Some words from a Silver

The trip to Ontario ended over a week ago, but I haven't given you an update yet. I shall now provide you with said update, alongside a few photos I took while in Toronto and New Liskeard.

To begin with, here is a link to all of the photos on my Flickr page.

The flight went quite well. We were up at 40,000 feet for much of the trip to Toronto, and while Adam had a lot of trouble with his ears, Lyra was perfectly happy. She spent much of the trip crawling between Adam's & my laps, and looking around all the weird new stuff. She napped in my lap for part of it as well, and the take-off and landing didn't bother her at all. Adam's ears didn't pop for a week.

Adam's mother & Aunt met us at the airport in Toronto, and there was much fussing over Lyra. We went to Adam's grandmother's home and there was more fussing over Lyra. She loved how much space there was in the living room there, and crawled around for hours. Bedtime was late (Toronto time) but about right in Vancouver terms.



Our first full day in Toronto was mother's day, so after Lyra's morning nap (which she took on the floor) we headed to Adam's Aunt's house to have a huge brunch with a bunch of his family members. There was much fussing over Lyra. At one point, she got put into a broken umbrella stroller which threatened to collapse at any moment so that Adam's grandmother could take her for a walk down the street. We deemed the stroller unfit, named it the crushing stroller, and rescued Lyra from its clutches, only to have another stroller acquired for the purpose of taking her for a walk down the street. It was all incredibly amusing somehow. We rounded out the evening with a Mother's Day dinner at Spring Rolls on Eglinton at Yonge. It was tasty.

The next day was Monday, and we headed in to Toronto proper to visit High Park. We had warned friends in advance that our Toronto visitation times were limited, and they would have to meet us there if they wanted to see us. Fortunately, a bunch of people were able to join us at the High Park zoo & playground. It was a nice afternoon outside.




(photo by Brian Tao, who borrowed my camera to take a few shots)

The next morning we took the long drive to New Liskeard. We took our time, stopping whenever Lyra needed a break from the confines of her car seat, and it ended up only taking us a half hour or so longer than usual to do the drive (about six hours or so, I guess.) It was a lovely, sunny day, and Lyra was once again a superstar considering she was confined to a harness for most of the time.

Our visit to New Liskeard has become a mess of randomness in my brain. I have no clue what we did on what days, but I know that we stopped in to see Paul & Jenn at Chat Noir Books (where they make a fine cup of coffee,) and we spent a lot of time with Adam's mom & dad, handing one of them Lyra at every opportunity. Also, we got poutine at least twice. There's nothing like poutine close to the Quebec border.

We did go to North Bay for a day, as a nice excursion. We spent an hour or so hanging out in a park by the lake, and Lyra crawled around in the grass with her Grandmother (Bubby-T.)



She also went to check out the beach with her Daddy.



Beaches make baby Lyras ROAR:



Grass and sunlight make baby Lyras turn into anime characters:



We also went to at least two Barbeque parties - it was the May 2-4 weekend, after all - and Lyra got to meet a couple of other babies and have social engagements with them:



Nearing the end of our time up in New Liskeard, we took a drive down to Temagami. Adam and his dad decided to take the boat (newly put back in the water after the winter) from the Marina down to where it gets parked at Loon Lodge on Lake Temagami. They needed someone to pick them up at Loon Lodge, so Lyra and I took the Murano from the town of Temagami down the access road to the lake. When we arrived, we were informed that Adam & David had had to turn back due to excessive winds - if they had pressed on, it would have taken them another two hours to reach me. Lyra and I walked back up the trail to the Murano (sweet car to drive down Temagami access road!) and drove the half hour trip back to the Town so we could pick up the boys.

It was actually more fun than perhaps it seems it would be. Adam was pleased to get out on the lake in a boat, I was pleased to spend at least a bit of time at Loon Lodge (although no loon burgers were acquired... and no, they're not made of loons...) and the drive was really quite nice. I didn't see any m00se, however.

We also took a trip out to the Elk Lake Eco Centre for lunch on one of our last days there. It snowed that day. The lodge was quite nice, however, even with the snow.



I'd have to say that the trip was a success. Lyra was a Rock Star the whole time - she traveled well on the plane, she traveled well in the car, and she was so good the whole time. We have an awesomely mellow and happy baby, and we are lucky to have her.

The only really negative things I have to say about the trip are that Adam caught a nasty cold which he promptly gave to me, and we were both miserable for a good part of the trip due to a sore throat/cough type thing; and that next time I really want to spend more time in Toronto, seeing Toronto sites that we haven't visited in a while, like the ROM and the AGO and most especially Canada's Wonderland.

