Halloween and its cold! - email 3 Nov
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Calgary
Masquerade party
Street hockey
Homeschooling
© AUSTEGA 2000-
DAVID HAS JUST said goodnight, and it's after 11, so this won't be long.
It
has been good here with Val and Lorne - but no place is without its pressures.
I guess I felt a bit swept along - our days and evenings (especially the first
few days) have been fully booked. On the first day we had a masquerade party
- I didn't want to dress up so I got first choice of outfits and chose to
be a cow, David chose the sheep, Val the pig and Lorne became Old Macdonald.
All the adults were fortunately also "well dressed" - Cathy spent
some time talking to Fred Flintstone.
At my suggestion we just had a short day today then home for homeschooling - but tomorrow will be long as a day in the mountains is planned. I don't think the outside temperature has been above freezing since we've been here! Most days it has snowed a bit, but not enough to stay on the ground except in very sheltered spots. At one stage Cathy was heard to mumble "We should've gone to Mexico!" We're all still laughing over that one.
Indeed she was so cold on Monday that she suggested she wouldn't go "halloweening" but instead would stay home to give out the candies. We pressured her into going - and then came the comment about Mexico!
In
the end she was glad to go, dressed in many layers of clothes and with her
orange poncho over the top, and with orange make-up to be a pumpkin. Justin
wore all black and a hat and mask and went as a ninja kid. He was rather disgusted
that I insisted he wear even his coat under his outfit. He also wore my black
ski gloves. Both kids really enjoyed running up to houses calling "Trick or
treat". Although no-one ever told them about the trick side of the equation,
so they were rather puzzled when asked "Or otherwise what will you do?"
After a while
Cathy said "I'd like to stop. I have enough." She was taken back to the house.
Eventually, but only after prompting, even Justin said he'd had enough. There
seemed to be a hundred or so kids out, all dressed up, in the "good area"
we were in near Val's sister's. As you looked up the street, there were lots
of excited kids, and parents walking along the 
side
of the road, keeping pace. It was actually a lot of fun. Some people had gone
to a huge amount of effort to decorate their houses, and some of the carved
jack-o-lanterns were incredible. Val had 4 pumpkins here, so each of the kids
got to carve their own. (Justin named his "Napoleumpkin". It sort of lent
to one side, so had definite character!)
We
spotted the unusual (for us) sight of street hockey during the tour of Calgary
that Val and Lorne provided us. We were also fortunate to visit the fire station
where Lorne works. A visit to the shopping mall reminded us that Christmas
was not far off. We've bought Cathy ski mittens, and David's bought a beanie
(called a "tube" here), but as we were wearing long-johns, etc and
were still cool today, I dread to think how cold the mountains might be tomorrow!
We'll just have to hope that more layers on the top half help. There has been
a biting wind sometimes, and even when we get into a car, etc, it feels like
it takes a while until your cheeks thaw.
Anyway,
if I don't get to bed soon, we won't be going anywhere tomorrow. So I'll close
off now. We're well, nobody has colds (yet!) and we're busy. The kids - Justin
particularly - defiantly declared today that nobody could make him do his
home-schooling. Everyone ignored him and eventually when he heard the other
kids coming home he muttered and mumbled and then did some. Later he and Lorne
had a great long discussion about the science of the winds and sailing. Another
day Lorne taught him all the knots that were a part of the year 6 maths syllabus.
Goodnight for now, with love to all, from Kerry, David and co.
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