Christmas has come and gone in it's regular whirlwind of food, family and friends. 2016 is just around the corner, and Ashley, Andrew, Tom and I thought we'd cram one more short getaway into 2015.
Lodges at Emerald Lake.
Destination-- Emerald Lake, just off of Highway 1, outside of Field, BC. We went to Emerald Lake three years ago at about the same time of year (just after Christmas), and enjoyed it enough to go again.
Emerald Lake is a bit isolated. There's no cell signal, WiFi in the lodge only, and no TV's in the guest room. So if you go, you go to enjoy other people's company, and to enjoy the outdoors. Being winter, it's a bit chilly, but we lucked out in that it was about -4 to -9 degrees. In other words, not too cold, and good weather for winter sports.
It was quite the winter wonderland at the lake. They have received a ton of snow so far, and there was a little more while we were visiting. We rented snowshoes and snowshoed around the lake-- although in retrospect, the path was so packed down, we probably could have walked without the snowshoes.
Me snowshoeing in the trees.
The whole trip around the lake took us about two hours, and there were plenty of other people out and about walking and cross-country skiing on the trails around the lodge.
Ashley and I pause for a photo op.
Tom, myself, Ashley and Andrew.
When we finished our snowshoe, Tom, Ashley and Andrew took a dip in the hot tub. I would have loved to join them, but hot tubs are a no-no for pregnant ladies. They can raise your core temperature which can cause problems with developing cells in your baby. So Squash (the butternut squash sized baby) and I relaxed in the room, and swung by the hot tub clubhouse to take some pictures.
Relaxing in the hot tub.
The hot tub also has a pretty awesome view of the mountains and the lake.
View from the hot tub.
Overall, we only spent two nights at Emerald Lake. But we ate some good food, got a bit of exercise, and watched a movie on Andrew's laptop. We had good company, and plenty of quiet time. It was a good way to recharge after the bustle of Christmas.
To everyone reading, have a safe and happy New Year!
There's nothing like failing your gestational diabetes screening, and then having to spend what you thought would be two hours, but is actually three hours, in a waiting room for the follow-up glucose tolerance test.
Gestational diabetes screening is a routine test that all expectant mothers take between 26-28 weeks of pregnancy. Failing it doesn't mean you have gestational diabetes (the screening turns back a lot of false positives), but it does mean that you need to take the longer, more accurate, glucose tolerance test. For those of you not familiar with a glucose tolerance test, you fast for 10 hours, get a blood sample, then you drink a thick sugary glucose drink, followed by a second blood sample at the hour marker, and third sample at the two hour marker. The baby, now the size of a big eggplant (14.8 inches long!) has been rolling around in my belly like a mad woman for the last 30 minutes. She's clearly on a sugar high. But yes, it's a long time to wait in a lab waiting room. I'm killing time. I had an 8:30am appointment this morning, but they were running so far behind that my test didn't actually start until 9:15am. Luckily, I came prepared with laptop in tow.
So, it's time for another rendition of Amanda's Favourite Things. It's been a few years since my last one, but there's something about Christmas that makes you revisit what your favourite things of the year have been.
Books-- by far, the Martian by Andy Weir
This book was recently turned into a movie, starring Matt Damon, and the movie didn't quite do the book justice. Being a bit of a science nerd myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the trials and tribulations of the main character, Mark Watney. I also can't remember the last time that a book made me laugh out loud-- and the Martian did, MULTIPLE times. I'd highly recommend this read!
Games -- Candy Crush
I'm not sure if this is a "favourite" as it is an obsession/compulsion. I have been playing Candy Crush for almost two years now. I am on level 1150, and I just can't seem to stop playing. It seems like most people gave up on Candy Crush a few weeks after they started to play. But not me. I must. Keep. Going.
I admit, my mind has been on baby a lot the last few months. We've been slowly getting our nursery into shape, and I felt like I struck gold when I discovered 3 Sprouts. 3 Sprouts is all about cute and practical storage... Maybe this is why it calls to me! I found myself purchasing storage boxes, caddies, a laundry hamper and a stroller organizer. There are so many well designed animals to choose from, and they're at a reasonable price too! My favourite is the hedgehog, featured above.
I love smoothies. Jugo Juice introduced their newest smoothie, Chai Nut Mylk in December. It's a blend of banana, unsweeted almond milk and organic chai tea spices. It is DELICIOUS. I made a rendition of it at home a couple days ago, and I can tell you, I will be making it again.
Random -- Huggable Heartwarmer heating pads!
Beaver, Walrus and T-Rex
I picked up this Walrus last year at the Telus Convention Center Art Market. Aside from being unbearably adorable, his heatable rice pack also keeps you warm in cold weather and soothes aches and pains. Last December I had the flu for the first time in 9 or 10 years, and I had a terrible case of the chills. I heated up Walrus, and it was heavenly. There's a whole variety of Huggable Heartwarmers that are available from a local company... Some of you might even be seeing one of these in your upcoming Christmas present!
