When the weather is colder and there seems like there is less to do so many of us get stuck indoors with grumpy kids aching to stretch their legs and cause trouble.

There are all sorts of outdoor winter activities you can enjoy if you dress appropriately and get the kids excited. I love to ditch the stroller and the bike in favor of the toboggan for our daily walks, acting like a horse gives me an different kind of work out too! Climbing a hill and then jumping on the toboggan as you go haphazardly down at what seems like insane speeds has a way of bringing me quickly back to my youth. Kamloops is a awesome community to toboggan in being that it is full of hills!

Now that the temps have dipped skating becomes a possibility. Currently I don’t know of anywhere in town but I have my ears peeled for the local insight. Park the littlest ones in a stroller and set the bigger ones free on skates. They are sure to be slowed down temporarily but they’ll find their balance soon enough! Local rinks in town offer lessons and free skate times – check past articles for rink locations and times or the directory.

Building a snowman and/or snow fort has proved to be difficult with the cooler temps and non-sticky snow in Kamloops. On those days that we do get a dump of sticky snow be sure to get the kids out there for this classic winter activity! My daughter is amazingly creative in her snow play flopping down in all manners of ways to make ‘snow-prints’! We have snowball fights and one of my favorite games is to ‘make it snow’; if you skim off the freshest skiff of snow carefully and then blow on it you can make it snow all over again much to the delight of your children!

Don’t forget about the Wildlife Park. They are on winter hours now so are only open during the day on weekends but seeing animals in the snow and all winter ready can be a great and educational experience for the little folk.

If you are looking for something to do indoors but out of your house think of activities like bowling or swimming. Call ahead to bowling centers for tips on cheap lane nights or to swimming pools for special themed days. Remember that Kamloops has a wide variety of drop-in and registered playgroups for you and the kids to enjoy – don’t underestimate the power of a playdate!

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One of the most wonderful things about being new to a city is learning about and enjoying all of the traditions the community has to offer. I must say that we have sincerely enjoyed our winter so far in Kamloops. The weather has been amazing, perfect winter weather in fact, our only complaint is that until yesterday we were unable to make a snowman!

Last night we took in the CN Holiday Train and saw Santa rockin out along with Wide Mouth Mason and Melanie Doan. What a wonderful event and great function for our community food banks! CN donated $5000 and SunLife Financial donated $10000! In addition to all of that admission to the event was by donation to the food bank so we put in our $5 and saw many others bringing bags of food. There was a stage, food, a big bon fire and the kids were all having a blast sliding down the hill by the tracks and playing in the snow. It was a wonderful thing to be part of.

Wildlights 2007 opened this weekend! We have been waiting for months watching the lights come out and go up, seeing more and more with every visit, finally we get to go and see it all lit up. I bundled up the kids, packed up some hot chocolate and set off for an evening drive out to the Wildlife Park. The place was packed on a Saturday night which was really great to see. We are out to the park so often and it is always quiet with very few people; it was a wonderful change to see the parking lot packed and crowds mingling along the pathways.
The park itself is done to the nines with lights lighting the pathways, characters adorning grassy areas, a cluster of fire pits, the train running and decorated and a maze with games set up in the playground. There is something magical about it and completely Christmasy. Seeing the animals in the glow of the lights against the snow was bewitching, I half expected the wolves to climb to the top of their hill and start howling. There are lots of volunteers and staff around to help out with all the extra traffic. Be sure to bring change for the train which is $1 for adults and .50 for children over 2; the concession is also cash only if you want to grab a snack.
Wildlights runs now until Jan 6th, 2008 everyday except Christmas from 5pm – 9pm – last admission is at 8:30. We will be sure to be back again before then!

I love this community. It truly is a special place filled with amazing people. I consider myself blessed to have ended up here and met so many wonderful giving people.

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