Kelowna Rules: 2017

After our vacation last year I came up with a  list of rules to doing Kelowna right.  After 5 years I was pretty sure we knew everything we needed to know.  Wrong.  We just got back from year number 6 and we are still learning new things that make our summer vacation perfect!

Rule #1:  Always rent a house with a hot tub

My kids are obsessed with hot tubs.  This year we stayed at a a new place and the kids kept asking me if there was a hot tub.  I had no idea.  Yes, I like a hot tub but it is so hot I'm not sure that we need one.  Apparently the kids do.  A bonus for adults is that when the kids bug you ALL THE TIME to go in the water you can compromise with a dip in the hot tub.

Rule #2:  A slide is an added bonus

This is the first year that our rental home had a slide.  It was considered a serious upgrade from the kids perspective.  From my perspective it kept the kids busy for hours and allowed me more time to read.  Believe it or not I didn't go on the slide.  I wasn't avoiding it but no one pestered me enough so I just forgot about 

Rule #3:  A great view is a must

While we are talking about rental requirements.... for our family, a view is a must.  While I sit and watch the kids swim I love to look at the lake.  I need to see the water while I sip my morning coffee and lounge on the deck.  I grew up vacationing at a lake front cabin and having that while I am on vacation with my own little family has become a priority.

Rule #4: You can never have too many chicken wings

This year we stopped at Costco on the way into town since we had time to kill before we could check in.  James insisted that we buy a tray of chicken wings.  These wings were the wings that never ended.  We fully got our money's worth of them as we ate them and fed them to our guests 3 times!

Rule #5:  Keep the Miller Lite fully stocked

This year I packed the beer and brought it from home.  Beer is perfect for the hot tub, with lunch, while BBQing, while visiting and anytime on vacation really.  Of course, if you are serving it to me make sure you have a solid supply of clamato juice!

Rule #6:  Pool games

This year James kept the kids busy playing a pool game that I had no interest in and can't even remember what it is called.  Maybe he made it up?  It involved his staying out of the water and the kids catching a ball, while he conveniently stayed dry....  But I did score some great pictures from the side lines.  This one may be my fave of the trip.

Rule #7: Join your kids on the Wibit

The kids and James have been on the wibit before but this year was my first time.  I LOVED IT.  I'm not even lying, it was my favorite part of the entire trip.  The first time I sat out the second time I joined with everyone else, and the third time just the 2 boys and I went and I had the best time.   The wibit is an obstacle course in the water that you can see in the distance behind them. There is just something about trying new things with your kids and watching them succeed.  I will never sit on the side lines again. Ever.

Rule #8:  Water slides with friends is more fun

We've gone to the water slides in Vernon every year but this year was our first with friends.  Double the people, double the fun!  The kids went on each and every slide with little hesitation.  Cooper started riding on James lap and by the end him and Noah were going up and waiting in line on their own while us parents waited below.  It was great to have someone to chat with in line and keep you company.  I wish we had a photo of Stacey and I coming down the ramp slide with our arms linked.  I think I even let out a scream!

Rule #9 - Getting the right tube is key

We are so lucky that when we vacation with the P's we get to rent a boat since both John and Stacey can drive one.  Us, not so much!   It was a busy day on the lake but we managed to get a boat but we didn't get the best of tubes.  Instead of the newer style tube with the inflatable bottom we got an old style in that isn't inflated.  The kids were not loving it....   In this picture James is clearly saying slower and if you look closely Cooper is screaming and Noah is crying.  Despite this, Grady still asked to go boating again!  Now we know what to look for!

Rule #10:  Pack your health care card

For the second year in a row, Grady got swimmer's ear.  It is an infection of the ear canal rather than the ear drum resulting form liquid getting trapped in the ear.  When Grady started complaining on Thursday, we knew we had to take him in.  So we went to the same walk in clinic, got the same drops, at the same pharmacy.  Grady had to stay out of the pool the last day which was a real bummer.  The doc suggested getting drops called Swim Ear which is a drying agent you can put in your child's ear after swimming - any one have any experience with this?

