Back in the UK

Our last few days in Canada passed quickly. The guys got a lot of skiing in. We enjoyed our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve since they were keen to ski for the last time on Christmas day, & we were also leaving quite early on boxing day. Lorenza cooked a lovely turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We got another full Christmas dinner on Christmas day anyway with all the leftovers! Will managed to drag himself away from the slopes for a couple of hours, enough time to go into town & stock up on some new jeans. He tried on 16 & ended up getting 4 very nice designer pairs. They were about a third of the price you would pay in the UK. I did quite a bit of walking in the last few days, the whole forest park where they live is riddled with mountain bike tracks & hiking trails. I met a very picturesque stag on my last day, he was sitting right in the middle of the path & I was afraid he wasn't going to budge! After bit of a stare off he finally wandered off... I was hoping to see a moose, but apparently they cause more injuries in Canada than bears, so it's probably a good thing I didn't...

Will took his camera up the mountain on one of the days & got some nice shots. That's Jon in the middle pic underneath the helmet & goggles.

On boxing day we were up early to start our long trip home. Jon & Lorenza had very kindly offered to drive us the 5 or so hours back to Calgary. They are staying on for a further week before flying back to Scotland. They are both working in a boarding school in St Andrews. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, said our goodbyes, then it was onto the big blue bird to take us home...

I enjoyed the flight back, we didn't have a screaming kid like on the way over! They were also showing the Simpson movie which we both enjoyed. It was nice to finally make it home & find our little house in one piece.

On Saturday we had lunch with Will's parents who were pleased to see us & hear all about the trip. On New Years Eve we have a big barn dance at school which should be a lot of fun, then Will is back to work on the 2nd. I have a few extra days off (as usual!) & am back to school on the afternoon of the 7th for teacher only day, then the kids are back on the 8th.