So there it was...

Here are some photos of what we've been up to since Christmas.

So here it is: Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas everybody! Here are some pictures of our trip so far...

Frozen bangers

We bought a Christmas tree, and found an unexpected thing in the Christmas tree farm:

Mr Sad Face

Distressed Austin

Tav is not sure what to make of snow

Then tonight, the first annual (probably) "Get Pumped For Christmas" pumptrack event happened in our back garden, featuring a track-record setting nine riders, despite it being -15 degrees and dark. 

Ricardo trusting the berm

John learning that trust is not always repaid

Kira launching the slippery jump

Sun Country Cycle employee train

When not in Fiji

These things can happen:

Grandma comes to visit, and becomes a nice place to sleep.

Mum is inside the computer, which is confusing.

We can learn to use the air compressor...

It may not be Fiji, but Vernon also has (fake) palm trees. 

We can catch up on literature.

We can find something you don't get in Fiji.

And finally, you can welcome mum home by spreading breakfast on her face.

The Second Annual Not-Mud Ride (with mud)

It happened. The second-ever, probably to be repeated, Not-Mud Ride. One day there will be a Mud Ride again, but for now we have to make do with this. There was mud though, which is confusing.

Thanks to y'all who made it what it was. For the record the general format was as follows (photos do not represent actual course of events):

Stage 1: Faff with bikes

Step 2: Ride bikes

Part 3: Celebrate

Element 4: Eat

Section 4b: Relax

Part 5: Faff with bikes again

Activity 6: Ride bikes again

Bicycle parenting

Literature informs me that helicopter parenting is very popular these days. We don't have a helicopter, so we use bicycles instead. It seems to be working out so far.

Imprinting of the subject begins early. "Tav - this is one bicycle. You will always need more bicycles than this".

Then we do some sinister "look into the light" stuff.

...add some brand awareness

Have a snack break. Incidentally, how much do want a suit like Tav's? Yes, I know.

Then we all laugh like James Bond villains. I don't know why.

More weird dark-place symbolism.

And to finish the day off right, we carry the child across a very tall and highly flammable antiquated structure. Hooray! 

Pumpkin Rail

Things that have happened recently include:

Thanksgiving - that was fun, but I didn't take any photos, so in internet terms it didn't happen. Things I didn't do included riding bikes, eating food, and playing with The Tav. One of those things didn't used to happen at Thanksgiving, can you guess which?

Painted some things in the kitchen - but I didn't take any pictures of that either, and I expect the world is beyond weary of pictures of our kitchen by now.

We (all three of us) went on a bike ride - oh yes we did. We explored Vernon's hottest new public amenity, the Okanagan Rail Trail. In my past life, I would have been sub-lukewarm about the prospect of riding my bike on an old railway line, but now I'm all over it. Family fun times abound:

Although my nonchalant leaning looks staged, I was legitimately nonchalant at that moment. So there.

Two of three family members being propelled by a bike.

One family member wasn't really engaging in the natural wonders of the Okanagan,
but did seem to be enjoying it in his own way.

Then we went to a pumpkin patch. The family fun times really did kick up a notch this weekend. I was unfamiliar with pumpkin patches, but quickly learned that it's a large area of mud with pumpkins in it. Amazing. You do at least get pulled there by a vintage tractor, so that was fun.

Tav sizing up his lunch.

More edibles

By next year, Tav might be worth five bucks. 

The Sunshine Coast

It was my birthday, I rode my bike, and we had a brief adventure:

It's not an adventure unless you have a banana.

This is safe, right?

Someone has been taught to smile at cameras.

So beached.

Business time

Tomorrow Lina becomes a teacher in a school again. Two weeks later, I will become a medical writer, in a medical writer's office crevice again. In the meantime this has happened. It turns out they really do grow...

Month one

Month two

Self explanatory

You get the theme I think

Clever, right?

Different chair, just to keep you thinking.

Ok, we forgot to take the picture in the red chair. I can tell you're not fooled.

Month Eight

If only I could, I'd be riding up that hill.

In fact, I was.

Here's a picture to commemorate that both yesterday morning and this morning I rode a bike up a hill and down again. There was even some moderate exhilaration experienced. Good times indeed.

Despite riding the same trail on the same bike as this video, I didn't make it look much like he did. Perhaps I have the wrong kind of socks.

Insert imaginative title here (thanks)

We're off to Hood River today for some kind of standing-up-on-the-board paddle race whatnot. Don't ask me what that's all about. But, before that here are some pictures of things that actually happened already,

Inspired by Yongchuan style, here was Tav's effective but short-lived sun shade. Now we need a new umbrella.

We hiked up to Spectrum Lake, which seems to be the family camping hotspot of the nearly-Monashee region. You heard it here first.

We'll be back here I hope.

In Tav news, the eating of everything continues apace, and he can bash himself in the head with a cup now.

The kitchen has come on a bit, though the to-do list seems to keep getting longer. Maybe that's because I just started writing it.

You get the idea - it's a kitchen.