Arguably, one of my favourite days of the year is when my girlfriends and I get together to do our annual Christmas bakeathon. This is our sixth year running, and at this point, we pretty much operate as a well-oiled machine. Recipes that bake at the same temperature are cooked at the same time, there is always a batch of cookies waiting to go in, and at the end of the afternoon, someone is always missing a set of measuring cups, parchment paper, or ends up with a mystery baking sheet.
This year, we all selected two recipes (with the exception of the very ambitious Paige, who baked three), making for a total of eleven recipes. Our haul/swap included:
And last, but not least...Melted snowman sugar cookies. The melted snowmen make me super happy. They just look so sad and demented!
This is probably not the most convenient time for all this sugar to be sitting around the house, because my gestational diabetes test is next week! So I've frozen some of it, and I'll be giving some away to friends and family to enjoy. As I type this, Egg (the eggplant sized baby) is giving me some good kicks in belly. I take this to mean that she doesn't want me to give away any cookies. But we can't eat them all, because I don't want her to be a 10 lb baby!
The Christmas Bakeathon has become the unofficial event that kicks off the Christmas season for me. I'm looking forward to seeing more family and friends in the weeks to come!
I am happy to report that Tom did not participate in Movember this year, and he has also NOT been growing a crazy beard like he did last year. However, 11 members of my team at work DID participate in Movember. At the time of this blog, they have raised $4820, and are ranked as the 335th team in the nation (too bad I don't know how many teams there are in the nation). Still, pretty awesome, and their fundraising total will continue to climb as our company does charity gift matching for donations over $25.
My contributions to the wrap-up this afternoon were the delightful moustache cupcakes featured above. They were gobbled up by one and all in no time flat.
Congrats to all those who participated in this great cause!
For more information about Movember, you can check it out here: https://ca.movember.com/?home
The remaining days of our vacation passed quickly and quietly. Although the last few days were more overcast and rainy, we still caught snatches of sunshine, and it was consistently warm.
We saw sunsets...
And rainbows.
We snorkeled off seemingly empty beaches.
And used a series of ropes and stairs to get down to hidden beaches.
We went out to the Kileau Lighthouse and wildlife preserve to check out the many different species of birds that nest on the jagged cliffs.
The wildlife preserve is overrun with Nene, the state bird of Hawaii. Nene appear to be very similar to Canadian geese-- just a little less hostile. We saw some toddlers getting pretty close to some of the birds, and we were sure that if anyone had gotten that close to a Canadian goose, they would find themselves being chased by a hissing, angry bird.
We ate breakfast on our balcony each morning.
And made use of the waterslides at the condo/hotel pool.
And we took in whatever remaining sights we could fit in. Including waterfalls and taro fields.
And we only saw a few creepy spiders.
Nothing beats Hawaii. I anticipate it is going to be a long time before Tom and I have another holiday like this one, and I think we did all we could to enjoy it.
As you may or may not be aware, Tom and I did not get in our annual backpacking hike this summer. This is mainly due to the fact that we knew we were going to try to start a family, and we weren't sure what stage we would be at by the time summer rolled around. We did get in a few minor hikes, but we were both looking forward to doing some additional hiking during our trip to Kauai.
The Kalalau trail is an 18km (11 mile) hiking trail from Ke'e Beach to Kalalau Beach on the North shore (Na Pali coast) of Kauai. It is known for its sweeping vistas and breathtaking views. Interestingly, it is also known to be very strenuous, and has been called one of the top 20 most dangerous hikes in the US. On a beautiful day like when we hiked, there wasn't too much to worry about, but the main danger comes from intense rains at higher elevation which flow down from the mountains and make normally tepid looking streams into rushing torrents. Flash flooding can occur, and there have been many incidents when hikers become stranded by impassable streams, and have to be airlifted out. Most notably, in April 2014, 121 hikers had to be airlifted out over a two day period because of impassable streams. Hikers have died trying to cross flash flooding streams-- and apparently in December 2012, a woman was thrown from a cliff! After a four-day search, the perpetrator was apprehended and faced second-degree murder charges. Who knew a hiking trail could be so exciting?
But for us, the Kalalau Trail was dry and tame. It was warm and sunny-- we basically couldn't have asked for better hiking conditions. Tom and I only tackled the first 2 miles of the trail to Hanakapiai Beach (4 miles round trip).
View of Ke'e Beach.
Me and Pom on the trail.
The trail was BUSY. There must have been hundreds of other hikers out on the trail. Some were day-trippers like us, but there were quite a few who were tackling the whole trail with their big backpacks. Every few minutes you had to pause to allow someone to pass on the trail, so it was slow going. This was fine with me, considering I am nowhere near as agile as I was 6 months ago! At one point, a woman asked me, "Are you hiking for two?" I misunderstood her, and told her I was hiking with Tom. It wasn't until a few hundred meters later that I realized what she was actually asking. Whoops!
Na Pali Coast views.
Dire warnings.
The trail was for the most part, very dry. There were only a couple sections that were slick and muddy from little streams spilling out onto the trail. We did witness some people drinking from one of these streams (such a bad idea-- waterborn illess, people!), and we also witnessed a couple asking a lifeguard at the trailhead where they could buy water from because they "forgot" to bring some. If you plan to go hiking in 27 degree heat, and you "forget" to bring water... You're an idiot. Consider yourself judged.
