Jump for Joy

Jump for Joy!!! It's my birthday!!

Please stay tuned...I'll be adding photos HERE (from my MAC, not my PC) when I get home from work!

Having a birthday in the summer sucked as a kid. I'd only have a few friends at my parties because they were usually all on summer vacation, as my day is right smack in the middle of summer. And half the friends meant half the presents. It was good weather-wise though. My parties were always outside, and always involved water. Water balloons, pool of water, watermelon...

Now that I'm "grown-up" (not quite sure about that, but my age says I'm supposed to be), I think having a birthday in the summer is the best idea ever! It's even better if it happens to fall on a weekend! The past 2 years have been on a weekend (a long weekend at that!), and let me tell you, they were great days. Both...spent at Salty Shack!

Last years birthday was awesome!

I woke up that Sunday morning at Salty Shack. The friends present were: Colin, Lorene, Justin and Ryan. The MAX number of people that can fit in our boat and still stay mostly afloat. Actually, I should say "fit ON our boat", as Ryan had to sit on the bow all the way up, so he technically wasn't IN the boat.

Anyway, we got up and had a mini church service on the deck. We read some verses and sang a few songs. I love having church services outdoors, because to me, nature is a constant reminder of God! We did a bit of work around the cabin, which for some reason is way more fun than doing work around your OWN place. Somehow, Lorene managed to blow up a ton of balloons and tie them to the deck without me noticing!

When we were nice and hot from working in the beautiful sunshine, we hiked up to a waterfall (the source of our freshwater) and spent the day sunbathing beside the waterfall, and jumping in when we got too hot. It's one of those places that you wonder how many humans have actually seen it. Later, we took turns jumping off the deck into the water. The tide is quite variable there. It can come up 2 feet below the deck, and at it's lowest, you have to walk 30 feet from the deck to reach the water! Because of that, the first jump was taken with apprehension, but when we realized it was indeed deep enough, the tricks began!

For dinner, we had a crab feast (emphasis on the FEAST). We sat on the deck for a long time. Cracking the shell, scooping out the meat, eating, no... devouring the meat, and returning the shell into the ocean. After dinner, Lorene surprised me with a cake made of cupcakes! Each cupcake had one letter on it that spelled out a birthday message when they were put together!

Even though I am not off camping somewhere, I am having a terrific birthday so far! It has even involved watee like the rest of my birthdays...only this time it is falling from the sky!
Now that we have a backyard, and more than 3 people can fit in our place, we had the fam over to OUR place yesterday. The kids make it so fun!

• My little 1 year old nephew Max took some steps by himself...even if it was only to get to his cousin so he could beat him on the head with a piece of lego
• He also said his 3rd word, which I taught him yesterday! KICK! We were playing soccer with a body ball...not kicking his cousin.
• My 5 year old nephew Davis asked me for a hot dog with no meat. Huh? Apparently the "hot dog" refers to the bun, and the "meat" is the weiner. I'll remember that for next time. Yum. Bun with ketchup!
• My 8 year old niece Jacey saying "That's not how you play! I am the boss of this game!", with a smile, of course!

So today is my actual birthday, and I am sitting at work sucking back a fruit juice and eating leftover potato salad.

I have a date tonight though, so the day is not lost! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Extreme Kernel Adventure

{ a photo of us and kernel was supposed to go here. Please see "don't get me started" to learn why it's NOT here}

Saturday was hot. There's a whole new post altogether, but I can't get sidetracked again.

I think it was 37 degrees. So we wanted to go to some water and get in it. We decided that we'd take Kernel to Pitt Lake and row up Widgeon Creek (see the squiggle river in the google earth image below). Up the creek is a walking trail that leads to a waterfall (our destination)! It's such a pretty area! We'd never been in Kernel together, so this was our chance!



We left the boat launch about 5 minutes before a group of canoes, and headed across the lake to the creek entrance. After another 5 of Colin rowing as fast as he could against the current, the canoes caught up to us, chuckled, and passed. This was a familiar situation during the day. I tried to row once in the creek, but the boat's back end was so low in the water that it was nearly impossible. "She's not built for speed..." says Colin, "...just fishing"! So poor Colin had to row almost the whole time.

