The Dream-Climbing Ice in Squamish

The pain of writing final papers really sets in when the winter rain gives way to pockets of cool crisp sunshine. After what was literally weeks of daily wet weather, the clouds cleared and cold arctic air poured across lower main land BC, just in time for finals. For almost 2 weeks temperatures rarely rose above freezing. With papers completed I was anxious for some adventure.

Ice climbing in the North West is traditionally inconsistent, thin, and often a dripping wet affair; as we were picking our route Kris, a local of 11 years, told me he had never climbed ice in Squamish. However, as the cold persisted I was sure that ice was forming.

We decided on a moderate WI 3-4 gully, A Scottish Tale, that if fully formed promised almost 1000' of climbing. However, after our 7am dawn start, and 1hr+ swim through the forest under brush, we arrived at the route to find another party moving up the first pitch. Rather than catch the brunt of the ice that would certainly be funneled down onto us, we explored some of the other smears we has seen out on the granite face to the right of our proposed route

.

We discovered a beautiful line, The Dream, that looked "do-able" and just barely protectable. Kris led the first pitch on thin ice. Up delicate smears and through overhanging chandeliered corners, it was a brilliant lead- especially impressive Given Kris had not climbed ice in 6 years.

The second pitch was more straight forward ice climbing, steep and easily protectable, however I found it was quite he head game. My tools and crampons felt more like awkward metal than the natural extensions of my body that they once were. Despite the mental obstacles the climbing was beautiful, with a steep pillar giving way to narrow runnels of ice in granite corners.

Kris finished the climb with another incredible lead, a full 60 meter rope stretcher through a mixture of step curtains, thin runnels, and challenging corners. I was happy to follow and feeling more comfortable as we moved upwards and acclimated with the icy terrain. As we topped out it was clear we had gotten more than we had planned on for the day, but we had certainly gone ice climbing.

We rapped the route and packed as dusk fell; it would be another 2 hours before we reached the car. We arrived after crashing through thick undergrowth, falling over rock and logs hidden in the undergrowth and darkness, but we found adventure, challenge, and a great day in the hills.

November

Well, this is my third attempt at putting up pictures tonight. I had planned a real blogging bonanza for you--three posts each with their maximum 4 photos. Alas, the first two were demolished by "Error # 400" and then a foolish mistake on my part (not that i make those very often).

So, November had its ups and downs. The major down being the rain, overcast skies, and ever-shortening days. It got so bad I was wondering if I was suffering from prenatal depression, and actually I'm not joking. However, we have since experienced almost 2 weeks of sunshine and I have felt 100 % better, so it appears that I do not have the constitution for rainy, wet winters despite my Irish heritage. What I do thirst for is SNOW. You could have seen some nice photos of Aurora in her new snow gear, but .... instead we will focus on what is often seen as a monumental moment.

Graduation

I have to admit that I strongly considered not putting the photos up because it feels rather self-congratulatory, but then I thought about how one of the primary purposes of having a blog is to share events large and small with loved ones who often live far away, it might seem odd to not include anything about it.

So, Aparna Rae (our dear friend and previous roomie) and I decided that we would "walk" at graduation despite the fact that we'd both finished several months ago. I admit that dressing up in our ridiculously expensive gowns did somehow make it feel more official than simply working more and not having any more papers due.

I really have felt like a new person since graduating--not feeling like there was always something I should be reading or writing hanging over me. I've had more mental energy for enjoying freindships and family and the rest of life. However, I do find that I am also a bit less productive with my time now, particularly in the evenings. I could also blame that on pregnancy. Yes, let's do that, shall we?

It was one of the coldest, wettest days possible. I wanted a goretex gown, but they didn't have any.

The following day was the first sunny day in two weeks. We celebrated by going to the beach.

It was pretty cold and not quite as pristine as summertime, but the coast is pretty unbeatable on a sunny day.

So, what I don't have photos of is our Thanksgiving dinner, which we had on Friday, the 27. It was lovely--great friends and food. It was such fun to have Aparna back in town, with her brother visiting and more opportunities to hang out with Stephen and the rest of her entourage.

So, yes, it's halfway through December now and its been mostly sunny and quite chilly. We've actually had little bits of snow the last few days, enough even to somewhat cover the ground today. I love it. So does Aurora, who calls snow "NooOoo!" Sometimes I wonder what she's loudly protesting until I see that she's looking admiringly out the window.

