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!