Chronicling the crazy

42 before 42.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 22:51:00 +0000

Tomorrow I turn 42. One of my goals was to run a marathon (42km) before I turn 42 years old. I've been saying '42 before 42' for a few years. Five years ago in 2020, I signed up to run the BMO marathon. I also signed Simon up without asking him. (It's easier asking for forgiveness than permission, haha). I was training hard for it and in March 2020, just 6 weeks out from race day, COVID changed everything. The BMO marathon, as well as everything else, shut down. I was so disappointed. All those long runs. All that training. The race organizers encouraged everyone to do their own 'virtual marathons' and they would mail participants the medal. Well, it wasn't the marathon I had imagined, but the Covid-edition of my first marathon was amazing. I ran 42.2km with my husband, and since all our friends were trapped inside their houses with nowhere to go, we had so many friends show up along our marathon route, holding signs, banging pots and pans, and cheering us on. We gave socially distanced hugs and high 5's to all our friends along our route and crossed the finish line at Spanish Banks with our kids holding a stream of toilet paper as the finish line. Core memory indeed.

After that amazing experience and running 42.2km together, Simon vowed he would never do a marathon again. Fair enough, I guess he never signed up to do one in the first place. But for me, even though I did run 42.2km in distance, I didn't think it counted as a 'real' marathon. So since 2020, I have wanted another attempt at the BMO marathon 'for real'. I am turning 42 this year, this was THE year to run 42 before 42. I told myself it was my last chance. My swan song. My final bow before I get too old to do it. So I signed up to run the BMO full marathon again and this time it didn't get cancelled. It was a sold-out event, and it was thrilling to run with 25,000 random strangers.

My sister and I ran it together, which was pretty special too. I was wholly fearful of having to use the porta-potty during the race so I tried to drink as little water as possible. Everything was going great for the first half of the marathon. I was LOVING every minute of it. The crowds cheering. The signs. Oh, I love the race signs. Things like "Pain is Tempory, Strava is Forever", "Toenails are overrated", "Pain is only French for bread", and "I carboloaded with you in solidarity". My own son had a sign for me that said, "Not all heroes wear capes, some wear running shoes! You carried me for 9 months, what's a marathon?" Loved it. So fun.

However, close to the 30km mark, the lack of water was causing my leg to cramp up and when I stopped to get a pebble out of my shoe, I almost fell over and it was SO hard to keep going but God knew what I needed and when I was mentally struggling, I saw my super-fan family - they biked and cheered me along the last stretch of the race. It was the adrenaline I needed. My sister, who was hydrating properly, even waited for me so we could hold hands and cross the finish line together. Official chip time 4:11:06.

We got our finisher medals and then I went into the medic tent. I thought I might need an IV but they just advised me hydrate so I downed a litre of water and got some muscle gel on my calf. I hobbled over to my cheer squad family. I was so proud that I actually did it. I had eaten so many caffeine energy gels that my heart was racing abnormally fast even after the race, but I was also feeling so depleted. I wanted to jump for joy and collapse and sleep at the same time.

So bucket list completed. Tomorrow I turn 42, and I am happy to say that I was able to check that box: 42 before 42. And I don't think I will ever run a full marathon ever again.

the Hiker's Dozen: 12 of the most epic hikes in BC (and the ones that are not worth the hype)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 23:03:00 +0000

We just got back from a hike that has been on my buckelist for years and I am glad we waited til the kids were a bit older to do it because it was HARD. We have been hiking with the kids before they could even walk. SuperDad used to trek up mountains with baby Nallie in the backpack. I have been scrolling pictures on my phone and we have done a lot of hiking so I decided to compile them all. These hikes make my it-list. This is the Hiker's Dozen: 12 of the most epic hikes in BC - as well as some honourable mentions and ones that I don't think are worth the hype. All the hikes are linked to the map on AllTrails

12. Lindeman Lake

My sister and I took my 70-year-old mom to do this hike on Mother's Day. We navigated this trail at an easy pace and the hike took just over 2 hours out-and-back. Gorgeous lake!

11.Widgeon Falls

If you know me, you know I love a good adventure and you can't get to the trailhead to Widgeon Falls unless you cross Widgeon Slough. You can take a canoe, kayak or SUPs. I don't think the kid's $100 Costco kayaks were meant for this type of paddle, so it was a bit tricky making it and we ended up having to tow them on the way back connected to our SUPs but I guess that's all part of the adventure.

10.Stawamus Chief

Classic westcoast hike: the kids love a hike with ropes, chains, and ladders and this one has all of them. They loved feeling like ninja warriors scaling up the rock near the end of the hike to sweeping views of the ocean

9. Jurassic Ridge

We love camping at Porteau Cove, and we do this hike every summer. It's fun to watch the mountain climbers as you hike and it's usually not as crowded as other hikes and the view from the top is pretty amazing.

8.Suicide Bluff

One of our family favourites at Mt. Seymour, we have hiked it so many times in different seasons. It's not well marked but SuperDad knows this route really well.

7.Brockton and keep going to Pump Peak

These two are also at Mt. Seymour, Brockton is an easy one, and we backpacked to Brockton last May to try one night of snow camping. We hoped to see the northern lights as well but it wasn't visible to the naked eye, but our phones picked up some colors. Of course, you can keep hiking from Brockton all the way to Pump Peak. We've done this a number of times as well, it feels like quite the accomplishment when you make it to the top and see the sign post of 1,407m of elevation. Pump Peak is another great hike to do in multiple seasons.

6.Sea to Summit

We have done this hike with the kids twice, it's a fun terrain and nice to have a restaurant at the top, more trails if you're not tired, and take the gondola instead of walking back down. You can tell who hiked up and who took the gondola up by how disheveled and sweaty people are at the top. We hiked this on one of the hottest days of the summer. It was a hot mess kinda day, and the overpriced popsicle at the top was well worth it.

5.Mt. Cheam

Warning: do not attempt this hike unless you have a 4x4 vehicle with a high clearance to make it to the trailhead; that is the hardest part of this hike. We saw some truly sketchy things happen with vehicles trying to make it to the parking lot. Once your vehicle has made it to the parking lot, the rest of the hike is great. The day we hiked Mt. Cheam, the clouds were covering most of the way until we made it to the summit, and it was blue skies, alpine flowers and glorious sunshine. It felt like we had entered another magical universe.

4.Joffre Lake

I backpacked here with my sister a few years ago, definitely not as easy with all the overnight gear, but very doable. The best part about camping overnight is that after all the day hikers have gone, you can sit at the top and enjoy sunset and sunrise with very few other people.

3.Garabaldi Lake and keep going to Panorama Ridge

We backpacked to Garabaldi when the kids were 6 and 8, it was a lot of effort since the kids couldn't carry much at that age. We camped at Taylor Meadows and other than 6-year-old LittleBro almost throwing up inside the tent after eating the freeze-fried mac and cheese, it was a really successful backpacking trip. We did it again a couple years later when the kids were 8 and 10 years old and camped at Garabaldi Lake this time for two nights. We hiked to Panorama Ridge the second day and the view from the top is just as breath-taking as all the Instagram photos promises it to be.

2.Highnote trail

I don't usually like paying to go hiking, but my husband surprised me with a Whistler trip for me and my besties for my 40th birthday. We took the Peak2Peak gondola, which isn't cheap, but wow, this is one stunning trail. Alpine wildflowers and the views are gorgeous the entire way. One of the most beautiful and relatively easy hikes in Whistler.

1.Wedgemount Lake

This hike has been on my bucket list for years, but it's a challenging one, and we finally conquered it this summer! It is just as hard as I thought it would be and I am glad the kids were 11 and 13 when we did it. This one required poles and navigating creek crossings and a super steep scramble for the last section. Lots of marmots along the trail and when you finally make it to the lake, the turquoise color of it will take your breath away. I packed a candle and roasting sticks and the highlight was making s'mores at the top. It took our family 8 hours of moving time. We left the parking lot at 9am and didn't make it back til 7pm. So nice to drive the 20 mins back to Whistler and crash after.

Honourable mentions but didn't make the list:

Hollyburn peak

The kids hiked this one fairly easily during the winter, it took us a few hours up and down and they loved the whiskey jacks at the top.

BCMC or the more popular Grouse Grind.

Personally, I prefer the BCMC trail versus the never-ending stairmaster of the Grind but both are a good short but steep hike that will get your heart pumping fast. The first time LittleBro hiked the Grind he was 3 years old, I promised him a popsicle if he made it to the top by himself, and he succeeded.

Cypress Falls

This is a nice easy hike in the forest, nothing super epic, but perfect to get the family out on a Saturday afternoon

Lighthouse Park

Not an epic hike but really easy for the kids when they were younger, we told them they could take their dragons for a hike and it kept them going the whole way.

Not worth the hype:

Tunnel Bluffs

Our kids love a challenging hike, steep incline, big rocks to climb on, creek crossings, big logs to climb over and this trail is mostly wide and gravel...you could probably push a stroller up the whole way if you wanted to, the kids were not impressed and although the view is nice at the end, it wasn't very stimulating as a hike

Mamquam Falls

Again, this one isn't worth the hype because it's not even really a hike. It's just over 1km long on a gravel road. You get to the viewpoint (the waterfall) in less than 15 minutes and you didn't even elevate your heartrate at all.

Quarry Rock

Yes, the view is nice at the top but way too crowded for me. I'd rather hike somewhere further out and more difficult, so there aren't 200 people at the top all trying to take a selfie

So there you have it, we have been hiking with our kiddos since they were born. SuperDad has been chucking them on mountain tops before they could walk. Here is our baby girl soaring to the sky at the top of Pump Peak at Mt. Seymour

Our kids have been hiking as soon as they could walk. We started hiking with them when it would have been easier to jut stay at home and when they didn't even make hiking poles or hiking boots in toddler sizes.

When they were younger, it was a lot of effort. We played games during the hike, endless hours of "I spy", the alphabet game, and "I'm going to Mars and I'm bringing..." We made up challenges for the kids to find the next trail marker. They brought their stuffies along. We pretended to be ninjas together in the forest and climbed rocks. We harnessed powers like the Wild Kratts and pretended to have special animal powers. Unspeakable amounts of Sour patch gummies were involved. There were times when there was whinning and complaining and we questioned why we thought this would be fun. But I'm so glad that we didn't stop climbing mountains because now the brainwashing has worked, and our not-so-little kids enjoy the great outdoors as much as we do. So what are you waiting for? The mountains are calling. Go and take a hike. #Adventuresawaits

NEVADA and ARIZONA : 10 do's and don'ts

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 02:34:00 +0000

My parents are now retired, and a few years ago they suggested that we should take a family trip together. We have not been able to come to a consensus about where to go until now. The first suggestion was maybe a cruise to Alaska, but we were concerned about seasickness and being confined to a boat, so we ditched that idea. Then we thought maybe Costa Rica, but my sister did her Master's degree there and all of us except the kids have already been to Costa Rica so it wouldn't be new and exciting. Then we thought maybe Portugal, but the thought of renting a vehicle for 8 people and navigating roads altogether sounded like a disaster. Then we thought about somewhere on Vancouver Island or one of those cute little islands off the coast of Washington, but the only time that worked for everyone's work schedules was spring break, and being in a cabin in March on the West Coast could be really wet and cold. My dad shared that he wanted to see the Grand Canyon, and then I thought about the 2017 Microsoft screensaver - you'll remember it once you see it. It's been my bucket-list to go to Antelope Canyon, and it's not that much farther from the Grand Canyon. And YES, there was a two-day tour with pick-up and drop-off from anywhere in Vegas. Hallelujah, we finally landed on a family trip that checked off all the boxes. Let's go.........

Let's talk about NEVADA first.