All in all it was a fantastic vacation we were happy to share with 2 sets of friends.  I can say with confidence that this is the trip that I look forward to the most each year.  I love creating memories for my kids that they will tell their kids some day.  The week goes by so fast and always leaves us wanting more.  See you next year Kelowna!

38 Things

Today is my 38th birthday and also our first day back after vacation. So to celebrate my birthday I am telling you 38 random facts about me. Enjoy!

1.  I leave all the cupboard doors open. Sometimes even the fridge.

2. I eat peanut butter, and most recently nutella, on a spoon out of the jar.

3. I was in the Top 50 UFE writers in Canada the year I wrote.

4. My only pet growing up was a turtle, we gave it back to the pet store eventually. His name was Fred and he stunk.

5. My first job was at a grocery store. Probably not a great place for me because at the time I didn't know the difference between lettuce and cabbage.

6. I didn't start eating fish until my 30s.

7. I have 6 pairs of glasses.

8. James and I were engaged less than 6 months.

9. James was my first serious boyfriend.

10. I weighted over 9 pounds when I was born.

11. I lost over 70 pounds when I graduated high school and I've kept it off for over 2 decades.

12. I met my BFF on kindergarten orientation day.

13. I peed under the mat in kindergarten because I was too scared to ask to use the bathroom. Deena forgets whether it was her or me that did it. It was totally me.

14. My favorite movie of all time is Dirty Dancing, followed closely by pretty woman. Deena wasn't allowed to watch it so she'd come to my house to watch.

15. My journey with exercise started doing step aerobics on a homeade wooden step my mom made. She wanted me to show her I would use one before she bought one. True to her word she bought me one after a few months!

16. My favorite color is royal blue, aka Christy blue.

17. I moved to Calgary when I was 22 and I knew exactly 3 people when I arrived.

18. My first roomate in Calgary was born on the exact same day and year as me. She is older by a few hours. We prove that astrology is false. We are opposites and still friends to this day.  Happy Birthday Jenn!

19. When I graduated from university I bought a brand new car, like drove it off the lot new. An Acura RSX. I drove that 2 doored sports car until Grady was born and I had to sell it.

20. Now I drive a mini van.

21. I only like hockey if one of my kids is playing.

22. I think the ballet is boring.

23. Our ipad is covered in duct tape where the screen has cracked multiple times.

24. I don't like Gravy or any sauces really.

25. I pick at my nails and most recently started to get them done with shellac polish so they would look better. So far it is working.

26. I use a split keyboard at work.

27. I travelled to Africa for work. Twice. 

28.  My favorite book, and the only one I've ever read more than once, is Memoir of a Geisha.

29.  I drank out of the same water bottle for the better part of a decade.  It was like my third limb.  I always have a water bottle with me.  Always.

30.  I ran my very first race 4 years ago and my first 10k last year.  This year will be my first, and probably last, 1/2 marathon.

31.  My favorite pop is Dr. Pepper.

32.  When I was choosing a career it was between nutritionist and accountant.  

33.  When colored contacts were a thing I often got asked if I wore them as my eyes are very blue.

34.  I wore braces for 3 years (grades 8-11) and was supposed to have jaw surgery and I backed out at the last minute.  I've never regretted it.

35.  I wear a mouth guard at night and now don't like to sleep without it.

36.  The place I most looking forward to visiting someday is Italy. Hello... pasta and wine??

37.  I do not have any tatoos not do I want one.

38.  I had my nose piereced for 2 years way before it was cool.  James told me if my nose was pieced when he met me he never would have dated me.  Ironically I lost my nose ring and let it grow in mere weeks before I met James.

There you have it, 38 random facts about me.  As a birthday gift to me, tell me at least one random fact about yourself, however I encourage you to tell me more than that!

