Lac la Hache Elementary School students had a fun-filled day of activities and French heritage celebrations Feb. 9.
Their day began with very filling homemade crepes filled with their choice of jam, Nutella or syrup and icing sugar and lemon if they desired.
Following breakfast they proceeded to the gym to break into four groups to sing and act out some winter songs of their choosing that they had spent a lot of time practising.
Then it was on to more carnival activities, which the students helped to come up with and organize. They included a slushy-eating contest, which created the interesting facial expressions that often occur when drinking something very cold way too fast, but they were troopers.
There were snowball on spoon races (egg-and-spoon winter version). They also built snow sculptures in the large piles of snow around the parking lot at the school.
The students also enjoyed creating and eating maple taffy, a French Canadian traditional treat, brought by settlers many years ago. Maple syrup is heated to boiling over an open campfire, poured on top of snow, and as it begins to firm up and harden, it’s rolled on a stick like a lollypop.
It was a sweet treat that was enjoyed by all.
The children also enjoyed their apple cider, while watching Brad Johnson of Sitka Log Homes carve two log chairs using a chainsaw.
The students’ names were put in a hat and two of them were awarded the chairs to take home.
Other events included an obstacle course and ski slogging, during which three people per team used skis made of two-by-fours and rope loops, raced across the gym.
All of this activity only took them to lunch time, where they enjoyed poutine fries from the Hungry Bear, and tourtiere pies made and cooked by the Grade 4-7 class.
After lunch the students laughing with excitement, slid down the hill with their colourful cardboard boxes that had crazy carpets attached to the bottom to assist in the momentum.
Their day concluded with the completion of their ice sculptures, photos with Bonhomme Carnival, the carnival mascot, who also wandered around the school during the day.
The students also enjoyed drinking hot chocolate and lighting sparklers to simulate fireworks at the conclusion of the event.
Many thanks
On behalf of myself, my husband, John, and our family, I would like to give a big thank-you to everyone for their kind words and support, as we come to terms with our family’s loss.