What to DO when you're in VEGAS

Do rent a car so you can drive to Red Rock Canyon. It took about 40 minutes to drive there from our place on the Vegas strip. This place is super popular, you'll need a reservation which costs $22. It's a gorgeous scenic 13 mile drive, and there are a lot of places to stop and hike. Make sure you spend lots of time at the first stop - Calico Hills. Stop at the Visitor's Center, it's a one-way drive so once you pass a lookout point, you can't go back.

Do some rock climbing. The hikes are Red Rock Canyon are self-guided so we had a great time exploring - we hike a lot and we call this 'scamper squirrel' mode - the kids fully embraced the freedrom to explore and were like mountain goats fuelled by RedBull climbing on the rocks. It's also a well-known location for real rock-climbers and it was fun to see them traversing up the sides.

Do take a picture of every Las Vegas sign you see. There's the real one when you drive into Las Vegas but as soon as you step off the plane, all along the strip and basically everywhere are Las Vegas signs imitating the iconic one here.

Do stay at a place with a kitchen so you don't have to eat out every meal. We stayed at a condo at Club Wyndham and did a grocery run at Costco on our first day so we only ate out when we wanted to. Speaking of groceries, though, eggs must be laid by golden hens in the States because a dozen eggs was almost $10 USD - that's like more than $1 per egg but we were on vacation, so we bought a dozen eggs and ate omelets like we were rich and famous.

Do use all the amenities at your hotel. Club Wyndham had two pools, two hot tubs, a theatre room, an arcade, ping pong tables, and a fitness room. We spent one of the days in Vegas mostly at our condo and didn't venture out on the strip until the evening. A warning though, if you're going to use the treadmill in the fitness center, you should probably not run at maximum speed in Crocs - even if they are in sport-mode. You might end up crashing and suffering injuries to both your legs. We discovered that the hotel has first-aid and got Polysporin and Band-Aids to patch Big Sis back up after her unfortunate mishap.

Do check out a magic show. I mean it's Vegas, you have to! We went to see Mat Franco at the LINQ and he was amazing. He's the one who won America's Got Talent. He does mind-blowing tricks and his final act every night is different. Trust me, his show is worth going to. There's no recording allowed so if you want to see a glimpse of his magic, you can check this clip. He did the same trick and sawed open a table that the audience was sitting at and reached inside to find the missing iPhone.

Do check out the displays and features of all the hotels. Go and do it all - the aquarium at Cesar's, the river canals at the Veneitian, the fountain at Bellagio, the botanical gardens at Bellagio, the flamingos at The Flamingo and there's so many stores. Lil Bro was most excited to find the Paris St. Germain store so he could spend his life savings on a PSG jersey. There was also really amazing fireworks one night. We were already in bed but heard the sound and watched a spectacular display of fireworks from our window!

So moving on to the list of DON'T-DO's in VEGAS

Don't get FOMO. It's the entertainment district and you would have to stay for months and have endless amounts of money to do it all. I felt it when I was there, I was panicking because we didn't go to Cirque, Jabbawockeez or the Sphere. Then I heard friends talk about Area 51 and the Musuem of Illusion and started getting immense FOMO. It's OK to not do it all - just enjoy what you do end up doing.

Don't get sucked in by the timeshare dude. We failed at this. They got to us when we were checking in, our flight wasdelayed flight and it was past midnight and we were so tired. The dude did not want to let us get to our hotel room until we said yes to the timeshare tour. We were naiive (and deliriously sleepy) and we said yes. We got lured in and lost 2 hours of our lives. We were indoctrinated by a salesperson who talked for an hour wonders of Wyndham timeshare and then had to sit down with a sales rep and in our most Canadian polite way decline over and over and over again. He tried to lure us in with luxury resorts around the world, and we told him we are from BC and we love camping. We love our tent in the dirt on the ground. We do not want to stay at 5-star resort in the tropics. We do not want to see any other parts of the world other than the view from our tent in the dirt. No thank you. But in the end we did 'earn' our reward - 8 tickets to the Highroller ferris wheel. Other seasoned timeshare attendees told us that we could have asked for more. One couple said their entire vacation was from going to the previous timeshare presentation. Wow. We have a lot to learn.

Don't go on the New York Coaster if you don't like towering drops and multiple upside-down loops. It's an iconic feature at the New York New York hotel but one look at how high the drops were and I knew I was out. Big Sis was up for it but no one else in our immediate family was brave enough. Luckily Auntie Driz was there and they bought the $25 tickets for the fearful ride. They enjoyed it so much they did it twice! It's $10 if you didn't throw up the first time and want to go again. They gave it 10/10 for fun and 3/10 for nausea, so that's a win. The fact that I didn't have to do it was the win for me.

Don't stop for In-N-Out Burger. Maybe it was all the hype, but I was expecting this burger to be really good and it wasn't bad but I am not on the In-N-Out bandwagon yet. But if you're looking for something cheap on the Vegas strip (because everything is outrageously overpriced), In-N-Out is not a bad option.

Don't walk the entire strip in one day. We split up the different ends of the strip into two days because it’s a lot to do it all in one day. You want to have enough energy to walk all 4 floors of the M&M Factory, the Coke store, the Hersey store and so many candy shops!

Don't fall for all the over-priced gimmicks and food venues. I almost spent $10 USD on a robot that served warm milk in a cookie cup but someone else paid for the machine, and we just got to watch the robot serve the milk & cookie which was good enough. The entire Food Network of chefs all have their own restaurant on the strip. Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay, Giada, and we started taking pictures with all the posters. I think Lil Bro nailed this pose.

Don't run over any tortoise! No, they're on the Vegas strip, but if you drive through Red Rock Canyon, apparently they're known to take shelter from the scorching heat under vehicles to their death and demise. We checked under our rental vehicle and hoped we could rescue a tortoise, but alas, could not find one.

Don't gamble it all away. As soon as you step off the airplane, the slot machines and casinos are unavoidable. We weren't tempted - we have watched enough movies to know the House always wins but you can't go to Vegas without at least taking a picture with one of the iconic larger-than-life slot machines.

What to DO in ARIZONA

Do get a guide. We booked a small tour through Max Tour and it was the best thing ever. The tour group was only 10 people, and 8 of them were our family group. There was a couple from the UK and our guide, Cash, who was awesome. It is so helpful going to see all these places with someone who has done all the research and literally has done it so many times and knows exactly where the most scenic spots are, which restaurants are worth eating at, which bathrooms are gross and should be avoided at all costs and Cash also did all the driving so we could just stare out the window awing at the topography of the canyons and desert.

Do take a picture halfway in Nevada and Arizona. Our tour started out at the Hoover Dam and there's a spot where you can have a foot in each state. Did you know that one state observes daylight saving and the other one doesn't, so if you stand in the middle, you could be in two different time zones? And in case you were wondering Vin Diesel didn't actually jump the Hoover Dam in Fast & Furious X, but still pretty cool to be there and imagine it happening.

Do get your kicks on route 66. Cash, our guide had a curated playlist that corresponded with the places we were at and cranked out the song "Route 66" as we drove along the iconic highway and pulled over for us to take this iconic picture.

Do eat at the places the locals love. We tried real brewed iced tea and stone-baked pizza at a fun pub in Williams, Arizona. Big John's BBQ in Page, Arizona has We ate delicious beef brisket on a picnic table outside while listening to a live band at Big John’s BBQ. And our tour guide was right - Bird House in Page, Arizona has the best fried chicken I've ever had. Get the honey butter chicken - it's so good.

Do stay on track and on time at the Grand Canyon. I had no idea just how GRAND the Grand Canyon was, it took most of the day just the drive along it. You could easily spend all day just at one part of the canyon. Our guide was great drove us to the best spots and had us set our timers at each location so we could see as much of it as we could in our limited time. I could have spent so much more time there!

Do celebrate milestone birthdays at one of the most scenic spots in the USA. My sister celebrated her 40th birthday the day we were at the Grand Canyon and I packed along some celebration decor to remember standing at this gorgeous lookout. Pretty epic way to ring in another decade!

Do Lower Antelope Canyon. It is just as spectacular as your 2007 Windows screensaver. Go in the morning - it's an underground canyon and the first tour starts at 8:30 am. There's less people and when the light comes into the canyon, it's magical and stunning. Antelope Canyon is on native (Navajo) land so the only way to see it is with a local Navajo guide. Our guide (Kenny) was so knowledgeable. When you first start the tour, you can't even see the canyons. You look out at the vast desert and wonder where you're going, and then you walk down these steep stairs and you're suddenly transported to this magical sandstone majestic place. It was so neat walking through the narrow crevices of the canyon, touching the sandstone and listening to our guide play the Navajo flute inside the tunnel.

Do Horseshoe Bend. This is another iconic spot that is worth seeing in real life. There are lots of trails to explore, and if you go farther out there are no crowds of tourists and you can climb mesas and really take in the incredible topography of Arizona.

Do trek a little into Utah. Cash took us also to Glen Canyon which, according to our guide and Wikipedia is a natural canyon carved out by the Colorado River. We crossed the border from Arizona to Utah to explore this less crowded canyon, which is pretty spectacular. We’ll have to come back to Utah to explore Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park in Utah. I promise there will be a future blog post when we properly see Utah.

Now onto the DON'T DO in ARIZONA

Don't forget to marvel at the mysterious jackalope. Mounted on the wall in the small time of Siegelman is the jackalope. Siegelman is the town of barely 400 people which inspired the movie Cars in the fictional Radiator Springs. You see find Tow Mater and the police car in town still! And if you go inside the visitor center you’ll see this mythical creature

Don't look down. At the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon, Cash asked if we wanted to go on a bonus trek to a great look-out spot. YESSSS we do! Then we saw the gap, but my Ennegram 7 self was fully activated and fun always trumps fear so we followed his instructions to cross the gap. Then I watched the kids bravely cross the divide and we climbed up to the most epic spot. I am sure my Garmin watch was registering off the chart heart palpitations at this moment. But we made it, and we didn't look down because if we did, I would have puked and passed out.

Standing at the edge of the canyon gap 😳

Little bro takes a big leap

We all jumped the gap and made it to the other side!

Don't touch the cactus but definitely take pictures with it! We actually saw a real tumbleweed in Arizona just like in the Western movies and we raced the tumbleweed along the road (we won)!

And that’s a wrap!!

It was an amazingly memorable trip and I’m so glad we did it! What a privilege it was to have a three-generation week away together!

Memories of Manning 2025.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 15:59:00 +0000

If I am counting it right, this is our 6th year of rocking the multi-family ski vacay. No easy feat to get 4 families with insanely busy schedules to carve out a weekend together.

The first year we started this tradition was 2019. The kids were so little and couldn't ski very well yet.

This was 2019...

It has been so amazing seeing the kids grow up and progress not just in their skiing abilities but from chubby-faced kids to teenagers. Look at these guys now all grown up. (Also amazing that we got a bunch of preteens and teenagers to still listen to us and cooperatively recreate a nostalgic picture from 2019!)

We upgraded to two premium cabins this year and it was perfect for two families to share a cabin. We took turns having one cabin cook dinner one night and the other cabin cook the other night. The kids all ate in one cabin and we enjoyed lovely adult conversation in the other cabin.

Manning is small enough of a mountain that the kids can ski on their own with their friends. What a difference it is now compared to when we first started coming to Manning when the kids couldn't get on and off the chairlift without tumbling down and pulling us down with us! It was a win-win for everyone to do laps on the chairlift with friends.

Our ski vacay also wouldn't be complete without our other traditions like the ladies only hike, the Menno-men bake-off and good ol' Candian hockey.

Feeling grateful for these lasting friendships. Being busy working parents with kids that play multiple sports, we don't get to connect as much as we'd like but it's a mutual understanding that it's just a season that we're in and once a year, we carve out this weekend and make some more memories together. And yes, we've already booked side-by-side cabins again for next year!

