Summer Vacation 2011: Vancouver

August 14, 2011

Vancouver! In the summer! Yay!

On Friday night, Will and I headed over to Jasmine and John's house for a bbq (I love how everyone offers to cook for you when you come to visit...I need to visit people more often...). I also got to meet their adorable little 6-month old, Sasha:

On Saturday, Will and I spent the day with his brother's family (John, Emily, little 3-year old James and newborn Dexter):

RRR!:

Meet little Dexter, he was almost 11 pounds at birth, blew out the height charts, and is bursting out of a 6-month onesie at 2months old and 15 pounds:

On Sunday, Will and I dim sum with some of my cousins and Uncle:

Back to more family time with the Lavery crew:

We met up with Double A and Matty for an afternoon drink (Havana) Vicki for dinner (Zipang Sushi, yum!), and it was great to catch up. Great seeing everyone in Van!

Off to Tofino/Uclulet!

Summer Vacation 2011: Whistler

August 12, 2011

Will and I landed in Vancouver and hopped in a rental car and headed directly to Whistler. We arrived to be met with some fantastic hospitality from Kenny. He cooked us dinner! With vegetables! Three kinds!

Over the next two days, we toured around, I went for a run around Lost Lake, had a another Kenny-cooked meal with his buddy, Robin. On Friday, we headed up the gondola and checked out the Peak-to-Peak in the summer (gorgeous!):

Thanks to Kenny for the wonderful time and hospitality. You should go visit him, his rates are very reasonable :)

Off to Vancouver!

Summer Vacation 2011: Vulcan/Calgary

August 10, 2011

Vacation! Well, the busy kind, not the restful kind. Will and I embarked on a 16-day tour of Western Canada to visit family, friends, golf, fish, sightsee, meet new babies, attend a wedding, etc., etc. 

First stop: Calgary/Vulcan

Will and I flew into Calgary on Saturday morning, and started the eat-golf-fish-fest with Mom and Dad right away. Over 5 days, we golfed a couple times, fished a couple times, ate a lot, and had a good catch-up. 

Will and I caught keepers! (Walleye, mine just met the 50 cm limit and Will caught a 53 cm):

Yum!

More keepers! This time, I caught a 55 cm and Will got a 51 cm:

On Tuesday, Will and I went to Calgary and had some quality time with Sonia (with Luka) and Donna over lunch at The Coup (awesome vegetarian joint):

On Wednesday, Angie and her family flew into town, and we only had half a day of overlap, so we might as well dim sum, right?

Thanks to Mom and Dad for a fantastic visit! Now, off to Vancouver & Whistler!

SFM 2011

July 31, 2011

I don't know why, but it happens every year. I sign up for the first half of the San Francisco Marathon (it's the first half marathon I every ran and I have a soft spot for tradition), but I never know if I'll have time to actually train. Sure enough, not so much on the training.

Ah well...on Saturday, I met up with my friend, Dale at the race expo:

Up and at 'em early on Sunday morning (I was in Wave 5, which was a 6:02 AM start):

It was a pretty perfect day for the run, overcast but not cold. I did pretty well for the first 11 miles (despite the under-arch blisters on both feet) and slugged through the last 2.1 miles to
eek out a finish that was better than I thought (2:13, ~10:11 min/mile pace overall).

I'll train for next year's race...right? Right....