A day in the Life - July 17, 2017

I had Monday July 17, 2017 marked as a day in the life post.  We have 3 types of days at our house.  Weekend, weekday and Mondays.  Mondays are my day off so they are a hybrid of the 2 and usually the most interesting of the days.  So here you have a typical, or in this case, atypical, summer Monday chez us.

7:23 - I get out of bed.  I try to get up even 15 minutes before the kids because I love the peace and quiet in the morning as I brew my coffee.

This particular morning the kids weren't far behind me.

This was the day that Sara and her kids were leaving our house so the kids watched some shows together, we had a quick breakfast, and started the day.

Sara was busy packing the car and we had to leave for swimming lessons starting at 9am.  Since we left before her I told her to leave the door unlocked and text me that she was gone and I would set the alarm from my phone.

Off to swimming we went!  The kids love swimming lessons so it is not hard to get them dressed and out of the house.



After lessons I let them go down the water slide a few times when my phone rang.  It was a local number I didn't recognize  but I answered anyway, which is rare.  It was 911 telling me that a duress code was entered at our house and that the police had been dispatched.

Sh*t.

I explained to the 911 operator that it was our nanny and she must have forgotten the code but he said since the police were dispatched there was nothing he could do.  Poor Jasmin.

It turns out that she couldn't remember our code since when we moved we set it to go off before she arrives so she never has to enter it anymore.  Apparently, we set the duress code as our door code which was once of the codes she tried.  Needless to say, the duress code has been changed.  Sigh...

We came home, the police had already came and left and we found this sweet note left behind by Aiden.




By this time it is 10:30 and I make the kids clean up the mess they made in the basement over the weekend while their friends were here. After that it was time for rest apparently, for the kids anyway.




I started to heat up the left over pizza for myself for lunch and macaroni for the kids.  Just as I was about to eat the doorbell rang.



I had a lady from the bay come over and measure for blinds for all the huge windows across the back of our house.  Of course they only sell Hunter Douglas and with a 25% discount and a $200 rebate it was still more than double what I wanted to pay for new blinds on 6 windows.  Back to the drawing board!



After she left, the kids ate lunch and I started to pack for our summer vacation.  It was a very slow start.  Since the kids wear the same 5 shirts on rotation, I couldn't pack for them yet!



Now it is Grady's turn for the TV, who knows where Cooper is at this point.



Our desk arrived in mid June and it is finally set up. This was the last of the boxes to be unpacked so I wanted to tackle them on my day off.  I got a little done before we were on the move again.





Oh, I remember where Cooper was!  He was in the soccer field out back playing watching for their play dates to arrive via foot.  The boys are really good friends with brothers that were coming over for the afternoon.



Finally, 20 minutes late J&N scooted around the corner and were ready for an afternoon of fun!



With 4 boys around, they spent a lot of time in the pantry looking for things to eat.  They are impossible to fill up!



After an hour of playing inside we decided to scooter to the park.  I rode my bike.  Good thing since those boys are darn fast on the scooters going down hill!  I couldn't' even get close enough to them to get a good photo.



We arrived at the park and I proceeded to pull out my book.  We were there for well over an hour which gave me an hour to enjoy the sunshine in read.  Win, win if you ask me!




I will have a book review coming soon but this book is winner so far.  So interesting and perfect for book club since it leads to some very risque discussions!

We stayed at the park for so long that we biked J&N home instead of driving them since we were already half way there.  They stopped to eat crab apples off this random tree on the way.



The boys were exhausted when we got home.  They settled in in front of the TV and I finished unpacking the office.  Not too shabby if I do so say myself.



James got home from work and like every other Monday we hopped in the car and went to our weekly spin class.  At this point, pictures were forgotten.