Birthday letter to my TEENAGE girl.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 06:32:00 +0000

To my beautiful girl,

13. Today. How did this happen? You are an inch from being the same height as me, you wear my shoes, you're going to high school after the summer and you're not a little girl anymore. You wanted to redecorate your room and honestly, it was a little sad peeling off all the adorable little woodland creature decals off your walls...you used to love that pink owl and the little bird art. You don’t want to sleep in the pink and white whale bed anymore, and that bed used to belong to me so it was a bit sad to process you’re not so little anymore.

As sad as ut was to see the little girl bed go, it was really amazing to new bed assembled and new bedroom decor while you were at camp for a week. I really wanted to have one of those Extreme Home Makeover moments where you walk in and see your new transformed room. It was worth watching the YouTube video multiple times and put that bed together in time for you to be so surprised.

Wasn't it just yesterday that you were this squishy toddler with a wild mop of wispy curly hair?

Just last month was your last day of elementary school, you have been so blessed to have so many amazing teachers and friends. Some of those friends (like Nala and Alexa) you have known you since they were born (like you literally met Nala hours after she was born and Auntie Rachael and I prophesized that you two would be besties for life).

Some of those friends (like Ella) you have known since you were in kindergarten and some of those friends you have made in your years of elementary school.

I'm really glad you have found such a solid friend group - they are fun, quirky and have good hearts just like you do. As you walked out those doors for the last time as elementary girls, I pray that as you walk in the doors as high school girls this fall, I pray you will be girls who are kind, grateful and love people immensely.

So a bit of a confession, your dad and I really have no idea what we were doing in terms of parenting, especially with a newborn. When you were born, being first-time parents, we tried to do everything right and then soon realized that there are so many different opinions of what is 'right'. I remember one nurse telling us to clip our fingernails so you don't scratch yourself and another nurse told us never use nail clippers but to gently chew off your nails! And one nurse said to let you breastfeed whenever you wanted and another nurse said to be on a schedule. I didn't want to mess you up and it was really overwhelming with all the advice and 'rules' from other people. Do I let you 'cry it out' and sleep train you or do I rush to you whenever you cry? I remember being so anxious when they let us leave with you at the hospital, we didn’t know what to do! You were so tiny, you grasped daddy’s finger in your delicate little hands and I knew my world would never be the same.

This picture was from your 3rd birthday. I can't believe that was a decade ago. Those were the bleary-eyed, exhausting days of parenthood. You were 3 and your little brother was almost 1. I don’t remember a lot, I didn’t sleep much trying to keep up with you and your baby brother…

And now today, I feel so blessed seeing you blow out the candles to your 13th birthday cake.

Somehow even though your dad and I had no idea what we were doing, by grace of God, you are so beautiful inside and out. You have a kind heart and you think about other people. You are intelligent and a voracious reader, you are working on collecting a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf of books. You have always loved animals and in the last decade, bunnies have been your favourite.

In the classroom and with people you don't know, you are a silent listener. The reoccurring comment on your report card from Kindergarten to Grade 7 was some form of, "Natallie is encouraged to share her thoughts and participate in class discussions." That's OK, I know you are listening and learning. You have lots of thoughts; if you're at home or with your friends, you laugh a lot and you have so much to say. And especially with your brother, he can bring the crazy out of you and make you laugh like no other person in the world. I hope you continue to grow in your friendship with each other. It’s really special what you guys have. Treasure it!

I hope you are feeling the love on your 13th birthday. You have so many people that love and adore you and so many people that have been praying for you since the day you were born. May you continue to walk with God as you mature. I can't believe you are a teenager today, I am so proud to be your mama. I know you're not so little anymore but you'll always be my firstborn and my beautiful baby girl.

Love you to the moon and back, Nallie!

XOXO…Mama

10 steps to an awesome kid-free getaway

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 04:55:00 +0000

This has never happened before. The kids are 10 and 12 and Simon and I have never been away without them for the last 12 years so when the stars aligned to have both of them attend camp at Anvil island for a whole week together, I was excited...

Step 1 - Send the kids away (hopefully to a place they are so stoked about and will be having too much fun to miss you). This would be camp at Anvil island. Last year, the kids went to camp together too but I decided to volunteer the week with them and I know from first-hand experience that a week here is a blast. If you're a parent then you know that you can't relax and enjoy yourself unless you know your kids are well taken care of and having a blast. We dropped off the kids 6:30 am Saturday morning and I knew they would have an adventure and so would we...

Step 2 - Pick somewhere not too far away. As much as I would have enjoyed going to Hawaii while the kids were away, I didn't want to be too far away in case there was an emergency and also I didn't want to do a big vacation without them. Honestly, I love my kiddos and it would be sad to go somewhere epic without them. Since we love hiking, biking and the great outdoors, we picked Sun Peaks in Kamloops.

Step 3 - Pack last minute. We were helping the kids pack their bags for camp that we didn't really get around to packing for ourselves until the morning we were supposed to leave but fitting everything in the truck is 100% easier when you don't have the kids and all their stuff.

Step 4 - Enjoy the drive. Our kids are used to the long trek to Grandma and Grandpa's farm so it's not like it's usually bad but without the kids in the pack, we listened to our favourite podcast American Scandal which is a true crime podcast told like historical non-fiction, it's so good and made the drive go by so fast.

Step 5 - Coordinate with friends. A couple of our good friends also sent their kids to the same camp and we were able to meet up at Sun Peaks all kid-free. It was so nice to have the freedom to do whatever we wanted and no one whined or asked for a snack or needed to pee when there weren't any bathrooms. It's the simple joys of life.

Step 6 - Bike into a postcard. Lift-access biking means you get to start at the alpine without pedaling uphill and the view is just stunning.

Step 7 - Hike into a postcard. Same as for biking - lift access hiking means you don't need to hike to the peak to the gorgeous views. The wildflowers are right there all along the hike. Looking at the view and the mountains just makes you want to sing "the hillllls are alive with the sound of music...."

The guys had an epic day in the bike park while we hiked and admired all the wildflowers

Step 7.5 - Bring bug spray. I sent the bug spray with my kids to camp and didn't think I would need it but I was wrong. So wrong. Like 25+ bug bites wrong. We had planned to have lunch at Tod Lake but there were so many mosquitoes, we couldn't even stop for a minute. We stayed still for a nanosecond to take this picture and then pedaled as fast as we could outta there.

Step 8 - Figure out the answer to the age-old question “What does the fox 🦊 say?” This fox was so curious and came up on the bike trail and stuck around for us to awe and posed for pictures. I adore wildlife so I was stoked that this fox wanted to hang out with us. And the answer is that the fox says nothing … at least this one didn’t make a sound.

Step 9 - Hotub with a view. The condo we rented had a hot tub facing Mt. Morrisey. It was 30+ degrees during the day so no one wanted anything to do with the hot tub but by 9:30 pm at night, it cooled down enough to enjoy the hot tub and the sunset.

Step 10 - Make new memories. Our oldest is turning 13 next week and everything has been a bit of blur since we had kids and we have never had a vacation without the kids. What a blessing it is to that Simon is still my favourite person to spend time with!

Spontaneous snow-camping (with a glimpse of Northern lights).

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 May 2024 03:28:00 +0000

Well that was fun!

How did we end up hiking up Seymour Saturday evening with headlamps and camp overnight?

It wasn’t even planned. Like at all. This whole trip came to fruition in a few hours. It started on Saturday morning when I woke up to what feels like EVERYONE posting pictures and messaging me about the northern lights. My sister sent me this picture she took:

“Oh it was spectacular!”

“Oh you didn’t see it? That’s too bad, it was glorious!”

“Oh you went to bed after the Canucks lost in overtime? You should have stayed up”

“It was amazing, SO many people were at the beach watching it too. Look at my pictures…”

So I started Saturday morning feeling major FOMO (fear of missing out) and I so disappointed that this spectacular event may never happen again in my lifetime in metro Vancouver. I went into a bit of a rabbit hole of articles on Northern light viewing and even downloaded the Aurora app (yes, there's an app for that!) It said to head somewhere away from lights and face north and look between 8:00pm to 2:00am. It said there might be a chance that May 11 could have a chance of seeing northern lights like the incredible light show that was on Friday evening. So I jokingly said, “What am I going to do? Hike up Seymour and set up a tent for the possibility of a glimpse of northern lights ??”

Of course my sensible and practical husband tried to talk me out of this and suggested driving to Iona beach or another location rational humans would gather for this opportunity.

I asked my kids how crazy would it be to hike up Seymour after dinner and tent in the snow overnight. They responded with, “that would be MOM crazy” (I didn’t even know that was an adjective for the level of crazy)

But the more I thought about the idea of it, the more appealing it sounded. Night hike! Snow camping! Constellations! Possibly Northern lights! Mountain sunrise!

The mountains are calling and I must go!

So I asked a couple of like-minded friends how crazy this idea was. Both of them it was a great idea and one said his family would be up for it. So by Saturday afternoon it became a real thing and then it was the mad scramble to prepare. None of our camping stuff was out yet so it was a race to find the camping stuff and then borrow extra packs and a lightweight tent from friends and jam everything in the packs.

The great thing about Mt Seymour is that it’s so accessible, we scrambled to pack, scarfed down supper and made it to the overnight P2 parking lot just after 8:00pm. We met up with the other crazy family and started hiking around 8:30pm just as the sun was starting to set.

I should have packed crampons because the snow was slushy and with the heavy pack it was not easy hiking. We made it to Brockton point in about an hour and the kids declared that we shouldn’t go any further and it was the perfect spot.

And it really was. We had a great view of the twinkling city lights in one direction and the glorious mountains in the other direction. This is snow camping so there are no tent pads. Based on my scrambled research about how to snow camp, you're supposed to find a flat area and pack down the snow. So we found the flattish spot we could find on the top of Brockton Point and we stomped around on the snow hoping that would make it a more suitable campground. We set up the tent successfully in the dark with our headlamps on. And then we took it all in…

Little Brother was cold and tired so he fell asleep almost right after we set up the tent. We joked that he’s in all the pictures because he was asleep inside the tent for all the pictures. Big Sis stayed awake til past 11:30 and then she went to sleep too. Honestly, I thought the northern lights would get brighter as we stayed up later but the glow was pretty much the same from 11:00pm til 1:00am when we finally crawled into our tents. We didn't see the bright red, pink, purple colors that everyone saw on Friday night but at least the cameras captured some of the colors and with the mountains and the constellations, it still looks pretty spectacular.

I wish I had slept that night but I didn’t. Sadly I forgot to pack an extra pair of socks and the ones I had on were wet from all the snow inside my hiking shoes. The good part about freezing and not sleeping was that by 5:15am, I knew I wouldn’t fall asleep so I just got up and sat and watched the sunrise above the mountains and that was pretty cool. So no breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day, everyone was still asleep in the tent but peace and quiet and gorgeous sunrise was a pretty great way to start Mothers Day.

I don’t think anyone slept well but I was impressed no one complained. The kids had great attitudes when they woke up, we had leftover cookies and candy (breakfast of champions) and we packed up our tent and trekked back down.

Sometimes the best things are spontaneous and this was one of them! Hopefully, the kids look back at the video of our adventure and say, "Our mom is crazy but that was totally worth it!"

Manning 2024.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 04:01:00 +0000

8 adults. 9 kids. Everyone on skis/snowboard and it gets better every year.

This is the 5th year we have done this so we are getting' pretty good at rockin' the multi-family vacation thing. Just remember these 5 things:

1. Rent chalets side-by-side. The ones at Manning are great. Each side of the chalet has a huge space with a double bed and 2 sets of bunk beds and two families share a kitchen. We had 2 chalets beside each other which was perfect.

2. Plan B where there isn't enough snow. This ski season has been disappointing for powder for all the mountains in the lower mainland. Usually, our crew skis for 2 days but this time we opted for only 1 ski day. There's lots of other things to do at Manning, the moms hiked lightening lakes and it was gorgeous. This was the first year we sent all 9 kids to the pool by themselves and no adult had to supervise.

