Summertime!

The school year wrapped up in a flurry of activities - sports day, pot luck dinners, field trips, etcetera. Elise had a good experience in kindergarten, but had difficulty with one student in particular. The conflicts arose over "possession" of a certain friend, and this theme wove itself throughout the school year. It provided an unexpected challenge for us as parents, and I'm sure this is simply the tip of the iceberg. Regardless, school is still "fun" and there were many memorable activities.

The picture Elise drew for her teacher, Ms. Kislasko. When I asked Elise what she'd miss most about school during the summer, she said Ms. Kislasko...


The final field trip of the year was to Porteau Cove, about fifteen minutes south of Squamish. The kids had a grand time flipping boulders to search for small crabs, blennies, etcetera. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed watching Elise interact with her friends in her school setting, something Pam sees all the time.


Elise with her friend Kendra, who's also in kindergarten. They have lots of fun playing together.


The sun didn't last long, and as June progressed so did the stormy weather. Here's Elise at the Canada Day festivities on a misty morning. She got her face painted - always a popular addition to the ensemble of the day. We came back for the fireworks at night and enjoyed a hula-hoop fire show after dark. It was a pretty fun day, actually.


We spent an afternoon in Pemberton, again in the rain. Here Elise poses with Jay and his dog Beau, whom Elise walked all the way into Nairn Falls (a couple of kilometres). Beau was very patient with Elise's erratic dog handling behaviour.


Posing with Dad near the falls.


Later that afternoon, we went to a strawberry farm and picked berries. They were delicious. I think Elise and I ate more than we picked, which was hard not to do. When given the option between this and fishing at the lake, she choose berry picking! Go figure... We ended the day with a nice dinner at Jay and Amica's, who are expecting a baby in a few weeks!


Pam and Elise are currently in California enjoying a week with the cousins. They went to the San Diego Zoo and Seaworld, then spent a night in a hotel with three waterslides, as I was excitedly informed by Elise. The highlight of the weekend? Touching a dolphin's back at Seaworld. She sure does love her marine mammals.

Here are the cousins in the hotel pool. From left to right: Jason, Elise, Elena and AJ.


While home alone and unable to climb due to another (!) injury, I decided to do an interesting hike, one I'd not done before. It was a bit of a spontaneous decision, and I did the bare minimum of research beforehand (insert foreshadowing here). I choose the hike to Elfin Lakes in Garibaldi Provincial Park as it's a popular winter ski touring destination and a summer hike of great beauty, one I fancied doing with Elise.

The day started casually enough with a 40-minute drive up logging roads north of Squamish to the trail head. The sign in the parking lot had the usual warning about bears, car break-ins, etcetera, and their were a number of other vehicles. Nothing looked suspicious...


The first five kilometres of the 11 kilometre hike is up an old jeep track. About halfway up the track, I encountered a bit of snow by the side of the road. Hmmm, I thought...


As I continued upward, the snow got deeper and soon covered the entire jeep track. At first I hoped that when I was out of the woods and up on the exposed ridge, the snow would be gone, but that hope was short lived. As I neared the Red Heather Hut, halfway along the hike, the snow was over one-metre deep, and complete in its ground coverage. What to do? I took a break in the hut and thought it over.


The inside of the hut, which is used by many ski tourers in the winter.


Outside the hut, it became clear this area is still in hibernation mode. However, a "path" in the snow continued up Paul Ridge, so I decided to probe upwards with the option to turn back if it got too brutal.


The "path" along the ridge. At this point I seriously wished I had brought either Yak Tracks (spikes for my shoes) and ski poles or my full ski touring kit. No kidding - there was that much snow.


Regardless, I forged onward and the soft snow provided acceptable walking conditions. It was almost 30 degrees out, so the snow actually had a nice moderating effect on the conditions, and my wet hiking shoes felt good on my feet. This is a view looking north along the ridge toward Mt. Garibaldi (on the left).


As I descended the ridge, I neared Elfin Lakes. Yes, that's a lake buried under all that ice and snow. Good thing I packed in my swim suit!


Ice water with sun-cupped snow in the foreground . Brrrr....


