School days, Ski days and Powder days

We dropped off the radar a bit... sorry! It has been a busy start to the year, despite lack of school and not going to work, poor us, I know.

We had our great friend Stacy and his little daughter Orla to stay which was so lovely. He and his wife Izzie put us up and put up with us in Melbourne. They inspired Polly to become vegetarian (thanks for that) so there were lots of fantastic vegetarian feasts cooked up for us by the two of them while he was here, (with the standard mess in the kitchen they both create).

Polly checked out the Whistler medical services after New Year, a trip to A+E with really bad croup. She still isn't 100% but she's getting there. We have been trying to continue to do some regular school work while we are settled here so we tend to have school days and ski days. Lovely Sofia, a Swedish free skier, is having Meg for 3 days a week taking her out and about, giving us the opportunity to go up the mountain with the bigger kids. The other days we try to make school days. If it's a powder day it all goes out the window...

Are we happpier in one place? Does it feel decedent doing something we love regularly? Is it just routine in a different place? These are all questions we have been asked recently.

I think you'd get a slightly different answer from each of us. Actually, living somewhere else is a great opportunity to do things differently. There is so much going on here that we wouldn't necessarily do at home with the distractions of normal life. But it's not all plain sailing.

There are definitely challenges, the kids miss their friends and normal every day stuff from home, as do we, and we don't get much kid free time. Sometimes it's difficult, a ridiculous thought seeing as we're job free in one of the worlds premier ski resorts, but there it is.

To help the kids get out, meet friends and get away from us for a bit they've joined up for parkour sessions, Ukelele and hand drumming lessons, ice skating and a chocolate making workshop for Polly's sweet tooth. Tom is on the local ski programme for small people. Polly has started at Go Girls, a free mentoring club for girls 10-14 yrs, they chat, cook, play games and talk about girl stuff, such a great idea.

Last night we took them to a film premier of a ski movie made by two 20 something Aussie girls who were there in person to introduce the film. It was so inspiring and incredible. The kids went up and chatted with the girls at the end of the film. I suspect they have met them at the beginning of a big career, we have posters and signed tickets for their walls at home.

So, life in the mountains is sweet... there are lots of opportunities and hopefully we are grabbing fistfuls of them...

#homeschooling #whistler #canada #mountainlife