I am not a huge fan of the cold.
I know I live in Winnipeg (Winterpeg) and that the Prairies are very predictably freezing at this time of year but it doesn't prevent me from wanting to hermit in the house and not go outside.
However, today my friend gave me the wonderful gift of switching calls with me so that I could have an extended long weekend off and she LOVES the winter. I tease
her about this but she is unreasonably enthusiastic about winter in this country. I thought we were just switching Saturdays but turns out in doing so she has an extended stretch of call which really made me feel I shouldn't waste the day staying inside being grumpy about how cold it is here (albeit predictably so I really can't blame the weather).
Instead I decided to have a super fun day as a family - polar vortex be damned! We brainstormed lots of ideas of theme days today (so many I need to find that paper and save it for later) but everyone agreed on the Morris Polar Vortex Olympics. Agreement when your children are 12, 9 and 3 is very hard to come by so I grabbed the opportunity.
We watched some opening ceremonies from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and it was fun to rewatch that. Cian was a baby when that was on and I had forgotten how theatrical those ceremonies were. It definitely got us in the spirit.
We planned for the afternoon for festivities. We had our Canadian flag (we decided we were all to be on Team Canada) and our maple leaf cheeks. We made an Olympic "torch". We serendipitously had 3 soccer medals each of the appropriate colour so we were set. Keith was his usual begrudgingly good-natured tagalong.
We started as every good sporting event would - with O Canada. I played it very badly on the violin and we (mostly Em and I) sang along. Our opening ceremonies were throwing boiling water out on the back deck. It's no choreographed multimillion dollar epic achievement but it was still mind-blowing if you are 3 years old.
We had 5 events planned: sledding, snow soccer, snow sprint, ice dancing musical chairs and moose riding. We proudly brought our Canadian flag everywhere we went.
First stop was sledding behind R.A. Steen Community Centre. There's a very short and quick sled there. The participants played on the "Olympic Village" fort while everyone took a turn. Even our mascot the Moose got a turn. Here's something interesting we learned - the blow-up moose will lose it's shape if temperatures are below -26 (feels like -35) We decided moose riding was an indoor activity.
Gold Medal in Sledding: Cian! Cian's run garnered a lot of speed and he hit the fence at a place it was not tethered to the ground and he went right under the fence AND it took his toque off AND he wasn't hurt. We all agreed he deserved Gold for that.
Next stop was Snow Soccer - it was the classic story of boys against girls. Sam was very interested in the playground so his allegiance was quite split (as was his time). Both teams made a solid effort. Dad and Cian had a super cool move where Keith was walking easily toward our goal and then at the last second kicked the ball behind him to Cian who scored. The girls played a much more aggressively aggressive game. Sam even got a goal. All had fun and we declared Snow Soccer a tie game!
We then did the Snow Race. All 3 kids felt you needed to start in a runner's pose with your hands on the ground but I was not committed enough to touch the tundra in the Laura Second field. I feel Keith may have thrown this one and might have ranked higher but I came in second! (parents can't medal as we are Olympic judges)
Gold Medal in Snow Race: Emily!
We then came home with the girls pulling all the boys (I had Keith and Sam in my sled). Sam had such a good attitude throughout our time outside (his sister was quite challenging - are we in preteen years yet?) so Gold Medal in Sportsmanship: Sam!
When we got home we decided to make our Maple Syrup taffy. We had read how to do it but our first attempt sat in the freezing snow too long and was hard as a rock. Second time was the charm here and you could almost convince yourself you were at Festival du Voyageur!
We then finished our last two games. I wanted to have the chairs outside for Musical Chairs but I was vetoed. Sam really got into the "dancing" portion of the Ice Dancing Musical Chairs and used the excuse to show off his excellent breakdancing moves. We then taught him musical chairs (which he LOVED) to the classic Canadian theme - the Logdriver's Waltz. Em was the first one out here and learned additional valuable lessons about grace and sportsmanship.
Gold Medal in Ice Dancing Musical Chairs: Cian!
Last but certainly not least was Moose Riding. I'm glad we didn't attempt it outside as I think we would have had a decent chance of a broken moose. Everyone enjoyed getting to ride the moose down the longest section of our house (from front door to back). Sam loved being encouraged and loves that run everyday so it was a familiar course for him. The kids did great. The adults were less than stellar which the kids really loved. I somehow thought I would easily bounce on a tiny moose but at one point near the kitchen island I just crawled lying on top of it. I was at least better than Keith but that's not saying much.
Gold Medal in Moose Riding: Emily!
We then did our Polar Vortex Olympic Medal ceremonies to each of the events. The kids loved getting their permutations of medals over and over again to the sounds of Big Sugar's O Canada. Sam especially loved getting a medal - he didn't care what colour it was he was just interested in getting one.
We topped off our night with Beef Tenderloin French dip sandwiches and maple cookies and a viewing of the always fantastic Cool Runnings. Sanka was right I was "feeling very Olympic today!"
