Date night

The kids each had a friend take them to the Silverbacks hockey game tonight, which meant Vic and I had a free couple of hours.

We opted to go out for pub food.

Nice break.

I'm also enjoying a couple of books right now - this one and this one.

Piano recital

We had Sophie's piano recital today. She and Vic did a duet of Good King Wenceslas. They did really well together and Sophie was really proud of how it went.

Here is a photo of them practicing and a video clip of the actual duet.

100 km bike ride

I have a tired husband today after doing the 100K Century Ride Bike for Your Life. All for a good cause -- proceeds to help fund the Second Harvest Food Bank.

In other news, Sophie had a fun sleepover at her friend's Hunter's house last night. It gave Fynn and I some mommy and son time. I took him out for a brownie at the local coffee shop (he loves brownies) and then a browse around our used book store where he found a book treasure.

Tonight Vic and I enjoyed the new Woody Allen movie. All in all, a great Saturday.

Friday wrap-up

Vic had been promising the kids that he would take them to the waterslides this summer. He really wanted to take them last weekend when we were down in Oliver/Osoyoos but it didn't work out. Today the daycare was taking a group of kids to the Vernon Waterslides so Vic drove down and joined them. Both Sophie and Fynn were thrilled to have "their dad" at the waterslides.

Fynn was so tired after the full day of fun he promptly fell asleep as Vic was leaving the parking lot to go back home.

In other news, Sophie and I got a mid-summer haircut/trim. Feels good. Sophie convinced me that she needed some colour in her hair. I relented to a couple of streaks of temporary pink and purple.

And of course we are watching the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremonies tonight.

this n' that

Just catching up on some photos from last week of Vic's swim meet.

British Columbia Masters Swimming Championships

Vic is blogging tonight. Here he goes:

Thanks to prodding and trash talk from my buddy Ray, I decided to participate in this year's Provincial Swimming Championships in Kelowna at the H2O complex. One of nicest family friendly swim facilities in Canada.

I'm not a swimmer. Or least I don't have the depth of most of my team mates, most of whom started in grade or high-school. I took up swimming master's five years ago to help me in my Triathlon competitions. It was my weakest sport and definitely the one I looked forward to the least. Since starting Masters I have fallen in love with swimming. I diligently march off to our 1.5 hour practices at least twice a week where our coach beats me like a rented mule. :)

The competition spans two days and an evening. I felt with Sher getting back from Vancouver later Friday evening that it was only fair that I choose events that were all on one day. That way I would have Saturday at home with the kids and Sher. I'm an endurance athlete by both choice and body type. I decided to try my hand at he sprints just to challenge myself. I signed up for the 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free relay. By the way, this is my first official meet. Ever. I did well in all three events realtive to my abilities and age group. I finished 4 out of 6 in both the individual events setting a personal best in the 50m (33 sec.) It was pretty incredible to watch as most of the competitors are accomplshed swimmers. (Meaning smok'in fast)this included a few ex-olympians. The highlight? A 92 competitor set a new Canadian record in individual medally (all four strokes)for his age group.

this guy...

-works very hard every day to help support our family.
-agreed to be interviewed for a documentary they were filming while we were near Bowling Green park in NY. After I volunteered him.
-makes dinner almost every night for our family. he even made Grandma's smiley potato things for dinner to please the kids.
-drove me to Vernon today to the ortho surgeon about my sore foot (even though the appointment lasted 6.5 minutes tops)
-then bought me sushi
-puts up with my crafty mania
-ensures we are thinking long term with our finances
-can do the Oliver triathlon in 2010
-entertains my ideas of career development (school, MBA, job swaps, what's next...)
-is very smart
-is loved.

tonight: a guest blogger

I'm handing the reigns over to Vic so he can write about his bike trip.

But, first a photo of Sophie and her buddy Mikayla at tonight's final Wednesday on the Wharf concert series.

