November

So a full month has come and gone...  And here it is in a quickish nutshell...  Snow came earlish to Manitoba this year, and it stayed.

Cara walks the girls to school in a wagon quite often.  She sometimes waits for me coming off the bus and then I get to see cuteness & take pictures.

Sometimes we have snowball fights.

We had a gorgeous day in late November which I used to hang the Christmas lights (and I bought a pile more from Canadian Tire on 2011 clearance!) while the girls played outside.

Teresa enjoys playing on the pile of snow by the strip mall near her school.

Warm & cute.

A noble dog & a fine looking house.  Teresa saw the candy canes on sale at Canadian Tire when I went to look for another inflatable (I was hoping for the Tigger that emerges from a Christmas Tree, but that was 2011).  We got the Eeyore instead.

Two girls playing outside...

Frances having fun at swimming lessons.  Teresa had lessons at the same time, sadly they showed that they both had Yost DNA and they both failed...

Building Snowmen Again...

Teresa and I got to reprise our awesome snowman building skills from last year much earlier due to a warm spell that hit zero couple with a decent slush-fall so we went out and built a snowman together.  And here is our first snowman:

Here Teresa makes her first snowman on her own as I shovel the snow

The snowman we built together.  Teresa dressed it and put all the face & buttons on with only help pushing them in.  She in holding its hand.

As it was about to get quite cold again I suggested making another one the next day after church, which "we" did.  Teresa initially wanted to make a snow Rowdy, but then quickly got distracted by our neighbors.  I made a dog (with awesome cereal box floppy ears, and courtesy of Teresa playing with it, a pinecone snout) and then got on to snowman #2.  Teresa helped dress it and put its eyes, etc on and is quite smitten with Rowdy.  She has decided that one snowman is a girl and the other one (I may recall) is daddy...  Which one is which I am not sure.  So we ended the day and went in for hot chocolate and lunch.  That afternoon the temperature dropped (as expected) and now we have two very solid snowmen that Teresa shows everyone (the Hydro guy, auntie, etc...) and loves to look at.

Rowdy and his snow doppelgänger flank the snowmen.

Teresa posing proudly with daddy's her creations!

As you may also be aware Teresa and I have been taking swimming and skating lessons during the week.  We should be able to get you pictures and video next week as Cara has promised to come.  To tide you over, I will give you pictures of how to celebrate a successful half hour on the rink on an evening that is -30 with wind, Manitoba style...  SLURPEES (actually Mac's Frosters)!!  You also get a bonus picture of Frances enjoying her first spoonful of sweet sugary slurpee goodness.

I LOVE SUGAR!!!!  It is a more powerful force than being cold.  Auntie Jackie understands, she turned blue in Florida based on this principle!

I think she might just like sugar too...

Winnipeg is Wonderful in Winter

The last couple of weeks in Winnipeg have reminded me why I love this darn city and its 80 degree Celsius temperature swings...  A few weeks back I think I posted that the river trail got opened up all the way to Assiniboine Park, and Rowdy and I have taken great advantage of it having gone for a number of walks and skates on the river.  Last weekend though was the first time that Cara, Teresa, Rowdy & I have all bundled up together and went to the park, as it was near 0 (and before 3 days of rain).  We brought the toboggan (but forgot 1 of her 2 skates) and had a blast.  We went sideways, over jumps, fell over and no matter what she had fun.  We did the same thing again today and she didn't mind the -15 weather.  Rowdy runs up and down the hill and likes licking our faces when we are at his level.  I can't think of many other places in the world where Teresa can spend a summer at the lake and a winter skating and tobogganing like this...

Anyhow, here are some pictures from that Sunday...

A view of Bourkevale Park (on the river at Ferry Road).  I am dragging Teresa up the hill on the left, the trees on the right surround a skating rink which connects to the walking & skating trails on the river by the snowbanks.

An action shot of us going down the hill.

Teresa has seen Ray & I go down head first, and wanted to do it herself but I only let her get dragged up the hill.

Rowdy looking all pretty

Cara wanted evidence that she was there as more than just the picture taker.  Here they are standing on the river trail.

Later that night we had dinner at Ray & Myrna's.  Teresa was making a hat out of her placemat.