Hanakapiai Beach.
Tom and I arrived at Hanakapiai Beach just after 1pm. We settled in to have our lunch, chickpea and hummus wraps, and enjoy the view. There were many people who had the same idea as us, and there was even one man who decided to ignore the signs and go in the water. He didn't go in deep, or try to swim, but still! 83+ people have died at this particular beach!
We also got eyed by this tiny, mangy cougar-- aka, feral cat. He wasn't too interested in getting to close to anyone, but he was checking everyone out. There was also a second black cat who stopped to beg for food. I have no idea how they ended up so far out on the trail. And there were, of course, chickens and roosters everywhere too (just like everywhere else on the island).
Mangy cat-friend.
The whole hike took us about 4 hours round-trip (with a healthy stay at the beach in between). Tom would have liked for us to tackle an extra 2 miles of the trail to get to a waterfall, but I think the 13km trip would have been too much for me at this point. As it was, the whole way back, Pom (again, the pomegranate sized baby), seemed to be sitting on my bladder for most of the hike. I imagine it was like a delightful waterbed for her to relax on!
Pom is giving me some good kicks right now. I think we're done with blogging, and moving on to breakfast! A breakfast that includes ALL THE FRESH FRUIT we bought at the farmers market. Nom.
Although this is my fourth time in Hawaii, somehow I always manage to forget just how warm and humid it is. As I pack, I find it impossible to imagine that I'm going somewhere where I won't want to wear socks, and there is no point in having a long-sleeve shirt. I actually threw a cardigan into our bag at the last minute. You know, just in case! How much do you want to bet that piece of clothing goes untouched the entire trip?
Tom and I arrived in Kauai late on Saturday night. It was pitch dark out, 27 degrees and humid, and we navigated our car to the hotel with our windshield wipers running to get rid of the condensation on the windshield. We made it to our hotel, or rather, the condo that we rented via AirBnB at 10pm local time, or 2am home-time. Needless to say, we were exhausted.
The condo is beautiful! The kitchen is nicely appointed, the bathroom is huge, and there is glorious, glorious AV. To think we considered renting a pace without it.... This is out first time on Kauai. Previously we have always gone to Maui, but with a baby on the way, we decided we wanted to explore a new island for this holiday.
Here are something I can tell you straight off the bat about Kauai... There are chickens and roosters EVERYWHERE. Hundreds of them. Probably thousands of them! They are in parking lots, on athletic fields, at beaches, on the side of the highway... The sounds of roosters crowing at all times of the day has become a familiar sound.
The baby, currently the size of a pomegranate, and hereby referred to as Pom (at least in this post), does not like seat belts. My God, every time we get into the car and I put on my seat belt, it's like there's a tiny revolt going on in my belly-- limbs flailing in protest at the restriction of the seat belt. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not (maybe she doesn't like the band of my shorts cutting into her, or she doesn't like the position I have to sit in in the car), but Pom will let it be known that she is displeased.
What's that? Did I say, "she"?? That's right! We're expecting a girl!
Tom and I have spent the last few days beach hopping, and exploring the south and west sides of the island. The beaches here are not as nice as Maui. They are rockier, and we are both cut up with some minor scrapes and scratches from our first venture out into the water.
We stopped to see the Spouting Horn, a blowhole on the south side of the island, and the found a beach to park ourselves on and enjoy the sun.
Yesterday we drove to Waimea Canyon on the west side of the island. We drove the windy road and stopped at the many outlooks to see the wide expanse of the canyon, and waterfalls. Unfortunately, even though yesterday was supposed to be the "clearest" day here, there were too many clouds to see much of the Na' Pali coast line.
Waimea Canyon.
Waipoo Falls in Waimea Canyon
Cloud-covered Na Pali Coast.
Wai'ale'ale, one of the wettest places on earth.
After exploring the canyon, we headed further west, and happened to come upon a beach where there were dozens and dozens of people looking up at the sky. There was a weather balloon up in the sky, but some eavesdropping allowed us to glean that the Super Strypi rocket was set to launch of the Barking Sands launch site at 4:30pm. By luck, it had been delayed until 5:45pm, and Tom and I were able to witness it take off.
The rocket was carrying a selection of small satellites into orbit as part of the ORS-4 mission for the Department of Defense. Unfortunately the rocket failed about a minute after takeoff, and broke up.
One of the coolest things about the launch, which you can sort of witness for yourself in this video that someone posted on YouTube, is the time delay between the speed of light and the speed of sound. You can SEE the rocket launch, and then a few seconds later, you hear the roar of the takeoff. The power of physics, my friends!
In the photo above, you'll notice that the trail of smoke appears to have some curls in it-- this is likely because the rocket was rotating.
It's been a busy few days, and today Tom and I are going to try to take on the first 2 miles of the famous Kalalau trail. This hike is actually 11mi one way, and most people backpack/camp overnight when they take it on. We know we can't make it that far, so we'll do the first section of the trail only. It'll be slow going with my belly, but we're looking forward to it.
For those of you at home keep warm! I heard it snowed. :)
