I made it to WHISTLER!!

ONCE this summer

which is more than last summer, or the summer before.

But, in my 'previous life',

we had seasons passes for the "whistler bike park", for a few years in a row.

We've only ever  been there once in the winter, to snowboard...

but we practically lived up there every weekend in the bike season.

I remember whistler bike park, when the only way up with the bikes was to fit 3 bikes and 3 people into a tiny vertical box of a gondola.

now they have two huge lifts designed specifically for bikes and people.

It has changed so much in the past few years.....since I've been gone.

I remember we used to get an easy 6 runs in before lunch, and sometimes 13 runs in a day.

I was happy to just get 6 runs in this time.

I went up to whistler with my sis-in-law, Jenn, her friend Jody, and my girlfriend , Jenn  (with a name starting with 'A', I was odd girl out)

My ol-biking buddy, who now works in whistler, summers, was able to arrange a free bike for me for the day

(THANKS Jeff) 

He tuned up a Demo-8  (from Specialized )  for me, just the way I like it.

What a sweet ride that bike was (it had 8" front  travel and 8" rear suspension, plus the hydraulic disc brakes , of course).

It had the best rear-end of any bike I've ridden, no slopiness whatsoever.

A sweeeet bike, probably worth near $5000, new.

We had an awesome day!

the weather couldnt have been better!

not alot of tourists left in whistler, so not alot of crowds, was great!

I had told myself not to worry about riding the mtn. the way I used to.

I had hit a certain performance level, could do certain stunts on the mtn. trails..

but when You've been out of it for a few years, of course you dont go right back and do the crazy stuff...

so, I didnt pressure myself..

but after doing a few minor 'drops' in one of the practice parks, and feelin the bike out, and how I did  (jumps felt great)

I decided to go ahead and try a few of the old jumps and stunts I used to do.

It was soooo fun.

If I was in better physical shape, I probably  could have ridden much like I did when I left the  sport due to pregnancy.

It still felt natural, flowy and fun.

But, my legs were bruning and shaking.

at the speeds we ride these bikes, it's usually the arms that take the biggest beating from all the intense vibration..

my arms were ok..it was the legs that couldnt endure.

It takes alot of stamina to stand on the pedals and go full tilt all the way down the mtn.

and I needed lots of little rest breaks, to keep my strength up.

There were so many NEW trails, since I was there last, that I couldnt keep track of them all.

I hardly recognized the mtn...cept for the 'classic' trails they've always had.

We got as many runs in as we could before the last lift at 5pm

then we did the traditional 'apres bike' and sprawled out on the patio with beer and nachos.

Ice cold Heinekens for me!!!!!!
then limped our sore and tired bodies back to the parking lots, to pack up the car and head home.

Was a beautiful drive along the 'sea to sky' highway, as always...

never tiring view along that stretch!

and what alot of work they've done..expanding the former, peaceful winding 2 lane highway , into a mammoth 4 lane freeway, all the way to whistler, for the olympics in 2010.

 

After sitting in the car for a couple hours, boy was it ever hard forcing my limbs to move.

6 hours straight of mtn. biking put my body past exhaustion and soreness...

but it was soooooo fun, such a rush, such an addiction!

Got home around 8:30 pm, left at 8:30 am taht morning...only saw the kids in the morning for about  1 hour.

 

now back to my 'real life'......

sigh..

 

I'll post the pictures as soon as Jenn and Jenn email them too me!!!!!!!!!!

(hint hint)

I didnt dare take my camera...one fall could be fatal for it....

so could one drop of water..for that matter.

 

here is a pic of the bike I got to ride...

the ones of us on the mtn. will soon follow....

;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

My kids & I have been sick for a week now.

I'm sick of sick !

sick of staying home !

sick of staying home with the kids !

there's no more yellow snot, just some runny noses..

so I'm bustin' out today

taking the kids OUT somewhere PUBLIC to play

If another kid gets sick because of my kids...

then

well

they'd probably get sick anyways..  (it IS sick season)

I've kept my kids home as long as I can

I've gotta take them out or they're going to gang up on me

and COUP

So

watchout playgrp

here we come!!!!!

 

 

In other news:

Eryn can ride her tricycle proficiently now...including forward, backward, turning and stopping..and her controlled crashes

(she likes driving into things, slowly enough she doesn' REALLY crash)

She can remove her own clothing and shoes  (including diaper)

SHe's tryin to be 'mom' to Aiden, telling him what he can' and isn' allowed to do.

she LOVES her dancing and music, she can sing the entire first verse and chorus to 'Baby Beluga'  on her own, no background music

She's beginning to tell us when her diaper is 'dirty' or 'poopy'

she wants to everything HERSELF.....everything.......everything...everything.....sigh

 

Aiden is only 1 shoe size behind Eryn now

can feed himself most things without spilling (cept for cups)

Aiden can say his version of:  bottle, brush, outside, buzz lightyear, broom, blankie, more, doggie (or sirius), mommy, dada, nana, eryn..

he knows a few 'signs' too, we've been teaching him

He can mimick sounds extremely well, now just learning to repeat the words, not just the sound of the words

He does everything Eryn does

There isnt anythng in the house he CAN'T climb up, on, over, under, around or thru

Aiden can follow commands pretty well, when it suits him.