It got quite shallow pretty quick, so we got out of the boat an towed it by hand. Would you believe that it went FASTER when we towed it?

To Tow or Row...that was the question.

Since it was so hot, we spent as much time towing it as possible, because at least we could be wet! We joked on the way up because EVERYONE was passing us, because we were going so darn slow! Colin said "It's the JOURNEY, not the DESTINATION!" We got to the beach after 2 hours, and 4.5 kilometers of rowing. Wait a second...that's 2.25 kilometers an HOUR!!! Anyways, we parked the boat and headed for the trail. By this time it was about 4000 degrees, we were hot from walking and rowing, and hadn't had lunch yet. We wanted to have lunch at the waterfall. So we started to walk.
We got about 15 minutes up a trail, and it didn't look like the right trail. We hadn't seen anyone on it, even though there were about 30 canoes on the beach nearby. So we turned around and came back. I think I might have been whining a bit. We saw ANOTHER trail so we headed up that one. It was totally overgrown, there were black flies everywhere, and it looked like no one had used it for a long time.

After bushwacking for 15 minutes, we came across a footbridge that crossed a swamp. The bridge was rotten. It was disintigrated on one end, so we had to jump to get to it. The metal wiring that originally was placed on there for grip, was now sticking up haphazardly in every direction. As we stood on this bridge wondering how much further this ancient trail went, we heard voices. Two guys walked past us, and looked surprised to see anyone else on that trail. We asked how much further the trail was. They looked at us with furrowed eyebrows and said "Well, how long have you been walking?". We knew the answer they were about to give us was going to be one we didn't want to hear. They had been swimming at the waterfall, and their hair was now DRY. The trail's AN HOUR AND A HALF they said, and continued on their way.

Exhausted, starving, and on the verge of heatstroke, we stood on that sketchy bridge over the skunk cabbage filled marsh, surrounded by hungry black flies, and scarfed down our lunch (and maybe a few flies with it). With renewed energy we got out of there as fast as our legs could carry us, went back to the beach and jumped in the water. Ahhh, now THAT is the meaning of "refreshing"!

The row back was much the same as the row up. Except Colin snorkelled the deep part as I rowed. Without Colin in the boat, it rowed much easier and faster!

It's a good thing it's about the Journey and not the destination, because our destination eluded us, but our journey definately didn't.

Maybe sometime we'll go back in a canoe so we have more energy for the hike.

Don't get me started

I haven't been inspired to blog this week. Usually a photo inspires me, but lately my photos have been rather...incapacitated...so haven't been able to use them for my posts. You see, my computer is an utterly useless piece of rubbish. Which is why I blog on my lunchbreak instead of at home in the first place.

I love my IBook. Has it EVER crashed? NO! Has it EVER needed to be reformatted? NO! Has it EVER has a virus? NO! Not even one! My stupid PC, on the other hand, catches more bugs than those blue flourescent bug zappers on a hot summer evening.

Right after reformatting it, it works great. Then, it won't start if there's a CD in the drive. Then, it won't start if anything's plugged into the USB port. Then, it won't start if the modem's on. Then it won't start unless you are standing on one foot with the other twisted pretzel-like around the back, your left arm at 47 degrees northwest, and your right ring finger pressing the power switch with exactly 3.6234 pounds of pressure.

Now it won't turn on.

Unfortunately, we didn't back up stuff early enough, so last night, we had the tedious task of transferring all the photos that aren't backed up to the Mac, because we know that IN THE MAC, IT IS SAFE! (If you don't learn anything else from this post, remember that one point).
I say "we" were transferring photos, but I mainly meant "Colin". I was scrapbooking at the table in the same room. I'd look over at Colin, who was crouched down over the keyboard, pressing F8 so fast I could barely see his finger. I'm guessing that's how you start in Safe Mode. Because "Able-to-use-the-computer" mode obviously isn't working.

It's only a matter of time before we re-format AGAIN. Like, two days? Either that or drop kick it off the roof.

This wasn't even supposed to be a post about how much I hate my computer! I guess I got carried away. I'll compose myself, then compose the message I initially intended to. Stay tuned for more positive words!

