Biking and Life

I went up to Whistler last weekend to ride a trail called PhD.  Had to find out if it was worthy of such a name.  It was.  Amir is a buddy who is a budding photographer and a hell of a rider.  Let the photos do the talking.  Most of these shots are of me with a few of him as well.

A 3 shot sequence of a rock ride.

This shows the view from the bottom, it was actually really steep but the lense hardly did it justice.

The same rock ride but a view from the top.

This was later in the day on a newly completed memorial trail called "It's Business Time"..

 We did a bit of posing too, Amir likes to work with the lighting which usually means squinting into the sun.

 

I love the colors (yes I am purposely not using the Quebec spelling anymore) in the forest.

We also went to this amazing treehouse in the forest.  Apparently it took the guy several years to build.  Very impressive.

Another thing that made this ride awesome was that I finally installed a receiver on the Mazda so it can take bikes.  This is a much more exciting drive on the Sea to Sky highway than a Tundra monster truck, much cheaper on gas too.

And now the life update:
Life is good. Super busy.  I'd like to think I'll update this more often.  We'll see.  A summary:  I got my dream job after a bout of unemployment.  It is amazingly challenging and days go by so fast it is scary.  I have a multi-year learning curve before I become efficient.  I love what I do and can't believe I get paid for it.

Amber is turning into a little person.  Today she spoke her first real sentence to me and I was floored.  She was pushing her Thomas the train along and I asked her what she was doing? I always ask her questions and never really expect a response, but she stopped, thought about it, and told me "I'm going back into my room daddy" and I was so blown away.  Her annunciation wasn't perfect but good enough for me to realize that I wasn't imagining it, she really understands now and can respond.


Kristy is amazing.  She lets me get out on rides like shown above which meant I was out of the house from about 9am - 7pm.  In return I make sure to be home from work in time for her to kickbox Monday and Wednesday nights. Hardly a fair trade.  But to stick up for myself a little bit, she was out on a stagette party the day before the ride from noon to 11pm so it's not like I do nothing. Here is an example of what happened Saturday when I tried to get some work done while Amber was eating.  I thought she was a bit too quiet.

And here's a shot of Amber and Kristy from 2 weeks ago when we were out for breakfast.  Amber drank that entire glass of milk.

It's been so long since I've updated that there is just too much to say.  Overall things are great although I don't go more than a few hours without thinking about how much I miss Jenny.  Things are really different without her.  We're all learning how to cope with it

Long Overdue Update

I think it's safe to say that a McNelson family update is long overdue! The delay is partly due to general craziness with work and life, but mainly due to my computer finally giving out on me. Now that my new computer finally arrived the McNelson blog is back!

Amber and Papa going to the beach

We are slowly getting back into the swing of things around here. Although the memories (and sadness) are still fresh, Amber forces us to live in the now and keep us moving forward.

Amber is now into running everywhere, however, her legs and feet don't always have the coordination and/or speed to keep up. So now she has two large goose eggs on her forehead and her knees are covered in bruises and scars. I have to hand it to her though....she always gets right back up and keeps running after a few quick sobs.

Another milestone that Amber is reaching is the super chatty phase. I guess she has always been a chatty girl, however, now a lot of it makes sense and she's starting to form sentences. It's nice not having to guess at what she wants all the time. That being said, I do still guess wrong from time to time and am promptly awarded with a forceful "Noo!!" - a word she mastered months ago.

Now that both Tim and I are working full time the weeks seem to fly by in the blink of an eye. It's all we can do to get Amber to bed each night, feed ourselves and then call it a night. Hopefully I can keep up with my promise of 'regular blogs'!

Shower Preview

It's finally looking more like a shower than a construction zone.  It will look a lot better after grout.  So far, of the 9 surfaces in the shower plus curb, the ceiling and floor are the only two that have been grouted.  I did all the baseboard around the room with the same tile as on the curb too which also needs grout. So now it's down to grouting, sealing, and installing the fixtures and then maybe consider a shower door, for now a simple rod will do. 