We are enjoying the Christmas season and looking forward to seeing lots of Castletons and McCunes and some Hawleys in the next few weeks. We are wishing we could see the rest of you too!

I hope you are each enjoying sweet times with family and friends in this wonderful time of year that softens our hearts and reminds us to be more loving and generous, a little more like the Savior each day.

Much love!

Shannon

Skiing Begins in the North West!

November can be a tough month in Vancouver BC. The days are short, the sun rises at 7:30 and sets at 4:30. And as usual for this time of year it has been raining for days.  Fortunately, with the progression of winter, there are also dropping temperatures, which of course means snow.  Not where we live at sea level but in the mountains.  

As I have been working away with school, skiing has been a consistent thought in my mind, though buried under academic pursuits.  It almost came as as surprise to learn that recent storms had brought over 50" of new snow to the coastal mountains. With work that could be all to easily postponed for another day, it only made sense to get outside. 

As a family we did the Gerabaldi Park classic, 5k skin to the Red Heather backcountry day lodge.  It didn't take long to figure out that skiing as a family is going to be a bit different this year.  Aurora is heavier, larger, and squirmier.  It's not going to be as simple as putting an immobile baby into a quilted snowsuit and going for it.  But, for today it worked out. She learned the word 'snow', now she needs to figure out 'ski', and not just to talk about it either.  

Skaha

Up here in Canada they celebrate Thanksgiving in October, so for us Americans living up abroad that means 2 turkey dinners!  We spent thanksgiving #1, on a camping/climbing road-trip weekend with our friends the Wild-Reilly's  to Okanagan Falls Provincial Park near Pentiction BC and home of the Skaha climbing scene. 

We had beautiful fall weather, the days were sunny and warm (in the sun) and the nights were clear and cold with a -10* Celsius. We kept kiddo bundled in a snow suit during the cold mornings and evenings and she waddled around camp looking like a puffy  orange          marshmallow.  We slept warm as a family cozily in van bed while the frost coated the windows and froze our drinking water. 

The climbing was excellent.  Aurora got on her first route a slab climb on at a crag appropriately named "the daycare wall".  She didn't do much actual climbing but I was on a toprope next to her and hoisted her up as I climbed. She was totally content to be up high, checking out the rock, chewing on the rope, and hanging out in her harness.  Not bad for 17-months.  

With all of the family centered climbing/camping and cold weather it seems that the only time the camera came out was when kids were doing something cool.  Next trip we will be sure to point the lens at other interesting things. 

Living the high life in Tofino

Our little toddler waiting for the next little wave to come in. 

She has grown exponentially lately--physically, verbally, mentally......

My parents out for a paddle on Dad's 72 birthday

Abe in our superhero outfit. 

We both rented surfboards and had a great time. 

The view from the cabin. Sigh..........

It was such a beautiful and refreshing vacation. Gorgeous settings, perfect company, great times in/on the water. A record four dates in one week for Abram and I. 

Many thanks to the parentals!!

Tofino with my parentals!

Them from wence I comes! Aren't they wonderful?

On the private patio (i.e. cement poured on a rocky outcropping) of the cabin in Tofino

Taking Aurorita out on a wet day--she is in love with her red boots. 

The fam with Jake's petit double kayak gracing the van. 

Summer in the City

Vancouver turns into a beach town in the summer. 

Despite our northern (from an American perspective) positioning, the bay here is quite shallow, so people are swimming all along the beaches until dark. Abe and Aurora have been visiting the various beaches this summer with good regularity--including our closest and most scenic Wreck Beach which also happens to be the clothes-optional spot. I however, have been swimming maybe six times this summer. Tragic, I know. I have been writing, working, and writing some more. If all goes well, I will finish the revisions on my graduating paper this week and be DONE with my masters degree. If you listen closely at night, you might hear me howling with joy and relief one night next week. 

Not only is it exciting to be done writing "scholarly" papers for a while, but I am also really looking forward to working part-time and putting more energy into other pursuits (adventures with Aurora, being able to put more time and energy into friendships here, gardening, making good food, sewing, and a million little projects I've been wanting to get to--don't I sound domestic?!). Maybe I'll finally start paddling weekly and being more balanced physically. 