Hot Stuff

This weekend is supposed to break all records in the history of BC for the "hottest weekend EVER"! Oh, do I believe it! While I was waiting for my train at 7:00 this morning I was already almost sweating in a skirt and flip flops.

Here's why I love the summer:
- vacations, vacations, VACATIONS! Whether we're gone for a week or a day, we are always heading back from somewhere and preparing to go somewhere else!
- Party Time!!! We have 9 birthdays of family and close friends to celebrate in July alone (mine being the last one). Plus, everyone has BBQ's, potlucks and picnics!
- warm evenings! I love to sit on the deck in shorts and a tank top playing crib and eating fruit, or driving around at 10:00 with the windows wide open so you can get the breeze on your arms.
- the heat! It gives us an excuse to go find some water to play in!

And a few things I don't like about summer:
- the nightly routine of running around your bedroom with a bug zapper to kill all the mosiquitos before going to sleep (and the repeat of the event every time you hear one after the lights go out)
- the smell of roasting mosiquitos after you do the above routine
- trying to sleep with only a sheet and no blankets
- my windowless office. I have the goosebumps all day. There could be a blizzard outside and I would have NO IDEA!

So I guess if I dragged my desk outside, and never went to sleep, summer would be perfect!

Speaking of fun and parties and vacations.....

The next big event we're looking forward to is the Keitch's visit!!!!!! I think I can officially start the countdown now...15 days til they come!!! WOO HOO! Here is the last time we saw them:


You know it's been too long since you've seen your friends when you're currently in the middle of a heat wave and notice the last time you saw them was when you're ice skating on a lake with 13 layers of clothes on!!!! Luckily, that will all change soon! Our first house guests arrive on the August long weekend! How fun will that be?!? I can already hearing Colin and Justin shouting "Marco" "Polo" to each other after everyone is asleep (and the "SHUT UP AND GO TO SLEEP" that usually follows it).

I'm sure I'll have some crazy stories when they're here. Now that I think about it, there's always a crazy story lurking on the horizon when we get together. Maybe that's why I call them our "partners in crime"! Stay tuned.

But for now, back to the weather: For all of you sitting in an over-air-conditioned office like myself, I have just received an update from our meterologist Colin. Currently I have goosebumps and my nose is running, but he just emailed and said that it's sooooo hot, so he's going to jump in the pool at work to cool down. Grrr. I'm jealous. Chalk that up on the "things I don't like about summer" list.

Now it's your turn. What do you guys like/hate about summer?

Say what?

A conversation around a campfire this past weekend prompted a memory to be withdrawn from my memory bank. Here goes.

In 1999, WAY back in in the last millenium, before the year 2000 was going to destroy the earth, even before Colin and I started dating, I got my best lesson about "foot-in-mouth" syndrome. Those who have been reading my blog since it's beginning, or pretty much anyone I've ever met, should know I have the above-mentioned disease.

I was 19 at the time. Just a youngster. I was going about my life single (at the time), working at Tim Hortons and not really knowing what I should do with my life. I felt particularly far away from God, as I was mad at him for a relationship that had gone south. A group of friends went with it, and my sense of who I was. I was lost.

March 1, 1999, I had a specialist appointment because my throat had been sore for quite a while. The morning of the appointment it was especially bad. I went to the appointment sqeaking, and left with no voice. The doctors said my vocal chords just needed a break. I DO talk a lot.

So that day, I bought a thick pad of paper, armed myself with Bic's and went home, unable to speak.

As the days went on, I realized how much I say that is really not necessary or important. In a conversation, I would really want to say something or make a joke so I'd quickly start scribbling on my paper. But by the time I was done, so was the conversation, and the joke? No longer funny. I could only have one-on-one conversations, because then the other person would have to wait for my reply!

As days turned into weeks, I started to learn sign language, because I still wasn't speaking. I learned how to listen in a conversation. I learned which friends were patient enough to "talk" to me. But that wasn't the most important thing I learned.

I learned that God is the only one you can talk to when you don't have a voice. Sure I could ask my mom to "pass the potatoes and carrots, please" in sign language, but I had to rely on God to fulfill my emotional needs. Not a boyfriend, not a friend, not my family...but God.