This project was much more work than I ever imagined and plan to detail most of the main steps another time.

My Dearest Amber....

I thought long and hard about whether I should write this or not. Eventually I decided that although it may bring tears to my eyes to write this now, I felt I should let you know how fantastic your grandma (my mother) really was. 

At the Aquarium in Maui

 Your Grandma was taken from us far too soon and even though you only knew her for a short 17 months, you were so fortunate to have been able to spend many weeks and weekends with her. Over the years I know I am going to tell you many great stories about her, but I also wanted you to have this to look back on to remember the top five ways your Grandma was so exceptional.

Reason #5: Loving

Your Grandma loved you (and her whole family) so much. I seem to have endless photos of her snugging you and you definitely loved it. Any time Grandma was around you would instantly stick your arms straight out in the air and demand that Grandma snuggle you instead of mom.

When you were very little, I often didn't know how to get you to sleep as well as Grandma did. So most of the time when we were visiting Grandma she snuggled you to sleep. She had the "magic touch" with you. Eventually it became a ritual and you basically demanded Grandma snuggle you to sleep whenever she was nearby. Fortunately Grandma was more than happy to oblige.

Let's take a quick trip down Snuggle Lane.....

The day after you were born (first to arrive to see you!)

3 generations

8 month snuggles

1st birthday snooze in Grandma's arms

Reason #4: Beautiful

Your Grandma was beautiful inside and out. She always went out of her way to make sure all of those around her were happy and she never once asked for anything in return. In terms of outer beauty, I believe the word "stunning" sums it up.

My very favorite picture of your Grandma

Reason #3: Generous

I can't even begin to explain how generous Grandma was. You were constantly showered with gifts "just because" and you and I even got to go to Maui when you were just 3 months old!

Having a snuggly snooze in Maui

Reason #2: Smart

One of the most accomplished realtors on the Coast, Grandma proved that she could win big in a 'man's world'. She was (and is) an inspiration to me and part of the reason I chose the career path I did.

....and the #1 Reason your Grandma was so exceptional...

She was my best friend.

There is a common saying that "we all eventually grow up and turn into our parents". I'd say that even if this only half comes true we are both pretty lucky.

Mt Biking

We have been spending a ton of time up in Sechelt this year.  Twist my rubber arm - trailside accomodation with great family and friends, and a hot tub to come back to after you ride yourself into the ground.

The trail network up there is expanding rapidly.  Every time I've gone for the last few months, I find some new trail that I explore as far as is practical, and then go back to it next time to incorporate it into the loop.  The best part is that most of the trails can be ridden up or down and my goal has been to optimize the ratio of singletrack to total kms ridden.  A few years ago I knew of a few trails that I would do and link them together with sometimes long monotonous stretches of logging roads.  Not anymore.  Here's a gps shot of a 25 km ride where easily 20 of it was sweet loamy singletrack.

That particular day, like 90% of the days this spring, was raining.  I didn't let it stop me and took off anyways.  I actually really like being in the forest on these cooler days with the mist of the clouds and rain.  Anyways, on this day I came across a place (on a trail) that was almost magical.  It is a brutal climb along a treed ridgeline where you can see the steep cross slope (in some places) on both sides of the trail.  The forest floor is covered in a yellow-green moss as thick as the thickest 70's carpet you've ever seen.  I was riding along a trail so new that this moss-carpet had hardly even been cut through by the biting treads of rolling bike wheels when I came upon this amazing little clearing.  In this spot the trail becomes lined with inuksuk statues around an S-turn.  Perhaps one of those "you had to be there" moments, but that is the whole point of trying to explain it on a blog, that is part of mountain biking.  Sometimes you just emerge onto some of the most amazing forest scenes.  I just had to stop and appreciate this place.

Because it was such a wet day I only had my crappy phone-camera with me so here are many photos that do not do this place justice.  Next time we go up I'm going to ride this trail again and bring the better camera and a mini-tripod.