Is Summer Over?

Instead of attending class this year, John'll be researching and writing his thesis. That means he gets to choose when to start school. Now some of us might wait until others started school but not John! He chose to start today. Here's our "first day of school" picture of him:


I'm not quite ready for summer to end, though, so when he got home I took him out for one of our favorite treats since college. McDonald's fries dipped in their vanilla ice cream - yum.

Berry Math

1 bee sting + 2 hours + 3 spider scares + 4 cups of sugar =

BLACKBERRY JAM!

The Black Tusk

We spent this past weekend preparing for a hike, hiking, and recovering from a hike (well, we're not quite done with that yet!). Five of us from church went up to Garibaldi Provincial Park, (close to Whistler) camped Friday night, and then took a 30 km hike (18 miles). Yes, it was long. We had planned on taking in our packs and camping but once we arrived at the parking lot, we learned that there would most likely be no room in the campground. Those packs were not going in for nothing! So we switched to day packs and
started the hike.

A tree that had rotted out, yet still had the branch knobs on the inside of the trunk.

Moss like this only grows at a certain altitude.
For awhile on the hike it was EVERYWHERE.

After 8 km, it was time to stop for lunch.

According to the sign inside this building, it was NOT an outhouse. It composts the addition made to it so it is a little different, but it sure smelled like an outhouse!

After lunch we walked through a beautiful meadow. The wildflowers were blooming, the trees were interesting, and above us the Tusk was looming. See it in the top left corner?
We were just a little over halfway there!

Taylor's Meadows

Of all the flowers blooming, this was my favorite, affectionately named the Yak Flower. On the top of this one there's a little tick.

Tough Women!!!

You can see the landscape has changed a bit! Once you get above the treeline, the trail was all rock and sand.

Most of us hated this part, as you'd take a full step up and then slide back a few inches in the rocks. So discouraging. John loved it, however, as he couldn't help noticing how much better he was feeling climbing up this mountain than one we'd done in Switzerland. Let me tell you - he's in shape!

The Tusk - doesn't it look daunting? All five of us hiked our way up to the far left side of the base. John and Trish decided they'd gone far enough and were going to enjoy the view from there. Amanda, Don, and I, however, climbed up the chimney to the top.

This was the point where I turned to Don and said, "Don, I don't think I can do this." He answered, "Charlotte, put your hand here and your foot here." I gritted my teeth and kept going but it was scary knowing there was a 1700 foot drop behind me.

We made it!!! The view from the very top of the Tusk was beautiful. Behind me here is Garibaldi Lake, an aquamarine lake that's fed by a glacier. The 360 view showed we were surrounded by mountains. If you look at the bottom left corner, you'll see a snowfield and the ridge we'd been walking on earlier (see picture two above this one). It was way down there.

Climbing down proved to be a bit more difficult but with each other's help we did it with few problems. Once Don got to the bottom of the chimney, his cell phone rang! It was somebody from work calling with a problem. Crazy how you feel like you're in the absolute middle of nowhere and suddenly you're not.

WE CONQUERED THE TUSK!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This is what John has been doing for the last two days straight - except when eating, sleeping, or working.

Beware, the next paragraph may or may not give you an idea of what happens in the 3rd Harry Potter book. If you have read the books, you'll get a kick out of his thoughts!

Our dinner conversation was great tonight. I ate while John talked between mouthfuls:

Maybe Crookshanks is Sirius Black's wife. Or if Peter Pettigrew was supposed to be dead, is Crookshanks Harry's mom? Did she have an affair with Sirius Black? Who is Lupin? And what about the map - what about what Mr. Weasley said about never trusting something if you can't see its brain? But Lupin made the map. Does that mean Lupin is bad? And who gave Harry the firestick? (I understood everything until he said this. Then I had to interrupt him and ask, "What firestick?" He corrected himself, "The firebolt, the broomstick, whatever.") And what about the hippogriff on the cover? They killed it, but the cover shows Harry and Ginny Weasley riding on it...

The fun found in Harry Potter! I have to give a big thanks to my brother Rob for giving us the first six for Christmas. We're so glad we are no longer Muggles!

Oh, in case you're wondering, it's great that John's spending all his time reading because I can't read the fourth book until he finishes the third, so we are both wanting him to sit and read, read, read...

A Summer Visitor!

Last week, Mom (a.k.a. Millie) came to visit! We had so much fun, and we loved just spending time with her. Though we always did quite a few activities during the day, we always ended up staying up late cooking, eating, playing games, or watching a movie. There's never enough time in the day when you're spending time with someone like Mom.

Here are just a few highlights:

The Gardens at Stanley Park (beautiful!)


Blueberry Picking


Hiking in Lighthouse Park


Dinner at Lighthouse Park

We all went to the Richmond Night Market. It was the first time Charlotte and I had been there. It was lots of fun, especially perusing all the food vendors.

Some Vendors


Looks good, eh?


Mom and John enjoying Shui Mai

Taiwanese Cakes
(Mmmm! We prefer the ones filled with custard instead of red beans.)

Wine Tasting


The Beach at White Rock


On top of Dog Mountain (with great views of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland)

Thank you so much for visiting, Mom/Millie! We love you!

The Grind

Grouse Mountain is one of the easily accessible mountains in Vancouver. It's a popular ski resort in the winter and a popular hiking/sightseeing spot in the summer. The Grouse Grind is a the main trail, a 2.9 km trail with a 800 meter rise. It's steep. It's not really a beautiful hike, but it's something you've got to do if you live in the area. We hiked it last fall with our church's youth group but that's all we did - hiked up and hiked down. A few weekends ago we went again with our friends Scott and Sam. They'd never hiked it before, so that made the climb a little more enjoyable.


There are activities to do on the top of the mountain: a lumberjack show, a birds in motion show and a grizzly bear refuge. Both of the shows were fun, but I've got to say watching the 2 grizzly bears was awesome. They are HUGE. The two bears living there were orphaned at a very young age so they were brought to the refuge. The caretakers have been watching the grizzlies with the hope of learning how they may be able to help other orphaned grizzlies while keeping them in the wild. It was a really beautiful 5-acre refuge that these grizzlies live in.


There are huge chainsaw carvings on the top of Grouse. Here's one that Sam and I could climb into - and 10 other people could have climbed in too!


Here's a hint if you ever come to Vancouver and want to see the grizzlies or do anything else on Grouse Mountain: If you take the gondola up, it's a $40/person activity. If you hike up, it's free!

Recommendations

We love recommendations. Recommendations for restaurants, for movies, for books, for activities, for cleaning supplies, for anything. Perhaps you don't feel the same way, but in case you do, here are a few recommendations.

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam - a fictional story set in Bangladesh during the Independence War in 1971. It is from a mother's point of view, and since she has children involved in the revolution, she also gets very involved.

Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea - a fictional story set in Saudi Arabia and is all about twenty-some year-old women. Most of the book deals with their failed, attempted, and successful relationships. The book was originally published in Arabic, and while many books are banned in Saudi Arbaia, this book was not, yet was still very controversial. We actually had a few students at our school who worked in the same hospital as the author!

The Namesake - a great movie about the difficulties of generations living together in a new country. Part of the movie takes place in India, and it was so fun for us to watch and remember!

Do you have any recommendations for us?