We put the kids to bed and I headed to the Castle Room** to watch the bachelor when I got an optical migraine.  Essentially I get blurry vision for 30 minutes then a slight headache, not like a typical migraine.  I hadn't had one in 10 months and it was a disappointing end to the day as they cause me lots of anxiety, leading to a poor sleep, and a tired rest of the week.  My doc assures me that they are normal and nothing to be scared of but I just can't help myself, having your vision affected is pretty darn scary.  Thankfully I was distracted by hometown dates, Dean's in particular.  Wow.

Turned out to be an eventful Monday full of activity.  I never plan them to be this full, but somehow they fill up quite quickly!

**I wanted to call our 4th bedroom upstairs with a TV Christy's Castle, Grady wanted to call it the Gaming room.  So we compromised with the Gaming Castle, or the Castle for short.

Our Annual Weekend Visitors

I've told you more than once that I am fortunate to have so many wonderful friends in my life.  Some I've just met and others I've known for years. Like decades.   I feel so fortunate that year after year, Sara makes a 6 hour drive with 2 kids by herself to visit with me and my family.  Sara and I lived together for 3.5 years during University and we met in high school over 20 years ago.

She moved away the year after we graduated and I wrote her letters.  Like with a pen and dropped in snail mail.  I still remember calling her every few weeks for a very short call since it actually costed money to talk long distance back in the day.

Then I moved to Calgary and the rest of my posse stayed in Saskatoon.  We've made every effort as a group to stay connected with phone calls and annual visits.  I love my weekly talks but nothing beats a face to face visit.

While the trips have changed over the years the friendship has not.  I'd argue that our trips are still exciting but the excitement comes from getting sprayed with a water gun instead of from finding a great deal at the mall!

Let's start with a selfie of the moms while the kids run wild in the pool behind us.  Don't worry, I only put my drink down to take the photo!

  

Back when we first started these trips in 2011 they both fit in the bathtub together.  There is no way that would happen now!

Now all three of them prefer to sleep in the same room and stay up as late as possible leaving little 'adult' time for us.

Cooper is hidden in the bed somewhere!

As they get older, they have strong opinions on what they want to do.  Grady had his heart set on InjaNation, an indoor ninja training obstacle course among other things.

 

This place isn't cheap but it provided a full hour of entertainment for all 4 kids and they came out sweaty and tired.  Just the way I like them!  Cooper was so tired he couldn't be bothered to pose for the picture.  At the end of the weekend both my kids chose this as their favorite part of the weekend.

From InjaNation we decided to go to Heritage Park.  In all the years Sara has been coming to visit we had never gone there.  She had been there once, as a bridesmaid for our wedding!

While the kids had fun doing things like this:

The moms were more low key:

In all honesty, my favorite part of the weekend may have been when the kids decided to play dress up in gasoline alley.

In all the years we've been going to Heritage park never have we ever closed the park down.  Ever.  We literally stayed until they kicked us out.  We attempted a group shot but Cooper wanted nothing to do with it.  See him in the orange shorts behind us?  I guess technically he was in the picture.  He was in a mood all weekend.

Sunday morning we kicked off the day at Calaway Park, something Aiden had been looking forward to since he arrived.  He is a ride guy and it showed when he insisted on riding the roller coaster twice, including once on his own.  My kids just stick to their 2 favorites - the swings and the swinging ship.  Pretty tame.

What they do like to do is to play games.  Sara and Macy won in this round.  By the end of the day each of the kids took home a stuffie.

Here we are in line for the bumper boats.  Unfortunately for me Cooper can't ride by himself so I went with him.  We got drenched by these 2 in the other boat.  The water was freezing and I was drenched at the end.  Not my favorite ride of the day.

Last year when Sara and Aiden went on the roller coaster and left Macy behind she screamed the entire time.  This year me and Macy were besties and i sent her this pic of us boarding the swings.  Now if I could only get her to stop calling me Deena....

