Granny in town

So Pearl came to stay over crimbo which was great, and Holly was well chuffed to have a new reading partner - the run up to xmas was pretty relaxed, and then we were able to have a fun week over the holiday itself. Santa was kind this year, and brought me and Mrs R a set of snowshoes each, and Hols got a set of ballet slippers and a Barbie princess doll - heaven! The Coopers also came over and brought us a samurai sword masquerading as a kitchen knife - we got them a jesus shopping bag - I suspect we did better out of that deal! OD also gained a pair of cats for her 21st Birthday - welcome Bonnie and Belle.

Holly snaps

In order to truly fulfill the purpose of this blog, here are a bunch of photos of Hols from the summer - in one of them, you may notice that she found Granny's secret lipstick stash......

Up north

I managed a very cool trip with work up to the north west of BC in the Rupert and Terrace area - helicopter trips over abandoned mines and icecaps - didn't really feel like work at all - payback for the drudgery of all those other days I guess......

Other summer trips...

We also had a trip up to the Cariboo to go and stay at a friend's cottage on Sulphurous Lake - cool spot, but no bites from the lake trout....
We did a bit of camping on either end of the trip, and found some cool places to stay on the way up in the Marble Canyon area, and then in the Joffre area on the way back - here's a couple of photos from that long weekend.

More summer.....

Chris and Pip came to stay, and as well as climbing at Squamish, Skaha and hanging out with us, we also managed a camping trip up beneath the glacier at Joffre lakes - absolutely splendid - great walk (thank god Hols is still a midget), great fun with the guys, entertaining camping (mice, sub-zero temps, illegal fire) and an absolutely gobsmacking place - genius times.

Summer guests!

Couple of photos of Liz and Tom when they were here - OD managed to hang out with Liz for the week (and Hols of course), and they sneaked over to the island for a night. Tom came over to project manage deck construction, improved his nailing technique 100%, and also managed to get up a selection of top class routes - including a very gripped ascent of Squamish Buttress......

Update

OK, so I've been a little remiss in updating the blog, but here's some photos from the last few months of 2007 - 4462 Strathcona was like a refugee camp with the number of people staying here from the summer onwards - First off, Liz came to stay - fantastic to see her, though far too short a stay; followed by Tom, recently love-scarred and in need of a damn good talking to and some granodiorite; then the BoA gang of Sims and Baz, looking for a little West Coast action; Aoife then camped out for a while; and finally Pearl came for the xmas break. Excellent to see everyone, and all good clean fun......