...Tuck on a treadmill.

He he ho ho! He's getting better at it, with more practice.

...the start of December.

Technically, it was still November, but it seems that we had a little taste of winter last week.

But in better news!!!

Take a look at my new toy! An early Christmas present from Frank to me and me to Frank.

We wrestled it into the upstairs bedroom (it was really heavy! and we had to kick Aislinn downstairs, again, to accomplish this). And then we took pictures and each had a try on it.

Since yesterday, I have already logged over 6 miles on it! Don't believe me? Ask my knees...they'll tell you. Ouch!

Even Tuck had a try. After a few stumbles and crashes into the wall behind the treadmill, he got the hang of it and really enjoyed it.

Oh! And what's even cooler? This machine comes with a wireless iFit membership that allows you to load up Google maps so you can run actual routes, like in real life! I can load up the Boston marathon, or a local route, or a crazy hill run through the Alps. And when I hook up my laptop and place it on the console I can even watch as I run those routes on the street view of Google maps. Isn't that crazy? Awesome!

This morning, when Frank got up to go to his 7am bball practice, Mackendra woke up and decided to go for a little walk on the 'mill. Isn't that weird?

So, we have no excuses any more. We can't say, "Ohhhhh, its raining," or "Oh, too bad, its too cold, and dark," or "I don't like having to get all dressed up to go running." Now, we just walk across the hall...we can even run naked! Ha ha ha!

So, as an early New Year's resolution to match my early Christmas present...I'm going to run more often.

...being a kid sucks! (According to Aislinn)

Actual conversation that took place yesterday after school and its consequences:

Mom: Aislinn, take Tuck outside for a bit and, I don't know... throw some snowballs for him or something.

Aislinn: AWWWWWWWW Mom! Do I have to? (Imagine her voice set at the register that automatically grates on your last nerve).

Mom: **gritting my teeth and speaking through them** Yes, you have to. Just for 15 minutes. He hasn't gone out today.

Aislinn: **with an extremely pained look on her face and a voice that has turned up that dial another notch** I don't want to, I have to....go....clean up my bedroom. **this last bit said triumphantly**

Mom: **nodding because, yes, its true, Aislinn has to go clean up her bedroom, she was told to do that....3 days ago!** Yah, but take Tuck out first.

Aislinn: ** as she's walking away to her bedroom** I can't!

Mom: **turning to Dad with a murderous look in her face that prompts Dad to take action before Mom's head explodes** Frank!!!

Dad: Aislinn, get your ass outside right now!

Aislinn: I can't!

Dad: AISLINN!!! You have 3 seconds to take your dog outside before you spend the rest of the afternoon in your room!

Aislinn: You can't make me! **Starting to look worried but still determined to win this unwinable (is that even a word? not according to spellcheck) battle. Now, running away from Dad, holding her ears** Owww! Don't!!!! Letmego!!!! **as she's being dragged to her room**.

Dad: Mackendra! Will you take Tuck out for me?

Mackendra: Sure **all angelic-like, she knows she's getting bonus points here**.

Dad: Good, now Tuck's your dog.

Aislinn: WHA???!!!! No he's not!!! You can't do that!!! That's not fair!!! Well....if she gets Tuck then I get the hamster...and....and...and... THE HAMSTER IS GONNA DIE!!!!!

Mom and Dad: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Consequences: Aislinn spent the entire afternoon and evening in her bedroom alone. No one talked to her and she doesn't get to go on the school bowling trip.

Outcome: Agreement. Being a kids sucks.

...and she's back!

Uh huh! My first scrap LO since my old computer died. I gotta say, it feels pretty good.

...cool picture.

Hi guys, just another cool picture, taken by Aislinn, that I wanted to post.

I just love the composition of this image.

...three weeks.

"Wha??? Wha???"

Just recently, Kong kong came and stayed with us, while my parents took a three week trip down to Utah. Don't tell my Mom, but he was really quite easy to live with. He had a routine, a simple one, that mostly revolved around meal times, that once we figured out, was easy to accommodate.

What we learned about Kong kong in those two weeks was that he really liked to eat out. We ate so much Chinese take-out in those three weeks! Even Aislinn, by the end of his stay, was saying, "No more Chinese food!" It was quite silly, but a local Chinese restaurant came to know us so well, that we could walk in, sit down, and the waitress would say, "you want the usual?", but in Cantonese.