The shelter was just beyond the lake, and I was keen to check it out to see if it would work well for Elise. I met a few other people there, who had also endured the 11-km snow slog. It was like walking in wet sand. We were all dreading the hike back...


The shelter turned out to be beautiful, and the view north toward the Garibaldi Neve was stunning.


The downstairs. The hut had a propane furnace, sinks and cooking stoves.


Upstairs were enough bunks for 32 people. Elise would like this, I'm sure...


The guest book.

Detail of Mt. Garibaldi. That's a lot of snow for early July. We had another big winter this year.


On the long hike down, I got a beautiful view of Howe Sound and the Chief in the late evening. We've had a lot of haze around here lately, and I've been told it might be from the wildfires in Colorado. Hard to believe, but not completely implausible. It made for a dramatic view, regardless of the cause.


Here I am, spent from 22km of snow hiking in the heat. Not looking too good there buddy... That's blood in my nose, sunscreen smeared all over my face and scabs on my forehead from some Aldera treatment I've been enduring over the past couple of weeks. The fatigue was satisfying, in a strange way.


In the end, I got what I bargained for. An interesting adventure to a new location. Will I take Elise here? I might, but only if the snow was completely out, likely in September. Time to scout some more potential locations before the girls get home...

Fathers Day

Yesterday was Fathers Day, and we enjoyed a nice family day. Elise was very excited, because she'd made some crafts for me at school and had big plans. As usual, I woke up early and went into my office to do a bit of work. Elise woke up some time later, saw that I was in my office and rushed down the hall to tell Pam, "Dad's forgotten that it's Fathers Day!". I guess she expected me to be waiting impatiently for everyone to get up! Funny...

My presents were a cardboard fish, a plant in a pot that Elise had hand painted, a couple of nice books, a watch and a key chain Elise made at school. Quite a haul! Oh, and I got pretzels dipped in chocolate, again made by Elise at school. She volunteered to help me eat them. Go figure.

After a nice breakfast, we went to the "Mini Metal", a bike race for kids that follows the Test of Metal, a serious 70-km mountain bike race. Last year, Elise did not finish this race (a "DNF"). She was very intimidated by the crowds and jostling and, through tears, asked to stop early, which we of course obliged. She was visibly nervous about doing it this year, despite being a stronger rider, but we pressed her to try and promised some kind of reward afterward. We went early and she did about five training laps - confidence built quickly. She rode the "race" and finished! A better experience than last year, most definitely.




Later on, we went to Alice Lake to get some exercise and ran two laps around the lake, which I'd guess is between two and three kilometres, if not more. She did well, and only needed to stop four times: once to pee, once to take off her jacket, once to pet the goslings, and finally to pick some salmon berries.

Before dinner, Elise and I went to see the new movie Madagascar 3, which was her prize for entering the Mini Metal. It was great, and we both enjoyed it. A good day...

Finally, a couple of weeks ago we went to Josie Clifford's birthday. I've included a few photos from the day. The first is the kids from the party (Josie and her sister Sophia in the middle), the second is Elise climbing the clothesline pole (this is her new thing, and she's darn good at it), and the last is the cake. Click on the picture and look closely at the look on Elise's face and the way she's gripping her plate in anticipation. She's my daughter, that's for sure!




Summer is just around the corner, but you'd never know it after the June we've had. Yuck...

Fun Run

Last Sunday Elise entered a fun run at Alice Lake that was done in conjunction with an adult event. It consisted of a single lap around Alice Lake on a pleasant, forested trail. Elise did great, and although she didn't win she was one of the few kids I saw who actually ran at a good, steady pace and used decent technique. Other kids were sprinting and stopping, getting carried by their parents and getting pulled along by hand. My guess it the run was about 1.5 kilometres long, a good length for their age. As each child ran across the finish line, they were handed a freezee - a fine prize for a job well done.




Lately, Elise has been documenting life around the house. Here are a few candid shots from her camera.

A self portrait in her bedroom. Always a popular subject.


Tia in the kitchen.


Her "science" table in our living room. This is where the future geologist keeps her collection of rocks and minerals.


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Pam cleaning Elise's room, for the 743rd time.