3. Make the most of mediocre snow. With the snow barely covering the rocks, we were lucky the ski lift was even running. There were only 3 runs open, they must have taken all the existing snow to make it barely cover the cat track but the kids were happy to take off with their friends and skied all day. They spent more time in the rail park and practicing the “griddy” while skiing…

4. Hockey outside and inside. The boys all brought their hockey sticks and when they weren't skiing, they were either playing street hockey outside or watching the Canucks game inside the cabin. Noah doesn't have any brothers so he was SO thrilled to have so many boys to play hockey with.

5. Keep making memories. We've already booked next year.

Ode to Bella.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 17:44:00 +0000

Earlier this week, our sweet bunny passed away. Bella was much loved and it was a hard day when he died. The kids and I cried a lot. They wrote letters to Bella and buried them with him in our garden. Processing grief is hard, especially seeing it through the eyes of your own kids. Writing has always been helpful when I'm processing any emotion so here are my random thoughts about the sweetest bunny I've ever known.

The best $10 we ever spent. We were hesitant pet owners, after going through several fish and a hamster, we weren't sure if we were ready for real commitment but the kids really wanted some fluffy to love. The previous owner didn't want the commitment anymore and I saw the post on Craigslist for this adorable lop eared bunny and although I was suspicious of why it was so cheap, I couldn't resist that fluffy face, the kids were squealing with excitement and holding onto the pet carrier on the drive. And that was the best $10 we ever spent.

Boy or Girl? When we got the bunny, the owner said he wasn't sure of the gender and they had been calling it Thumper. Nallie was 6 years old at the time and completely obsessed with the Rainbow Fairly Magic book series. She insisted that the bunny needed to be named Bella after the book "Bella the Bunny Fairy." It was over a year and a half later when Bella got sick that we brought Bella to the vet and they told us that Bella was a boy. It was too hard to change the name at that point so Bella became Bella-Boy and then just Bells.

Bella inspired creativity like Nallie's poster project in Grade 2 and the song she wrote for piano class called "Ode to Bella". Bella kept me and the kids from going stir crazy during the covid lockdowns. Nallie spent days teaching him to do tricks and shared videos with her class.

Bunny dress up. Bella was such a good sport with being dressed up in various costumes. Bella had a costume at Halloween and was outside with us for the easter egg hunt. We even took the bunny out for walks to the park on a leash but I quickly learned that bunnies are prey animals and detest wide open spaces and will run at top speed into the nearest bush dragging the holder of the leash into the prickly bushes. After that, we didn’t take the bunny out to the park anymore.

Binkys. Zoomies. Bunny loaf. Bunny puddle. These are all words I know now. We know a lot more about bunny behaviour and bunny lingo that we did 7 years ago. We became experts at knowing when this bunny was excited, happy, mad and relaxed.

Lost and Found. Bella went missing during a rain storm in 2021. There were lots of tears that night thinking of all the dangers for a bunny. The next morning, I walked for hours around the neighbourhood looking under every car, bush and tree. I printed "Missing Bunny" signs and plastered them all around. The best phone call I ever received was from a lady who lived a couple blocks up and said she had found him. We ran up the street and rejoiced seeing our sweet Bells again. What a miracle.

Miracle bunny. Rabbits have delicate stomachs and one of the most common things that kills a bunny is GI (gastrointestinal) stasis. It is when there is gas trapped in the stomach and can kill a bunny in a matter of hours if untreated. The first time it happened, we were just about the go on a backpacking trip to Garabaldi, I brought Bella to the vet and was out of cell phone range for the next few days. My mom (PoPo) was the hero that brought Bella back from the vet and helped get the medicine to get him back to his hoppy self. The second time it happened was a few years later and the vet couldn't take him in and we had to google how to massage Bella's stomach to get the gas bubble out, administer medicine and Critical Care with a syringe. Thank goodness you can learn basically anything on YouTube. Bella defied the odds and after a week, he was back to his hoppy self. There were also so many times that Bella would dash out the front door to nibble on the strawberry leaves in our garden. Sometimes, Bella would run all the way up the front steps and hide underneath our vehicles and we had to lie down on the ground with hockey sticks trying to nudge Bella out from under the car so we could pick him up and plop him in the bunny bed in and carry him back inside. We called that the bunny burrito.

Free roam means family. Once we learned that bunnies can be litter trained, Bella was no longer in a cage but roamed around the house and followed us everywhere. Bella was more like a dog than a bunny. He happy to see us when we came home, had a spot on the couch when we watched movies, had sleepovers with the kids in the living room, had 'cake' on his birthday and had his own stocking at Christmas. Bella would be sad and put her paws up on the door if we tried to keep her out of the kitchen. Bella did life with us and brought us so much joy.

Bella grew up and so did the kids. The kids were 4 and 6 years old when we first brought the bunny home and now they are 10 and 12. It’s quite a jolt processing how quickly time has passed. Nallie wore Paw Patrol pyjamas and had chubby cheeks when we first got Bella and now she's a few months from being a teenager. Noah was a preschooler with a bowl-cut and now he’s so grown up.

I’m not sure if and when we will get another bunny. Bella was definitely the best $10 we ever spent and I don’t know if we’ll ever find another one with such a sweet disposition. Thank you Bella for bringing our family so much joy. When the south slope sun shines down on our carpet, we will remember that was always Bellas’s favourite spot and think warm fuzzy thoughts of the sweet bunny that hopped into our hearts ❤️

Cancun Redeemed: 6 must-do's in 6 days

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 16:17:00 +0000

Last time we were in Cancun with the kids they were 18 months and 3.5 years old. We all got food poisoning and were all throwing up at different points throughout the trip. The flight was awful - I was 'that mom' with 'that baby'. Yes, that baby that projectile vomited on me and several rows of passengers. After that trip, we never mentioned Cancun or flying again. But that was a long time ago and it was time to face my fears and redeem Cancun. It took a bit of convincing to get Simon on board to attempt Cancun again but I am so relieved and delighted that we have redeemed Cancun! This trip was everything we wanted to experience as a family. And no got food poisoning! The kids were awesome, it is so different travelling with a 10 and 12 year old versus a toddler and a preschooler. It was so amazing to have a win!

So here are the 6 must-do's if you have 6 days (or more) in Cancun.

6. Mega resort for the win. So this might not be everyone's thing but maybe bigger is better? We stayed at Moon Palace Sunrise for the first time.

This resort is massive, like 123 acres and can have close to 10,000 guests at a time. There's actually 3 hotels within Moon Palace, there's Moon Palace Sunrise, Moon Palace Nizuc and Moon Palace The Grand. You can go between Sunrise and Nizuc but not the Grand (unless you are staying at the Grand, then you can go between all 3 hotels). The place is so big there's an intricate golf cart system to shuttle people around the resort if you don't want to walk. When we first arrived, we were greeted with flowers and a ride on the golf cart to our room.

You can literally swim in a different pool every day. Everything is on an app, the activities for the day, the restaurants, and room service. You can just put in a room service order on your phone for anything you want! However, there are thousands of other people staying at the hotel too so you might not get the thing that you requested quickly. I tried asking for bottled water and extra towels on the app and we got the water in about half an hour but the extra towels never came.

There’s a cafe that I think is open 24 hours where you can get crepes, sandwiches, coffee, ice cream, cake, chocolate and macarons. Since macarons are $1.50 to $3.00 each depending on which bakery you go to, my kids took all the liberties and ate half their body weight in macarons.

Without leaving the resort, we played a few rounds of mini golf, rented bikes, tried out the simulation surfing (Flowrider), played in the arcade and watched some really fun shows in the evening.

5.Eat your heart out. There are 19 restaurants in the hotel, the main buffet has decent food (any meal I don't have to cook is amazing) but the best dinners we had were at Momo Teppanyaki and Mayan Riveria. You have to book those ones, I learned quickly that the reservations are released at midnight and book up instantly. With my experience from trying to book campsites and getting kids into swim lessons, I was so ready to press that 'book table' button at 12:00 midnight, it took several more minutes of pressing refresh but I able to book the restaurants we wanted to get into. Teppanyaki night was so fun, we watched our chef juggle knifes, light an onion tower on fire and make cooking dinner a stunning show.

The restaurant Mayan Riveria was Mexican food fusion with fine dining. We watched a lady make authentic tortillas and we ate them hot off the stove after.

The restaurant Gondola was also in an impressive space with vaulted stain glass ceilings and delicious French entrées. We tried our best to pretend we were super posh and drank our teacups with our pinky’s up.

Oh and there is the steakhouse - Palapa Asadero - they don't take reservations, you just have to wait patiently (like 45 minutes patiently) but the food was so good. And it's all inclusive so you can order anything (everything) on the menu. Simon accidently ordered two entrees which he succeeded in eating (along with the appetizer, salad and dessert).

If you don't want to dress up slightly, you can go to the buffet restaurant in your bathing suit and crocs. The food is decent there too, just look at the desserts at the buffet, they are exquisite!

We also had so much fun trying all the cocktails and mocktails. We don’t drink much so we didn’t even know the names of most drinks so we’d eavesdrop on other people ordering drinks or ask the bartenders to just make us anything. My kids got really good at ordering strawberry daiquiris, Pink Panthers, mojitos, & Mango Tangos, of course all without alcohol. There was a bar within walking distance of every pool and restaurant. There were several swim up bars and a bar built with swings around the countertops.

4. Look out for wildlife. Without leaving the resort, we spotted iguanas, pelicans, deer, Central American agouti, all sorts of colorful birds but our favourite was the coati. They look like a cross between a raccoon and a lemur. We saw them a few times roaming the resort but on our bike ride around the golf course, there was a huge pack of them. We got really close up to them!

There are many tours that offer dolphin encounters or turtle encounters and I would have loved to do one of those tours but a couple years ago, I watched a documentary on exploitation of dolphins for the tourism industry and it really stuck with me. I didn't have time to research which tour groups used sustainable practices so we didn't do any of them. I just stalked the iguanas that were hanging out at the resort

3. Wake up for the sunrise. One of the best things about staying at a huge resort is that I could go for a run every morning along the beach without leaving the resort. Just running from one side of the resort to the other, I was able to get in a 5-7 km run. I know waking up early is probably not on everyone's priority list on vacation but for me, I loved it. It was so great to get in a run with gorgeous views before the family woke up.

Plus, running in the morning helped ease the guilt of doing nothing the rest of the day other than ordering strawberry daiquiris and mojitos. One morning, I convinced Simon to wake up early and come with me and it was so special to run beachside as the sun was rising. I don't think he felt quite filled with overwhelming joy waking up at 7:00 am but he was a really great sport about it and we got some great sunrise pictures.

2. Zip line through the Mexican jungle. I truly enjoyed reading poolside and relaxing but everyone who knows me knows that I can't sit still for very long and it wouldn't be a Neufeld vacation without some adrenaline-filled fun. For that, we booked Xplor - an adventure park in the Mexican jungle. Simon and I went here back in 2010 before we had kids and it was thrilling to go back here with them. The park has expanded since we were here last time. Even with me making the family sprint from one attraction to the other, we weren't able to get to do everything in one day. We did do the zip lines three times though which was the best part. Noah said he was a bit nervous but after he found out he could zip with one of us, he had no hesitation jumping off the platform with his sister for the first one and from there, they were both stoked and we spent most of the day zip-lining in the jungle. Some of the zip-lines had water landings which was so thrilling.

Don't bother trying to take your phone to take pictures, there's cameras set up all over the park and it automatically takes pictures of you going on the zip line. There's also other places around the park where you can scan you bracelet for it to trigger the camera to take pictures. It's ridiculously expensive but it's a pretty incredible experience and allows you to be present in the moment and not worry about capturing the shot. I mean how can you take pictures of yourself when you're on the zip line or driving an ATV in a cave anyways? So friends, prepare your hearts, you'll probably be getting one of these family pictures in next year's Christmas card.

