Squamish Climbing

This term at school Shannon and I each have 2 classes, we haven't done any daycare so we end up with a lot of juggling of kid.  One of the ways Shannon gets an entire afternoon to study is for Aurora and I to go to the climbing gym.  Usually we boulder, but about a month ago Aurora met Eric at the gym.  He was there with his parents and we spent that afternoon and a few others since then gym climbing as families.  Eric lives in Squamish and with a forecast for beautiful weekend of weather we got invited up for a day of climbing outside.

We climbed at the South Facing Smoke Bluffs Penny Lane crags,  Eric did some boudldering and swinging from his harness.  Aurora ate dirt, leaves, rocks, and hung out with Eric in his chariot.  They really do play together which is quite entertaining. Both kids did great all day and were super great to hang out with between climbs.

It is fantastic to be able to get out with other like-minded folks who share the sense that getting outside as a family is normal and totally doable with young kids. It's fun to swap tales of camping trips with infants, skiing, and cragging as families with others who can relate to both dynamics of climbing and parenting.   Importantly it helps to continue and expand the vision of possible trips.  

Kris and Jen (Eric's Parents) were both great to climb with.  Shannon roped up for the first time outside since Aurora was born and did great!  She had lots of encouragement and support and genuinely enjoyed her climbing experience.  Which bodes well for many more trips this summer.   

Mt. Baker Backcountry, First Family Ski Trip

Skiing/Snow conditions in the North West this year have been pretty poor.  We had a huge storm mid December but since then the accumulations have been marginal to meager. One benefit to sparse storms for family skiing is a bombproof snowpack.   This week Shannon and I had our "Reading Week" the Canadian equivalent to a spring break, and decided it was time to take our snow angel out for some turns.    

Kid had a pretty good time. We went out for almost 4 hours with her in the pack on the back and she didn't complain once.  

We skinned for almost 2 hours to the saddle between Table Mtn. and Mt. Herman. By the time we reached our high point Aurora was asleep.  She woke up as we took off our skins and made preparations for the downhill.. 

She was pretty mellow with the actual ski turns, she let out a few "uuuggghhhmmmmppphhhh's" 

Not what I interpreted as squeals of joy, but no tears and no fears.  

We had a great time, and are actually okay with it raining today in hopes that the snow will improve and we can do some more family touring this season.

Shots and Thoughts From Home

We have had a few adventures of late that have motivated us to download images off the camera and update the family blog.  These are a few images and thoughts as life happens for us in BC!

 Shannon and I have both taken advantage of Auroras capacity of sleeping in the jogger.  Combine her ability to sleep with the miles of trails from our backdoor and the result is no excuse for regular trail runs.  I have gone on more trail runs post parenthood then ever before. The Pacific Spirit Regional Park, part of the university endowment lands, is literally our backyard.   Now that we have been running for a while it is amazing the link ups, loops, and connections we have been able to make.  We can get from our door to the beach overlooking the north shore mountains and downtown, all on trail in under 1/2 hour.  It is more positive punishment than fun but, it has motivated me to sign up for a few trail run races this spring/summer to keep up the psyche.

This is the post nap in the pack position.  It really is quite hilarious.  The baby pack is for us an absolute parenting essential.  It becomes the key to multi-tasking, laundry, dishes, skiing, biking, running stairs, reading, and just about every task possible.  Aurora doesn't live in this thing, but she rarely misses a day where she gets strapped into it. 

 

This grin is all about our newly acquired 1981 vintage Vitamix Blender.  With it we found some recipes for "green" smoothies. Banana, pear, vanilla soymilk, frozen melon, and spinach- Aurora loves it, and it matches her outfit.