Fernie: Downhill Mountain Biking!

We spent this past weekend in Fernie, BC, trying out the downhill mountain biking scene. For a while, I (Beth) have been talking about trying downhill, for a number of reasons...1. "Cross-country" biking in Alberta tends to involve a looong period of uphill climbing, followed by a short but sweet downhill ride...I'm not the greatest uphill biker at the best of times, and I never have quite gotten my mountain legs figured out, leaving me huffing and puffing and walking my bike up the hills while everyone waits for me...not so much fun! 2. Downhill bikers ride big, fat bikes, and by the nature of the speeds of their sport, tend to wear all sorts of protective equipment: arm and shin guards, full helmets, and some of the smarter ones wear full chest and back protection. Downhill or not: this seems like a pretty smart idea to me! Besides, it looks very cool too... ;)
Needless to say, Dave gave in to my constant speculation that I would be so much more "hard core" if I could only try downhill biking. It came as no surprise that: I am still not very hard core, nor am I very fast, nor does taking the chairlift up the hill stop me from getting tired on the way DOWN the hill, but it was a great day nonetheless. I liked having dual suspension: my fat bike would go over absolutely anything, although it took me a little bit to actually trust this fact...I loved not having to pedal uphill; in fact you don't have to pedal much at all, and your feet aren't clipped in, making for an easy escape at any time...Dave was of course great at the whole thing; riding "skinnies" and catching "sweet air" on a few jumps. We were both amazed at how technical some of these runs are: amazed that anyone can actually be that good (or fearless!)! I managed to make it down a handful of reasonably technical hills, with no major fractures or scrapes, just a few sore muscles and bones (my wrists are actually sore from rubbing against the wristguards!)!
I'm not sure if it helped that we went for a brief x-country ride in town (Fernie--Ridgemont) on Saturday: it was sooo hot out, and I was terrified of bears every time Dave pointed out a raspberry bush...We made a quick exit, but I'll admit to being a bit of a whiner on that ride...making Sunday's downhill that much more rewarding I guess...
Anyway, that's probably our last little adventure out here for a while, as we are heading back to Ontario on Friday for a vacation: we are looking forward to a packed schedule of laying on the dock with the babies in Bobcaygeon, trying out Adam and Val's boat, laying on the dock with the crew in Muskoka, then sailing away with the Brewins before checking out Tara and Joe's boat in Turkey Point, and finally celebrating at Som and Kerry's wedding with the Toronto folks. It promises to be a great couple of weeks...now we just have to make it through a few more work days!


Looking at Dave through the "window" in the tree on "Powercarve" and me riding past a huge tree on "Hollow Trees"





Dave wears his "doo-rag" to protect his head from his gross sweaty helmet (rental)







I'm looking at the narrow dropoff trail that I DIDN"T ride down (especially in spandex! haha...)

A handsome boy I met on the patio...
Some tall people at our hotel...


This chick is a bit of a "poser"...

A visit with Greg, Krista and little Graydon

Greg, Krista and Graydon Reade were in Calgary this week, starting their "western tour" heading from Calgary to Vancouver. We were lucky enough to have them stop by for a visit last night: a dinner outside while Graydon entertained us all with his cuteness: he's a really happy, easy-going baby, and so social and interactive. It was great to see Krista and Greg again, and to hear all of the updates from Ottawa...And of course Marla, Chris, Dave and I all loved taking turns playing "pass the baby". Thanks for the visit guys--we are always SO glad to have people come and see our new "home"...

Home for a rest...

We're home for a weekend for a change, and it's been so nice and relaxing! We've done a lot around the house/yard these last few weeks (and when I say "we", I mean Dave, while I've been a supportive supervisor!), including: building doors for all of the shelves in the garage, to go along with the workbench; building a beautiful flowerbox from scratch (and by "scratch", I mean wood salvaged from the Wal-Mart parking lot, which Dave washed and painstakingly sanded to create this flower box--pretty talented, eh?); adding about a dozen perennials to our back gardens, and weeding/watering/mulching all the gardens; "flattening" our front and back lawns with some contraption rented from Rona (you fill it with water so it's really heavy; I tried a few rows, but I'm not very good at it!)--now we will have to test out our Bocce skills! I also got in a lot of reading/relaxing time, and we treated ourselves to dinner out last night...All in all, a very productive but easy weekend!
Now we have just one more weekend before our visit to Ontario...We've decided to maximize our visiting time so that we can spend some good quality time in Amherstburg and Bobcaygeon, as well as some excursions to Muskoka, and even some boating trips in Turkey Point and/or Point Pelee?! For a number of reasons, we've decided that this isn't the best timing for a trip overseas, and we're quite looking forward to some "down-time" with the family. See you all very soon! :)

Dave's flower box

The gardens...

Hiking weekend: Camping near Skoki Lodge/Lake Louise

We left on Friday for a hiking trip with 3 other couples near Lake Louise: staying overnight at a backcountry campground near Hidden Lake, en route to Skoki Lodge.
Dave and I have always been eager to get out of the city on the weekends, particularly in the summer. We have both been blessed to grow up with so many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors: whether through day hikes at Provincial Parks, camping with the family, or visiting with family and friends in the country and at cottages.
As hokey as it may sound, being out "in nature" and sleeping under the stars, really does serve to remind you of all of the simple but important things that can easily get overlooked in the day-to-day grind. Things like:

• The way the snow melts from the mountains, turns into water flowing through streams, into lakes, and again through streams and rivers, to provide us with water to drink, cook with, and wash with.
• The fact that we share this planet with so many other fascinating creatures, but rarely get to see them in their natural habitat.

The way that every living thing has a natural life cycle: the delicate alpine flowers we see in the tundra growing so quickly, but so splendidly, to account for their short time of awakening before being covered again by the frozen snow and ice.
It's not easy to describe without sounding pretty cheesy, but hopefully these pictures are "worth a thousand words", and will give you a bit of an idea of what we experienced...

We can't believe how fast the summer is flying by: it's hard to believe that we will be back in Ontario in less than 3 weeks! We are looking forward to this visit with great anticipation, as we can't wait to see our beautiful new niece and nephew, as well as all of our much-loved and greatly-missed family and friends. We may still plan a short-getaway for a week or so, but as yet, remain undecided: I guess there is just so much to see, and not enough time to see it all! Hopefully we have many more years of travelling left to see the world...For now we're pretty happy checking out our own backyard!
Hope to see you soon!

Beth and Dave

More Nadine!!

Can't wait to meet this cutie pie! :)

Welcome to the world Nadine Giselle!

Amy and Jay are the proud parents of a BEAUTIFUL baby girl, Nadine Giselle, born around 1am on Sunday morning, July 8th in Barrie at 6lb 12oz. Mom and baby are both doing great--other than being a bit exhausted! We are SO excited about this new little niece, and can't wait to meet her in a few weeks. We are so proud of you Ame--such a trooper! Welcome to the world Nadine!

Stampeding!

Dave and I spent the weekend "Stampeding": getting the most out of the festivities here in Calgary by visiting lots of parties, Breakfasts, bars/events, and of course the Stampede grounds where we saw the rodeo and checked out the midway. Skye and her sister Ashley were in town for a visit, so we had a mini-"Bachelorette" party with the girls on Friday; the "OT girls" Leslie and Kelly are also in town so we've had lots of fun with them. We will try to keep the energy level up for the rest of the week (phew!) and update as we go. Happy Stampede!!