We managed to snag a better group shot on our way out of Calaway Park.  I must admit it is kind of fun to have a permanent amusement park 30 minutes from your house.  Although it hasn't' made my kids any less scared of the rides.

I look forward to this weekend every year.  A time that old friends reconnect and new friendships are formed.   Aiden left us the sweetest note when they left and apparently cried on the way home that he wanted to move to Calgary.  It is questionable whether he wanted to move to be closer to us or the roller coaster.  Grady asked several times when we would see Aiden again and why it may not be for another year.  I love that our kids get along and enjoy each others companies well enough that they leave us alone here and there for adult time.  Even if Macy stayed up until we went to bed every single night.  At least she was quiet.  Sara has a night owl on her hands....

I hope that my kids develop the kind of friendships with their friends that I have with mine. Ones that accept you always and that stand the test of time and distance.  Looking forward to reconnecting with the rest of our crew next month!

My thoughts on... training for a 1/2 marathon

 

I am officially 9 weeks into my training program program and it has been much MUCH harder than I expected.  Not only is the running itself hard, but so is finding the time to actually do the run. I am finding myself taking days off work to run which seems absolutely crazy to me.  Let me back up a bit....

Until the training started, I rarely ever ran more than 5 or 6 kilometers which took me about 35 minutes.  There was a time in my life (more than a decade ago!) that I ran every day.  Every. Single. Day. My body did not like it.  I developed Patellofemoral Syndrome which is essentially knee pain from overuse.  I had to stop running altogether and then slowly increase the intervals between walking and running. It took months to recover and I never wanted to get it again.

I love running.

I know, it sounds odd.  But running is like cheap therapy for me.  It clears my mind.  I listen to music, I enjoy nature, I am just me.  A sweaty version of me.  I didn't ever want to not be able to run, so I started to cut back.  I kept my runs to 20 minutes and I never ran more than 9 consecutive minutes before taking  break.

Even with these precautions, I now have IT band issues.  The right side of my body fights long distance running.  I get a pulling on the side of my knee.  Not a pain per se as I can run through it but I am aware that something isn't right. If I run through it long enough, my knee breaks down and I have to take a running break.

Training for this race properly is so important to me.   My ultimate goal in running the race is to finish uninjured.  Yes, it would be nice to finish in less than 2h 15min but if I finish it without walking more than my 1 minute intervals I am going to be very proud of myself.

I am at the point in my training where the runs are getting long, like really long.  I ran 11km by myself in about 70 minutes and I was bored.  Since then, I've always ran with a buddy. I started to wonder how I was ever going to run double that on my own.

Luckily, I have 3 other friends are training for a 1/2 at the same time so there is usually someone to run with.

But... there is always a but...  I AM THE SLOWEST RUNNER.

So, I have to manage running at my own pace so I don't get injured and wanting to train at 9 minute run and 1 minute walk intervals.  Up to 10km I will run straight just to have some company, but as I got into the longer runs I had to make my knee a priority and stick to the 9:1 intervals.

Thankfully, 1 of the gals would rather run intervals than on her own so we have done 2 long runs together using my system.  Not to mention the other 2 gals like to run before 7am on the weekend and we are more like 9am runners.  I just can't bring myself to set my alarm on the weekend to run for over 1.5 hours.  Boo!

A few weeks ago we ran a 14km run and my knee felt great.  I felt successful and hopeful that I could do this.  My body was cooperating and I only had to run 7 more km to get to the 21.1km race distance.

Then I ran 16km the following weekend.  The last 2 km were hard.  Harder than I ever imagined.  It was like my body started to give up. I slowed down, my legs were tired, and when at 15.9 km I had a sharp pain go up the back of my knee I panicked.  I immediately stopped running and started to walk.  I felt so discouraged.  What if I couldn't finish those last 5km.  I just want to finish.  It was the first time in the training process that I started to question whether I could do this.   5km doesn't sound like much but at the time it felt unattainable.

