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. 

Desert Holiday

These are some photos from the last week in St. George Utah.  Shannon's folks live here and it is always an anticipated opportunity to come and visit.  Usually we can expect to have all sunshine and warm weather; this year was an anomaly with almost 2 weeks of snow and a white Christmas!

We managed to get in a few hikes as a family.  Aurora is right at home in the back-pack, there has maybe only been a handfull of days of her life that she hasn't spend some time in a carried contraption. What that means is she is pretty mellow as she is carried across the desert, up mountains, and rock climbing trips.  We are beginning to think that we can take her skiing in the backcountry this way (moderate safe terrain only).  

Views of where we live--Shannon speaks again....

Here are Abram and Aurora after we all biked down to the beach for dinner.

This is on the rocky western edge of Jericho Beach. You can barely make out downtown Vancouver in the background between the two gigantic ships.

This is a (craning) view from our upstairs bedroom window of our shared backyard. There are just two buildings making a V which is filled in with the grass and trees and one tiny jungle gym. Our main view from this room is of three red (well, they used to be, now they're bare) trees backdropped by a towering row of dark green cedars. Behind the cedars is the path to our community centre where I work.
Our patio doesn't have any nice furniture, just Aurora's jogger and my kayak hanging under the eaves.

Our darling in her megasuit.

Enjoying a walk in the forest along Whatcom Creek while we were back visiting Bellingham. I love the moss and ferns. I love how much of the green stays through the winter (admittedly, however, I would trade it for snowy winters)

We're enjoying where we are while we're here. We feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place.

It is amazing.

Where we live

Wayfinding at UBC

Click on the link above and then scroll down to see the map.

I just wanted to post a map of University of British Columbia's campus. We're always trying to explain to everyone how amazing the location is: ocean, acres of forest, and campus and our home smashed in between. We live in "Acadia Park," if you want to try out your map skills. What the map doesn't show, is that the forest behind us extends for miles east, north and south of us. We've really been enjoying running in there, submerged in the green of coastal forest.

The University is out on a peninsula, Point Grey. Following the coastline from the northern most point of this map, you would go along a long section of ocean access, Jericho Beach, and would see downtown Vancouver in the distance. I'll add a photo of Abe with Aurora from the wooded part of Jericho Beach.
It really is a phenomenal city as far as layout and natural beauty go. You can be all alone walking along the beach and you're about 6 miles from downtown.

Speaking of beaches.... As if you didn't already have reason enough to come and visit us, Wreck Beach (find it on the map) which is accessed pretty much from campus, is a nude beach. They have annual "Buns on the Run" to raise funds and awareness.... Need I say more?

Halloween (shannon's debut blogging post)

Aurora didn't know what was coming.

She didn't know that her tights said "troublemaker" on the back, for instance.
And since she's still far from fluent in any languge, no one could have told her.
Such is the travesty of being an infant on Halloween.


Or, any day I suppose.

Another case of infant ignorance: she still doesn't realize that her main nickname "Bug"
(as derived from the Latin root, Snugglebug)
might signify to others like she is an instect.



So, taking full advantage of the fact that she had absolutely no say
on what she wanted to be for Halloween this year,
I turned her Baby Bjorn (carrier) into a caterpiller suit.

And Abe made these fabulous butterfly wings for us parental types. My only complaint was that they were so small.

If you're still reading now that the pictures are over, we had a good time as family bug types.
The leadership and volunteering group that I run with our teens living on-campus was getting together to go "Trick or Eating" for canned goods. After a ridiculous amount of emails back and forth with these kids ("Do we have to wear costumes?" "Should I bring a bag?"), I realized that this was probably the first trick or treating for quite a few of the youth as they are internationals. I think a grand total of 4 out of the eleven that showed up were in some way dressed up, and then they wouldn't take the candy I was offering them! Things are usually hit and miss with teens I suppose, but this population is quite different from the kids we've been working and living with for the last few years (seriously, who turns down free chocolate!)
So, I made Bloody Finger cookies while they were out collecting goods....(they look gruesome, but it's just PB and powdered sugar with almond sliver fingernails). Those made some waves, but eventually most of the kids at least tried one.
It definitely was fun to see how this crazy holiday of ours is received for the first time by newcomers. Our little Canadian neighbor girls (7 and 9) thought the bloody fingers were "coooool" while our 10 year old Korean neighbor boy told his mom they were too creepy to eat, but he did want to take a picture of them.