 

We REALLY need to start planning the 3rd bedroom. The other night Eryn woke up at 2:30 am to play...then an hour later, was bored and began yelling at aiden to 'WAKE UP' , "Aiden, can you hear me?"

Then, by the time she'd woken him up, and he was fitfully screaming, she was ready to sleep again......grrrrrrrr.......

(Don't blame you Aiden, I'd be pissed off too)

 

so, gotta get ready to head out into the big wide world....WOW

cheerios!

 

 

 

 

I got together with my girlfriends, to celebrate little Rowan's first birthday.

Adrienne was the tolerant/generous host to like 9 little kids and the entourage...

Eryn was SO excited to be going to a birthday party. She picked out her own dress to wear  (I had to add the turtleneck, cause it's not July anymore) and couldn't wait to 'eat ice cream', 'blow out candles', wear a 'party hat', and 'play with toys'.

Aiden, as uaual , was the one to watch...and in true Aiden style,  he left with more boo-boo's than we arrived, mostly from falling off the motorcycle, after 'performing' failed stunts  (see pictures) At one point Eryn, Joey and Aiden were all dancing, toddler style mosh-pit, was  adorable, but hard to capture in a photo, they were movin' so much.

By 12:15 the kids were toast. Eryn had a bit of fuel left in her, simply because of her 13 months additional life experience, AND the bit of chocolate cake she had, that Aiden passed on.

As always, it's the moms who wanna stay and chat more...cause they hardly get a chance to in the first place..what with the 'game show' in full swing and all...

That's why we have those few precious 'nights out'

hopefully there'll be one coming up soon

(hint hint)

It was great gettin together with the Friday Girlz

the kids are sure gettin big!

heeeeere's the pics:

 

 

 

 

Aiden, as I mentioned in countless previous blogs...

is an incessant climber,

it's as though he can't help himself, he must climb, and is drawn to anything that is remotely 'climbable'

He just can't stop himself, it's like a drive, an instinctual urge he MUST fill.

 

During our cmaping trip and previous to it, he's climbed out of every playpen we have.

Upon returning home,

he's now climbed out of his crib too.

It happend at nap time.

We thought they were asleep. it was awefully quiet in there...

but 1/2 hour into 'nap time' we heard Aiden screaming bloody murder.

I went rushing in,  thinking he must have a limb stuck thru the crib bars...

but no,

he was outside the crib,

next to it actually..

stuck in a 6" space between the crib and the wall...

but on the OUTSIDE of the crib.

 

I had to grab his little arms and pry him out by pulling him straight up along the wall.

I figure, he musta climbed out of the crib, then managed to climb around, and got himself stuck.

Hopefully he scared himself enough NOT to try it agian.

It sent me into mommy 'panic' mode....

oh no;

if he's climbing out of his crib,

we only have 1 bedroom for them....

 

Jenn, threw out the 'lifesaver' for me, reminding me that he's old enough now, to 'lay down the law' and teach him to STAY in his bed...

whew

so,

so far, so good..

since his intial escape, it's been 4 naps and 2 sleeps...and no more escapes.....

funny thing is, Eryn has NEVER climbed out of her crib......ever.... and she's 2 1/2 now...and still choosing her crib to sleep in...

which is fine by us, for now, until we get a 3rd bedroom buildt..then they can each transition to a bed from the cribs...

hopefully by Halloween, we'll have a 3rd bedroom...

Just gotta conference with our landlords..

I spoke with him, just before we left camping,

and he said, that we were such good tennants, that if that's what it took to keep us there, we earned it...

so he's gonna build us an extra bedroom, from the space they have on their side, downstairs...

 

 

Here's a couple pics of our 'playdate' at Jenn's house over the weekend.

Edie's hoping her baby will arrive soon...

but, they are so easy to take care of, before they're born....

;)

Also

a pic of Ed & I out for some 'girly' time, before her life is changed FOREVER....muahahaha

(kidding)

 

 

I dont even know where to begin

except to admit that we bit off WAY more than we could chew, wanting to do an entire week camping with a 16month old and a 2.5 yr old, and a 79lb dog.

FIRST

there was the 4+hour drive to get to kamloops.

the kids can manage well in car seats for about an hour, sometimes 2 but  4? they didnt sleep nearly long enough in the van, so lots of crying, whining, hitting each other, taking things from each other, throwing things at each other, listening to 'Baby Beluga' 20 times in a row...etc...

Second;

we arrive, and need to 'set up' our tent and such...but we need 2 people to chase ofter the kids, now stir crazy from their confinement, and eager to explore the new place. It was insanity from the minute we released them from their car seats.