Good times!

I took pictures for the trail day. The set is up on Flickr if you want to see them all. Here are some that Jordy took of Lyra & I, and one I took of her with Adam, ( below the cut )

Oooh something to force me to use the camera!

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in - it can be anything from the house I live in to my favorite shoes. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an entry. That way you get to know a little bit about my life, if you're remotely interested in it.

This was yesterday - Lyra can sit up on her own now (if we set her there - she's not able to go from lying down to sitting yet, although she tries.) She even sticks out her arms to balance herself if she feels like she's going over, which is new in the past couple of days.

If she falls over backwards it's funny. If she falls over forwards she gets annoyed. If she falls over forwards and bonks her nose on something hard (like, say, the floor) she cries for ten seconds and then is fine.

Abima is Lyra's Ugly Doll. She gives Abima the exact same reaction she gives to Dayle and Sera - excited squealing and screaming accompanied by extensive grasping and flailing of hands. She loves her Abima, and she loves her kitties.

I'm trying to think up projects to take on with my new camera - ones that I can integrate into life with Lyra, somehow. The only one I've really come up with is another 'day in the life' journal type thing... maybe I can come up with an interesting twist on that.

Any suggestions?

I wish I knew where the hat in my profile pic went... I haven't seen it in ages.

Lyra is hanging out on her play mat on the floor, squealing and giggling at things. In the past few days she's developed a new noise - it's the first hint of wordplay I've heard from her. You can actually hear a tone to her voice that sounds more like it could lead to words, and in it I can almost hear an echo of her speaking voice. It's difficult to explain effectively, and it doesn't happen in a way that I can capture easily on video. This is in addition to her 'pick me up' noise, and the scream/squeal reserved just for playing with the cats.

She has learned how to sit. She's a little wobbly still, and she can't sit up from lying down on her own, but if I put her down in a sitting position she can balance there, lean forward to grab things, reach out to the sides, and put out her arms to help herself balance. This lasts until she topples over, landing on her nose (which stings and annoys her, launching her into a 5-10 second crying fit) or her back/side (which makes her laugh and struggle to sit up again.)

Tummy time is still one of the things Lyra really doesn't like. These days, though, she can kind of scrabble along the ground a bit, as well as push up with her arms. She's nearly pushing up with her knees too, but not consistently, and not both arms & legs at the same time. Still, I don't think she's far away from moving around of her own volition. It's time to start babyproofing. I'm scared.

She also LOVES naked baby time:

I set Lyra up for photos this morning. I plan to use a couple for Christmas cards. ( Here are my favourites: )

Take a picture of yourself right now.
Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair... just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instructions with your picture



I'm getting the hair cut in a week - right now the only thing I can do with it is tie it back, because Lyra either wraps her fingers around it or shoves her face into it, and I worry she'll start inhaling it or something. The low ponytail is my friend.

The cuddly wrap is the best baby accessory we have. I use it to get around town on transit, to get things done around the house, to get myself out for a walk... It's super comfortable and Lyra loves it. She's happily sleeping in it there... I did dishes and put the laundry on earlier with her in here.

Took this with the webcam.

Here are a few newer photos of Lyra (and Adam, and Dayle.) ( Check behind the cut! )

So I've been taking photos of Little Lady Lyra, and you can look at the set on my Flickr.

Here's a selection of some of my favourites ( behind this cut. )

Rather than fill this space with stories, for now I will just post a few photos of our time this week in Arizona - I took the time today to do a whole lot of photo editing. Below is a sample, and here is the entire Gallery. We leave on Monday - so there's still time for a few more photos to be taken!

( Here be pictures )

I'm lounging by the poolside at 8:37 pm here at the Resort. I have to admit, it's pretty damn sweet. It's cooled off to about 80 degrees or so I would guess, with a nice breeze.

Today was a hiking adventure in some small mountains (hills, really) just down the road from our resort. Yesterday we went to the Desert botanical Garden to see some lovely cultured desert plants, which was very cool, but the hike today was much cooler. I'll add a couple of teaser vacation pics here for you (I got Adam to take some of me looking pregnant, finally.)

I don't think I can effectively explain just how bright, sunny, and weird it is here. Yesterday was the hottest day so far - around 98 degrees. Today was less hot, ranging from 85 to 94 degrees. There were some clouds that appeared in the late afternoon today as well - very high, thin cirrus clouds that didn't block any sun at all.