As soon as I realized this, I stared enjoying my moments of silence. I remember wondering if I even wanted to speak again! I'd go days without testing my voice to see if it was back!

But on April 1st, after exactly a month of silence, it returned.

To this day, I think I lost my voice because God wanted me to learn a few lessons. He wanted me to have less distractions so that I could learn to rely on Him. He wanted me to figure out who I was with His help. And, He wanted me to take a good look at the things that are coming out of my mouth. If they're not beneficial, why bother saying them?

I wish that once I learned a lesson, it would stick around forever. But unfortunately it doesn't! I still stick my foot in my mouth, and still forget that God is my sole provider, but at least now I can refer to a past lesson instead of learning one all over again.

If the Shoe Fits

I realize that there are men who read this blog. I've written some stories and then realized that half of the population won't be not be interested in topic, so then I delete them before posting! But yesterday, I read all 52 steps of how to build a computer from a post titled "Sad, but true..." on Andrew's "My Random Blather", and found it quite amuzing, so that inspired me to just write this anyway!

Those who know me know I am short. Not just un-tall, but SHORT! I can't help it, it's in my genes. My folks are 5'2" and 5'5", and my sisters are 5'2". It probably didn't help that I started sneaking the leftover tea from my mom's teacups as soon as I was done with the bottle. Lets just say I was the lucky one in the family who never reached the 5'0" mark. Close...but no cigar.

Short people generally have smaller feet. My fate would probably have been a size 6 shoe like my sisters, however, unlike them, my feet were bound as a child.

You see...I was a Highland Dancer (which I may elaborate at another time, when I have a scanner to scan my FILM PHOTOS). Highland dance shoes are supposed to be worn tight. The tighter the shoe, the more prominent the point of the foot. So from the ages of 6 through 19, my feet were bound for hours a day, multiple times a week, depending of course on how often I actually practiced!

That left me with little size 5's.

People say that good things come in small packages, but with feet this small it is difficult to package my feet in ANYTHING!

Last weekend I spent 3 hours shopping. I hate shopping. My only pair of "work shoes" busted. Got them from the Sears Catalogue and they didn't last for too long.

I went to EVERY SINGLE store in Coquitlam Centre, a fairly large mall, and the ONLY store that sold size 5 shoes is Payless. There, size 5 is called "growing girls". That gives them permission to put the shoes together cheaply because, hey! Everyone will grow out of them before they break, right?

Wrong. And the selection? Wonderful!! That is, if you think "wonderful" refers to "My First High Heels" to "Cutesy Pink Sandals With a Bow" to "Runners Covered in Delicate Lace" to "Zebra Print Slippers". None of the above which I can wear (or ever would be caught dead wearing) to work. I am getting tired of wearing sandals to work in the rain!

Colin even took me to the only other 2 shoe stores I know of to see if I could find anything.

Hold on a minute. You need to read that last paragraph. This is significant for a few reasons.

A. Colin went to a store and it wasn't December 24
B. Colin went to a SHOE store
C. Colin DROVE me so I could spend MONEY on SHOES!

I am still in shock. But it was very nice of him and earned him more brownie points than I think he knows! Men...take notes.

It didn't matter though because no size 5's there either.

So I will continue walking around in the rain with my sandals until a shoe designer realizes that people with size 5 feet need shoes too.

Breaking the Habit

I have a habit I am trying to break. I thought if I tell people about it, I hope it will keep me accountable.

The 24 hours newspaper was created in January 2005, with a target audience of commuters who have nothing better to do with all their time while sitting on transit.

Since I spend about 2.5 hours a day on various forms of transit, I fall into this category.

When Jimmy P first started the paper, it was planted on every single seat on the West Coast Express (WCE), to get us all hooked on it. Then to seal the deal, they employ people to hustle it on all the street corners in downtown Vancouver. On my way to work I walk pass 6 bright orange boxes full of these papers, and at least one person shoving it in my face, shouting "24 hours?". Woa, back off! I just woke up! I see people take it because they feel they have to, and then throw it out right away. What a waste of paper.

I, however, usually pick it up at the first box I pass. At the WCE station in PoCo. I read it on the train instead of sleeping.

