I have good reason to feel grateful and blessed to be a father and to have two wonderful healthy children, and I do. Then every year around this time my family (children and wife) remind me again just how very fortunate I really am.
The day started out with a delicious breakfast of waffles, fresh fruit, whip cream and mint, maple breakfast sausage and some Kick Ass Kicking Horse 454 HP brew, in my favourite TORONTO Starbucks mug. All made by my 8-year old daughter. She loves to cook.
That was followed up by a little gardening, one of my favourite things to do. You can find me in the garden pretty much every morning. We have a couple of vegetable gardens, a herb garden and lots of other stuff. I move plants around like people move furniture inside the house. I keep moving stuff around until I find a spot that they like and it looks good.
As a family we aspire to grow as much of what we eat as possible with the property and time we have to apply to it. This beauty here we bought at the Langford Farmer’s market 2-weeks ago, ate most of it, stuck the roots in the ground, e voila, almost another full head of lettuce already.
Then it was off to James Bay for H’s summer recital. She was playing Vivaldi’s Concerto #5 First Movement. I just love watching her play. Sorry, no pics of the kids, Maki’s rules - I have to abide.
After the concert we went exploring. Someone mentioned ice cream so off we went. We ended up down at fisherman’s wharf. As we were getting out of the car the scent of deep fried haddock wafted over the bridge and suddenly we all got very hungry. After a short wait in line we got our pager (yeah it was that busy) and took the opportunity to tour the neighborhood houseboats. Some pretty interesting and well-decorated houses floating around down there. This one is the home of Fortune Teller Bella Sera.
The pager paged and back to Barb’s we scurried to get our four 1-piece dinners; 1 piece of haddock, fries and coleslaw. We huddled into a warm corner of the tent out of the wind and tucked into our dinners. The batter was just light enough to keep the fish fresh and warm - not thick as an orange peel like you get at some places. Even the coleslaw was good which was completely unexpected. N ate all his coleslaw first. I’ve never known a kid that likes salad (any kind of salad) as much as he does. Hence all the lettuce we planted.
We finished up with the fish and headed over to the ice cream joint for some soft creams, even though we were all pretty much stuffed to the gills. Heading home on the TCH everyone, including the driver, was feeling a tad drowsy. After putting around the house a while I decided to take advantage of the longest day of the year to go for a 9:00 run. The wind was howling and the sky was a spectacular mix of blue and pinkish/red. It was 7 KMs of bliss. I had the runners high from beginning to end. And now I’m up far too late trying to finish this post before going to bed. I didn’t take any running pics so I’ll finish with this one I took of a letter taped to the inside of a window on one of the houseboats.
It’s called “A Village of 100 People”. I don’t know how accurate it is but it was just one more in a day of reminders, of how blessed and fortunate we all are. So I think I’ll have a good sleep, wake up tomorrow and do what I can to pay it back/forward/onward.
Tags: Fisherman's Wharf
Kudos to Team West Coast for putting on just a magnificent event on Sunday.
This was the first youth triathlon we attended and the first our daughter participated in and we all had a wonderful time.The weather was perfect, the facilities (uVic) were top notch, and the event was supported by a very large team (about 30) of generous volunteers, without whom I’m sure the event could not have happened.
H has been training 3 to 4 times a week with Team X since August 2008. All that training seems to have paid off as she came in fifth place in her age group. We were pleasantly surprised to say the least. We were simply thrilled that she was having so much fun training, making some great friends and was going to participate in a real triathlon. We knew she was a strong swimmer and cyclist, but weren’t really thinking about her placing in the top five.
The training has been so good for H in terms of building discipline and perseverance as she worked towards achieving her goals. I could tell she felt proud of herself for competing and doing so well. But if you asked her I’m sure she’d say the best part of it all is hanging out with her friends.
If you are thinking about getting your children involved in triathlons we would recommend giving it a try. Coach Travis and TeamX would be a great place to start and can be contacted here.
