Pictures and Tidbits

Ava at Gymnastics

This month seemed to just fly by! Here we are on the 31st - its snowing lightly and we've had the whole gamut of winter weather. We've had the really cold stuff, a big dump of snow, super warm and raining and back to minus five and light snow.


The family has certainly got some routines down. Laura does stroller or sled walks, I try and x-country ski twice a week. Ava does a bit of everything, drawing on walls, making forts, art, and gymnastics on Saturday mornings. Dad works and does paperwork.. Mum shops online.. and keeps things completely ship shape on the home front.




Drumming with Mom

Winter with the two kids has taken it's toll too - some days we're on the edge of insanity .. and then its FINALLY bedtime for Ava - its mainly her who works us over. We really love these little people and some days I look at their childhood and already it seems to be going by so fast. Jesse is such a sweetie ! Right now He's into sitting up, watching his sister and eating - He can really pound back the rice cereal and mashed veggies!He loves the cat and has recently mastered the art of drumming too~!

I think I'll take this opportunity to sign off and nap while the rest of the Wimbushes are doing
just that. -J
Sledding with Liam in Telkwa

Sitting Up and a New Tooth!

Greetings from a 'guest' blogger. I just thought that I'd add a little post of my not so little man. It's been an epic week: Sitting up, a first tooth and hit the 20lb mark. Enjoy the pics!

Our little smiley 'working' man. Yes, Carharts

come in his size!
Hanging out in Ava's room.

Still getting the feeling of sitting up.

xoxo

Laura

Midwinter Highs

Well, the holidays are over and we here at the Wimbush household are settling in to our mid-winter routines. Christmas was definitely a glorious 14 day reprieve from the hectic pre-holiday work scene. I thoroughly enjoyed being a homebody and hosting our house guests but now its time to open the chapter of winter that includes some.. exercise!!

On the tail end of the holidays the cold snap broke around here and we got some great dumps of snow!!!! There's about 20 inches blanketing our yard and all four of us have been out playing!! Laura and I have made it up the ski hill (20min away) a couple of times each and I've started x-country skiing Tues and Thurs evenings.

There's a small group of us that carpool and ski together. It's just so great to be out with headlamps in the forest, snowing or not, sometimes a big moon overhead. We inevitably end up stopping to admire the quiet night sky. We don't loiter too much.. We usually really hustle along doing 10-14 km in 60 to 80 minutes. We classic or skate ski depending on conditions and temperature. The local pine creek trails are 10 min away and are beautifully groomed trails with a modest day lodge and waxing facilities. It's really great to ski with others too. Its easier to pace yourself as you have a reference point for your speed and then there's the camaraderie too.

I was also fortunate to be invited out to go ice climbing on a Saturday not long ago. Four guys set out in -15C weather to a local spot where a couple of cascades of ice form every year. We broke into teams of two and set up ropes and gear and took turns belaying and climbing four routes each. We hung out there for five hours , had a tea break and then packed up and hiked the twenty minutes out. On the way out there way some rough housing, tripping, face washes and several snowy trees being shaken on each other. It was certainly nice to be outside with some guys getting some exercise and fresh air.

Getting out in winter to exercise and enjoy God's winter earth has some real perks to it. 1) you enjoy snow and winter instead of pining away for summer. 2) exercise = good mental health. Its good for your head. 3) On a personal note its really good for my core strength and back health.

Hope you've enjoyed my bit on why I like winter and even January in particular. - and I didn't even tell you how nice the ski hill was with 29 cm of fresh snow!

The men make sausage !

By the time Boxing day hit we were ready for a bit of a project. Haidi and Nick brought some pork scraps from the pig they butchered and I had 8 lbs of venison that we mixed. Nick and I learned lots. We didn't have the optimum plate for the front of the grinder. Ours was too fine. Next time we'll make sure that we have coarse plates on hand.

I had fun mixing spices from two different recipes. We also cubed half of the pork into 1/4" cubes to add texture. We got a great workout grinding the meat especially the venison.

The sausage press was pretty slick. You just load the mixed product into the 6 liter container and put your casings over the funnel tip and then crank down the press. That was pretty fun! We did have some blowouts with the casings before we figured out how full to fill them..

The Venison came from the field behind our house. After watching mule deer walk though our yard in healthy numbers for the last four years, I kind of got the hunting itch. There's a bit of a hunter gatherer instinct in a lot of men - maybe it even gets stronger after you have kids.. Anyway, I got all my paperwork in order and a friend lent me an Excalibur crossbow and so began my dusk ritual of staking out the back four acres. This deer was harvested December one and it hung for one week. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice and tips on hunting

and preparing the meat and sausage.