After this run I took a break week and participated in the Stampede Road race.  I stuck to my intervals and didn't push myself too hard. I finished 5 minutes slower than my time last year but still in under an hour which I am considering a win.

This past weekend, I was terrified to attempt the next long run knowing how horribly I felt when I ran 16 km.   As I approached the 16km mark I was nervous.  I could feel the pulling in my knee but it wasn't a pain thankfully.  We ran a total of 17.4 km with only minor aches pain.  Nothing a little rolling can't fix.  And maybe a little physio!  It turned out the next day I wasn't sore at all.

If you asked me right now if I want to do another I would say no.

I am finding it time consuming, especially during the summer.  From now until September long I am away every single weekend.  I have been taking days off work to run.  It isn't a simple little 30 minute jaunt.  It takes about 3 hours round trip once I pick up a friend, drive to our running location, run, get home, stretch and shower.  I'm finding it really hard to keep up.  For me, it has taken the fun out of running.  I enjoy running and want to keep it up for many years.  My fear is that if I continue to push my body beyond what it is comfortable with that it may cut my running career short.

I am going to do this 1/2 marathon and I am going to run my butt off.  Then I am going to go back to shorter runs.  Ones that I can do anytime, anywhere and enjoy fully.

Stampede Fun

I have so much to say these days that I can't decide what to talk about first!  This is very unusual but Summer is just so full of fun things to document that I can't help myself!  So I decided to start with a Stampede recap since we just finished 10 days of pretending to be cowboys.  We do it every year.. it sometimes feels like Halloween!

This year we took the kids to the Stampede grounds for the first time EVER.  Until now, the kids thought that going to the stampede meant heading to a free pancake breakfast.  Boy, were they wrong.

Grady was super into it and wanted to wear his full cowboy outfit consisting of this suede vest and match chaps first worn by James Dad many years ago.  Grady sported this outfit to school in 2015 and wanted to revive the look this year.

I told Grady it was WAY too hot to venture out in that attire for the afternoon so he settled on just wearing the vest and added a hat for the perfect cowboy touch.

 

I snapped a selfie just as we walked through the gates. I wasn't sure how long the hat would stay on and wanted to make sure I got a picture with my young cowboy.

Surprisingly he wore it all day and most of the night.  Cooper, on the other hand, was an urban cowboy, sporting only a plaid shirt match with brightest shorts he owned.

  

This was 100% the right year for our family to start attending.  The kids didn't whine, they took in their surroundings, enjoyed the food, and didnt' even get upset that we didn't buy ride tickets.  There was an epic meltdown when Grady didn't win a prize playing his one game that we allowed, even though we told him he wasn't' going to win.  Other than that, I am calling it a success.

We weren't done exploring yet but it was time to get to the Chuckwagons to see the races and the grandstand show that follows.

  

Personally, I think the chucks are boring, but I do love the after show.  It is full of music, dancing, acrobats, and tricks.  This year Jann Arden was the host and sang 2 songs.  Cooper didn't know how I knew all the words.  He sat on my lap so he could see better and I enjoyed every second. Unlike his big brother, he does not like to touch, at all.

Everything is more fun with friends so there were 11 of us that went, we took up a whole row plus some.

To give you an idea of the magnitude of the show here is the stage from our seats.  They were actually phenomenal seats and this photo doesn't do it justice.  For the amount we paid per seat, they should be good!  The show really is spectacular, it is a part of the greatest outdoor show on earth after all!

If I were guessing, I would say the kids liked the fireworks the best. Other than Disneyland 3 years ago, the kids had never seen fireworks.  I tried to capture the look of awe as the fireworks exploded literally right in front of us. Experiencing these firsts with the kids is a favorite.

 

 

It was a great way to spend a Sunday night, even if it had us getting home close to midnight.  On the brighter side, the kids have been sleeping until almost 9 lately.  I seriously thought the day would never come  Let's hope that this new later wake up time sticks around!