1. Rappel and swim in centote. The second excursion was also an adrenaline-filled day. We booked the Rio Secretro Plus tour and it checked off all the boxes for what this family is all about: hiking, biking and adventure. Our guide took us first on a hiking path through the dry caves through these stunning cenotes with stalagmite and stalactites.

Then we switched to bikes, - prepare your heart, the bikes are pretty crappy, they are one speed bikes with the brake on the left handle bar which is a bit tricky to get used to but they are functional. We biked on the sketchy bikes and followed our tour guide on a path through the jungle.

We biked to the entrance of a huge pit where we got harnessed up and one by one rappelled into the depths of the caves. That was the best part, I couldn't believe that neither kid was scared to do this. One by one, they were just like 'hasta la vista baby' and jumped off the platform. Inside the cave, the guide pointed out the fruit bats. I am so glad that bats are nocturnal because if they were flying around when I was rappelling down, I think I would have lost it and ran all the way back to the tour bus.

After you get into the cave, you follow the guide and trek through knee deep water and you can see catfish swimming around! The guide tells us that its really important not to touch the stalactites because the oils from our skin inhibits their growth for years so we were advised to hold onto out lifejackets and not reach out and touch the walls of the cave to steady ourselves. The ground is really uneven though so it was not easy.

The last part was swimming through the cave. It was a crazy (slightly terrifying thought) that we were 70 feet below ground in this complex maze of a cave. The guide asked us to turn off our headlamps for a few minutes just for us to experience real, true darkness. The whole tour was just an incredible unreal experience. And again don't bother bringing your camera, it's not allowed. Just spend your kid's college fund and buy the photo package.

Oh and this is not an official must-do but we happened to be at Moon Palace on New Year’s Eve and we experienced the most extraordinary and extravagant New Year’s Party we have ever been to. The music, the decorations, free glow in the dark face painting, the performers, the dancers, the band, the displays - everything was next level WOW. The other bonus was that Cancun is 3 hours ahead so we were able to stay up till midnight and watch all the glittering confetti fall from the ceiling and it was only 9:00 pm Vancouver time. We did have to wake up at 4:00 am to catch that flight that morning so we were more than ready to go to bed shortly after the new year countdown.

So that’s it - Cancun is officially redeemed - this trip was astoundingly better than last time we were here and I am hopeful that the memories we made will last longer than my sunburn…

Merry Grinchmas 2023

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 00:12:00 +0000

One of my favourite Christmas traditions is our annual photo shoot for the perfect picture. Since we know we are not that Pinterest perfect family, we never attempt for those staged family photos. Our photos usually consist of me coming up with a stupid theme and Simon reluctantly going along with it becuase he knows he has no choice. Like when Nallie was obsessed with Frozen and we did this....

And then there was the year we donned our lumberjack attire and pretended to cut down the perfect Christmas tree with Noah's toy chainsaws

And there was the year we embraced our geekiness and wrapped our deck with Christmas paper

Oh and during covid, we had a lot of fun staging the photoshoot with masks, Lysol and toilet paper

And sometimes its just a stupid pun that gets us through the year...

This year I really wanted to do an outdoor photo shoot. The stars aligned one Sunday and I convinced my family to wear matching ugly Christmas sweaters and hike to the top of Seymour with The Grinch. I saw The Grinch at Walmart and it was one of those non-negotiable and completely necessary purchases. I needed it for this...

My sister (aka auntie extraordinaire and photographer) was completely necessary too for the success of the photos

I really have to commend these kiddos for amusing me and not complaining about the hike to First Peak. I think by now they know that it's completely rational for our family to spend a Sunday afternoon hiking to the top of Seymour with The Grinch, that's not the craziest thing we have done by far...

And kudos to Super Dad who I think secretly enjoys these ridiculous photo shoots as much as I do

We even wrapped some fake presents and chucked them in the air just for this hilarious picture

And poised with sunglasses and our best 'blue steel' looks for this one

And then we ran out of ideas and just did some improv and laughed a lot

And then the sun started going down and we got a few more as we trekked back down the hill

So who knows what next year's Christmas card will bring but I hope we will continue to laugh a lot in the process and it brings you some Christmas cheer because in the words of The Grinch... "maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store...maybe Christmas, perhaps...means a little bit more"

Ten reasons why I love this 10 year old.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 04:25:00 +0000

Today is this kid's birthday and we celebrate all things 10.

How appropriate that his fav soccer player is also number 10.

So we treated this 10 year old to jersey #10 and even though he had to wake up at 6:00 am on a school day on his birthday because his sister had volleyball practice before school, he had a great attitude and enjoyed the anniversary of a decade old. So cheers to you, Noey and here are:

10 reasons why I love you to the moon and back

10. You were quick to come meet us on your birthday 10 years ago. Really, if we hadn't left your sister sleeping home alone before racing to the hospital, you would have been born in mom's car.

9. You humbled me as a parent. Let's be honest - your older sister is what we call 'an easy baby'...She was usually content and would sleep through the night easily. I thought it was because I was such a superior job at parenting but God decided that I need to learn that they don't all come programmed to sleep 12 hours and God gave me you. I learned that I did not have superior parenting powers to make babies sleep and that I could live on fragmented 2 hours of sleep for 2 years. I am also grateful that after you turned 2, you decided that sleep wasn't so bad after all.

8. You do everything 110%. Ever since you were little, you have been all out with all your emotions. You are never just happy, you are exuberantly joyous. You are all in and feel everything so much. When you laugh, all of us can't help but share in your joy. And you are upset, you are never just sad, you are devastated beyond despair. That's OK, I love that your heart just feels everything.

7. You are such a self-directed, motivated learner. Once you find something you like, there's no stopping you. When you were into NHL hockey, you could name every obscure player there was on every team. It was hilarious whenever I park in a numbered stall, you would tell me which NHL player had that number. Now it's all about stop-motion. You are teaching yourself how to make Lego stop motion videos and you're learning new skills all on your own. I love that, keep chasing those things that bring you joy.

6. You have an amazing sense of humor. Maybe this comes from Dad but you have the best dad-jokes and witty puns. Remember the time I dropped the meat at Costco and you said, "It's OK mom, it's ground beef...get it? It's on the ground!" No one makes us laugh more than you do with your ridiculous accents and impressions. Keep laughing in life and don't take anything too seriously. Life is too short to not laugh every day.

5. You are a great friend. You have been so blessed to have some wonderful people in your life. I can tell you treasure those friendships and you would put them first and do anything to help them. Remember to keep investing in those friendships, you will need to lean on them as you get older.

4. You can do hard things. I know we push you harder than most parents to do fun and adventurous things. You learned to ski when you were 2, you did the Grouse Grind when you were 3. You backpacked Garibaldi when you were 6. You ran the 10 km Sun Run, backpacked Panorama Ridge and biked the Tour de Victoria (30 km) when you were 8. When we tell you that it's going to be hard, you embrace the challenge and I love that. You seek out adventure just like your mama and I hope we can do many more hard and adventurous things together.

3. Your love language is snuggles. I realize now that you didn't sleep when you were a baby because I tried to put you in your crib when you wanted to just be held. Like ALL THE TIME. When I discovered the baby carrier, you were a content kangaroo baby and I were glued on me as I cooked, cleaned and did everything. Even now, I love that you still ask for snuggles. I love that when I am out, you will text me "I need a snug" with a cute gif of a piglet. Know that you will never, ever, ever be too old for hugs from your mama.

2. You and your sister are so good together. I remember when the doctor first told us that you were a boy and I was worried that you and your older sister wouldn't like each other or play together but you two are like peas in a pod. No one makes your sister laugh like you do. I hope that doesn't change over the next decade, I know you are both growing up and you like different things but know that you always have family. I pray you and your sister will continue to be just as close as you are now.

1.You are exactly YOU. There's no other words to describe it. You are just the BEST. Really. You really are. I love you just the way you are and I am so proud to be your mama. Happy birthday my son. I love you to the moon and back.

Chompy the Beaver tours ALBERTA.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 15:47:00 +0000

This is Chompy. He is a beaver. He is the Canadian symbol on the nickel. He has never been outside of BC so we decided to take him with us on our road trip to Alberta. We could have driven the 8.5 hours from here to Jasper but we didn't want him to get car sick so we started our road trip with a quick stop in the Okanagan. Plus it was Nallie's birthday and Chompy didn't want to be in the car all day on her birthday. If you wondered what 4 bikes, 2 kayaks, 1 SUP, lifejackets, paddles, and luggage for 10 days looks like, here it is...

JASPER NATIONAL PARK

Hike Mt. Edith Cavell. Choose your own adventure, go down to the glacier, take an easier route or take the steep and challenging climb to the view point at the top. Chompy rode in my backpack and got a free ride to the top. The view is spectacular and totally worth the 4 hour round trip.
Valley of the 5 Lakes. Beauty of a lake - we would have had a better time if we didn't take our bikes. The first part was great on our bikes, nice cross country trail with a fun bridge but after the first few minutes it turned into a black diamond trail and we had to mostly push our bikes up and down all the rocks and roots. Chompy made it to First Lake and he approved of the view.
Bike around town. Jasper is super bike friendly - Jasper bike park as a pump track and fun berms. There's lots of routes that take you to beautiful lakes. I'd recommend biking around Lake Beaufort around sunset. Doesn't get any better than that!
Hello Wildlife. We were greeted at our hotel with 2 huge elks. Check out the size of them! We failed to spot any moose but later along our travels we did see a black bear and goats.
Maligne Canyon. Choose your own adventure again. There are 5 bridges, you can choose to see one or all of them. The canyon and falls are pretty amazing. Chompy approved.
Tangle Falls. We couldn't help but pull over when we drove past. Totally worth it to hop out of the truck and run up to the top and touch the glacier water. Chompy was getting restless in the car and the waterfall was the perfect break.
Athabasca Glacier/Columbia Ice fields. Chompy hates places with too many tourists, but it was worth stopping and doing the quick walk to the 'Toe of the Glacier" walk.
Peyto Lake. Another quick hike to see this stunning blue star-shaped lake. Chompy was asleep so we didn't wake him up for this one.
Bow Lake. Gorgeous lake with glacier cold water and the back drop of the jagged rocky mountains. Totally worth the stop.

BANFF NATIONAL PARK

Lake Winnewanka. The visitor guide said we might be able to find mountain goats or big horn sheep here. Maybe travelling with a beaver scared off the wildlife. However, we did enjoy these gorgeous views though.
Vermillion Lake. Sight-seeing by bike is so much more fun than walking. Check out the Banff legacy trail and the Fenland loop and pack a lunch to eat by Vermillion lake.
Bike into downtown. So many tourists. Chompy hates the crowds. You'll never find a spot downtown to park your vehicle in the summer so leave your car at the free parking lot just outside of downtown and take your bike (or walk) to all the shops. They even have a free bike valet so you can ditch your bike once you're in the crowds. Have fun picking out your favorite souvenir shirts and trinkets.

CALGARY

Calgary Zoo. Chompy was feeling nervous around the tigers and bears so he didn't come but the rest of us had fun at the zoo.
Fish Lake Provincial Park. You can get lost with all the winding trails, good thing our friends know the trails well so we didn't end up in Edmonton.
Big Sky BBQ Pit. Texas BBQ right in Alberta. They smoke their meat for 12-20 hours and the result is delicious, amazing brisket and ribs. They say everything is bigger in Texas and for sure the martini's are bigger here!

DRUMHELLER

HooDoo Trail. Driving in from Calgary, it's a pretty uneventful 90 minutes of flat farmland but then the landscape changes suddenly and it's like you're on another planet. Chompy thought the hoodoos were spectacular. Watch where you're stepping when you're hiking up, we almost had a regretful encounter with a bull snake
Royal Tyrell Museum. If you don't believe dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago, you will after going through this museum. It's incredible how many fossils and dinosaur bones were found right here in Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial park (which is 2 hours past Drumheller)

And that's a wrap. It was time to head back to BC making a stop in Revelstoke to try wake-surfing and then visiting friends in Kelowna and back to Chompy's home sweet home.

