Snow Day!

Yesterday winter came back and this morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. I went for a walk in order to take some pictures and it was absolutely beautiful out; warm and bright! Blair & Erinn got busy building forts for a snowball fight before it all disappeared. "Get dad!" Erinn's yelling as she lets loose with a volley of snowballs. Blair suddenly appeared from behind his snow bunker and started pommelling dad!

OK, now things are getting out of hand, dad's taking it from all sides!

Grandma & Grandpa's February Visit

Grandpa & Grandma came for a week in February during the kids Family Day week.

Erinn & dad took grandpa for a hike along the creek.

Erinn collected some twigs for Lulu to chew on.

Lulu dressed up for the occasion thanks to Erinn.

Grandma & Blair baked up a storm.

Outdoor Fun

Sorry for the long wait for an update but with a crashed computer it was difficult to get an update in in a timely fashion, thanks to my dad we are back in business.

Lately winter has been here one day, spring the next, back to winter, sometimes all in one day. Recently its been fluctuating from a daytime high of +5 to an overnight low of -13!


Blair & Erinn playing a little hockey out on the front pond.

Bird watching in Police Point Park on Family Day.

Taking a break along the river.

Dad carrying the kids snowshoes; enough of that!

Blair after our hike waiting for the chick-a-dees to land on his head.

A little target practice in anticipation of spring gopher season.

Winter 2010/11 on the Ridge

Since we've lived on the Ridge this has been the coldest winter on record with the most snow!

We had a considerable amount back in November but it had almost all disappeared or turned to ice with the chinook winds in December.

On the prairie the snow is knee deep and still fluffy with some hard pack underneath, this will all change when the wind begins to blow next week.

A rare moment when our road isn't drifted in and snowplowed, it seems the county always leaves us until last.

The kids have been enjoying snowmobile rides on a regular basis, which has been a novelty for us since snow has been such a rarity.

Dad entertaining the kids!

Blair waiting for a pull on the sleigh.

Erinn playing with Dolan & Kirby on the mound.

Our backyard bush bunnies have decided to eat my sage bushes versus digging through the deep snow to get to the grass. Since the girls are opposed to me using them for coyote bait I will have to look at spraying the remaining bushes so they don't get eaten next. With the shenanigans I noticed in the backyard the other day I think we can look forward to a good bunny crop this year which will mean the snakes will be well fed!!!

Santa Makes Good!

In Erinn's letter to Santa this year all she asked for, other than to meet Rudolph, was a pet bunny!

Because we were gone for a week between Christmas & New Year's we held off, than with her being sick and in the hospital she had to wait even longer for her bunny to arrive. Finally on the day she got back from the farm her & dad went and picked up "Lulu"! Erinn said "this is the best day of my life" when we got her home.

The amazing thing was that she had a picture of the bunny she wanted and it just so happened to be white with black spots. Lulu is a 11 month old female and we got her from a local Pet Rescue.

Double-header!

The coyotes are on the move around the Ridge. I went out for an hour the other day and managed to get 5 coming to my e-caller. In the end I was only able to shoot these two, the one I'm holding was a big male that weighed just over 40 pounds!
My one day off in the middle of the week and I came home with $50 in my pocket; $25 for my two 'yotes and the rest from our holiday bottle refund!

Brace Face!

Kirby got her braces last week, now mom & dad will be in debt for the next 18 months paying for them. Dad's suggestion was to get them all pulled and get her dentures, she didn't go for that for some reason!

Before.

After.

Wacky Hair Day

Blair had Wacky Hair & P.J. Day last week. His plan was to wet his hair before bed and let it get messed while he slept. Well when he got up in the morning his hair looked like it does every other day; flat! So him & dad spent some time and a lot of gel to get it to stand straight up. Amazingly enough it stayed like that all day!

Rocky Start of 2011.

Back in November we noticed a sore on Erinn's left foot, it didn't want to go away so Carolyn took her to the doctor who gave her something to treat eczema.

The sore persisted and turned into this with another sore showing up her other foot.

Just before leaving on our holiday she suddenly broke out in this rash covering her entire body.

Lastly her hands broke out in these large blisters that looked more like a 3rd degree burn then what they really were; herpes!
The day we got home from Saskatchewan Carolyn took her to the hospital where 3 doctors poked and prodded her finally deciding to keep her in the hospital until they could determine what exactly she had, at one point they even talked about sending her to Calgary. They admitted her that night and finally by Wednesday they figured she had a combination of things but no clue how she got it, mean while a couple more doctors came in to have a look and give their thoughts on what she had. The sore on her foot developed into a MRSA Staph Infection, as well as having a Strep Infection and finally the cold sores that resulted in blisters all over her hands and feet. Erinn ended up spending a week in the hospital, not fun!
Carolyn & I ended up taking turns staying at the hospital with her until this past week when she finally got out and we sent her to the farm for the week.
On Friday she came home looking much better then the week before, she still has tender feet and hands but definitely on the mend!

Christmas 2010 Holiday

Erinn in her new Christmas dress.

Van Ham Christmas was the weekend before Christmas this year. Everyone was in attendance except for Sherry's clan.

The end result of the boy's moustache growing contest. Papa was the clear winner with his Santa-like 'stache! As you can see Blair's peach fuzz clearly beat out Andrew's sorry excuse for a cookie duster.

Blair in his glory ripping up the snow on the quad.

This year's holiday began at home, we enjoyed a quiet Christmas with just us and the kids.

The kids got some new Wii games, one was called "Just Dance" and got everyone involved, even dad!

One of our first stops when we headed to Saskatchewan was to see Great Grandma Zimmer who will be turning 96 this year!

A couple of days were spent at Grandpa & Grandma's in Codette. A mandatory snowshoe trek was done in the frigid weather down the Zimmer Hiking Trail.

Erinn playing in one of the many snow forts/tunnels that Grandpa built for the grand kids.

The grand kids with Grandma & Grandpa.

Braving the cold to ride on Uncle Trent's wild and crazy, slippy and slidy, tube ride.

The Catley Ranch for New Year's!

The clowns! Like 6 peas in a pod!

The famous church below the Catley Ranch in the Qu'Appelle River Valley.

Our last night was spent at the Field Stone Inn, in the Qu'Appelle River Valley near Craven, with the Hodgin's clan.