I'm definitely looking forward to not having papers hanging over my head every time I have a moment to spare. That might sound like a lot of griping. Really, I feel very blessed that I've been able to balance motherhood, work and school at a world-class university. AND I'm ready to move on and apply my learning and drive. 

  I have been hired to lead two very different parent groups which I am excited about: Parent-Child Mother Goose and Strengthening Families. The Mother Goose program involves stories, rhymes, and songs with parents and small children sitting together in a circle. It is focused on building bonding between parents and children, encouraging language acquisition and literacy for kids, and helping parents connect with each other and develop support systems. I will be co-facilitating with librarians at two different food banks each week and Aurora gets to come with me--how great is that!  

The Strengthening Families Program is for families with kids 6-12 and is a focused intervention to help families draw closer together and prepare kids to withstand the pressures for drug abuse and other high-risk activities. Parents and kids have separate groups for half the night, share a meal and then have family activities based on what they've both been learning. Its been well-researched and shown to build family's communication and bonding as well as helping kids delay or completely avoid certain high-risk activities. I was trained for to facilitate this program several years ago in Washington and then my agency never put it on, so I'm really excited to be working with an aboriginal family services agency to share this program with families. 

I feel really blessed to be able to be starting work with families with these two program that are based on building family connections (and, admittedly, working to prevent a variety of troubles).      Wow, I just went on and on.....  Well, now you know what I'm up to. 

Ahhhhhh......summertime in the coastal Northwest is hard to beat. 

It's easy to forget all about the short, damp winter days.

Note the heavily loaded bike, I love how much you can bike here. This particular night we met up with friends Julia, Ugo, Jake and his visiting friend, Rie, and watched the last night of Vancouver's fireworks festival--put on by the Chinese. It was spectacular and, hilariously Aurora was awake for it. She watched intently and was still for the longest I've seen her while awake in ages.  (she is such an active little bundle of inquisitiveness these days!)

This is Ms. Aparna Rae giving Aurora her first ride on a bike by herself (in front of our apt).  She was giving off happy chirps and squawks throughout. 

[Aurora incidentally is crazy about bikes and all things with wheels which she can ride or push. She adores her bike helmet and will put it on anytime she can get her hands on it. We think she associates it with good times. ]

Aparna has been living with us this summer and it has been really, really great (at least for us:).  I have loved having another woman in the house to visit with--and gang up on Abe with.  Aurora adores Aparna.  Abe and I are both in awe of Aparna's culinary prowess. Add to that the she is incredibly generous ("Oh, Aurora was crying in the night, I thought I was just having a bad dream") and super fun to be with and you see why we love(d) to live with her. 

However, Aparna is wrapping up her masters in art education this week and tragically leaving us and her dude man for the allure of Seattle....or because she got a great job there. We are really going to miss her. 

Other occurrences in the McCune Dickerson household?

My folks are here and we are heading for a holiday to Tofino for a whole week--wahoooooo! I'm looking forward to taking them out sea kayaking and reading books and playing on the beach with Aurorita. 

Well, this has been a bit disjointed, but now you have a glimpse of what we've been up to lately.  I hope you are having a wonderful, sunny summer too. 

Howe Sound Crest Trail

Summer is in full effect here in BC.  Sunny day follows sunny day and unfortunately we are busy with school.  Blagh.  Things are especially hectic with some accelerated summer courses.  The good news is Shannon is wrapping up her degree and I am knocking out all but one of my required courses.  The bad news is all the work translates into long days and late nights. This has thankfully been made possible by several generous neighbors who have been watching Aurora.  THANKS!

This weekend was a forced exception to the madness.  Shannon is in an outdoor education class that required her to spend the weekend camping and kayaking (tough class eh).  So with mom away and the subsequent lack of hope to do any work, Aurora and I, so reluctantly, took the day to hang out OUTSIDE.  

With my other family climbing friends committed to other tasks, we opted for a hike.  After dropping Shannon off at the ferry we were on the North Shore of Vancouver and headed for the Howe Sound Coast Crest Trail.  We had a good time; 6 hours of walking with 21 lbs of live weight and several more  in food, water, diapers, baby-pack, extra clothes for kid, and stuff.  Chalk that up to a committment to outdoor parenting and training.  I'll be psyched for classes to end and get out some more in late July and August!