The other thing that didn't block any sun at all today was my sunblock. I am suitably red, but I think I'll be okay. At least I was wearing a nice strapless shirt, which means no t-shirt tan line when it fades. Go me!

In the afternoon we relaxed at the condo (including a dip in the pool), then drove out to Cave Creek on Carefree Highway (let me slip away on you) for dinner and touristy gift shopping. After that we just came back to the condo, watched some American Idol, and are now sitting by the pool with somewhat sketchy but still connected internet.

( Click here for photos of a pregnant woman and cactus attacks! )

Glen visited for a day this weekend and I convinced him to take a few photos of me looking pregnant (finally an up to date photo of me!) Click through for more, but here's one.

I'm going snowshoeing tomorrow (probably?) Yay!

I haven't had any good exercise in at least a couple of weeks, so I'm really looking forward to this. I have become sedentary, which is bad. Just have to confirm with a co-worker that she can use the car, and then we'll head off to the top of one of the mountains (Cypress, I'm guessing) where we'll tramp about in the snow till the sun goes down. Whee!

I'll have to rent some shoes, of course. Eventually, if this keeps up, I'll have to buy some... I rather enjoy snowshoeing.

The camera hasn't been put to much use lately, which is sad. I'll be bringing it along if it's not miserable out. I haven't posted any pictures at all lately, mostly because I haven't taken any.

( Here's a photo of Sera I took because I was bored yesterday )

I spent the past two days in Whistler at Crankworx 2007 working at Ryan Leech's tent while he did shows and signed autographs and stuff. Basically I was there to talk to people about the Nature Challenge and answer questions about the environment and stuff. Ryan was kind enough to hand out pamphlets and talk about the challenge on his cross Canada tour.

I had fun. I also too pictures. Here's one of me and Ryan, even! (Okay, I didn't take this one, but there are hardly ever pictures of me...)



There are more here. I'll post some in the journal later.

I have posted some new photos in my photo Journal - some starring the infamous oki_v2. I shall post some samples ( behind this cut )

The weekend was a smashing success! Adam, Sean, Chris and I piled into the car at 1pm on Friday and headed out for Vernon - specifically on our way to Silver Star Resort for a weekend of lift assisted mountain biking joy. Naturally, I have taken and posted photos.

Saturday was fantastic. I rented a big downhill bike, a Giant Faith, to try out for the day. It was amazing - the difference in geometry was just stunning - I didn't realize until half way through the day that I was riding down things that would normally scare me and stop me in my tracks, and I was riding about three times faster than I usually do. The bike makes a difference.

We rode hard on Saturday then went back to the condo and could barely move. Sunday we got up and I whined until they let me rent a big bike again. This time we brought the camera on the hill with us, so I got a few shots of riding (including some of me for a change!)

Final analysis: Big bikes are cool, and I can't afford to buy one. It was probably my best riding ever, I just felt so much more confident on it and less freaked out by the steep things... they just weren't as steep.

I consider Saturday and Sunday as part of my training, since I was on my bike at least two to six hours each day. Maybe more on Saturday.

Monday I rode the commuter bike home from work (since it had been left there for two weeks after I decided to stop riding due to finger sprainage) and today I rode in, and will ride home again. I'm due for a visit to the gym, though, as well.

My big wild ticker hasn't changed in a couple of weeks... I'm stalling out. Oh well, I'll try for a push to reach my goal before the trip starts.

( 2 Photos behind cut: SLUGS YAY! )

Here, have a slug:

I've been working on various projects recently, and I just finished one of them. I've started volunteering with the North Shore Mountain Biking Association, mainly taking pictures at events and such. Recently I took pictures at two Trail Building days, for Lower Oilcan and for Espresso.

Oilcan was a nice, albeit chilly day. I've got the writeup for it done and posted online... Go take a look! It was good times, I tell you.

The pictures I didn't use in the writeup are in my photo journal gallery as well.

Next I have to finish a similar trail day writeup with photos for Espresso.

I'm also going to be working on a website for a friend of mine.

This week I put together my new commuter bike, which was fun. I've never put a bike together before. I haven't transferred the pictures of it over to the computer yet. I will get them moved soon, but there's too much still to get done first before I can work on that.

Tomorrow we're going riding. I'm pretty sure we'll be riding 7th Secret (which I took pictures of during the first Ripper race.)

Now I should be editing photos.

Oh, I guess I can post some photo samples or something too... ( photos below cut )