the comparison

Everest Base Camp: April 2011

any of you that may have read my blog earlier will recall the post Opportunity only knocks once. well, in it i posted a picture of Sir Edmund Hillary. anyone who knows who he is and what he accomplished would know he was the first to summit Mount Everest. now i have no desire to summit the mountain, but i would consider it quite a feat to have trekked to the everest base camp. so that is what i am doing this coming april.

the trip is my dad's brain-child, and i am only a passenger on his great adventure. but i wouldn't miss it for the world. it came about one evening when we were visiting my parents, waiting for my nephew to fly into lethbridge from Sweden. we started talking about trips we would like to take and my dad brought up the usual "everest base camp" trip he's been talking about for years. just talking about it with him he said he thought he should go sooner than later because his window may be closing on the opportunity. rob and i of course told him he should just go do it! dad said that if he ever did he would invite family members just to be fair, but opined that he didn't think anyone would be interested in going anyway. rob and i both disagreed, saying that either of us would go in a heart beat. and probably several other siblings would want to go too. well, we discussed for awhile then that was that.

well, i didn't think anything would ever come of it so quickly. but later that week we got this email from my dad:

"My window is closing on my dream of going to Everest Base Camp--SOOOOOOOOOO --I think I will go this spring. The link below has all the details. This is not a solicitation to recruit people to go but if some are interested and have the time and resources, you can do whatever you want-- you are welcome.Here are some details--"

well, you can imagine the frenzy of emails shooting around after that. as soon as i got the email i told robbie. he asked immediately, "so are you going to do it?" me:...long pause..."i have to sleep on it." well i didn't sleep that night, but i knew by the next morning that i was going to go.

later that night when i told rob i was going to go i was asking him what he thought about it and he said very plainly that if it were him in that situation he wouldn't hesitate. and i knew that was true so i felt good about the decision.

it's going to be an awesome adventure, and i am very excited about it. we'll leave sometime around April 22, and return May 9. so it is a long trek. 11-13 days trekking on the mountain. the elevation gain will be some 10,000 ft, and the highest we will be is some 19,000 ft.

i'm already appreciative of rob for realising the opportunity and letting me go. you will never know what that kind of support means. and i know if the roles were reversed the support would go the same way. we are "kindred spirits"that way. out for adventure, and wanting to experience the world. each step of the way so far he has given his full support, making sure i'm getting the right equipment and asking things like "does it fit right?" "is it too short?" "put your arms above your head, are the sleeves okay?" "are those supposed to be loose?" and constantly telling me to get what i need, and not to just get what is cheap. he's hasn't made me feel guilty (yet) for leaving and spending our savings. and i don't think he will. i don't like to broadcast this sort of stuff on facebook so this will probably be the only time you hear it: rob is awesome and the best supporter in the whole wide world!

well, more details about the trip will likely keep coming. but so far we just know we are going to go and are starting to look at all options for flights and dates.

better go start conditioning... maybe in the new year...

2010 in review

well, it is time to take stock. 2010 started out pretty much as it would've any other year. rob was teaching at JT Foster in Nanton (grade 7), i was working for New Machine Studios in Calgary and xander was doing day care 3 times a week. the only noteworthy difference was that i was 6 months pregnant, due in April. until that time things were pretty routine. work and xander, weekend, work and xander.

i wouldn't say i am a very happy pregnant lady, so when my doc asked if i would like to be induced a few days before the due date i was all over it. friday, April 9th, rob and i went in for the induction. very long and ridiculous story later, Judy Kay was delivered via emergency c-section that evening.

these are judy at 2 weeks old. i was still very much recovering from the c-section, so this was a big deal to set up and do. xander was funny because when he say judy with no clothes on taking pictures he wanted to do the same. i was able to snap a couple good ones.

judy was easy. slept when she was supposed to, and was in general an easy new born. we could plop her down anywhere and she'd fall asleep on her own.

so we were living in high river at the time, in a little 3-plex near a park. high river is a very nice place to live. xander always had a lot of fun riding his run-bike down the front walkway.

