May update

It's been one of those months....

With barely a moment to spare at any given time, it was one of those months where you just have to go with it and try to enjoy the ride.   At a glance since we last wrote; Cam is a fully mobile disaster kitten, I got job, Paul and I both got more certifications, Race the Rockies, bylaw insanity, and camper living. All in all it was enjoyable despite the craziness, but man, are we ever stoked we are now on vacation for all of June. 

Here there and everywhere

Yep, he's mobile – fully.  Cam is a running, climbing, jumping, flopping, throwing, pointing, nearly two foot disaster always on the lookout for the opportunity to strike.   There is no slowing him down - he is on the go constantly.   We have been doing tons of playing outside at the park and in the yard, chasing chickens, Doug and cats, as well as improving on his household furniture climbing skills (bookshelves, chairs... everything really), mastering the stairs and discovering a love of balls of all sizes.   It has been so much fun and I am amazed daily with how fast he is learning.   We are very excited to have such an active little guy!

In other kitten news, Cameron has sprouted the four front teeth on the top and the two lower front teeth are fully exposed.  He is also very vocal these days; he has some great trouble making monster noises, purposeful communications and sound effects for every sort of activity.  He is getting really good at pointing at the right images in books when asked (mostly cats, dogs, chickens and balls) but just enjoys pointing at things in general.  It's amazing that he will be one year old right away... so much change so fast!

Workin' Momma

Probably the biggest game changer in the past month was that I scored a fully time, salary position with the Outdoor Centre as the Climbing Program Coordinator.      I am in charge of bookings, scheduling, staff training and hiring, program development and marketing strategies. It a pretty exciting opportunity and I think that I will be able to do a lot of interesting working through it.  I started on the 8^th of May and thankfully I have very flexible hours so we were able to rock the parenting tag team gig where (for the most part) I would work early (7-3), Paul would drop the little guy off with me on the way to work at 2 and then work himself till midnight.   It meant that we were really only seeing each other for a few moments when we did the kitten exchange, but it works.  Come the summer Paul's hours are going to be very irregular so hopefully we will be able to swing a more favourable arrangement.   Ideally, I would love if Paul could stay at home with Cam, but with looming student loans to pay off it may not be possible at the moment.

Certifications up the ying-yang

As if the week days were not busy enough, certification courses on the weekends keep the insanity level constant.   Paul was accepted to take the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) Top Rope Climbing Instructor program, which certifies him to take clients climbing outdoors.   In typical ACMG style, the course was a long haul, spanning two weekends (Sat-Monday of the long weekend, and Sat and Sun of the following week), ten hour days with homework to complete on top of that and two whole days of examination.   As icing on the cake, the course was being run in and around Canmore, meaning a lot of commuting time and seemingly even longer days.   Then at the end of it, for some unknown reason they won't anyone if they actually passed or not.  

At the same time as Paul was starting his ACMG saga, my work enrolled me in the Leadership Level 1 (Hiking) course offered through the Outdoor Council of Canada (OCC) which certifies me to guide clients in Class 1 hiking terrain.   It was a super fun course that is on its way to becoming a standard qualification within the outdoor professions.  I am actually really interested in following up with the other bridging courses offered by the OCC that will expand the certification to cover winter, overnight and canoe guiding.

Every cert is another step forward in the outdoor profession and although it seems that our list of courses to still complete is longer than the list of ones that we've done, we still have a lot under our belts and are enjoying the process of expanding on our skills. 

Race the Rockies

In July of 2009 I raced in Race the Rockies Golden as a soloist – I felt challenge mentally and physical, had an amazing time and instantly wanted to do more.  Injuries and then the whole baby thing prevented me from racing up till now, but over the past ten months I have been fairly seriously committed training.  Adventure racing is multidisciplinary race, much like a triathalon but for outdoor pursuits, it involves mountain biking, trekking/trail running, paddling, and ropes with an underlying orienteering component.   It quite the undertaking to prepare for, but loving all of those sports and doing them for fun anyways certainly helps!   

I raced in Race the Rockies Calgary on May 26 with Karl, a rad and very experienced adventure racer with 8 years of participating in numerous local and international races.  This race was a 6 hour (max) urban experience focused around Calgary's park systems, had a weight challenge (1 min of time taken from your final time for every pound of food carried in the first section of the race), involved mountain and street biking, running, a lot of map work and zombies (!!!!!!) who chased us to forcing us to sprint hills that we would of otherwise would have jogged.  It felt great to be back at it and I had so much fun!  Karl and I finished in 3 hour and 51min, putting us in 4^th overall in 2^nd in coed.  I am already looking for more races to do!

Feathers Flying

Having had hens now for just over a year, I have to admit that I truly adore having them as pets.  Chickens are truly an all around beneficial, multipurpose animal that supports sustainable and environmental living; They eat organic matter that would otherwise end up in landfills, are most environmentally friendly bug control and soil fertilizer that you could possible imagine, they weed the garden, trim the lawn down and provide us with a steady supply of tasty eggs that are far  healthier than anything that you can get in the grocery store.  All without any of the downsides you hear so much about (smell, noise, pests – I will elaborate some other time).  However, in a matter of a few weeks we received 4 visits from bylaw about our hens, 1 visit about a reported grow op and 8 squad cars blocking off the streets around my house and 10 cops on my front lawn to break up a party that our nearest neighbors did even know was happening.  Where all the reports came from is mostly speculation, but I do know the lady across the street made the first call to bylaw and then was very offended when I approached her to discuss it and try to find some sort of common ground (probably prompting some the following calls?).    In the end though, no harm was done; the chickens are still happily pecking around the yard, the bylaw officers got a long winded lesson on aquaponics and our party, which was already winding down, ended a bit more abruptly then anticipated.  With the verdict on Bruce Hugh's challenge of Calgary courts for the right to have chickens delayed (....again) till September we are in a lovely stand still where no action can be taken.  

Truck Casa

In more exciting news, we recently bought a 1980 Vanguard Camper.  It is in amazing condition (it was stored indoors and lightly used for most of it life) and has a 3 burner stove, a small fridge, a sink, has a queen bed above the truck cab, and the couch/table can be converted into another bed with a fold down bunk above that.   It's pretty cushy living and should make traveling and living out of the truck very comfortable and easy with the little one.    

We will be putting the new home to the test this coming month as we both have all of June off and are going to be traveling through British Colombia.  The plan is to go rock climbing, take on a ambitious ten day lake paddling trip on Vancouver Island, and do whatever else we can squeeze in between!  We are really looking forward to it and will be sure to keep you updated on what we're up to!