Up to speed…

August 30th, 2007
Here’s a quick update to fill you in on what’s been happening of late…

Aisha:
Well, she’s now a hustling bustling two year old. What’s she been up to? Well, she sings and talks better than ever. She thinks she can do anything the boys can do and she’s quite adventurous…easily the boldest and most daring child of the three. And she’s a girl, which (being translated) means that we have to deal with her emotions more than the guys, but that’s okay…just something different. And she loves jewelry and makeup.
She loves to wrestle and do “steamrollers” with me, and she has a great time jumping on to and off of me; yes, she finds it absolutely hilarious to cause me pain (so I fake it just to get her giggling).

Cadel:
He’s a six year old in four year old skin, whether it’s on his bike or on a hike, or in a pool or Sunday school, writing a book or at the store, in a boat or a skateboard, playing guns or the guitar, he’s having fun both near and far.

Aden:
He’s as brilliant and creative as ever, writing books, building bike & skate parks (out of toys), learning new skills on his bike, and doing many other things. We’re hoping to still do music lessons this year although it may be that he has to wait a year and then continue with the Music For Young Children program next fall. And school starts soon too.

Angela: Hmmm… what to say about Ang? She’s been busy taking care of 3 kids, getting settled in to our new place, planning for Aden’s schooling, and other secret stuff. She’s enjoying Trail but she’s ready for a visit home and for a chance to do some shopping too.

Me:
Well, I just finished doing inventory at work (all last week), I’ve got a gig coming up today woohoo!, I’ve been working on our house, and I’ve had the chance to do a few rides…Crown Point, Snake, and Milky Way/Green Door.

Us: We had a visitor…my mom came out for a while, it was so great to hang out and do stuff with her. The borscht and dumplings were delicious (as usual) and it was nice for all the grandkids to spend time with granny (and we liked spending time with her too).

When we first bought our place we were told that there were fruit trees on our yard, a cherry & pear tree. Well the cherry tree was indeed a cherry tree (but we didn’t get to eat any) and the pear tree…? Well, the pear tree turned in to an apricot tree which then eventually became a peach tree. Yummy! We picked over a hundred peaches off the tree.

And we did another hike… it was amazing, more on it later.

Yahoo! She’s Two!

August 18th, 2007
Today is a milestone.
Aisha turns two today.
Wow, that was fast. What was once a little bundle is now a much bigger little bundle. She’s not as snuggly as then (she’s quite a wiggler) but she sure is sweet. mmmm……
Without a doubt she completes our family.
Happy Birthday Aisha our precious heart!

“Hokey Smoke!”

August 18th, 2007
It’s all the rage around here these days… raging infernos that is. It’s been really dry around here lately, we haven’t had any rain, minus a tiny sprinkle, since we moved out here in July. And so it means that the forest is just a spark away from being a campfire. And so last week (Friday the 10th), during that short sprinkle, a lightning strike started a fire 20km away from us in the mountainous area south of the Pend D’orrielle River (pronounced “pond a ray”) and what seemed small and under control (250 hectares) went large on Thursday (up to 1700 hectares) due to wind. And now what was fairly harmless is threatening homes and families.

Here’s a few photos for perspective…

Thursday from the highway 1km away from the fire:

Friday AM looking towards the Pend D’Orrielle from downtown Trail… normally you can see the mountains on either side of the Columbia River Valley, but this day you could barely see across the river.

The latest reports have the fire 6km away from the community of Fruitvale and only 1km away from homes in the area. I work with people who live in Fruitvale, and we attend church with others who live there, so obviously this is a large concern.

So, as Aisha would say it, “Hokey Smoke!”

Oh yeah, speaking of smokin’, I’m really looking forward to a gig coming up soon… I’ll be joining Sheldon, Drew, Dave, & Andy as “Blacklight Prophet” at Rossfest on Thursday August 29th @ 9pm. Yep, it feels really good to be playing again.

Demolition Derby

August 13th, 2007
Well, this past weekend was quite the experience.

It was a demolition derby.
Not the driving variety mind you. No, that would have been fun.

This demolition derby was the “tear your basement apart” variety.

Admittedly there was a lot of similarities between the two..lots of smashing and crashing (lumber, not cars), giving and getting a beating (ripping a basement apart is a lot of work), fans who cheer and jeer you (okay so it was just Aden, Cadel, and Aisha looking in the door & window),and way to much testosterone (4 guys being guys). But the work is done (yeah!) or at least the worst of it is done… all I have left is a bit of vacuuming and other tidying up, then it’s on to the next jobs…plumbing & electrical.

I owe a huge thank you to Dave, Drew & Sheldon for the assistance, without their help I’d still be plugging away at it.

Idaho Peak

August 2nd, 2007

This past weekend we had the opportunity for a little side journey into our new “neck of the woods”. Approximately an hour and a half north of Trail up a narrow passage called the Slocan Valley (A drive I highly recommend for motor cyclists) is the town of New Denver, and a few short kilometers away is the ghost mining town of Sandon. And it is at Sandon that our adventure began. Just through Sandon is a rough 12 km road (4×4 trail/logging/fire road) that leads to a dead end, but oh what a dead end. The road starts at the bottom of a mountain, and ends (almost) at the top. And at the end of the road is a 2 km hiking trail to the (very) top of the mountain. What a fabulous time. The 12 km road takes about 30 minutes to drive; it’s narrow with mountain on one side and nothing but air and a long fall on the other side. And the rule is that the guy going down the hill has the right-of-way, so if you happen to come across someone coming down, you get to backup down the skinny road until you get to a place wide enough for them to pass. Yahoo, what fun!
Once you’ve driven up the road the real fun begins… hiking up a 1.4km, 500 vertical foot, narrow path to a fire tower at the top of the hill. It is an amazing hike filled with wildflowers, ridge lines and beautiful scenery everywhere. It’s hard to describe so I’ve included a few photos to help out. Click here to see more photos or click on the pictures on the right and select the hiking set on the right side of the screen and click slideshow…but let’s be serious, it’s way easier to just click here.

Oh, and here’s a short video too…