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. 

Let the Garden Begin!

Last fall when we arrived at UBC, we were pretty psyched to find that as students living on campus we could apply to have a plot in the community garden.  That in of itself was cool, but even better this spring I applied for and was hired to be one of 2 Community Garden Coordinators.  The position doesn't mean much other than a free plot and a small stipend in exchange for some organizing but, we are finding there are some other perks. 

Recently Shannon, Aurora, and I have been doing some plot cleaning and scored lots of herbs and strawberry plants.   Coordination/cleaning means we have first dibs on what has been abandoned by gardeners who have moved on.  This weekend our entry way transformed from bare dirt and weeds to, what appears to be, an established herb and strawberry garden.  We are psyched.  Hopefully our transplants live the rest of the winter an if all goes as hoped this summer we will  have strawberries growing 2 steps out our front door. 

Dirty Duo 25K

My relationship with running has has it's ups and downs.  The past 6 months the relationship has been pretty good.   The trails are an easy  3 min walk away and Aurora has been my running partner/motivation.  We have done some "longer" 2 hour runs and some weeks we have gotten out 2 or 3 time, overall it has been consistent.  Naturally my thoughts gravitated to some extra "umph" to the training so I signed up for a 25K trail run/race.  Shortly after the consistency took a dive.  I got sick, then it was reading week, and then Aurora (my motivation) went to Utah with Shannon.  And then it was race week! 4 Days before the race I did a 2 hour run with Aurora which included laps on the hills down to the beach.  I figured, I can pull this off for another hour or so.

It went pretty well.  A 3 hr 20 min, was a mid-range time, and I was able to walk the same day. However, I was handed some humility.  The hills I have been training on I run with Aurora in her jogger, not a good prep for the elevation gain/loss and the technicality of the trails found on Vancouver's North Shore.  Overall I had "fun" it was a good challenge and I was totally impressed with the other I ran with.  There were some folks, men and women, with 10 or 15 years on me who smoked me. 

I have/had been entertaining the whole "run my age"  thing this summer.  But this race helped me to see that to pull that off I will need to do more than go out and jog with kid.  It would mean sacrificing actual play/ski/climbing time which would make me a "runner" instead of some guy who likes to keep fit while running with his kid. 

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.