John Harvey Photo

February 2016

Go to Slide Show Smaller Images And some clever quip...


Skiing at Cypress

Nara Wiped Out
If you look up "Herculean Effort" in the dictionary, you should find a picture of dad trying to teach his kids to ski.  Nara is five now and we are considering (next year) going to a ski mountain for a vacation.  Before we committed to a weekend, we though we would get some idea what we were in for.  I tried going up to Cypress over the Christmas break (big mistake) so we came prepared - we rented skis off the mountain and picked them up Friday night, we left the house at 7:15 so we got a decent parking spot and we didn't go up on a holiday.  So far, so good!


Teaching your kids to ski at Cypress isn't easy.  There isn't a bunny hill really - the easy rider run is quite steep and in the dust over ice conditions we got, quite challenging.  Cypress does have a smaller hill and a magic carpet but it's only available to kids in classes which were booked up months ago.  Don't get me started on how much effort is involved with getting a three and a five year old from the car to the bottom of something ski-able.  It's isn't easy for the kids either - getting started generally means a slog stepping up a small hill followed by very brief slide down the slope where they try in vain to not fall down.

For Nara I found some success with her doing pizza down the slop holding onto a pole that I was also holding while I skied backwards in front of here (reverse pizza).  It's not super easy to do, but it did give Nara a sense of balance and the sensation of turning.  Considering she only skied for a few hours, she did make some good progress.   Claira was harder - I tied skiing with her between my legs (again sharing a pole) but she often went limp noodle when things were hard.  The difference in skill between a three year old and a five year old is night and day. 

Nara First Steps Into SkisClaira Blew A BootClaira Smiling At The Top Of The Run

Helen Finished Run Child Free
With both kids, I did ski them down the hill carrying them so they could get a sensation of skiing down a hill and why it's fun.  Both really liked that part.  Helen spent a lot of the day hanging out with the resting kid at the bottom of the mountain.  She did get a run to herself which she obviously enjoyed.  We started skiing just before 9am and ended the day at 12:30 - longer than I thought we would go.  We asked Nara - next time she wants lessons.


James' 5th Birthday Party

My sister organized a birthday party for James just down the street from where she used to Live in Surrey.  The gym was pretty good, but the staff were amazing - in very short order they had all the kids names memorized and had no problem holding the kids attention for structured activities.  The layout naturally lent itself to parents on one side (chatting) and kids on the other side playing.
 
Claira Swinging UpsidedownNara Airborne On TrampolineNara Upside Down On BarMarcus On The Zipline

The last 15 minutes was reserved for birthday songs, blowing out the candles and eating cake. 
 
James AirborneJames Blowing Out CandlesJames With Cupcake Mouth
 

Richmond Nature Park

Nara has Chinese class on Sunday mornings so we often try to fill in the time with a walk outside.  I like the Richmond Nature Park so we stopped in.  I was hoping to see a hummingbird up close or a bird I haven't seen before, but no luck.  Still, it's nice to see the wide variety of birds their feeders attract.
 
Fox Sparrow ForagingDark Eyed Junko Singing

So as we left the park and passed the empty lot next door I was surprised to see Coyotes walking by.  I have seen Coyotes before in Richmond but that was at dusk and fairly deep grass - not at 10am in a very exposed field.  I pulled over and took a few photos as the animal slowly walked away.

Coyote Walking By

I looked it up when I got home a few pieces fell into place.  First, this Coyote has mange.  You can see his tail is nearly bald and his coat is pretty splotchy.  Apparently, if you see an animal walking around during the day, it is most likely sick.  The combination of increased heat loss from a poor coat and poor overall health means it has probably been push off of prime locations and has to eat in "sub-prime" conditions.

Photowalk - Five Cliche's Every Tourist to Vancouver Has

At the start of Febuary Bob asked if anyone wanted to do a photoclub meeting.  No one had work to show so we thought of doing a photo walk instead.  Product deadlines and weather didn't really agree so we (Galo and I) wound up going on a rainy Friday night at the end of February:

Gassy Jack Going Off At 6 pmLionsgate Bridge In The Rain
The original plan was to hit 5 targets after work.  We started with Gassy Jack in gastown, then the sails of Canada Place and then some of the locations in Stanley Park.  Unfortunatly for us, the weather go worse and worse so we cut the night early and omitted the last stop - Science World.

Canada Place

Downtown From Stanely Park Pano
 
 


Gassy Jack Going Off At 6 pm
Tags: Gastown
Dark Eyed Junko Singing
Species: Junco hyemalis (Dark-eyed Junco)
Tags: Richmond Nature Park
James Blowing Out Candles
Person: James
Tags: birthday cake, candlelight
Nara Wiped Out
Person: Nara
Tags: skiing, snow
Helen Finished Run Child Free
Person: Helen
Tags: skiing
James Airborne
Person: James
Tags: gymnastics, trampoline
Claira Smiling At The Top Of The Run
Person: Claira
Downtown From Stanely Park Pano
Tags: night, panorama, Vancouver
Coyote Walking By
Species: Canis latrans (Coyote)
Tags: multiple frame image
Fox Sparrow Foraging
Species: Passerella iliaca (Fox Sparrow)
Tags: Richmond Nature Park
James With Cupcake Mouth
Person: James
Nara Airborne On Trampoline
Person: Nara
Tags: gymnastics, trampoline
Nara Upside Down On Bar
Person: Nara
Claira Swinging Upsidedown
Person: Claira
Nara First Steps Into Skis
Person: Nara
Marcus On The Zipline
Person: Marcus
Tags: zipline
Lionsgate Bridge In The Rain
Tags: bridge, light streaks, rain, Stanley Park, traffic
Canada Place
Tags: night, Vancouver
Claira Blew A Boot
Person: Claira
Tags: missing boot, skiing
Tags: skiing(3), night(2), gymnastics(2), trampoline(2), Richmond Nature Park(2), Vancouver(2)
People: Nara(4), Claira(3), James(3), Helen(1), Marcus(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2023 to 2005 > February 2016

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