Hi everyone,

Thought I should probably keep this one a bit shorter after a rather lengthy first attempt lodged a couple of complaints! ;)

On Thursday we went to Toronto Zoo, most of the day spent staring at the polar bears seeing as the grizzly bears sleep through February and not many other animals can brave temperatures of -5!Luckily we managed to time it so we got there when the bears were having lunch (fish and carrots oddly enough) so they were all out in force.We checked into a Toronto sports bar on the way home for more Canadian sized portions…chicken wings and hotdogs this time - amazing!

On Friday we went out for lunch with Des and Martin's cousin Paddy at a local thai restaurant before packing up the gear and the kids and setting off for the US.After some minor interrogation at the border on our part and parting with a few dollars (standard America) we arrived a few hours later in Ellicottville at our amazing holiday house - the kids wardrobe was possibly the size of my room at home, which might give you an indication of the rest of the place!

Saturday we got up early and braved the high winds on the local ski hill for a couple of hours before retiring for beer and food for most the afternoon.The place we were skiing at is a private club and we had fun watching the friendly competition between the members - kind of a super-mom challenge of who can lay out the best lunch/dinner/alcohol spread etc etc, which resulted in the family on the next table whipping out a pair of candelabras amongst other things, all very entertaining! Martin and I grabbed dinner in a local bar which brewed its own beer - marts managed to try most of the bar menu throughout the night which made for an interesting walk home (think slightly drunk martin in trainers and jeans up to his knees in snow - rather amusing!)

We had much better weather on Sunday and made the most of the sun, skiing most of the day before hitting the beers once again.Chilled in with Des, Trish and the kids on Sunday night failing at most of the board games in the house, but had some good fajitas!

We got back to Canada early this afternoon and plan on chilling out here with everyone before our flight out tomorrow night.Had a great time skiing with everyone this weekend and not necessarily looking forward to the flight home (although it is -20 here today with the wind-chill so that might help!)

Hope to see everyone back home at some point this week!

Love Katie and Martin