Snow Tubing Or Shooting: New Years Dilemna

Ever play the card game UNO with 2 people?  And then play the reverse-a-turn card?  You think your going one direction.  At least that was the plan.  Only to find yourself quickly going in the opposite direction.

The events of today were much like that.  For weeks I had a plan to start a yearly tradition of New Years day snow tubing as a family.  Fun and a perfect way to spend a holiday building fantastic memories to cherish forever.  And of course it is the time of year one wishes to be in the white stuff.

Previous to today, I did consider Cypress Mountain over Manning Park.  But the snow reports were not very good.  According to a few 'reliable' sources,  Manning had 'tonnes' of snow!  And so I was pretty confident that the best choice would be to go to Manning Park Resort for a fantastic snowy experience. .

So, I packed all the gear.  And all the snacks.  And then all the kids.  Stopped for a coffee of course and off we were heading up to what was going to be a snow white destination. Last stop was to be at the snow tubing centre of  Manning Park.

We hit Hope, BC.  My first coffee was gone.  For some crazy reason I craved my second.  And I lack self-control!  So against my families wishes, I stopped.  I was the driver after all:)  As I sat in the line up, I started to rethink the whole 'tonnes of snow' report I had and decided to pull over and check the Manning Website before travelling any further.

This is what it said.  "Sliding only due to lack of snow" !!! Wait a minute.  I was going to drive all the way up to Manning.  Pay to slide and have to walk back up the hill each time? No way.  So this is what my kids heard next.

"So everyone.  We have two choices.  Drive to Manning.  Slide down the 'one' path that was open and walk back up all day.  Or.  Go to the river, build a really big fire,  ride ATV's and shoot guns".

The kids response.  "Shoot guns"!  And, so that's what we did.

A Day At The Zoo

For years the kids have asked for a trip to the Zoo, but there is always 'somewhere' else to be or 'something' else to do.  I am so thankful to Anna for suggesting that this fine October day would be a great day to go to the Zoo.

The morning started with some cloudy skies, but rain seemed unlikely.  And in fact, the rain did stay away and the clouds disappeared as well.  Nothing but sunny skies and nearly 20 degree temperatures.  Now that's a fine day to be outside wandering for hours oohing and ahhing at all those magnificent creatures God created.

One of our favorite things we saw were the chickens.  Of all things, the chickens.  Now, they were not 'ordinary' chickens.  They were fancy and fun to watch.  Some looked like punk rockers and some looked fit for the palace.   Next came the giraffe.  We got to see her at snack time, mowing down a full tree.   The zebras and lions of course were also amazing, as were so many other great animals.

One of the funniest things to see wasn't the animals, but Peyton, pushing a 'tired' Cayden:)  What a great little sister.  We all had such a great day together building memories of time together in the great outdoors.  

PS: We didn't crop Jeremy out:)  He was missing the action in BC but enjoying the wedding action of Kevin in Ontario.

Another Party In The Park Night

Another summer brings another season of music and festivities in Downtown Chilliwack on Friday nights.  This year has started off with the perfect weather for such a wonderful event.

We made our way through the Kids Zone first.  After some kid-decorated cookie, jumping jacks, jumping in the inflatable castle, arts and crafts, we made our way down the streets to check out the food trucks, karate show, and bull-riding.

Then came time for me to stand in a half-hour lineup for ice-cream while the family enjoyed lounging on the grass slope listening to the live band in front.

A few hours of fun and it was time to go home.  Looking forward to many more beautiful evenings hanging out in Central Park enjoying all the music and festivities a few more times before the summer season ends.

Tough Mudder Whistler 2013

I knew the day would be awesome.  There was no doubt in my mind that I would be doing something beyond normal.  But the craziness of the day was way more than I had dreamed.  Twenty-five thousand of us adrenaline junkies encountered more mud, water and cold than I thought could be possible for sure.

Many people think that it takes a person with something seriously wrong with them to pay money to take part in Tough Mudder.  To want to run through mud for a mile.  Crawl under barb wire.  Run 18 kilometres in the mountains.  Get Electrocuted, not just in one obstacle, but two.  Climb twelve-foot high walls.  Jump into mud from twenty feet up.  Slide down ice mountains.  Jump over fire.  Climb the Whistler 2010 Ski Jump. Just to name a few of the Twenty-eight fantastic and challenging obstacles.

My co-workers shared this opinion quite openly.  The whole idea didn't even interest them in the least.  (I personally think that they just don't have what it takes:).  

For our 11 year anniversary, I signed Jeremy up to our Tough Mudder Team.  He received an email from the event that told him he was enlisted.  I don't think he was ever truly happy until he ran the race with us.  Then I think I must have been thanked by him at least a half-dozen times during the Mudder how thankful he was that I enlisted him! 

 I was very proud of him too.  He held his own, even though some of his co-workers were placing bets that I would be dragging him to the end.  We were actually very happy to have him along so that Jeff had a helper throwing all us ladies up and over the Berlin walls:)

As a team we certainly made memories that will last a lifetime.  Kelly racing with a broken arm.  Mark picking his one pace and making his way through the race beginning to end keeping that pace.  Some of the faces once in the Arctic Enema and the quick escape.  The looks of fear when standing on the Walk The Plank obstacle.  The falling shorts.  The closed eyes when taking leaps of faith.  The drive in an 8 passenger van with a few extra people.  And... to top it off, sitting around a fire, enjoying cheers and beers.

Thank you all you Unsworth Mudders for such an awesome weekend!  Looking forward to the next one.