Or feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to talk about youth triathlons and training. We also offer packages for out-of-town athletes and their families that want to register for and participate in triathlons in the Victoria BC area.
Tags: Fatherhood, triathlon
On April 26th our family of four will run the Times Colonist 10K in beautiful Victoria BC. Actual runners will be myself, my wife and our 8-year old daughter. Our 4-year old son will be enjoying the race from the comfort of the jogging stroller, which we will take turns pushing.
Kudos to Charriot for making a sturdy, lightweight stroller. We have definitely gotten our money’s worth.
We have rigged up the stroller with a special pocket for the Blackberry which will be used to livestream the entire event.
Yesterday we tested the video equipment we will use to livestream our run by driving the course in the car and streaming to our Qik account. It worked, but wasn’t as clear as we would have liked.
We’re studying both the Blackberry and Qik.com websites to see if there’s anything we can do to optimize the video quality and battery (to ensure it doesn’t die before we finish). If you have any advice please leave a comment below.
Next we need to test the equipment on the jogging stroller to make sure it doesn’t vibrate too much and get the right line of site. The course is all road so it should be fine.
The main reason for broadcasting the race is so family and friends in Japan and Ontario can see it live. I know there are many runners that would love to come to Victoria to participate in the race but for obvious reasons weren’t able to make it. We hope to enable them to at least see the course and the race and we would love to get them over here next year.
If you are thinking of coming to Victoria for the TC10K, or any other race, marathon or triathlon, please contact us, we will be happy to help make arrangements.
Hana and I ran the Metchosin 5K race recently. It was her first official race.
She ran it in under 35 minutes and we came in 79th and 80th respectively. Not bad for an 8-year old.
79 8/12 F0112 34:36 735 Hana B.
80 1/3 M3039 34:36 732 Chris B.
This is the most brilliant sign I have seen in a long time. I only wish it wasn’t necessary, and that is was in Victoria where too many people only look out for #1. 
Tags: Pets
Victoria Concierge announced the launch of their latest set of innovative services that are good for you and good for the environment.
Seven staycation strategies worth staying home for:
A staycation, according to The New York Times, is “a neologism used by [those] who prefer to unravel the mysteries of the world from the comfort of their living room couches.”
Whether you choose a staycation vs. a vacation in order to save money, avoid airports, or because it’s the … du jour, Victoria Concierge can help you plan a staycation that’s worth writing home about.
1. Set a date
Choose a start and end date for your staycation — otherwise, it could turn into another string of nights in from of the TV. So mark your calendar, and set on specific days when you (and your family) can officially start your staycation.
2. Stock up on games for couples or the family to play
Add a sense of play to your staycation with a stash of enjoyable games. Victoria Concierge brings them in and then brings them back when your staycation is complete.
3. Movie night in Katmandu
There’s nothing like curling up together on a the sofa to watch great movies. We’ll bring in whatever you have on your list along with the Haagendaz or popcorn.
The team at Suburbia recently created a ‘fuel savings widget‘ to help calculate how much money you save by riding to work instead of driving. I’m saving $15 bucks a week. Sweet!
Maki’s new website for Victoria Concierge went live today.
Please feel free to provide your constructive feedback. Thanks
Crossing the finish line at my first 10K last Sunday with Maki (that’s her arm just coming into the left of the picture - in case you didn’t recognize her). What an amazing experience running through Beacon Hill park and along Dallas road with more than 10,000 people.
The weather was cloudy and about 10 degrees - perfect. The ocean was like glass and the Olympic mountains stood majestically, as they always do, on the other side of the straight. How beautiful can you get.
We turned in times of 1:04:12 and 1:04:13. Yes Maki beat me by a second. My legs were hard as rock, and sore for 3 days, just starting to loosen up today. I can’t wait to start training for next year.
Actually we entered the Royal Roads 8K next month so I won’t have to wait long.
This is one of my favourite pictures of Hana down in Sarasota, FL. We had some good times down there.
Hana on the rocks.