At the end of those three weeks, we were sad to say goodbye to Kong kong. The girls absolutely loved having him here.

Also, at the end of those three weeks, Darren and Auria came back from their six month long trip to China and Southeast Asia. It was great to have everyone back together again.

To celebrate, we ate Chinese food! Of course. A huge hot pot feast! OMG! We eat so much!

I'm not even kidding when I say that Frank and I each put on about 10 pounds during those three weeks.

Other than the need for more stretchy pants, spending time with my grandfather was lovely.

Now we just need to go on a diet before we head up for Christmas in Prince George!

Love Tanya

...Halloween 2010

Wasn't it weird having Halloween on a Sunday?

I had all weekend to get everything ready. Yet, somehow, I was still all stressed out and almost late when the time came to actually head out trick or treating.

So, check out the pictures this year...

Aislinn did this entire pumpkin herself this year. I didn't even touch it! She picked a really complicated pattern, but it turned out pretty amazing.

Can you see what it is?

Mackendra proceeded to scare everyone by carving most of her own pumpkin as well. A seven year old stabbing a gourd was certainly spooky. I think Auria was having a mild panic attack watching Mackendra handling that knife.

Mackendra did a great job as well.

Then it was costume time. Not to brag or anything, but my kids always look awesome for Halloween. And this year was no exception.

Aislinn went as a gothic rag doll. She definitely had the best costume I saw.

She looked beautiful, yet creepy. You like her little voodoo doll? She made it herself out of socks.

Here's a closeup of her face.

Mackendra went as a vampire. She looked pretty creepy as well. Her hair was awesome!

And then, there was Auria and I. I went as a googly-eyed alien. Auria went as a Chinese/Japanese character.

Aislinn went out with her friend and Auria and I took Mackendra out to meet her little friend and we all went walking around her school neighborhood.

It was cold, but fun, and we caught a fireworks display that was better than we expected.

All in all, a pretty successful night.

I can't wait to see everyone else's costumes!

Love Tanya

...imparting wisdom to my children.

Being a parent is a tough job, its all day, every day, and believe me, you don't get time off when your sick, and when you get a vacation, guess who expects to go with you?

Being a parent also means that you are ultimately responsible for your child's education. Who else is going to teach them about the real world? The school are doing their best when it comes to reading and writing and math, but what about the lessons that they really need to learn?

Well, sometimes opportunities to teach just arise, and I seize those opportunities with both hands.

Take for instance this conversation that happened in the car yesterday.

I'll set the scene.

I had just picked up the kids from their respective schools and we were on our way home. We had stopped at a red light and this guy was parked beside us. He was talking on his cell phone, which is now illegal! Right after the light the road narrowed to a single lane, I easily settled into place behind him. One block further along, I watched in disgust as the guy on the phone sped through a school zone. I shook my head.

Then, the guy did one final thing that prompted my teaching moment. He actually rolled down his window and tossed out a styrofoam food container! Seriously! That did it for me.

"Holy crap! What a Prick!" I muttered under my breath.

Aislinn, sitting beside me in the passenger seat, looked at me confused and said, "you mean, he's a 'Dick' right?"

"No," (and here it is...) "He's a 'Prick'!" I paused, "Its the same thing."

Aislinn nodded and I swear I could see her filing that nugget of wisdom away in her brain.

Mission Accomplished! Thank you! Thank you! I'm here...all day, every day.

...goodbye Apple, Hello PC!

I'm all giddy! Say hello to my new toy!

I think the only one more excited about this purchase is Frank. Actually, I think the better word to describe his emotion is "envy".

I've made it through 4 months of no laptop and as a reward, Frank and I went out the other day and picked up this beauty! We grabbed it at the local Futureshop, and it was $200 cheaper than anywhere else, even on the web. Score!!!!

Now I just have to get used to the new keypad and the uber sensitive touchpad. Its not as bad as trying to type on a computer in France, but it will take some time to get used to the new keyboard configurations.

It will also take time to transfer all the necessary files. But, yah! I get to scrapbook again.

...about torture.

