Insane Inflatable 5k

A few months ago, Jeff, Gwen, Ashley, Jill and I signed up for the Insane Inflatable 5k. It's one of many novelty fun-runs that have been making their way from city to city in North America. Lacey was only a few months old when we signed up, and through my fog of new-baby brain, I vaguely thought that signing up for the race in the fall would give me some motivation to get back in shape again. That didn't exactly happen, but it was still a fun way to spend the morning.

We ran in one of the last start waves of the day, starting at 11:00am. I'm glad we picked this start wave, because it was hella cold and windy, and I hate waking up early. Of course, Lacey chose to wake up extra early anyway, so it wouldn't really have mattered!

Can you tell we're cold?! Jill, Ashley, Gwen, Jeff and I waiting at the start line.

The Inflatable 5k is pretty self-explanatory. Over a 5 kilometer course set out at Spruce Meadows, there were a series of inflatable obstacles that could be navigated. They could be anything. Walls to be scaled, objects to be crawled over or under, giant slides, bouncing balls, swinging inflatable pendulums, giant ladders-- it had it all.

Here's me scaling one of  the first obstacles!

Jill and Jeff taking a jumping approach to scaling the same obstacle (with a random racer in the between them).

Ashley, Gwen and Jeff at the bottom of an inflatable slide.

Guest appearance from work-pal, Ryan! He ran the race with his wife and kids.

A random photo op with a merman along the course (because we're obviously very serious racers!)

Jill bouncing from obstacle to obstacle, gladiator style.

I guess the race wasn't fun and games for everyone. The second last obstacle that Jill was tackling in the photo above was closed for a while as EMT's helped someone who was injured.

But we survived, injury free. Here are Gwen and Ashley scaling the final obstacle to the finish line.

And.... Done!

 Woo-hoo!

Eight

This past week, my nephew turned eight years old.  It's hard to imagine he's almost into the double digits... Grade 3!

Dylan is a consummate Lego fan, so I decided earn auntie points by making him Lego themed cupcakes.

This year we went with vanilla cake, and vanilla buttercream, as per the birthday boy's request.

And I topped the Dylan's cupcake with a Lego character from one of the mystery packages. We got a mariachi man!

I think they were a hit. He looks pretty pleased! I love his missing-tooth grin!

Happy birthday, to my favourite nephew!

Tofino Time

At the beginning of the month, Tom and I embarked on our first holiday since November 2015. You may recall we travelled to Kaui last year. After our tropical holiday, I was too pregnant to travel, after Lacey arrived, I was too frazzled to travel. But six months in, we're (knock on wood) starting to figure things out. So we headed off to the west coast.

Some might say we were crashing Andrew and Ashley's anniversary trip. After their honeymoon in Tofino three years ago, they have returned every year on their anniversary. Was this trip on their anniversary? Well, yes! But in our defense they invited us to come along! And they invited their parents. So it was a good ol' family holiday!

Let's start from the top.

Our first flight with Lacey.

Tom and I pretty much had things down when we travelled pre-baby. If we went somewhere for a short trip, we crammed both of our stuff into our largest suitcase, and both carried backpacks for carry-on luggage. If we went on a long trip, we travelled the same way, but with an extra suitcase. Travelling with a baby isn't nearly as simple. And it's funny, because I didn't think travelling the two of us was simple. But now I realize, it was pretty simple. When you're travelling with a baby, you have diapers, sleep sacks, onesies, pack 'n plays, bottles, milk, toys, books, blankets, wash clothes, wet wipes, baby food, waterproof sheets, and 15 gajillion other things. You cram them all into a suitcase, and then you try to get them all in the car. Then once you get them in the car, you have to try to get them into the airport. I've never had to use an airport cart before. It was a necessity this time around!

The flight out was only an hour and fifteen minutes. So no matter how much of a disaster it could have been, I told myself, "It will only be an hour and fifteen minutes of hell". But it wasn't bad. We timed a feeding with our takeoff, which seemed to help Lacey with the pressure change. And Tom managed to get her to fall asleep for 25 minutes. We spent most of the flight in terror that Lacey would have a poop explosion. At the time of the flight, she hadn't pooped in about 40 hours. Every time she tooted (and seriously, babies pass a lot of gas), we suffered palpitations. But there was no pooping, and we were able to entertain her by passing her back and forth and waving her stuffed moose, Mortimer, in her face.

Next came the three hour drive to Tofino. Remember that poop explosion we were afraid of? Well, it happened. Luckily, it didn't happen until we were close to the hotel. But it was so bad that we had to strip Lacey down, and bath her. And we had to strip out her car seat and wash the lining. All I can say is-- thank God it didn't happen on the plane.

Did I mention how much more complicated it is, travelling with a baby?

But Tofino is just such a lovely place. We stayed in units 13 - 15 at the Cox Bay Resort, just a short walk from the beach. It poured on our drive in, but the remaining four days weren't too bad. A mix of sun and cloud, some rain, perhaps a little on the cool side. But nothing unexpected for the west coast.

Ashley and Andrew did some surfing.

Lacey did some eating. She sampled banana, avocado, yogurt and blueberries while we were on the trip. Below is a photo of her eating avocado. She's making such a weird facial expression-- it doesn't exactly scream "I love food". You'll just have to trust me when I say, she loves food. She can't get enough of it!

We explored the beach, and showed Lacey some rocks!

We eventually got a pretty good selfie with fives of us!

Lacey sat in a big chair with grandma, and LOVED it. I love this photo, because they both look so happy, and Lacey looks like the ultimate tourist in her little hat and hoodie.

Tom and I (unfortunately) missed a pretty epic sunset-- we stayed behind while Lacey was sleeping. But we've lived it through photos, and you can too!

Lacey and I did some early morning snuggling on the patio in the fog.

We hiked a short rainforest trail with Barb and Dave.

We took in the views on a 2.5km loop on the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet.

Lacey got some use of her rain jacket on our Wild Pacific walk.

And we got in some quality family time. That's a good lookin' family!

Who knows, maybe this will be a recurring family trip?

After Tofino, Tom, Lacey and I continued on to Victoria and Vancouver. More on that to follow!