And then there's the Metro. Also a commuter paper, the Metro's audience tries to focus more to the "younger generation" by adding swearing to the stories. Hmm. Good tactic. I pass 4 bright green paper boxes and 2 people shoving this one into my face. I take this paper at the Waterfront train station from the "Metro Hawker" outside, and read it on the bus with my friend Julie who I commute with. Sometimes the papers include samples. I have enough Nivea moisturizer to last me a lifetime.

I don't generally like the stories in the Metro, which brings me to the reason I must kick this "commuter paper" habit.

I read both papers for the celebrity smut.

What crazy things are TomKat doing now? Is Brittany still putting up with Kevin's partying and money-spending? How is the Denise Richards & Heather Loclear love triangle going? Who's pregnant? Who's got a new baby? Mansion? Husband? Job? Boobs?

Well, as of June 23...I don't care anymore!

Vacation does something to my head. It really makes me realize what is important, and what is neccesary, even though I wasn't making a concious effort to do so. When I went back to work after vacation, I walked past the orange box thinking "Hmm. I don't really want to read the smut today" and I haven't ever since.

It may not sound like much of an accomplishment, but it's just like breaking any other habit. It has been part of my morning routine for the past year and a half. So stopping is difficult.

Sure there is important things in the papers, like....hmmm.... Sudoku! But other than that, I don't really need to hear about all the pedestrian accidents, cyclers hit, home invasions, grow ops, gang beatings, domestic violence, animal rights petitions, tree rights petitions...if it is actually important enough for me to know, I will hear about it some way or another. I find that all the above stories just make me feel sad for people, and make me completely paranoid! I already get that enough at work!

Besides. Why am I making the 24H and Metro a part of my daily morning routine, if the Bible isn't? Instead of reading about car crash deaths, I could be reading encouraging words of wisdom that could actually help me through my day.

So. There you have it. I think this is my first "pubilc blog confession". Out there for the world to see. At least now if anyone recognizes me from photos on this blog, and sees me holding a commuter paper, they can snatch it out of my hand and smack me with it.


Fine Print: Just to make it clear, I am not condeming those who enjoy reading the paper. Just like any other habit, it affects people differently and may not be a problem for you :-)

Christmas in July

My parents used to leave their Christmas lights up all year (or at least most of it). But at least they changed the bulbs to match whatever occasion it happens to be. Like red for Valentines day, Green for St. Patricks day, orange for thanksgiving and Halloween. Some summers they come down altogether, but go back up again when Thanksgiving rolls around. It was actually quite fun when they did it.

I used to snicker at people who left their lights up. Afterall, if the lights are up all year, what makes them special when it's actually Christmas? I would never keep them up when I owned a house!

Or so I thought.

Last night, with only 168 days left until Christmas, we finally took our lights down. Christmas in July went out with a bang!

I used up all my excuses:
- "It rained today/yesterday/last week. I don't want to slip and fall off the roof"
- "I'm too tired, I'll fall off if I go up now"
- "It's too hot! The shingles will burn me!"

Yesterday was a perfectly warmish evening. Plus I don't want to have the lights up for our series of summer BBQ's. So up I went.

Why me? Good question! This is where Colin's excuses come into play (Colin speaking, of course):
- "I'm too tall, my center of gravity is higher, therefore I'm more likely to fall off"
- "I don't like heights as much as you"
- "If you fall off, I can catch you, but you couldn't catch me if I fell"

Really, I don't mind. It's almost exhilarating! I do like heights.

When the lights went up in December, we put up plastic light holders too, so that every other year we only have to snap in the bulbs. With Colin holding the end of the extension cord way down on the ground, I inch my way toward the edge. I snap off one light. Colin sees how easy it is, and pulls on the cord a bit. SNAP! The next light comes off.

Cool! Easier than we thought. SNAP! Another light disappears from my sight. I can't see Colin, but he must be yanking on the cord again. Then all of a sudden...SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

The weight of the dangling lights must have been too heavy, and one by one, each light snaps off the plastic clip with no coaxing from Colin. The next thing I hear is our dear Christmas lights landing on our driveway with a big SMASH!

Good thing we waited all winter, spring and half of the summer to do this chore that didn't even require me to get on the roof in the first place. We could have shot the lights down with a .22 and got the same effect.