Finally, somebody's got a VERY loose tooth that has been dangling for weeks. In fact, it now sticks almost straight out of her mouth. We call it the "snaggle tooth". It's not pretty, but I needed to document it for future reference. Elise showing it off!

More Artwork

I thought I'd upload the card that Elise made me for my birthday this year. It's a picture of me skiing, and it looks like I'm about to crash into a cactus, but Elise assures me it's just a tree. Either way, it looks like I had a close call!

Lately she's been drawing dolphins jumping out of the water. That's her new thing, and she's becoming quite skilled at it.



Also, Sharon Plumb gave me two postcards that her parents had saved from their time in Rossland. The first is of the official opening day on Red Mountain and if you look very closely you can actually a skier riding the chairlift. The second is a shot of Columbia Avenue (main street). For those of you that have spent time there, I thought you'd find them interesting.

Spring Stuff

We've been out enjoying the nice spring weather over the last couple of weeks. It's been truly beautiful and we've done our best to make the most of it. I finished my book project a couple of weeks ago and Pam is into the final leg of her school year, so things are winding down after an intense winter.

We had a good year skiing, and both Pam and I enjoyed heading up to the mountains with Elise and various friends. We have purchased a pass for next season and already signed Elise up for 15 weeks of lessons. She did well with her six lessons this year and enjoyed them, so we thought we'd experiment with a longer set next winter and see how it goes.

Here's Elise and I enjoying true spring (summer!) conditions on Blackcomb during the second weekend of May. It was so hot I was skiing in my T-shirt...comfortably. We had a nice time and Elise skied through the Superpipe (a giant half pipe) twice!



Next up was the Squamish Youth Triathlon. A friend of ours put together a team and needed a "swimmer" (the race is a relay), so they called for Elise. We spent a few weeks "training" for the swim, which consisted of two pool lengths (out and back). During these training sessions, we determined that Elise could, in fact, make it out and back, much to every one's relief. Technique was lacking, but her endurance was good.

The morning of the race. We lined up in the gym at the Brennan Park Leisure Centre to sign in.


Elise getting her number marked on her leg and arm.


The team from left to right: Elise, Hazel (the runner) and Aidan (the biker).


Elise waiting in the holding are outside the pool. We thought the volunteers did an amazing job of running so many kids through in such an organized manner.


On the pool deck with her group.


On goes the swim cap. She'd never worn one before.


Lining up in her lane. They sent five kids in each lane and staggered their starts. There was still a a fair number of mid-lane collisions, though. It was a tad chaotic, but I thought the kids managed well for their age. Elise was in the seven and under category, the youngest in the race.


Getting ready to start. Parents lined the side and end of the lanes. It was exciting! I'm sorry to say I don't have any pictures of the actual race, but this is because I was filming it. Elise did well, and actually used the front crawl for about half of the first length. She then tired and reverted to a combination of dog paddling and underwater gliding, her go-to technique.


The team with their medals. This was followed by a bouncy castle session and some face painting. A good time was had by all! Elise wore the medal and her shirt all day, and then again to school on Monday. She is very proud and was mentioned in her school newsletter. She was the only child from Stawamas Elementary (Pam and Elise's school) that entered.


Elise made her second official climb up the Chief's Apron the same weekend. This time we climbed Banana Peel (5.7). It was about seven pitches of low-angle slab climbing, and she did the entire route on her own except for a short, steep crack (about 10 feet). Here she is posing at the base with the rope, which she carried up the approach. It was a hot day!


Pam and Elise on the third pitch. Both are tied to the end of the rope. I go first, set an anchor, and then belay them from above as they climb up to my stance.


A week later, Elise led her first rock climb at Cheakamus Canyon (she pulled the rope behind her and clipped it into the protection points as she climbed). I went first and set all the protection points at close intervals, and then ascended a rope beside her while she climbed in case there was an emergency. She did fine, and was very comfortable on the climb since she'd done it many times before.



Relaxing after the ascent.


Finally, Elise has been getting more adventurous when it comes to writing. Here, she composed a short note to Pam and I. See if you can read it...


I think it reads: "Elise Josie, The wind tells me never give up". Priceless...

Marc