THIRD:

was the problem of food. Eryn is a picky eater, she's at 'that stage'  (it BETTER be a stage) but I wasn't about to pack up all her little tofu's and yogurts that all need refridgeration and a quiet place to sit while its' eaten. She hardly ate anything, and would fight us when we tried to feed her some nourishment.  I know, I know, just let her be, 'she won't starve herself'...but what she does do, is let herself get sooo hungry that her blood sugar drops and she gets 'the shakes' and gets pale, and then REALLY doesn't want to eat, then it's a quick downward spiral from there.....so eating is a MUST.  Aiden suffered a bit from the 'picky eater syndrome' too, but it was also STINKIN HOT, and who wants to eat when its 32+degrees  (that's 90+ for you fahrenheit folk)

 

FOURTH:

the incessant non-stop nature of our chilren left us sliding into new depths of exhaustion. While the property was fenced  (THANK GOD)it was far from child-safe, plus the fact that there were 4 dogs, at times 5or 6, and most of them were BIG dogs, We each had to shadow our children wherever they went. Aiden proved himself an ept climber, as there's not a playpen he CANT climb out of now...no high chairs to strap them in..not much to restrain them.. When un-checked, Aiden would head for the ignited BBQ, and try crawling under it, or constantly trying to get inside the house to try climbing the stair case again, Eryn would take toys from others, or check out the bottles of beer and other alchohol within easy reach...it was just NON STOP I could go on..but I think I've brought the point home.

there was the odd occasion when they'd have a brief nap  (naps didnt last long because the heat in the tent was stifling) and Gary and I got to collapse in a chair for a few minutes, or find something to eat.

 

FIFTH:

Once the kids finally DID go to sleep, well after it was dark..we finally had the chance to 'hang out' and chill with our friends...but it that had it's own price too...stay up late...kids still get up at the crack of dawn, and 'the chase' commences again.

 

We had moments of fun, both with the kids and when they were asleep, but honestly, on the whole it was utterly exhausting and it will be quite a while before we take such a road trip again.  Thanks Neil & Jacquie, for being such awesome hosts! Trust me, it's not personal, it's just a matter of our OWN personal SANITY.

 

I was a bit anxious about taking Sirius, mostly because he doesn't spend alot of time with other dogs, now that he's stuck at home with us.. and because of all the other kids around, always need to be extra careful.

Sirius managed very well, he wasn't yappy or annoying at all. He seemed to resign himself to being a dog..for the weekend. After the first intial meetings and altercations, when the dogs all fugure out who is tougher than who.. he played with all the other dogs there. He wore himself out after hours of Jitu , Ken & Carla's big dog, trying to get him to chase, and Sirius defending 'our corner' of the yard. Eventually, he played with Jitu too. But he really loved Sophie, Neil & Jaquies dog. It was fun to watch the dogs playing together.

 

Aiden's favourite thing, the whole weekend, was getting into the house, and going up & down & up & down & up & down the stairs.....

Eryn's favourite thing, over the weekend, was, swimming in the pool, playing with poker cards, seeing the campfire, looking at the stars, sleeping in the tent with mommy and daddy, and doing whatever Jasmine was doing  (Jasmine is 9).

It was great seeing everyone, and remembering the last time we were up there for the weekend..the only kids THEN were, Alex & JAsmine and a NEW born tiny baby Jackson..who is now 4...

now there are at least 6 new kids.

 

 

The only big drama of the weekend, 

was a dog bite

The biggest dog bit the biggest kid

Jitu, the 100+lb un neutered rhodesian ridgeback, bit into Alex's hip, as he was playing with several of them together. As far as bites go, it could have been worse, but the dog did draw blood and left a couple nice punture wounds.  Needless to say, I think we were all feeling a bit nervous of the dog play , after that...I know I was, especially as my kids heads are at dog mouth level, whereas it was alex's hip that took the bite, because he's a big kid of 13.  Dogs will be dogs, and kids will be kids....

 

We left monday to head to kelowna,

I had reserved a motel room, and we were feeling optimistic about staying there...

thinking, well, it's a confined area..surely it will be easier

Eryn took right to it, but Aiden was climbing the walls, literally..

He was even able to drag our heavily laden cooler around the room to assist him in his climbing.

He's a relentless climber

They went to bed late, got up early and the chase was non stop again.

We went to my Grandma's place, a typical Grandma's place,

with beautiful things within easy reach, like all her lovely Royal Daulton, and China.

We weren't able to stay long because of that.

 When we arrived, though, the kids were screaming and squealing and running full-tilt down the hallways...

One of my grandma's neighbors comes out to the hall, all panic striken, wanting to know if there was a fire?  or a drill? what was all the commotion?

My grandmother took great pleasure in informing her that it was just her great grandkids.

She retold that story/incident 4-5 times  just when we were there..she was eating it up.

and she'd just laugh and chuckle at Gary & I as we'd chase after them, like contestants on a game show.

I sure wish we lived closer to her, so I could visit her more often.

It was all I could do to keep myself from bawling the whole time we were visitng with her.

Between seeing the pictures she'd hung up in her home, of my mother, and the ones she'd given me, and just how much my mom was like her mom, the mannerisms, the vocal inflections, the personal ticks, how my grandma kept calling me by my mom's name, instead of my name...

 

My grandma gave me a few portraits of my mom as a child.  We showed them to Eryn, and asked her who it was, she replied:   Eryn

My daughter looks very much like her grandma, only fairer skin and lighter hair.

I miss my mom soo much.

It's not fair