plough guy had done a brilliant job and it was easy enough to get to Chris and Heathers top carpark.  We had packed minimally so everyone had a backpack to carry and I put the food on a sled to slide it down the hill.  The bank we had to climb over to start down the hill was a good metre and a half high so I dug steps into it and we all wore our snowshoes!  Down at the cottage the snow was level with the front door so I had to dig off the front porch and down to the first step.  I compacted a path in the snow a bit so that Amelia could walk around OK and we set to sledding, making snow men and snowshoeing on the lake.  We dug ourselves a little picnic table in the snow and had morning tea outside :)  After lunch the kids went back out and after I had cleaned up I joined them.  I came out to find that they were sledding down the stairs....  The stairs were of course underneath at least 3 feet of snow but it didn't stop them from being really steep, or edged with poles, never to mention the corner!  Owen shot down and barely missed a post to shoot off the endge of the steps and down the hill through the trees.  Great fun apparently..  I went up to the car to get their skating helmets...but not before Alex hit the post and Owen hit Alex!  Amelia did a lot of sliding down the slope on her belly which entertained her no end.  It was an awesome wee visit and more than one tear was shed when we finally packed up and snowshoed back out again.  That place will remain one of the highlights of our family life and we are ever so greatful to Chris and Heather for handing us the keys.

March arrived and with heavy hearts we starting packing up and winding down our Halifax activities.  Alex's basketball finished successfully and we took Owen and a bunch of his buddies to the trampoline park for his birthday.  Alex's friends sprang a surprise party for him which was just awesome.  Amelia and Imogen went to build-a-bear and made each other a farewell gift.

It was incredibly hard to say good bye to all the wonderful people we met over there and I'm getting all teary eyed writing about it two months later! I'm still really greatful for those awesome people and all the fanatstic experiences we had.  Best neighbours, best friends, best everything! The time we spent in Halifax was just so awesomely amazing and I really really didn't want it to end.  But.. All good things and all that and we were on our way to the other coast.