What an incredible roadtrip.

2,639 km

$875 of gas

There's a reason why we were able to spot license plates from 46 places outside of BC while we were in Alberta (both Carolinas, both Dakota's, Iowa, New York, Texas, Nova Scotia and even Mexico)....the national parks in Alberta are spectacular and worth the drive no matter where you're from. Chompy is feeling proud to be Canadian and glad to have seen a little bit more of our beautiful country.

40th on a High Note : best birthday surprise ever.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:17:00 +0000

This is the year of a milestone birthday for me. My sweet husband wanted it to be unforgettable and it was. This is how he did it....

Step 1: Come up with an amazing plan. Apparently he came up with the idea when he was doing the Whistler GranFondo race last September. I don't know how you can come up with a surprise for your wife when you're biking from Stanley Park to Whistler with 2136m of elevation but that's Simon. He is just incredible.

Step 2: Enlist friends as coconspirators. My best friends lie and tell me that Simon has not included them in whatever secret he is planning. Meanwhile, they have a secret chat group discussing the details, apparently they labelled the chat group "Sheet Metal Man Stuff" or something ridiculous like that so I wouldn't read the texts.

Step 3: Enlist family into the scheme. My parents and sister are in on it too. They message me about getting together to make sushi together one evening. I suggest Friday July 7th not knowing that is the exact date they needed me to land on. I had no idea I made it really easy to walk right into their scheme.

Step 4: Feed into the lies. Simon tells me nothing other than to be available on July 8-9. My Type-A control freak personality was having a bit of a crisis accepting that I didn't have a single clue what was happening. It's my weekly ritual to write down The Plan and schedule all the events every week and I literally wrote “Dad's Super Secret Surprise that Mom knows nothing about” on the calendar for the weekend. Closer to the day, I tried asking questions and Simon gave me no clues...but he said, I would find out after breakfast on Saturday morning. Little did I know that was another lie and the real surprise would actually be the evening before on Friday night.

Step 5: Execute the surprise. I have no idea that Friday evening was actually when Operation 40 was happening. The whole time I thought my parents and my sister are coming over to make sushi like we had talked about. My parents bring over all the ingredients to make sushi. My sister starts looking up the recipe for the rice...

Door Bell Rings.....Simon opens the door and....

My best friends are all standing in the door. They are holding huge trays of catered food. They yell SURPRISE!

*Blink* Blink * Blink *

No words come out of my mouth.

I have no idea why my friends are standing at the door. I'm supposed to be making sushi with my parents and my sister for dinner. I just stand there in my door way stunned.

My dear husband tell says in his best game-show host voice, "Congratulations, you have won a trip for you and your friends to your favourite hotel for the weekend. You will be taking the Peak to Peak gondola and doing the amazing High Note Trail at Whistler tomorrow. You will be leaving right after dinner. Go pack your bag."

*Blink* Blink * Blink *

No words come out of my mouth. I am still so confused and in shock. I am literally holding a bag of Japanese rice while my sister is reviewing the recipe with my daughter. I have a hard time processing that the whole let's-make-sushi-together was just a cover story. My mom had even packed the sushi trays and my sister brought over all the seaweed.

While I am still standing in my house speechless, my friends bring in the trays of the delicious Greek feast and spread it out on the table. There's even calamari. I love calamari! Simon tells me I need to eat first so I can pack and get going on the road.

I eat the scrumptious chicken souvlaki and Greek potatoes and my mind still not comprehending the moment. My sister made me a Tres Leches cake with the strawberries arranged a chicken because she says that even though I may be turning 40, I am still a spring chicken. It was so lovely to have a meal together with friends and family. I still don't say much because my brain is still processing what is happening, I am still in disbelief that everyone in the room was in on this scheme.

I quickly pack my bags and with my friends reminding me of things that I didn't have like pants, underwear and contact solution. It's hard to pack when you're in shock. Eventually, we were on the road and headed to the Pan Pacific hotel in Whistler. We took two vehicles and my friends in the other car greeted me at the hotel with hilarious masks. You know you have lifelong friends when they can put on a crying baby mask and a gorilla mask in front of a swanky hotel.

The most EPIC part of the birthday surprise was the High Note Trail. If you are going to do one hike in Whistler, this is it. The High Note Trail requires a gondola ticket which isn't cheap but what an unforgettable experience. You start by taking the Blackcomb Gondola up. Then you take the Peak to Peak Gondola.

The Express Peak chairlift is the next step but it doesn’t open till 11:00 am so you take your obligatory touristy pictures by the Olympic rings while you wait.

Then you get in line for the Peak Express chairlift. It is so weird being on the chairlift without my ski or snowboard gear and not having any snow on the slopes.

Finally after all that, you get to the start of the hike which in itself is already a breath-taking view of Black Tusk. There's another mandatory photo opportunity with the Inuksuk.

And then you get to the Cloudraker Sky bridge. It is a pretty spectacular suspension bridge overlooking magnificent views. I like being up high, it's pretty epic. And that is how you get to the trail head.

The High Note Trail is 9.4 km long and it is the most EPIC trail because you start in the alpine and the entire hike is breath-taking and gorgeous. There is no waiting to get to a majestic viewpoint, the entire hike is just wow.

You wind along the side of the mountain with spectacular views of the mountain ranges.

You get beautiful views of Cheakamus Lake. The green blue water is just stunning.

There's beautiful alpine flowers adorning the trail. Some flowers look straight out of a Dr. Suess book.

There's adventurous parts on the hike with ropes and metal planks and creeks

It was pretty hot even in the alpine elevation. You pass through Symphony Lake where you can go for a swim (even if you're wearing white shorts) because you're here and it's beautiful and there really isn't many other people around

Some hikes you are shrouded in the forest and you eventually get to a view point where everyone crowds around to take a photo. This hike is SPECTACTULAR the entire way and it was wasn't crowded. The snow-capped mountains and the view just makes you want to burst out singing, "The Hills Are Alive" from the Sound of Music.

Photos just don't capture the glory of this hike. It is just amazing from start to finish. The only thing that I did not like were the bugs so douse yourself with bug spray (we had the kind that apparently smelled like pickles) and I limited the damage to 4 bug bites.

And that is the High Note Trail. You will want to have easy access to your phone/camera because you will be taking a picture every 15 seconds. Every time you think that view was the most picturesque view, you turn a corner and wow, the next view is just as beautiful.

Side note: if you have less time you can take the Half Note trail which leads you back to the gondola as well. Or if you have endless energy and time you can take Musical Bumps trail which takes you to Garibaldi where you can camp overnight. The trails are well marked and you can get a paper map when you buy your lift ticket.

The rest of the weekend continued to be awesome. We spent time in the hotel pool and hot tub.

We rewarded our hiking effort with a great dinner at 21 Steps.

We walked around the village and because we are 40 year old ladies we came back to the hotel early, changed into our PJs early and did not want to leave our hotel room after 8:30 pm. Instead, we sat on the couch and chatted and shared good stretches for our backs and hip flexors. Ha ha.

I can't believe that my amazing husband pulled off this spectacular surprise. I am really impressed that he had been planning this for almost a year and managed to keep it top secret for the entire time. So amazing that my family and friends were all colluding together to make this weekend happen. Thank you to everyone involved, my 40th year is starting out on a pretty High Note.

O Canada you are beautiful: Pitt Lake to Widgeon Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:00:00 +0000

All adventures seem to start by waking up early and this one was no different. The alarm went off at 6:00AM on Canada Day and we got to work preparing for the day. SUPs, kayaks, life jackets, sunscreen, lunches, snacks, candy and oh yes...the kids, we should wake up the kids.

Kids are in the truck with everything and we're off....

No wait, the paddles are still in the garage...go back for the paddles...now we're off

No traffic when it's this early on Saturday and in 45 minutes we are at Pitt Lake and dropping off all our gear at the boat launch.

We meet up with our friends that doubted that we needed to get to the parking lot by 8:30 AM but the lot is already packed. So now I don't feel bad making them wake up early too.

We eventually get everything pumped and we launch off for our adventure...start the GPS now...

The first part of the paddle requires crossing into Widgeon Slough, it was pretty calm on the way there. It is a gorgeous paddle and we saw at least half a dozen eagles swooping in the sky and one diving down with a fish. It is gorgeous, it's like paddling in a painting.

At the fork on the road, you take the left side where there is a sign that says to campsite. The kids have cheap $100 kayaks and they weren't going super fast so each took a kid and connected them to our SUP so they didn't trail too far behind.

After an hour and a half of paddling, we made it to the campsite. Yes, you can camp here if you want to paddle your tent and gear to the site. We saw lots of tents set up. The area is used by both campers and day-trippers. There are dozens and dozens of canoes, kayaks and SUPs all perched on the beach. I had read about people potentially stealing gear while you go hiking so we came prepared with lots of locks. We chained everything down and started our hike.

The first part of the hike is a gravel road and super boring for the kids but you get to a junction where you can choose a scenic but longer trail to Widgeon Falls or continue on the super boring gravel but quicker gravel road. Of course, we chose the more scenic trail.

Once we were in the beauty of the tall tress, the kids transformed from "how looooong is this hike?" to happy, scampering squirrels in the forest. They kept on racing far ahead and then jumping out from behind a tree and making me scream. I was on high-alert but they got me every time.

There’s a nice look out spot before you reach Widgeon falls. Make sure you stop to look in awe of the green water or jump in the water if you’re feeling brave.

We timed it perfectly and it was just around noon when we got to Widgeon Falls. It was the perfect spot for lunch. After we ate on the rocks just taking in the beauty of the falls, the kids were wanting to jump in the water and we found some fantastic spots just past the waterfall to play in.

Warning - the water is reeeeeaaaaalllly cold but on a hot day, it was amazing.

We even found a neat grotto/cove under the falls, it reminded me of the caves and waterfalls we found in Cumberland last year.

The hike back was great, the kids scampered along the trail and when we got back to our kayaks and SUPs, nothing was taken so we didn't have to swim back. Phew.

The tide had changed from when we paddled out there in the morning so there were so many spots along the way where it was so shallow, we had to get out of the kayak/off our SUPs and portage further until we go paddle again. It felt very Canadian to be portaging our vessels on Canada Day. O Canada, our home and native land....

The wind. Oh the wind. It was not helping us on the way back, we had to work twice as hard to get back to shore. The kid's kayaks were still leashed to our SUPs which added to the challenge. The kids were pretty tired by then but not complaining. SuperDad had packed some of the energy gels that we use for half marathons and bike races, we told them it was like rocket fuel and it would give them super powers. They tried it but said it tasted awful and I don't blame them, it does. Our friend shared some super power energy bar that they get specially brought in from New Zealand. So with the replenished rocket fuel, we steadily made it back to the dock.

In total it was 18.47 km day - about 4.6 km paddle there, about 9 km hike and 4.6 km back.

My arms fee like spaghetti noodles today but that’s OK, yesterday was pretty amazing and more summer adventures await…

FINALLY! FOAM FEST 2023!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Jun 2023 23:23:00 +0000

Seven years ago, my besties and I planned an epic road trip to Sun Peak for Foam Fest 2016. That was so much fun that we did it again and had a blast at Foam Fest 2018. The minimum age is 8 years old so back then, only my friend's oldest daughter could run the race with us. We signed up to do it in 2020 and I was so excited that Big Sis would be old enough to run the course but sadly a global pandemic cancelled that dream and everything fun for a few years.

So here we are, three years later and we finally get to run this race. Aaaaand the perk of waiting a few years is that I get to run the race with not just one but both kiddos!

Here’s the full recap and tips (in case you're getting major FOMO reading this and you want to sign up for next year)

#1: Sign up early! The prices are tiered based on when you sign up and the event does sell out. So if you're on the fence, just do it. If you want to make it a destination event, look for the other locations Foam Fest is held. There are events across BC and Canada.

