April Weekend

We had a good weekend. It wasn't sunny, but it wasn't raining either, so we counted ourselves lucky. Elise skied on Saturday and climbed in the Smoke Bluffs on Sunday. Grandpa Bourdon came for a visit so she was keen to show him her "moves". We bumped into a number of friends, and Elise enjoyed climbing a bit with Josie - they wore ferns around their heads. This had something to do with playing forest "pixies". I thought she looked like the Statue of Liberty.

Pictures...

Elise wearing my rack of climbing gear. She's giggling because it hangs around her ankles.


Jose climbing at Call it a Day cliff.


Elise "spring" skiing. The snow is melting out fast at the bottom of the mountain and we kind of got stuck and had to navigate around some grass to get back onto the snow. She thought this was really funny. It was the first thing she told her kindergarten teacher on Monday morning.


Elise at Call it a Day cliff.


The forest "pixies" complete with fern head wear.


Elise and Grandpa B at Call it a Day cliff. Elise brought her cat "Rose" to the cliff.


With her friends at Blackcomb. From left to right: Josie, Isabella and Elise.


Elise climbing at Call it a Day.

Easter!

We spent the Easter long weekend in Penticton, climbing at the Skaha Bluffs. We had a nice time and enjoyed camping with our friends from Squamish and socializing with our Penticton friends, Casey and Brenda. Pictures...

Our campground on Skaha Lake. The tents were right by the water and the kids enjoyed playing together on the lake shore and in the meadows behind the campsite. There was also a lot of bike riding, and Elise had a couple of traumatic crashes that ended in tears. She's not a strong rider...


Elise and Hazel on the dock feeding the ducks.


Easter morning was eagerly anticipated. Here the kids rub the sleep out of their eyes and get ready for the big egg hunt in the campground! From left to right: Hazel, Aiden, Erik and Elise. Our tents are in the background.


The Easter bunny left eggs in the grass behind the tent area. We were careful to keep the excitement at bay, so the other campers weren't disturbed. How do you keep a multi-child egg hunt fair so that each kid gets the same amount? You label every egg or prize with a name!


Early morning walk along the trail beside Skaha Lake. Elise and I saw a wild pheasant! She said, "look Dad, a giant robin!". It actually kind of looked like a giant robin...



Climbing at the Bluffs on a 5.6 at the right end of Red Tail wall. Her first day didn't go very well because we put her on routes that were a little too challenging. However, the next two days were much more succesful because we chose easier climbs. She did much better and enjoyed climbing with her friends from Squamish, something she doesn't get to do very often.


Pam on a 5.11b at Diamond Back. It was crowded!


Kris Wild took the kids "short-roping" (walking through steep terrain with a short rope on for protection). Each kid eagerly anticipated their turn. Here, Kris leads Elise onto a very large, flat-topped boulder.


Elise and Kris peer over the edge.


We enjoyed meeting Brenda's daughter and family. Brenda arranged a second Easter egg hunt at their house, a pancake breakfast AND an Easter dinner. The kids immediately enjoyed playing together and scrambled around on Casey's bouldering wall. We all got a great laugh when we heard Elise tell the other kids, "There's one thing you need to know about me - I'm a really good climber!" This was said in all seriousness and out of earshot of the adults (or so she thought). What a character!

On Sunday we took the kids to the Penticton pool. Elise LOVED the waterslide and went off the high dive about five times! The board was at least 4-5 metres high!

On Monday, we took the kids climbing and they had a great time. From left to right: Max, Elise and Gabe. Photo by Brenda.


Until next time!
Marc