pancakes anyone ...

well, it's definitely been awhile since i've felt like blobbing.  the highlight so far this year was a trip to kelowna to look after my favorite redhead!   and those who know me realize what a challenge this was for me.  you know - 50+ - no kids - no idea what to do with them - but regardless i was pretty excited.

check out the selfie !

bob left me 2 pages of instructions, 4 maps to various places i'd have to drive to, and an awesome illustrated guide on which remotes did what ...

the first night went well.  after a fuck-up with the flight and arriving 4 hours late, we had to drive bob 30 minutes north of kelowna for his work thingy.  i then had to drive me and the redhead back down the mountain in a fucking snowstorm!  again, for those of you who know me, this was nerve wracking!  at night, bob's brand new audi, in a snowstorm, with a precious cargo in the back seat!  if i drank, i would have had a good stiff one when we finally arrived.  glad to have survived, we celebrated by NOT having a bath!  seriously, how smelly could a little kid get in one day?! 

the next morning i made, according to him, the perfect omelet, although i'm pretty sure he was just being nice!

friday went well, except that i got him a little late to school!  bob's fault - he put the wrong time down on my instructions!  and i forgot his snacks, but no worries, i dropped them off as soon as i realized!  after school we went to the mall and bought some army men and then dined out in style at denny's !

the rest of the weekend went really well.  we hung out, watched about 20 episodes of big bang theory, painted some army men and basically just had a great time being together.
  

i was really feeling good about our visit and how well things had gone when we met bob at the airport sunday morning.  until he noticed that ben had his pants on backwards.   DOH!  but hay, if that's the worse i did, i'm okay with it.  i was really really sad to leave and can't wait to get back out there!

so besides the few days with the redhead, it's been life as usual.  lots of crossfit - getting ready for the open end of february ...

haha!   everybody loves hump day ...

love this pic !

and i've been 'trying' to get in some good runs.  weather sure has tested me though.  first there was the big ice storm ...

then the minus thirty days ...

and the snow!

i've even kind of started a 'breakfast' club with the crossfit crew after sunday mass with father jimmy!
 

i did get out for a couple of hours in albion on saturday!  they groom the trails for skiing so i'm finding this the best place to run for now.
 

i ran into these two characters!  arnie and former bin sergeant nick !!

my happy place ...

and because kat's been showing her arse off again ...

i figured i'd 'one up' her.  seriously, what happened to my ass?!  where did it go ?!

in all seriousness, it's really great to have my buddy back!   men of crossfit bolton - look out!

and finally, i got me a new tattoo.  now i can permanently wear my heart on my sleeve ...

love you mfs ...

my favorite sister

rest in peace mfs 

love you forever

sisters forever

remembrance day ...

i'm pretty behind with posting - no excuses - just lazy i guess!  i found these pics and remembered running in some of the nasty white stuff a couple of weeks ago.  this was about half-way up k2 ...

most of the trail was clear though ...

what the hell ?!

still, i managed to put in over 2 hours and felt good!

some of you have been following courtney - my cousin chantel's incredible daughter.   when my awesome buddy syn martinez of crossfit harlem/afro brutality sports designed this shirt i just HAD to order one for her.   and she LOVED it!    keep fighting courtney - you are amazing!

and the mighty one has really gone too far this time - he brought in FOUR of those dreaded airdyne bikes that i almost died on at last year's 2 bars 1 snatch comp ...

here we all are giving them the 'thumbs down' after friday night club ...

speaking of the mighty one - check out this front squat - a mere 340lbs!   fek!

fig has been awol lately - so we filled his spot in the triangle of pain with gerry!  'come back fig - we miss you' !!!

here are a couple of shots from a shortie on the rail trail last sunday.

i was supposed to do some seizure repeats on thursday but just didn't have the legs (or the heart) for them so i just played around in albion for an hour or so.  i found this kool little birds nest lying on the ground.

i always find albion so peaceful this time of year. it's like it's resting from all the chaos of the mountain bikers and campers all summer, and getting rejuvenated for the skiers come snow time.

trails were in great shape.

saturday was 'gary's 9th annual trail run' over in hilton falls.  and i must say, even though i had to go south of 7, it was a breeze with my new apple phone!   it has a gps lady on it who talks!  life made easy for dora the explorer.   anyway, i had arranged to meet up with the captain - the only pylon available to make an appearance - and got there in plenty of time.  as we were running, we were talking about basic stuff when digger's name came up.  we were laughing about the road trip to connecticut where diggs had this MAMMOTH cooler with him and we had to keep dragging it up 2 flights of stairs.  it was like having del griffith along from planes, trains and automobiles.  AND just as we turned around a corner, we saw a bunch of people, one of which was dragging a cooler behind him.  i almost shit myself, and naturally HAD to get a picture!!  what a coincidence!!!

there was good turnout and the weather was perfect!

beautiful trail ...

view along the escarpment.

oh ya !

captain just ahead ...

made the captain climb BACK up the hill to take this ...

in all we ran over 21k in around 3 hours.  i was so happy!  felt strong and had a big shit eating grin on my face the whole time!!

sunday crossfit - me and toni knew it was going to be dirty.  500m row, 24 back squats with 135lbs, 24 push jerks with 95lbs and finally another 500m row.  my legs were wobbly after the row, and by the end of the wod, we were both pretty done!  i must admit, i did kind of enjoy it.   and it was a few hours before i threw on the cascadias for an exhilarating 40minutes on a small section of the bruce up off the escarpment sideroad.  it was cold and windy and rainy, but i loved it!

awesome end to the weekend ...

and i leave you with this ...

 let us not forget ...