If there was anything in life that would make me want to stab myself in the eye...

it is watching grade seven girls play volleyball! Its truly an inhumane form of torture.

I swear I was never that awkward looking.

Love you, Aislinn. Let Mom give you some pointers sometime, okay? For her own sanity.

...Happy Birthday to a dearly missed friend.

Tomorrow, September 28th, is my friend, Devonian's birthday. He's the boy in the above picture.

I miss Devon. I haven't seen Devon for over a year now, and that is just wrong.

I met Devon at Glenville State College in West Virginia. He basically came up to me and decided that he was going to be my friend. At first I thought..."Ummm, you're kinda weird, kid." And he was! He had piercings on his eyebrows and lip and he had those earrings that stretched your earlobes out. He also had tatoos and he wore a lot of black and his hair was all asymmetrical, shaved on one side and long on the other and he had a goatee. He also had a foul mouth on him and he didn't shy away from conflict. Definitely not someone I would usually hang out with. To be honest, I didn't really know what to do with him. He kept showing up at my table at the cafeteria, and he would come sit beside me at concerts. The usual people I sat with kinda looked at him strangely and I just shrugged.

And then something strange started to happen. Devon and I started to talk. And talk, and talk. He had a lot to say, and most everything that came out of his mouth made sense. We would talk about politics and religion and relationships and bigotry and racism. I learned that we had a lot of the same philosophies. It was so refreshing to talk to someone that was more liberal than most other people attending Glenville, WV. Before I knew it, Devon and I were pretty much spending all our time together.

Devon would tell me things about his life, and I swear, I thought he was lying. But you know what? Devon doesn't lie. I learned that about him. He always told the truth. He was brutally honest about things. If people pissed him off, they knew it, because he told them. I admire that. His life stories were amazing! And the kid was only 22 years old.

Another thing about Devon was that he was/is a very passionate person. Something would set him off, some injustice, and he would go on these rants. They were very entertaining. I would sit back and watch him go. He would use language that would make a sailor blush, but with Devon, it was just how he talked, and for some reason, it didn't offend me. Others around us would get uncomfortable, but I would just sit there and giggle quietly. He was like pure energy, he was the Energizer Bunny! He would literally bounce off the walls.

Something else about Devon. He was/is willing to do anything for his friends. Here is the best example I have to illustrate why I love the guy. I was doing my oral exam, the one that if you fail, you don't get your degree, exam. I was scheduled to go in the early evening. I was the only one in the building with the two instructors grilling me. After an hour and a half, it was done. Whew! When I walked out the door, there, sitting on the floor, in the hallway, was Devon. He had been waiting for me the entire time. He jumped up, gave me a hug and congratulated me. How sweet is that?

So, my last month at Glenville was totally fun, and it mostly had to do with Devon. He, and my other dear friend, Mary Sue, who deserves her own post btw, made life at Glenville, away from my family, bearable.

So, here's to my best friend, Devon! Happy Birthday! I love you and miss you and hope you are having a good year in Glenville.

My promise to you, on your birthday, is that I will get you up to Canada as soon as possible. I'm saving up the airline points as we speak!

Smooches!

...I have some spare time.

I'm taking the day off work today because I have both a doctor's appointment and a dentist appointment. I find myself with a few spare minutes to post some pictures that I want to share with you guys.

Frank gave me the task of re-organizing our photos to upload to Picasa, so these are a few of the more recent ones that I found.

Cousins Rock!

Sister Rock!

The family gathering for Mama's Celebration of Life.

The food at my Mom's place. No wonder we all need to go on a diet!

Me and My Love

Kids on the Slip 'N Slide at Pau Pau's House.

Goofing around with friends and family at Lynn Canyon Park.

It was an '80's Theme party. Really!

The girls all dressed up in their flower girl dresses for Auntie Rachel's wedding last August.

More of the kids, hanging out during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The Olympic torch in the background, my lovely sister by my side.

That's all for now! Gotta go to those appointments!

Love Tanya

...Mr. Gabe Gibbs

I would like to introduce my friend, Gabriel Gibbs.

I met Gabe in a Statistics class I took when I went back to school last year. Gabe was/is a 6'7" black kid from Detroit. He was on the Glenville basketball team, and unlike most athletes, he was also in the Science program there as well. Back when I went to school and played for the Glenville women's basketball team, I was the only one on both the women's and men's team that was in the science program.