Finding the Real with Michael Jackson

So I am in a diversity and multiculturalism class, and we had to respond to a blog posting on the sexual and racial identities performed by Michel Jackson.  Here were my thoughts:

Where does one find the "real" with Michael Jackson?  Certainly his music, his dance, and innovation as a performer have literally moved millions of people. Whom among those growing up in the era, or shadow of the era, of “Thriller” or “Beat it” has not spent at least some time trying, unsuccessfully in my case, to appropriate a personal version of the “moon walk”.  Few can contest that the man had moves and he had rhythm.  In these realms I celebrate his life and contributions to the world.    

In relation to the sexual and racial contradictions enacted throughout his life I find it harder to find the “real”. Possibly it is precisely the unknown and fluidity of his sexual and racial positioning which drew increased attention to his passing.  With millions of viewers watching was it all an honoring and paying of respects? Or was there a perverse hope that in his death and the cameras decent into Neverland the chance of revealing some scrap of evidence that might add certainty to an identity that is shrouded in mystery, conjecture, and option. 

What remains certain is the uncertainty.  MJ's personal struggles with identity manifested in personal transformation were played out in the media’s eye, uninhibited by any financial constraint. He could afford to manipulate physically that which others grapple with in quiet and hidden places. Many people conduct identity experiments and alterations.  Usually these are manifested in a new wardrobe, trying a new hair color, a tattoo, or a piercing.  Few carry their experiments to the extent and audience of MJ.  Possibly his vivid and exaggerated uncertain sense of self and subsequent physical manipulation was the hyper version or the supersize of our own questions and experiments with self?

 What is real is the gratitude I have for those who were patient, non-judgmental, and compassionate with me in and through my search for self.  If others struggle as Michael did, and they do, maybe we should supersize our compassion?

The STATS

In addition to the fact that our little darling is past the one year mark, I thought we should share some of her latest accomplishments and signature moves. 

First word: Hey!

Second word: Hi!

Oh yes, this is a social little creature. She often uses Hey! to get strangers' attention or to greet people entering a room.

Others which are occasionally repeated: Da da (sometimes meaning Abe), Mama (sometimes for me)

Bye!

Wagon (agon--close enough)

Loolo (must be important, she says it all the time:)

De de (for Aparna de de, our fabulous roomie)

Yesterday she did something clever and I said "Good job" and she said " ood ob!

First birthday gift: bike helmet

Aurora LOVES riding on the bike with us. She laughs and kicks her little legs and starts pointing at things we past and narrating. She really enjoyed going out for cycles when we were visiting my folks in the desert and getting to sneak up

 on Grandma or Grandpa. 

Favorite sport: Climbing

I know, I know, but we don't have horses yet and somehow taking her kayaking, well, it just doesn't seem to be time yet. Something about those hypothermic waters.....

At the end of this post there's video evidence of her first major ascent (after 2 weeks of trying)

 Most trusted mode of falling asleep: the jogger

Most enthusiastic caregiver: Grandma McCune

First discovery of whipped cream: May 15

Preferred mode of travel: Scooting

She sits upright with the right leg tucked under and her pulls herself around with the left leg leading out. I'll have to upload a video of it, but as you'll see below, our camera seems to record in hyper mode....

First series of steps (4!): June 18 with Grandma McCune

I really think with the scooting and speed of crawling, she just hasn't been that motivated to try to walk more, but she'll be walking the rest of her life

 (God willing), so we're in no hurry to rush her out of scooting. 

Climbing things however, is a major temptation.....

ONE

This posting is coming over a month late, but our little lady is growing up.  As long as she continues to "scoot" and crawl we can get away with calling her a "baby" but I don't expect that to last much longer.   

Ronin's Corner

When the sun comes out in the North West this place is hard to beat.  We took advantage of another sun filled saturday climbing with friends in Squamish.  This weekend we joined forces with some friends, McKay, Julianne and Banyan for another family day at the crag. 

Spring Climbing in Squamish

Spring is happening here in the North West.  We took advantage of the beautiful day, driving up to Squamish to climb with the WildReilly family.  This has become something of a tradition. Waking up saturday morning, packing up, driving along the Sea-to-Sky highway to the "Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada".  
Instead of heading straight to the crag, we end up at Jen, Chris, and Eric's home and have breakfast.  This time it was french toast, maple, syrup, and fruit salad on a sunny deck looking out over the mountain scenery.  What starts out as a slow morning, always turns into a full afternoon.  
We climbed at the smoke bluffs; the octopus's garden wall that had a good mix of moderate to challenging crack climbs.   Aurora slept for an hour in a small pack and play that we had carried up with us and then spent the whole afternoon playing, eating, crawling and hanging out with Eric.  We are psyched that she is always so chill hanging out outside.  Shannon had a great climbing experience, ticking several climbs including an awkward 5.8 off hands route that was really pretty tricky. We climbed the entire afternoon, juggling belays, kids, and climbing.  As usual it was great afternoon and another successful day of family climbing.   