At least I got to clean the gutters while I was up there.

All Is God's Creation

Colin - Sunset 1 on North Beach

Steve - Indian Point

Nancy - Stormy Sunset 2 Colin - Sunset 3 At Point 1

Steve - Savary from Mystery Reef

Nancy - Sunset 2 at the Wharf

Happy Belated Canada Day!

fishin'

Colin loves Savary for a few reasons, fishing being the main one! I also like fishing, but only when the water is calm and the fish are biting. I don't have that patience that Colin has while waiting for a fish to snack on the lure.

Steve has fished before, but not for a long time, and Rhonda had never been fishing. You wouldn't know it though! She was a pro from the start!

We went fishing 3 times, and were out for at least 3 hours each time. The sun was hot, and not a cloud in the sky. I sort of felt like a prawn on the frying pan. We caught such a mess of fish that I couldn't list every fish we caught even if I tried!

The first trip, Colin won the gold medal with a 20 pound salmon (Chinook)! It's a beautiful fish! And it tasted great baked in onions and freshly squeezed lemon juice topped with a hollandaise dill sauce, served with wild rice and fresh garlic butter prawns. It made 14 steaks! Usually you put a knife in the "fish photo" as a scale of how big the fish is, but with a fish THIS big, I thought I would make a better scale than a knife.

Sorry. Back to the fishing...

Rhonda got the silver medal with a nice Ling Cod! (Don't worry Rhonda, I wouldn't have wanted to hold it either!) It was big enough to keep (~65 cm) but we used the wrong criteria to measure it, so we threw it back. How upsetting for Rhonda! It sucks to put a fish back. Especially when it's her first big one. It was funny though. She calmly said "I think I have a bite". Then just reeled it in as if she was fighting seaweed, and...a huge ling was on her hook! GO GIRL!

Steve and I both caught a shark (dogfish) that day, but they're gross so we didn't keep them. We all caught many more fish like red snapper and rock cod.

The second time, the water was really choppy! Like, seasick choppy! I'm glad we stuck it out though, because we didn't have much luck during the first few hours, but boy did that change! Near the end of the day we caught a load of ugly, stinky black fish! 4 Rock cod, 4 green ling (caught by the girls), and 2 massive ling cod (conveniently rigormortised in "bucket shape" for this photo). Steve caught one, and the other was a joined effort between Colin and myself (come on, Colin, give credit where credit is due).

As soon as one of us had a bite, you could almost guarantee that at the exact same time: at least one other person would get a bite, another would get stuck on bottom, and the boat would be swiftly drifting towards the rocks. Everything seemed to happen at once!

There were more that we didn't keep.

Like my salmon.

Please start the violin music. It will make this sad tale better.

Right off the bat, I caught a huge fish. It was fighting like nothing else I've wrestled with before. I got it up to the surface, and saw it! A beautiful Chinook about 15 pounds! I fought like crazy, while trying not to fall off the front of the boat! We even had to chase the thing with the boat! My rod is NOT a salmon rod, and my line isn't really strong enough for a salmon (have I used up all my excuses yet?). Just as Colin was getting ready to net it...it snapped my line and took off. I collapsed on the front of the boat and just lay there for awhile. Partially because I was so tired from the fight, but mostly out of disappointment.

Disappointed because I lost a fish? Has it really happened? Have I become a fisherwoman? I ACTUALLY have a "fish that got away" story, and am ACTUALLY still upset about it!

Rhonda caught a baby Chinook about 8 inches long! It was so cute, but we obviously had to put it back and will come get when it can make more steaks.

The last time fishing wasn't as good as the others. Colin and I caught 3 red snapper for dinner (served with all-you-can-eat fresh crab) and Steve got the biggest rock cod I've ever seen! Mmmm.

We quit a little early because near the end, God seemed to turn up the thermostat 5 degrees (as Steve said), and we went in on the verge of sunstroke.

Our cooler was stuffed full of frozen fish when we left, and we'll be eating it for a while to come!

Would you like to play...CROQUET?

Whenever Colin is participating in an event, whatever the event may be, you must add the word "extreme" in front of it, and the word "adventure" after it. So here is the story of the "Extreme Croquet" adventure.