Gabe introduced himself to me the first or second day of class and we became friends. I would think, unusual friends. He was this young, black (I know I said it before and you can see it yourself, but it is kinda unusual for a Canadian), athlete that was over 10 years younger than the returning-to-school, mother of 2, married, 30-something, half-asian woman sitting beside him in Stats class.

Gabe was unlike most athletes. First of all, he was smart, not saying that all athletes are dumb, but...they are rare. Second of all, he wanted to get to know me. I certainly was unlike most other students. What made a "stud-on-campus" basketball player want to talk to me? What I came to know about Gabe was that he was/is curious...about everything. He always wanted to know "why" something was the way it was. I guess I intrigued him.

Anyways, over the semester that I attended Glenville, Gabe and I got to know each other. We genuinely liked to talk with each other.

I watched Gabe play basketball for the Glenville team and was quite upset to see him sitting on the bench so much. He was obviously a very talented bball player but the coach seemed to not recognize that fact. Gabe was what I would call a rhythm or pace changer. He would enter the game and things would immediately change. He always came off the bench and he always had an immediate impact on the game. Most of the time he would only be on the floor for about 4 minutes at a time, but in those 4 minutes he would make such a change, for the positive, that everyone in the crowd was always confused as to why he was subbed off and then not see the floor again for an absurb amount of time.

I told Frank about him and asked Frank to come and evaluate Gabe. As background info, Frank used to have a very successful U18 boys basketball program that strove to put boys into post-secondary basketball programs both in Canada and in the US. Frank was often contacted by US coaches to evaluate Canadian players by US coaches who knew him. Frank came and worked Gabe out and concurred with my assessment that Gabe was a very strong and intelligent player. We started talking to Gabe about what he wanted to do after he finished at Glenville. We found out that Gabe still had eligibility here in Canada. So, together, we decided to see if we could find a place for Gabe to play here in BC.

It took some time and Gabe had to go get a passport, but this August, we flew Gabe up to see us. Our entire purpose was to introduce him to some coaches that we know.

Over the week that we had Gabe with us, we introduced Gabe to a whole wagon load of new experiences.

Here are some of them:

Really expensive gas. Actually, 107.9 doesn't look so bad right now as I just gassed up for 115.7 yesterday.

Fresh raspberries. Seriously! Gabe didn't even know what raspberries were and kept saying he would like to grow his own raspberry tree. He called them "exotic".

Sushi! Now that's exotic. And yummy. Actually, Aislinn was the one to take Gabe to sushi. She said that he was wary, but willing. He liked the cooked stuff the best but he did try everything. I like that!


Ha ha! The likeness is uncanny! Once again, Aislinn was Gabe's host for this event. She took Gabe down to Robson street and the spent the afternoon and evening hanging out.

We did introduce Gabe to the coaches we knew and they all loved him and said they wanted him, however, he has to figure out his eligibility status first and perhaps next year we will get to watch him play, nay, dominate here in Canada.

We also took him up with us to Prince George to visit my parents and sisters. That was a revelation for Gabe. We took him out to the ranch and he had so many new experiences that I ran out of batteries in my camera. But not before I snapped these treasures:

Gabe had to learn how to climb through a barbed-wire fence. The first time was suspect and Rachel had to help him get unstuck. But he learn quickly.

Cows, lots of cows! Many, many cows, all around. You should hear his comments about the bulls! And how well endowed those bulls are.

And Gabe also got up close and personal with several horses. For the first time in his life. Also, the very next day, Gabe even rode a horse.

Gabe even went up in the ranch plane for a bird's eye view of the area. Believe it or not, before flying up to us, Gabe had never been on a plane. I know! Crazy!

And, the funniest thing that I think Gabe experienced...electricity.

See this spot right here???? This is where I was going to put this really hilarious video of my friend, Gabe, grabbing an electric fence after being dared to do it by my brother-in-law, Joel. It truly is a hilarious video, but after trying to upload it three times...you'll just have to trust me when I say that it is crazy funny.

For a kid from inner-city Detroit, the whole ranch thing was quite astonishing. He loved it and he says that he plans to come back some day.

I hope that he does. We have so much more to show him.

