Farewell Gr 3 and Gr 5.

To my recent Grade 3 and Grade 5 graduates,

How did another year go by so fast?

It seemed like just yesterday that the two of you stood at the front door with your brand new shoes and we took the obligatory First Day of School photos.

It's has been an amazing year for you both, I don't know how but both of you ended up in the class with ALL of your best friends and had wonderful teachers. 

The year went by so fast, I blinked and ten months went by and it was time for you to stand by the front door again and pose with the Last Day of School signs a year older and wiser:

To celebrate another year of growing your minds and your heart, we headed up to Whistler for our third annual year-end celebration. 

The hotels were back in full swing, the Adara Hotel was right in the village. You guys loved the free cookies in the lobby and the robes in the room.

Our good friends also had the same great idea of celebrating end of the school year at Whistler and we ripped up the Lost Lake trails. 

You guys were so brave - way more than me! Big Sis, you even had a big crash on one of the trails. I didn't see it but Daddy said you went right over your handlebars! EEK! I was so proud of you though, you were able to get back on your bike and keep going and still wanted to bike the next day. You are courageous! 

There was a heat wave when we were up at Whistler (again!). Our friends were staying at the Pan Pacific so we were able to swim in the pool there which was a lot nicer than the pool at our hotel. I didn't even see the pool at our hotel but you guys told me it was like a little bigger than a bathtub. 

We also biked to all the lakes : Lost Lake, Nita Lake and Alpha Lake. It was blazing hot enough to jump off the dock at Alpha Lake - although as soon as we got in the water, it instantly numbed your entire body. I guess we shouldn’t have been so surprised that glacier water so ice cold!

Biking and swimming all day and good hearty meals like the Old Spaghetti Factory is the perfect way to celebrate the end of the school year and for us to all pause and count our blessings.

We knew we had packed in a fantastic but exhausting weekend because both you were SO tired when we drove home on Sunday late afternoon. Big Sis, you even fell asleep on the drive home! I don't think you've fallen asleep in the car since you were a toddler!

Farewell Grade 3 and 5! Onto Middle School for you Nallie!

Proud  of you and love you both to the moon and back! 

We are the tent peasants.

 We are the tent peasants and we love camping with our friends...even if all of them now have trailers/campers. In the shadow of their trailers, there is room for our humble tent...

 

Tenting is actually pretty awesome, especially at Thousand Trails... it's glamping at it's best. There's plug in electrical so we can plug in the griddle and make pancakes for breakfast. Last year I even brought my milk frother so I could make steamed milk for the perfect London Fog. 

We were concerned that with all the rain forecasted, we would be spending wet nights in our tent but thank goodness our canopy fit (almost) over the tent and we stayed dry despite the rain at night.

During the day, the sun came out so we could still enjoy the pool.

And we went golfing and we had fun taking pictures on the green and pretending to know what we were doing...

It's was lovely cooking and eating meals together. After two years of restrictions, just sharing a meal together with friends is such a blessing. 

There's also a candy store at Thousand Trails, we all gave the kids $5 and they were delighted to go to the candy store on their own and agonize over what candy choice was the best...

The weather stayed dry up till the evening so we were able to have a campfire because it's not a real camping trip until you have s'mores

And when all the moms shop at Costco and all get the same laser tag guns, you get to end the day with an epic game of laser tag with glow sticks in the forest. 

Such a fun weekend, can't wait til next year!

BMO Half marathon : Older, Faster, Stronger.

 4:50 am - alarm goes off. Question choices in my life to voluntarily wake up before 5:00 am for a run.

5:51 am - all aboard the shuttle bus to take us to the start line.

6:17 am - oligatory photo at the start line

6:30 am - breakfast of champions - energy gels.

6:55 am - ditch the old sweater I had brought to keep me warmer before the race starts.

6:59 am - 1 minute until race starts. Heart is racing. Garmin confirms that my HR is going way too fast.

7:00 am - race is supposed to start but they announce there is some sort of police incident and there's a delay. Later I find out that there was a package that looked “sus” and they had to bring in the bomb squad so we didn’t have a repeat of the Boston marathon. 

7:15 am - shivering and freezing standing in the corral waiting to run.

7:20 am - Why are we still not running? Goosebumps. Shivering. Go back and find the sweater I had ditched. Success! Found sweater and try to stay warm standing still when it's only 8 degrees.

7:45 am - there are SO many people peeing in the bushes beside the race corrals for the past hour. This is our pre-race entertainment ?!

7:55 am -  They announce that race will start in 5 minutes. Everyone cheers. I am so cold I can't feel my arms or my legs.

8:03 am - FINALLY cross the start line over an hour pasts the scheduled start time. Trying to get the blood flowing to my numb arms and legs.

8:56 am - 10 km in and I am finally in the zone. Loving the energy and the cheering fans.

9:20 am - Girl dressed in all pink beside me passes me and then I pass her and then she passes me again. This is getting annoying. There's also a guy wearing a shirt that says Team Dead Legs and we keep going back and forth. I need to not see either of them again. Muster up all my energy to will my legs to go faster and pick up the pace. See ya pinky girl and dead legs guy. 

9:30 am - Signs at races at the best. "Remember you paid to do this?" "Run like your mom just called you by your full name" "Run Faster I just farted" "Huh? Where is everyone going?" and my favourite "Pain is temporary - Strava stats are forever". That one kept me going strong. 

9:58 am - I can see the finish line. Why is there uphill now? That's just mean. 

10:00 am - DONE. Hallelujah. Turn around to look at my watch: 1:55:42. YAAAAAAAS. I did it. I finally ran the BMO in less than 2 hours. In 2018, I finished in 2:02 and in 2019, I finished in 2:00:13 second. The sub-2 half has been taunting me until now. FINALLY. Slayed it and finished in 1:55!

10:05 am - Adrenaline is still pumping and I am surprisingly able to find both Simon and my friend Annie among the masses of people. Husband  doesn't look so good. He says he has destroyed his knee. Hopefully nothing that ibuprofen and a roller can't fix?!

Feeling pretty proud of this race. Proud that all the training paid off and proof that you can be almost 40 and still be slaying your own personal records. 

Also the first time in a decade of racing against my super fit husband that I actually beat him. This has never happened ever. He finished in 1:59. That’s still pretty amazing for a guy that never runs and his longest practice run was only 7km. It does feel good to finally just for once beat him at something. 

10:15 - got our medals and freebies. This really is a lot of work for a free banana 

10:35 - Freezing again. That has been the theme of today. Superstar husband wraps me in a foil blanket. 

We find a Macdonalds and I have never been so happy to have a hot hashbrown and a cup of tea. Ok time to go home and stretch and hopefully be able to walk tomorrow. But hey, pain is temporary and stats last forever right?