Who knew Colin was a closet master of beach croquet? Or do the rest of us really suck THAT much? Whatever the case, Colin was the champion. The first day of the tournament, he skunked us all. Won all 5 games.

It became evident early on that Steve's main goal was to beat Colin. After many shots, his mallet would get smashed into the sand out of frustration! He always did really well, but Colin would somehow catch up, and pass him at the last minute!

It also became evident that the girls were playing an ENTIRELY different game! Somehow, we usually ended up at the back of the pack. Maybe we're not wired to calculate the exact angle and force which is needed to bank the ball up and over the barnicle covered rock, send it through a tidepool and over quicksand. Whatever the reason, we were "also playing".

We started off being nice, and not sending each other's croquet balls into the atmosphere, but that faded over time. Situations like:

Nancy: "Colin, be nice to your poor wife! Please don't hit my ball"
Colin: "Ok, I won't"
He doesn't hit her ball, and then when it's her turn she smashes his off course! Tee Hee...I didn't mean to...really!

And some of this:

Steve: "Rhonda, hit Nancy's ball to get yours further"
Rhonda (to Nancy): "Ok, but I won't hit it far"
Rhonda hits Nancy's perfectly lined up ball way out of the way!

The next day of the tournament, Colin won the first one again. Steve wasn't going to let this happen again. No sir. He won the rest of the games that day, with victory dances of course! Every time Colin didn't make a shot, he gave a victory dance!

Who knew croquet could be so fun?

We're back...and alive!

Well, after 9 days of vacation, we are back! Few cuts, few bruises and no black eyes! And I really don't know where to start! While I was away, I kept a "trip journal" like I do on other trips. A "paper blog", of sorts. As I was writing I thought "It's going to take me a month to catch up on my blog!".

I guess a good place to start is near-the-beginning.

After 7 hours of travel (2 ferry rides, 3 stretches of driving and 2 waits in ferry lineups) we arrived at Lund. The tide was at the lowest point of the year (BELOW the boat launch), so we waited a bit to launch the boat.

While we were waiting, we launched Kernel, and Colin took her for her maiden voyage ... around the boat launch! I also got to row her around. She's a fun little boat. And she floats perfectly!

We launched when the tide was still below the concrete launch, but it worked fine. We hooked up Kernel with a rope so we could tow her behind the motorboat. There wasn't enough room in the big boat for all our stuff, so the food had to go in Kernel. This is when the "adventure" begins.

Not 60 seconds out of the launching area, a big boat zooms past us, creating some huge swells. We went up over the first one, then the nose of the boat followed the swell of water down, sending the next wave partially over the windshield. Only Colin and I got wet though. The Vikes and our luggage stayed fairly dry. Poor Kernel was bobbing up and down over that one.

We headed toward Savary feeling a tad stressed. The rope we had Kernel on was too short, so she was riding in our wake, and listing to one side, looking like she'd topple over at any second. Colin had to keep slowing down in order to giver Kernel an easier ride. We thought of stopping and lengthening the rope, but I noticed a huge boat in the distance behind us, with a massive wake. If that thing caught up to us we'd have been soaking for sure, so we motored on.

There was a big barge crosing our path a kilometer ahead of us that we were going to drive behind. No use rushing Kernel.

Then Colin saw it.

About 100 meters behind the barge, there was the biggest log boom I've ever seen. Hmm. A big barge....then a nice space....then a boom. SHOOT! The barge was towing the massive boom! A quick change of plans, and Colin realized he had to race the barge to get in front of it, while going slow enough to keep Kernel upright, and fast enough to make sure that yacht in the distance wouldn't catch up to us!!

What a ride. I kept reminding (aka nagging) Colin about the dangers ahead, Steve was telling him whenever Kernel was moving around, and Rhonda was mentally taking inventory about what food was in Kernel so she'd know which things she'd grab if she needed to jump out of the boat and rescue the food from the water.

We JUST made it in front of the tugboat (or shall I call it a tug-cruiseship...it was huge!) and made it to the Savary wharf safely. Phew.

With all of this stress going on, no one took any photos to compliment this story. I regret it now, although the sights of the ride are permanently burned on my retina.