...she's 7!

Mackendra has turned 7. Why do babies always grow up so fast?

So, we had Mackendra's very first birthday party with friends. Because her birthday is in August she has never had a party with her classmates. This year we decided to fix that.

We went to the local park and the kids played in the wading pool and in the playground.

We had pizza and watermelon and fresh veggies and dip. We also had a very yummy chocolate cake. The kids had a blast and Mackendra was one happy little 7 year old. That's her with the big blue face in the middle.

The next day was even better...we are having a mini heat wave here in Coquitlam and we decided to beat the heat by heading to the waterslides near Bridal Falls. We invited two of our friends and spent the day slipping and sliding. We haven't done that in awhile.

Gotta love Summer!

...hiking is for masochists!

Okay, I know some people love all that hard core hiking/camping stuff. I thought I would love it too. And when I think back about 3 years ago, when Frank's idea of roughing it was not getting extra towels at the Holiday Inn. The idea of us hiking 20 odd kilometers to a campsite was very exciting.

We made some fundamental errors when calculating our first hiking/camping trip.

1. We way over packed. Note to self: when you go hiking, you will wear the same clothes the entire 3.5 days. All you need is extra underwear and a pair of clean socks to wear when you hike out. You do not need to bring 4 t-shirts, 2 pair of shorts, an extra pair of pants, a jacket, and your swim suit. Also, don't bring enough food for 6 days when you are only planning to be gone for half that amount of time. Also...KD is heavy! Also, maybe invest in a little tent and mattresses. We didn't weigh our packs, but we figure mine was about 60 lbs and Frank's was close to 90 lbs. I couldn't barely lift Frank's. Yah, we could have gone for about half that weight.

2. Maybe don't go for the 20 km hike the first time out. Try the 6-8 km distance first. After a certain distance, I think it was km 15, I almost starting crying. I put on a brave face though. At the 13th km, my hip flexors were hurting so much that I had to try a different gait. Every flat area, I started to jog. Without me knowing it, Frank recorded this for posterity.

Also, wearing running shoes is good for not getting blisters, but they are not so good for giving support in the soles. My feet felt bruised from walking on tree roots and sharp rocks. I saw some pretty nasty blisters on other people's feet and they were hobbling around with moleskin and bandages and dreading the walk out.

3. Don't take BC Ferries, anywhere! I already talked about that in a previous post. It just makes you angry after hiking 20 km out of the bush and then driving 4 hours down the island to catch the last ferry back to the mainland and then having to fork over $73. No matter how much you love the person you are hiking with, you will find them extremely annoying and not want to talk to them the whole ferry trip back.

The campsite was gorgeous, the only thing was that we only got to see it the first afternoon we got there. We arrived at the campsite at about 4pm, proceeded to fall into a coma for 2 hours. Woke up to sunshine and whales breaching in the bay and a glorious view. Around 8pm, while I was cooking 3 dinners (I wasn't going to carry all that food out!), the fog started to roll in and we didn't see a clear sky for the rest of our trip. The fog hid everything!

Oh yeah, and just for the record, those dehydrated hiking food packs you can buy? They're not bad. And they are light. You just add boiling water, seal the package back up for about 15 mins and then you can eat your Turkey Tetrazzini or Beef Stroganoff right out of the bag! Pretty sweet! Oh! And powdered eggs...not bad. We didn't get the apple crumble or the brownies or the ice cream sandwiches...but I bet they wouldn't be all that bad either.

The second day, we had the option to hike out to the very tip of the island and go see the lighthouse. Thinking about the hike out, we didn't take that option. We literally did as little moving as possible.

Oh! I forgot, Tuck came with us and had a great time. He even had his own little back pack. He loved it! He was so excited everytime we put it on him. We would literally be wiggling with eagerness. And everyone who saw him loved it as well. He was so well behaved the entire trip. I love that dog!

So, to wrap it up...it was fun, but physically exhausting and the next time we go these are the conditions that I will insist on:

1. Shorter hike, much shorter. Mayber 5-6 km.

2. Lighter packs. I want mine to be about 30 lbs.

3. Better scenery.

4. Bring the kids to run errands.

5. No ferries.

6. More desserts! Need chocolate.

7. And alcohol!