Madame had her first ever ski lesson this morning courtesy of The Snow Centre. Even though I’m Canadian, I was secretly hoping she wouldn’t like it as it’s one of those sports, like horse riding, that may require a second mortgage! However, she absolutely loved it! At the end of her lesson she demanded more and tried to make a break for the big slope!
A special thanks to Ali Fischer, the Marketing Assistant, at the Snow Centre for such a warm welcome and to Nicole for being and ever so patient Instructor.
I can’t wait till she turns 4 so I can get her into lessons. Shhh, don’t tell hubby!
The music is by Blues Traveller one of my favourite bands.
I never appreciated how lucky I was growing up in Canada, until I had my daughter. It now hits home whenever I roll up the rug in the front room, so she can ride her tricycle around the lounge and spend endless hours suffering germ infested soft play centres.
When I was a kid (god, I must be getting old) we lived in a small rural community with approximately 10,000 people. We moved there when I was 2, there was a sawmill nearby and both my father and grandfather worked at it. We lived in a secluded development set back from the highway and surrounded by forest. In the morning, my sister and I’d head out the front door, with barely a goodbye to my mum and not return until dinner time. We spent the whole day cycling, exploring and getting into healthy mischief. If we got hungry during the day we all descended on the nearest house and helped ourselves to the fridge. It was one big happy community.
This was my playground:
I’d give my right arm for that space and freedom again! However, saying that, you make the most with what you have. I’ve been in the UK for almost 12 years and I’m incredibly happy here and consider it home. However, I still struggle with the lack of space. I’m learning how to make up for it and have gotten over my urge of knocking down internal walls to make more space.
Nevertheless, in reality this is my garden:
It measures, approximately 5 x 9 metres.
However, thanks to ingenious toy manufacturers we have managed to create a scale model of my childhood playground. We now have Outdoor toys, Little Tikes slide and a Little Tikes Playhouse. It’s not Canada, but we’re enjoying the great outdoors!
We accidently had a Dinosaur themed weekend. Someone recently suggested ‘theme-ing’ your week with your kids (e.g under the water, at the Zoo, etc.). However, to be honest I thought it sounded a bit wanky and far too organised for me. Nonetheless, in this case it worked out well.
Last week a friend recommended Knebworth House and said it had a fantastic Dinosaur Trail. So, Saturday morning I decided that’s what we would do. I sat Madame on my lap and showed her all the pictures of the dinosaurs and the adventure playground. She was very excited, until I flipped to the opening times and realised it closed in September. Doh!
Quick change of plans, with a bit of gentle persuasion I convinced hubby, who is a London Commuter, to go to the Natural History Museum in London. It was brilliant! As it was a Saturday we drove in, no congestion charge on weekends, we have a diesel, parking was only a tenner and the museum is free! Madame’s highlight was the robotic T-Rex. She also liked these guys. They reminded me of @chickenruby and me.
She was fascinated by the blood around their mouths and reckoned they needed some baby wipes!
Then, today, thanks to @zooarcheologis, we went to the local museum where they had a Dinosaur Day. Madame made a miniature dinosaur and giant wellie boot dinosaur foot prints. I wasn’t there, so I’m hoping Claire jumps in and tells us how they’re made. I think they look fab, even though they do look a bit phallic (rotate footprint 90 degrees clockwise)????
When I was asked to review the new Peppa Pig – Happy Mrs Chicken App for Iphones, by P2 Games, I jumped at the chance as I love apps and Madame loves Peppa Pig.
So without, further adieu, here is Madame’s Verdict.
Parental Note: When I first had a look at the app I wasn’t convinced of the educational value as it didn’t have the usual elements of learning colours, numbers, sounds etc. However, as you can see, it’s great for fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and problem solving.
Overall, I would recommend this app and as you can see Madame love it as well.
Most of you know that I’m Canadian. Contrary to popular belief Maple Syrup doesn’t flow through our veins nor are we born with skis strapped to our feet. I can ski although not brilliantly and I’ve never needed the services of Mountain Rescue.
I grew up 45 minutes away from Sun Peaks ski resort which is currently being developed in conjunction with Nancy Green of Olympic Gold Medal Fame. When I was growing up it was called Todd Mountain, but apparently Tod means death in German, so to attract more tourists they changed it.
So, I have to admit when I first moved to the UK and came across a dry ski slope I fell about laughing. Who in their right mind would make a ski hill out of washing up brushes? Let me think about it, white fluffy powdery snow…..abrasive material used to scour pans. There doesn’t seem to be any logic in it.
When my family comes to visit, I always take them to the main UK attractions like the Changing of the Guard, the London Eye, Stratford upon Avon, etc but I always have to take them to see the local dry slope and of course we go via the Magic Roundabout in Hemel! They always have the same reaction as me and jump out to take a photo in disbelief.
We’re hoping to go on our first skiing holiday in February so I’m really looking forward to Madame’s first ski lesson, at the Hemel Snow Centre. Apparently, they have real snow…
Madame had her first ever ski lesson this morning courtesy of The Snow Centre. Even though I’m Canadian, I was secretly hoping she wouldn’t like it as it’s one of those sports, like horse riding, that may require a second mortgage! However, she absolutely loved it! At the end of her lesson she demanded more and tried to make a break for the big slope!