# 2: Wear something that can get wet, foamy and muddy. Costumes are awesome and highly encouraged. We tried to coordinate with matching bandanas - the kids came up with the name Team Bandits. They also gave out buffs which are supposed to be worn around your neck or head but these girls are so slim, they wore them as tube tops.

#3: Prepare to be foamed! At the start line, you will run through a 7 foot wall of foam, as much as you want yelp and holler at how fun this is, the foam (aka soap) will get in your mouth and soap in your mouth is gross. Close your eyes, keep your mouth closed and just run through the wall of foam until you make it out the other side.

#4: Enjoy the obstacles. There is lots of climbing over and crawling under. Pretend you’re in The Amazing Race.

#5: The course is 5km long. Pace yourself if you’re not used to running this distance. You don't need to run the 5km, you can walk the whole thing if you want. There is no chip timer like 'real' races. The kids were stoked and had no issues running the whole course and had a blast racing to the next obstacle.

#6: Inflatable obstacles are the best. Take a minute to stop and savor then moment, when do you ever get the chance to do jump in a foamy bouncy castle and go down a slip n slide with your kids ?

#7: Beware the Death Drop. This is the last obstacle and it’s a climb up a ladder and a steep slippery foamy slide down the biggest inflatable slide I’ve ever seen. At the top of the slide, cross your arm, cross your legs, cross your heart and go before the panic sets in.

#8: Run or you will freeze. There is no way to get through the course without getting wet and you will get cold if you stop moving. So keep running, adrenaline will keep you warm.

#9: Celebrate your finish with a sweet medal, a free popsicle and have a towel ready!

Bring a plastic bag for all the wet clothes. Pack hot chocolate and have towels to keep your car clean-ish.

#10: Take SO many pictures! Spectators are allowed into the course (but not on the obstacles) so Simon was InstaDad for the day and able to take the GoPro and document the super fun day we had.

So that was the third time doing Foam Fest but the first time with the kids and it was such a blast. So grateful that the kids still think hanging out with their mama is fun. Also, feeling blessed that for now, I can keep up with them and have the opportunity to laugh and make memories together.

Ten steps to rocking a soccer tournement

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 May 2023 03:25:00 +0000

We have never done the tournament thing before. I did not play any team sports outside of school growing up and SuperDad had hours and hours of farm chores that he never got to play team sports either. We are both learning (and loving) this team sport thing. This long weekend was little brother's first time travelling away for a soccer tournament and it was amazing. We are new to thing but this how you rock a soccer tournament...

Step 1: Get them started when they are young...like really young (throwback of the boys back when they were 5 years old)

Step 2: Make sure your best friends and those awesome coaches are there for the next 4 years

Step 3: Focus on development. Learn your positions, positions and foundations of solid team work. Practice in all weather conditions -even when it's pouring rain or snowing sideways.

Step 4: Enter the team in the KYSA Slurpee Cup tournament in Kamloops

Step 5: Focus on stamina and determination. Keep hammering that ball towards the net.

Eventually the ball will make it in the net ….

Step 6: Put the best shooters in the striker position and watch them keep putting goals in. Like a lot. They beat the Prince George Timberwolves 11-2 and beat the Kamloops Blaze 10-1.

Step 7: Celebrate a teammate’s birthday in between games

Step 8: Run around with laser guns at the park when you’re not running around with the soccer ball (because these boys have endless energy)

Step 9: Win ALL the games in the tournament

Step 10: Celebrate like champions

This tournament is special because it's the end of an era. Now that these boys are all turning 10 this year, they won't automatically be together on the same team. We all did assessments with different leagues and this group of boys won't be on the same team ever again. It's been an amazing 4 years and a joy to watch our little guy grow up and develop stamina, perseverance and sportsmanship. What an amazing tournament to mark the end four years of soccer with his best friends.

Super Soaker 10km - recap of Sun Run 2023

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 03:04:00 +0000

7:00 am - wake up the kids blasting We Will Rock You because race day requires a good stoke up song

7:30 am - Cheerios and Corn pops - breakfast of champions

8:00 am - catch the skytrain downtown

8:30 am - oh wow there is a lot of people here

8:45 am - oh it's wet out here but the energy is high

9:00 am - hand out the gummy bears for the extra pre-race sugar boost

9:10 am - Already soaked before the race begins, we cross the starting line

9:40 am - great pace, super wet but nothing is stopping this crew

All smiles running across the bridge

10:13 am -we sprint to the finish line. Sub-1 goal accomplished for Noah and his crew. Official 10km finish time of 56:38. Shaved ten minutes of his finishing time from last year.

Super Dad and Nallie finish in 1:00:33 seconds! Just 34 seconds away from meeting her sub-1 goal.

So nice to get inside the stadium and warm up and stock up on bananas, bagels, and free sunglasses

Our school also won the prize for second largest school and we got to get on stage and get the giant check. You just wait - next year the VCS team will be 100 strong!

11:33 am - jump on on the skytrain. Running 10km wasn't enough to tire them out, Noah and his buddies have a ball hockey game to get to! Great hockey game - score was 3-3. Noah and his friend both got their first goal.

Oh what a day!! Rain or shine (and today just 100% rain) these guys showed up with a great attitude and I am so proud. Love this fam!

Spring Break at Manning

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 23:56:00 +0000

It is spring break 2023 and it's the first time since 2020 that I am seeing an overwhelming amount of posts on my social feeds of tropical locations, palm trees and beaches. Hallelujah for international travel again!

For our family though, we haven't done a sunny all-inclusive since a nameless 18 month old had the projectile vomiting incident of 2015. It was recorded here and it was horrifying and we shall never speak of it again. So even though we have had more successful flights since then, we kept it local and went to Manning Park instead. Despite it not being Cancun or Maui, we had snow much fun (sorry, bad pun)

We rented a premium chalet again this year (in case you're interested, you need to book a year in advance to the day that you want). There's a bedroom for my parents, a bunk for my sister and her friend and a loft that has 2 twin beds for the kids and a pull-out for Simon and me. The kids loved having their own space in the little loft.

We lucked out and had two amazing ski days. The first day was bluebird sunshine with just a bit of new snow. Perfect spring skiing conditions. My dad got his senior lift ticket and did great on the slopes.

The second ski day was unexpected. We weren't even planning on skiing again but it snowed over 30cm the night before and when there's a powder alert, you can't miss out on that.

They only groomed 2 runs so the majority of the mountain was insane deep powder. The kids kept getting stuck and some spots they were buried in waist deep. No joke.

The kids had their skis pointed down and not able to move with so much powder. Hard to ski when you can't see your legs under all that snow. Little Bro had so many powder spills that he decided it was 'too much powder' and sat out for a few runs til lunch.

Never would I have thought there would be such a thing as too much powder and it definitely wasn't too much for Simon and me. So fun cutting deep powder lines on steep black diamond runs. This is what I think heli-boarding must be like.

Other than skiing and boarding, we also hiked Lightening Lakes. It's still on our to-do list to come back here in the summer and put our SUPs in the water. You can see in the pictures just how much snow has accumulated!

It’s also fun to collect “Sasquatch fur” from the trees along the trail and try out a beard, moustache or hairstyle.

There are lots of family friendly après ski options to keep you busy: a games room (pool table, ping pong), a sledding hill, a pool and hot tub and an outdoor skating rink. My parents also have a VR set that they brought which was fun to try.

Just stock up at Costco before and with the full kitchen (and dishwasher), meals are pretty simple and that leaves lots of time for just relaxing together and family fun.

Mt. Baldy - you are a hidden gem.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 01:38:00 +0000

Last year was our first time at Mt. Baldy and I raved all about it here last year so this year we decided to do it again. Here is the quick re-cap and everything you need to know if you want to do a ski get-away to Mt. Baldy as well

If you're coming from Vancouver, it's going to take over 5 hours to drive. Allocate more time if you have kids prone to car sickness because you might need to pull over and get them some fresh air and a break from the windy road

Once you see this sign, celebrate that no one threw up driving up the windy road

Mt Baldy is still a relatively unknown and under developed mountains which is great for lift line (i.e., there are none) but there aren't also a lot of accommodations on the mountain. Book early especially if you want to go in prime ski season. We booked Wapiti Creek lodge a year ago. It is the perfect set up for 3 families.

Once you're settled in, there isn't anything left to do except

EAT

SLEEP

SKI

RELAX

and REPEAT (for as many days as you can!!!)

We were so impressed how well the kids kept up this year - not saying there weren't crashes or anyone getting stuck in tree wells but for the most part the kids were ripping between the trees on black diamond runs with ease. There was lots of powder so real injuries, just exhausting to dig yourself out of the deep pow

We had a great ski train with Simon leading the way and all the lemmings (I mean kids) following behind.

One thing you probably didn't think you'd need on a multi-family ski trip is a strobe light. Everything is better with a good playlist (cue Michelle's Baldy Bumping beats) and strobe lights. It makes the mundane things like cooking and washing dishes together more fun and great for post-dinner dance and limbo parties.

That's a wrap on the 4th annual multi-family ski trip. I hope we'll be doing this until all the parents are getting senior rates on ski passes!

10 steps to an epic 40th birthday party.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 02:30:00 +0000

Step 1: Go back to 1983 and make sure you are born in prime snow season

Step 2: Book a sweet place at Whistler

Step 3: Add really awesome friends (make sure they leave their really awesome children at home)

Step 4: EAT.

Step 5: Wake up early and catch the 8:15 am gondola (side note: isn't it so much easier to get out the door without the kids?!)

Step 6: Find the runs with the best powder.

Step 7: Note that signs that say "Cliff" sometimes means there is a cliff but also means untouched powder. Explore with caution.

Step 8: Finish the day having done 51 km and ski right to the front step of the chalet.

Step 9: Twice baked nachos and tuxedo cake are great après ski snacks. Pairs well with a soak in the hot tub and good friends.

Step 10: Make some unforgettable memories. Turning 40 isn’t so bad when you get to get old with good friends.

Stuck on a mountain on Christmas Eve

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 18:44:00 +0000

So it’s Christmas Eve and we are currently stuck on a mountain with no running water …but before I get back to our current situation I need to rewind back a few days …

Dec 20 : we drive up Sasquatch mountain and the road is pretty decent. We settle into the AirBnB house and it’s a great layout : 3 bedrooms, a nice kitchen, living room and a rec room.

We celebrate my Dad’s 72nd birthday with steak and cake. We forgot a candle so quickly substituted with a mushroom and a flame app (haha!)

Dec 21: oh my word. It is COLD. It’s -20 and with the wind chill it is -30. I wear everything I own (like that episode of Friends where Joey wears everything Chandler owns) and I can’t feel my nose, my fingers or my toes. The kids last 2 laps before they are literally crying icicles. But there is 50cm of fresh powder and our lust for powder lines and our tolerance of -30 is teetering back and forth. Powder wins out and we keep on riding after taking the kids inside. We risked hypothermia but the powder was so good. It was worth it.

Dec 22: Still -30 with windchill. Still thawing from yesterday so we don’t venture outside for more than a short walk just to confirm that it is still hypothermic. And yes. Still insanely cold.

So cold that after our walk outside we found out there was no water. The reservoir that provides water for Sasquatch is frozen. At least there is snow that we can melt and we still have heat.

Dec 23: it snowed a ton overnight and first chair waits for no one - not even your own children. We left the kids sleeping and my sister, Simon and I had the most amazing powder runs we have ever had. We are are snow connoisseurs. Some people really know their wines or coffee and we really know our snow. We are snow snobs and this was the good stuff. So light and fluffy- like okanagan champagne powder. It was puking snow all morning- every run felt like first tracks. Divine.

In the afternoon we decided to be better parents and take the kids out.

The emergency reservoir is now hooked up so there’s temporarily water but it’s not treated so we still have to boil it. But we can shower and flush the toilet! Hallelujah!