Tour de Kootenay. Myself and three friends have had a yearly cycling trip in mind for few years now. While Doc A and Paulo have gone before, this is the first time that all four of us have managed time off at the same time. This is no small feat as Rob, Roger, and myself all have young families. The four compadres consist of myself (aka Vincenzo), Rob A (aka Roberto or Lance), Roger P(Contador), and Paul S (aka Paulo). We headed out early on Sunday morning for Hylcon Hot Springs in the West Kootaneys.

The trip took just over 2.5 hours and includes a 30 minute ferry ride across Arrow Lake. This part of the Kootaneys is amazing. A huge, crystal clear lake, towering mountain ranges on either side of the lake (Monashee and Selkirks), and hundreds of kilometers of well paved VERY lightly traveled roads.

It took us mere minutes upon arriving to check-in, throw our gear in the cabin, and saddle up. Thanks to Paulo and Rob (the two stronger riders - Paul is a freak of nature. An amazing cycling talent and he's the old guy at 59) we were off like a shot back to the ferry then north towards Revelstoke. The highway towards Revy is challenging. At apx. 50k out I decide to turn back and head for home. Roger joined me and the two seasoned vets continued on for another 10kms or so. That night was...interesting as my body settled into the affects of a hard ride. The accomodation was very good for an isolated back-water and the hot pools were outstanding and much appreciated.

Monday we decided to take it easier and headed for Nakusp, 35k due south. There were a couple of interesting decents, a waterfall were we stopped for a look around and converse with some of the local colour. Nakusp is a tranquil little town. After a coffee break it was off to Needles. Roger and I once again made an early turn and came home with about 80kms. Our final day of cycling took us from Nakusp to Fauquier and back. It was a good ride of varied terrain(120kms.).

The great part about the trip was the ability to completely unwind. No schedule, no kids, no demands, no cell phone coverage!!! (yippee) It's nice to come home, though. Fynn came right over, sat in my lap, and showed me his latest toy car he borrowed from day care. Sophie had to get in on the Dad action and promptly piled herself on top of both of us. Off to the salt mines tomorrow.

Sprint Tri and a new friend

Vic ran a sprint triathalon this morning down in Vernon. The kids and I slept through his early morning start, as I couldn't see me waking them up at 6am to drive to Vernon to watch daddy climb into his wet suit. Vic did well - he beat his time last year and came in at a respectable 1 hour 17 minutes.

Nice t-shirt too that he's modelling with Fynn.

Sophie met our neighbour's daughter Maggie yesterday when her family had a yard sale and Sophie scored a new purse, faux cell phone and a doll house for $1! We invited Maggie over to play Barbies today and they hit it off well, even though Maggie is a little bit older and going into Grade 2 this September. Barbies are pretty universal. Here they are with TV "eyes".

here comes the sun, here comes the sun

Yippee! We had sunshine today.

We made sure to get outside and get some of the good stuff. Fynn loved it.

Vic did a big bike ride and later he took Sophie for a swim.
I think both of them are going to be asleep pretty quickly tonight.

date night

BSF (before Sophie and Fynn) Vic and I went to the movies once a week. It was our "thing". Since Fynn was born, I don't think we have seen one -- okay maybe one but that was when we brought Sophie and found a sitter for Fynn.

We have been having a hard time getting a sitter, so we were very happy when we ran into Nicole on Saturday working at a lighting store here in town. She recognized us since we used to live across the street from her family in our old neighbourhood. She is about 20 and has just finished up a college program and still enjoys babysitting. She still sits for the 3 little boys that lived down the street from us.

I got her business card from the lighting store and we called her this morning to see if she could watch the kids for a few hours while Vic and I went to a late matinee and then grabbed some dinner at a brew pub. We had a great time and she was wonderful with Sophie and Fynn.

BTW...the movie was eh, not so good. Fairly good special effects for the war scenes, and it tried to tell an important story about Canada's efforts during WWI, but the poor excuse for a love story was just bad (bad writing, some bad acting).