Toboggans and Tuques

I've been on a bit of a hiatus of recent. My lack of blog material is not for want of motivation, nor is it due to a lack of stories to tell. Rather, I was caught up in the wintery, festive cheer of my most favorite holiday ever. While I was gathered with friends and family for various Christmas celebrations, my blog gathered dust.

If that weren't enough, immediately following Christmas I set off for a tiny town called Innisfail tucked up in the frozen abyss of central Alberta where I spent the past week on house arrest with seven rambunctious kiddos.

With a population of just under 8,000, Innisfail is a far cry from the happening city of Calgary just one hour south. With little more than a run down main drag lined with farm equipment shops, Innisfail is a sleepy farmers dream. Summers are warm and fair, but Winter brings snow, ice, and negative temperatures. This wasn't my first visit to Innisfail and definitely not my last. For tucked up in this igloo of nothingness lives a family that I would do just about anything for.

On this particular visit the temperature neared -15 degrees Fahrenheit (-25 with wind chill), as such we spent most days tucked inside their cozy home baking, watching movies, and doing puzzles. That is, as long as the kids weren't fighting. Because as I'm sure you can imagine, with seven kids locked tight inside a small space, chaos is inevitable. WWE watch out, these kids can throw punches and insults like the best of them.

When the weather warmed to a toasty 4 degrees Fahrenheit a trip to the Innisfail Ski Hill was in order. Ski Hill is somewhat of a misnomer as no one really dares to ski this icy steep drop off. Instead local high school kids gather to perform death defying trips down the nearly vertical cliff on an assortment of toboggans and inner tubes. Was I scared, hell yes. Was it fun? Absolutely.

Several mornings I woke early to try and capture the beauty of the all the ice and snow in pictures. With temperatures far colder than anything I have experienced I didn't last very long. But hopefully you get the gist.

Spending the last of the holidays in Alberta was a wonderful way to kick off the New Year. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you all the greatest peace, love, and joy in 2010.