St. George

After a whirlwind of classes, papers, conference presentations, Bethany's wedding, more papers, and research work; things took a welcome pause in St. George. The desert was in spring bloom and the temperatures were on the rise.  Our North West climatization had us running for the shade.  We had a good visit with Shannon's parents and spent some time bouldering in Pioneer park.  Several times I had driven along skyline boulevard, past large white house-painted  "DIXIE" on the south facing cliffs overlooking St. George, and thought "I am sure there is some bouldering back in there."  Sure enough in the local guide book the bouldering section included a brief description of un-rated problems on good rock that were easy access and family friendly. There were several things I'd like to try again with a larger crash pad and a spotter who wasn't distracted with an 11 month old discovering cacti.  The great thing about having family in that part of the world is we always find our way back there.      

Bethany Rose Barnes

It is still a shock for me to see these photo of my sister... Married! When did she grow up?  When did she become such a beautiful, hilarious, intelligent, caring, and capable woman?  We had a wonderful time with Bethany, her now husband Christopher, and most of our combined families.  I had he humbling privilege to be the surrogate father, as my folks are on a mission in Cambodia.  We had a fun filled reception followed by a beautiful and simple ceremony the following day at the Salt Lake Temple.  CONGRATULATIONS Bethany and Christopher!

A Political Cartoon I can Especially Appreciate

Ultimate

After what seems like months of talk, a few of the local young family folks from the ward finally came together for some ultimate frisbee.  Saturday was a classic NW cool rainy saturday, a perfect day for running, diving, and catching a disc.  The original idea was that shannon and I would take turns with kid.  Which worked out well until it was my turn to sit on the sidelines.  Auora ended up (as usual) on the back, in the pack, and played a great game.  We scored twice, one a double knee slide in the mud, and she had a great time.  She ugghaagggg-eeeeedddd up and down the field as we sprinted after the disc.

In the end all the action took its toll.  She was asleep as the last plays of the game were made. 

Skiing in Squamish with the WildReillys

Woo hooo!!

Reason 1 why you non-British Columbians should come visit us: yes, we are skiing and that is the ocean behind us. 

 Last Saturday, instead of Abe and I splitting the day to study or hang out with Aurora, I made the incredibly self-sacrifical decision to let Abe have the whole day to study (oh, and then I would get Monday) whilst I whisked Aurora off to ski with Eric, Jen and Kris in Squamish. Its been a hectic month for school, so I really think it was quite gracious of me to let him have the day, don't you?

It was a 5 km skin up an old logging road through the forest and then up into more open, subalpine meadows. We took a lovely little lunch break at the Red Heather shelter, which gave Aurora an opportunity to demonstrate her complete affection for Eric (2 years). Let me preface this with this shocking list.

Top People Aurora Smooches

1. Abe/DaDa

2. Eric

3. Shannon/MaMa/provider of sustenance and unconditional snuggles

So lets just say that she seriously adores Eric. The first thing she did when she saw him at his house that morning was crawl over to him, pull herself up by his shirt, and smooch him. 

Here they are sharing a snuggle. 

So, Aurora is really into food these days. Especially fruit. 

This is the first time I've ever seen her share. And it really seemed quite intentional.

So, then we headed up for a little longer. Unfortunately the sun came out and it was gorgeous. I was really kicking myself for not trying to get in a few hours of studying. 

here's Eric in his sweet chariot on skis. 

And these are Eric's awesome little skis. He was pretty psyched to get out of the chariot and head down with his Dad-man. And then he gallantly let Aurora ride in his chariot on the way down. 

It was pretty fun to tow her behind me. I got a pretty big kick out of it, especially going over little hills, etc. No squeals of excitement yet, but maybe next year....

All in all, we had a wonderful time and fresh snow made up for the week of rain down below. I have to admit I really do love winter. It was a beautiful day and really great to spend time with the superbly supportive WildReillys.