Dec 24: That is today and that is where everything went sideways. It has been snowing heavily but the temperature has warmed up it’s been sleeting/freezing rain since dawn.

12:00 am -The emergency water is now used up and there is no more water again. Back to collecting snow and meting it.

4:30am - Uh-oh. The snow from the side of the house slid down and snapped the windshield wiper blades.

8:30am - Attempt to fix wiper blades with zip-ties and prayers

9:00am - Sasquatch mountain announces due to extreme weather conditions it is closed for today and tomorrow. No one should be trying to drive up here. And there is still no water.

11:00am - freezing pouring rain - check out of AirBnB

11:02am - parents vehicle gets stuck just 100 feet out of the driveway. 10 inch icy ruts covered in slush with atmospheric rivers running through makes the mountain road impossible to navigate.

11:45 am - parents vehicle unstuck. AirBnB host graciously allows us back to the house eventhough we have checked out. Play games while we develop a game plan.

1:10pm - stare out the window and wonder if the plow truck is ever coming (it never goes)

2:09 pm - reconnaissance mission. Oh it’s bad. Maintenance guy says “hard no” on trying to make it down the mountain today.

2:25 pm - officially not leaving the mountain today. Head back to the AirBnB house. Unpack just the essential items we can find to just make it for the night. Fall out of the truck because it’s so icy.

3:20 -realize it’s way past lunch - make French toast for because we can’t find anything else yet.

4:00 pm - still no water. Mom decides to cook and bake snow - it’s a great recipe, you really should try it sometime 😆

7:00 pm - Christmas dinner of random leftovers and if covid has taught us anything, it is that we can pivot and attend Christmas Eve service virtually online. Such a lovely time of singing and reflecting on Jesus’ miraculous birth.

9:00 pm - Kids ask to sleep under the Christmas tree. Wish granted.

5:30 am- water is restored, it’s a Christmas miracle on Christmas morning.

6:00 am - stand in awe of the kids under the glow of the. Christmas tree. They are the best. They really are.

6:36 am - set off for Grandma and Grandpa’s farm in the okanagan with zip-ties holding our windshield wipers together. Let’s see how this goes…

This is definitely not the way we had planned Christmas Eve and Christmas morning would go but it’s surely is one we will never forget. Merry Christmas!

*** to be continued ***

Oh boy, it's good to be 9.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:00:00 +0000

This awesome kid is 9 as of today.

He is my playful, fun-loving, always on-to-go boy. He is outgoing, silly and feels all his emotions intensely. He cracks us up with his ridiculous dance moves, comes up with the hilarious puns and makes us laugh with his really terrible accents. He is also very self-motivated and will dedicate himself to learning everything there is to know about whatever that interest is. He is proof that you can really learn anything on YouTube. I don't know how many kids teach themselves how to play hockey by watching videos but he found $6 rollerblades at Value Village and now he can't wait till SuperDad comes home everyday so they can play ball hockey together.

He's a pretty amazing kid and being the youngest in our family doesn't hold him back at all. He's braver than Mama when it comes to mountain biking. On skis, he's happy to wind through the glades on blue and black runs with us. He ran his first 10 km Sun Run this year and finished it in 1:06. He carried his own backpack and trekked to the top of Panorama Ridge. He biked 30km in the Tour de Victoria and finished it in 1:45. He is energetic and competitive and I am sure soon we won't be able to keep up with him.

Since the first week of back to school is crazy for Mama, we celebrated his birthday at the end of summer with a bunch of amazing things. A week of Whitecaps soccer camp with one of his best friends where there was a visit from Michael Baldisimo and Spike. Plus, he got picked for good sportsmanship and won a signed Whitecaps ball on the last day of camp.

After 5 awesome days of Whitecaps camp, we had a soccer birthday party with 3 of his good friends from his soccer team. Pretty happy that my Pinterest attempt at soccer cupcakes didn’t completely fail. Plus, that leftover turf we kept from redoing our lawn a couple years ago actually came in handy to display the cupcakes. I knew there was reason to keep random scraps of artificial grass in the basement.

After dinner we got on the skytrain and went to BC Place and hoped to watch the Whitecaps crush Nashville.

Unfortunately, the Whitecaps did not get the memo that the birthday boy wanted to see the Whitecaps win but at least Spike came by with a birthday card and got his name up on the big screen. SuperDad spent our life savings on cotton candy, mini donuts and lemonade so the kids were hyper and didn't seem to care that the score was a disappointing 0-3.

Everyone must know that this dude is a hockey fanatic now because he was showered with hockey fandom from family and friends - a cap of his fav player (Connor McDavid), hockey cards, a team Canada jersey, a Canucks jersey and tickets to a hockey game next month. This kid was jumping up and down in excitement.

Yep, it's good to be 9. Happy birthday to our spunky, hilarious, determined little dude. Keep rocking and making everyone around you remember to live earnestly and laugh a lot along the way.

Cumber-what?! Why this village is worth checking out.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 21:06:00 +0000

Cumber-what?? It's OK, I didn't know where Cumberland was on the map either before we went but now we know of this little town...actually I think it's actually a village. It's a village totally worth visiting. So if you do go, here is what we learned from our 6 days in the village of Cumberland....

#1 : Make sure you go the right ferry terminal

We know from experience now that you should always double check which ferry terminal you are sailing out from. Both Tsawwassen and Horseshoe Bay will sail to Nanaimo and realizing when you are past Ikea in Richmond that you are heading to the wrong terminal really adds unnecessary stress and panic and hyperventilation to the trip.

#2: After you make it to the right terminal, make sure you are actually loaded on the ferry before you celebrate

After we realized we were driving to the wrong ferry terminal, we made the turn around and counted down the minutes before we would lose our reservation at the Horseshoe Bay terminal. When we squeaked in exactly 30 minutes before our reservation and the lady said we had made our ferry, we all cheered wildly like they do on The Amazing Race when it's a non-elimination round. We celebrated as we waited in Lane 1 and watched as all the other lanes boarded the ferry to Nanaimo. Then we watched the gates close and our ferry sail away while we were still waiting to get loaded on. We talked to the ferry manager after and she said that must have been a communication error and no one remembered to pull our over height truck out of Lane 1. What?! At least, the manager was apologetic and offered to reimburse us for our ferry ride and we ended up on the same sailing as our friends.

#3: Rent a great space

The village of Cumberland is really small so everywhere is pretty much walking distance. Our last few vacations were backpacking and camping so having a house with all the amenities made this vacation totally rock.

# 4: Bring your bikes

Cumberland has an extensive network for trails. Most require mountain bikes but you can bike around the village with a road bike too. Our AirBnB overlooked the entrance to the biking trails and the bike park & playground. The hardest decision to make every day was where to ride. We studied the map and had a great time exploring the trails. The trails are well marked. Who wouldn’t want to try out trails with fun names like “Kitty Litter” “Space Nugget” and “After school Special”?

#5: Bring your appetite

Downtown Cumberland has one Main Street and that is “downtown”, the buildings have an edgy hipster vibe. There are only a few restaurants but all the ones we went to were amazing. Riders Pizza was so delicious. They also have a wicked sense of humor because the 5 cheese pizza is called "The Dad Joke" Get it? So cheesy? Ha ha.

The Cumberland Brewery is also fantastic. We ditched the kids and went out with 2 other couples. Such a fun date night. Simon and I don't drink beer but our friends tried 5 different types there and said it was top notch. Their food was also amazing.

The Cumberland village bakery also sells out of everything pretty much by mid-day so it's totally worth it to wake up and get there after it opens at 8:00 am. The croissants, scones and apple fritters are so good. There are no pictures because they disappeared immediately after we bought them.

And finally, you haven't really experienced Cumberland until you have had Love's Ice Cream. Served out of a vintage trailer, this place always has a line up out front because they have amazing, soft swirled fresh ice cream with their house-made waffle cones. Try the raspberry, black current or London Fog, you won’t regret it.

#6: You can not skip the potholes and don't step on the toads

How many places can you go where you can bike to these amazing rock formations? You can bike or hike to this amazing spot. Beware that July and August is also the annual toad migration and there are hundreds of tiny "toadlets" hopping across the trail so watch where you step.

#7: You can never visit too many potholes!

We got some local intel about another location for potholes and wow - there’s no signs for the trail or anything. We just googled Oyster Bay for a general location and you pull over when you see a bunch of other cars parked along the way. You follow this trail to a wildlife fence that looks straight out of Jurassic Park. We were prepared to encounter a pterodactyl but instead we ended up at this spectacular place. It looks like craters on the moon that you can swim in!

#8: It's not a summer vacation until you hit up a beach

We spent an afternoon at Comox Lake and also drove about 25 minutes to Miracle Beach. The view does not disappoint.

#9: You gotta get in a game of mini golf!

We always try to hit up a mini golf place when we are on vacation. Little Bro is honing his pro golf skills and got a hole in one THREE times.

#10: Check out Trent Waterfalls if you can find it

Sometimes the best adventures are the ones that are unplanned. The trails on the island aren’t very well marked…to find the trailhead you just notice the other cars parked on the highway and you just pull over. There’s no marked route so we followed the river which was a really cool route with fossils. There were people legit digging for fossils. Little Bro found a fossilized worm!

He also found a dinosaur egg. But we already have a pet bunny so we didn’t wait for it to hatch.

To get to the waterfalls, there is a significantly steep descent. Hold onto the ropes and don’t be like me and forget your shoes and have to this sketchy part in flip flops.

And definitely swim into the waterfall. It’s cold. It’s amazing. It’s totally worth it.

#11: Take in the views at Mt. Washington

We brought our mountain bikes and spent a day riding the chair lift up and biking down all the different trails. Our favourite was Highway 19, really fun berms and bridges that even I could do. Even if you don't bike, you can take the chair lift just for a scenic ride or do the zip line adventure course. We watched people fly across the mountain at crazy speeds.

#12: Fill your gas tank

One thing you should know about the island is that once you’re on the highway, you are commited to going that direction indefinitely. You can’t turn around for a looooooong time. So when your gas light comes on, you have to start praying that you can drive 40km+ on empty. We have never been so happy to make it to Black Creek to pay for overpriced gas!

And lastly, you’re on vacation so

#13: Go make some great memories

Play at the playground with your kids. Swim into the waterfall. Jump off that cliff. Soak up that vitamin D. Embrace the time with great friends and making core memories as a family.

Til the next adventure...

Aloha 11.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 02:09:00 +0000

Aloha to this 11 year old. You sneaked up on me. How did another year go by so fast ?

You are gentle-hearted, kind and beautiful inside and out. Today we celebrated you!

Plan A was to celebrate at the beach. We bought a ridiculously gigantic swan that would fit a dozen of your friends but sadly the weather did not agree and to your dad’s dismay, we have to store the oversized swan for it to make it’s grand debut for your birthday next year.

Most kids would have been disappointed but you are such an easy going girl, you didn’t mind switching venues and having the party at home. Other than some panicked house cleaning and hauling the mess in our bedroom, the house appeared ready and welcoming for all your friends:

We tried to get the bunny into the party mood but he wasn’t really feeling it:

Plan A entertainment was sailing the giant inflatable swan but since we couldn’t do that, I spent an hour filling up water balloons instead and the girls had a blast with them on the trampoline.

Apparently filling regular balloons with water is not the same as “real” water balloons because the ones we had were virtually indestructible. It took 10 girls, a eager little brother and a lot of squishing and jumping to burst the balloons. Can you hear the high pitched scream in the photos?

I think sugar-high included squeals and lots of girly giggles means they had a good time.

And when you are 11, the best thing ever is being matchy-match with your friends so Nallie was so excited to give all her besties matching sea turtle necklaces

Can’t believe this beauty is heading off to middle school next year. I know everyone says parenting a pre-teen/teenager is difficult so I’m bracing myself but honestly this sweet girl has been a joy to parent.

Soaking up these years because they are passing by too fast! Happy birthday to my favourite girl.