then may came and rob had an opportunity to transfer to pincher creek. that meant we would be able to live at waterton springs campground (which we manage every summer anyway) and list our house in lethbridge to sell (which it hasn't yet!). we love our lethbridge house, but we know if we are ever going to move back to lethbridge that won't be the house we live in.

we love waterton!

rob grew a really nasty beard at the campground because we lost his shaver in the move. luckily he found it eventually, but then he shaved it into an even nastier moustache.

xander had his 3rd birthday that summer, and rob took him on his first "camping trip". really they just set up a tent on one of the sites during the week. it was really windy that night and they ended up coming inside, but xander still had a blast.

cousin lincoln came to visit a few times that summer. these two are good buddies, but sometimes have a hard time playing at the same pace. most of the time they really enjoy each other's company. like when they are each playing with their ipods.

it was at one of these visits from lincoln that judy started rolling (at 4 months old!).

finally the summer was over and we could relax. rob works hard during july and august with all the campers, so once october hit we closed everything up and could finally worry about other things. he also started teaching in pincher creek this fall at Canyon Creek school, grade 6. this is a big change from junior high. but he has enjoyed it, although it has be A LOT of work to prep a whole new curriculum. this picture was taken at thanksgiving.

xander in 2010:

• has started speaking better
• knows colors, shapes, numbers, and how to unlock my iphone
• favorite movies are cars, bee movie, toy story 3, cloudy with a chance of meatballs
• favorite album is snack time by the bare naked ladies
• favorite tv shows include pocoyo, yo gabba gabba, in the night garden, toopy and binoo
• doesn't really like his sister, but tolerates her and is patient
• hates getting his hair wet
• always puts away his things after he's finished with them
• loves to dance

judy in 2010:

• started rolling at 4 months from back to front
• got her first tooth at 6 months
• started crawling at 7 and a half months
• has been pulling herself up on her feet next to furniture and walking by it since 8.5 months
• loves her brother, but is starting to get upset when he takes her toys away
• will not lay still to get her diaper changed!

looking forward to 2011:

• sunbeams for xander
• potty training! yuck
• predicting that judy will be walking by the end of january (9.5 months!)
• the BIG 3-0 for me this year
• goals to get in better shape before my 30th birthday (for me and rob)
• the campground again this summer
• sell the house!
• everest base camp with my dad

2010 was a good one, but i'm over it. i'm ready for a new year!

Holiday Greetings from Xander and Judy

Opportunity only knocks once

have you ever felt as though you had an opportunity to do something really significant, and that the opportunity was only available one time during your life? well, that has been the case here. a once in a lifetime opportunity, really. and it's all my dad's fault. he has been dreaming about doing this for years (10 at least), and is finally going to take the plunge. it is an expedition of sorts. time consuming, and money draining. but an invitation was extended to all family members, and not expecting anyone to be interested he had resolved to go and do it alone regardless of who went with him. surprisingly to him there has been a higher than expected amount of interest. but not without a struggle... some people have the time, but not the resources. others can make it work, but without the time. so what do you do? remember this is truly once in a lifetime, WITH family, realising a long awaited dream of your dads. wouldn't you want to be there?

it has been 6 days since the announcement, and i unequivocally know that i am going to go. robbie sums it up best when we were talking about it... "why would you hesitate?" so i'm not going to hesitate. the cost is egregious, and the time is a marathon in terms of being away from your husband and especially kids. thankfully my husband doesn't see this as a selfish endeavor. i know if the roles were reversed i would be offering my support as well. i don't want to give the impression that i'm made of money, because i'm NOT. this will certainly take a substantial amount from our savings. but our current living situation paired with our "summer job" has made the burden of saving money much easier.

have i piqued your interest? have i been too vague about the details? well, i'm not going to spill the beans just yet. there are many things to be decided yet, and until things are final it's not my place to say. but this is the jist of it: if my dad is going, i'll be there too with whoever else can make it happen! "Adventure is out there!" (logistics later!)