Hi folks, sorry for the lack of blogs lately, been pretty busy with so much stuff. I have several ideas for future blogs but getting the time to sit down and type them out is getting hard to find. Well today's blog won't be about agility or dog sports at all really.
My family also likes to ski in the winter. Wentworth the local ski hill opens for the season tomorrow and we are heading out early to get a few runs in before we have to take part in some family activities. We have been skiing here for about 9-10 years now....hard to believe it has been that long. Actually Leanne and the girls have never skied anywhere else. I have skied a couple of other hills. I'm kinda hoping that we will get a chance to hit another hill somewhere sometime in the near future, although I doubt we will be able to get Tamara to go anywhere for a ski vacation overnight without the dogs.
I had skied a couple of times over the years with school trips and with friends and always had a wonderful time, but my family was not sports minded and it was something that I never got to do much of. I thought that if I could get the girls interested I might be able to begin skiing myself, so that is what I did. I tried to get them to watch it on TV and they didn't want anything to do with it; they were always a little difficult to get to try new things. So I decided to take a different approach. "Who wants to go for a drive and get some hot chocolate?" Now I had their interest. We sat in the lodge and watched for a while... it wasn't long before they were asking if they could give it a try.
It was late in the season but we went twice....they really enjoyed it and so did my wife. Santa must have been watching because the next year he brought skis and season passes for the family for Christmas. We have gone from not being overly excited for the winter to being unable to wait for the snow to start once it gets cold. I must say it is an wonderful wintertime family activity.
It has not come without it's challenges. Jessica had a fright with the chair lift that 1st winter we had passes and took a couple of years off. Tamara and I really spent a lot of time together on the slopes that year. Eventually Jessica returned to it and has really been enjoying it. We have also had a couple of injuries over the years as well but we take it as it comes. I have separated my shoulder and sprained my knee. Tamara has suffered a broken leg, just last winter for her, although she is really excited to get back on the slopes she will also bring some apprehension. Her injury was caused by another skier that in my opinion was travelling far to fast for the particular area and the number of skiers on the hill when she hit Tamara. My injuries were both caused by my inexperience and tendency to forget my actual age (not 20).
Jessica has decided to give snowboarding a try this winter, I will be curious to see how she makes out, I am sure she will not abandon her skis altogether.
Our climate doesn't always agree with our ski season these days (I seem to remember much more snow through the winter when I was growing up). I know the first few years we skied they had problems getting and keeping enough snow. Things seem to have come around the last few though because even though the natural snowfalls have been limited the snow making weather has been fairly cooperative. We were excited to see about 10cm of snow fall in our area today to go with what they have made on the mountain so far this year. I am sure that the open trails list will be pretty small, but at this point in the season I am happy to keep the number of runs we do in a day fairly limited till my ski legs come back.
Wish us luck for an injury free start to the season. Maybe we will see ya on the slopes. If you are not a skier I encourage you to give it a try, I am sure you will have a ball.
Till next time
Trevor
Saturday, 24 December 2011
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Our First Trip To Agility Nationals
So here we are in at the beginning of our 2nd year of competitive agility and we have entered the regional championships which is a qualifying event for the national championships. Tamara and Meeka are working well together this weekend and even without the main gambles Meeka is able to make the qualifying score. I had promised Tamara that if she qualified I would take her to compete at Nationals....what was I thinking.
Fast forward a few months to the beginning of August.
Andre and Ace are travelling with us to save on expenses, also Tamara refuses to leave Storm home. So the Mazda 5 is pretty full with 3 humans and 3 dogs and crates and tent and chairs and other luggage. Ace is pretty excited about the trip and lets me know all the way there with a pretty steady supply of Wet Willies. We drive to Drummondville the 1st day. We are all pretty excited and have fun during our stops for the dogs to pee and stretch their legs. We also introduce Andre to planking and it is an instant hit with him so we find a few places to plank when we stop. We hit lots of rain on our second day of driving, but we refuse to let it dampen our spirits.
Our time in Ontario was fun and very exciting, and even though we went with no expectations other than gaining some experience, I think that we did accomplish some small victories and made some excellent memories. Some of the highlights include meeting Susan Garrett. Seeing Erin and Toffee win the 16" Specials division. Tamara and Meeka impressing one of the judges with their honesty and good character and also with her handling. Meeka having a 11th place finish in one of her Standard runs. Frozen yogurt. Mucho Burrito. Build your own Brushetta. Last minute visit from Elisabeth and Sophia. I am sure I have probably missed some but those are the ones that come quickly to my mind.
Overall I think the trip was a pretty successful one. We learned some things we needed to know about a big event like this. Overall we had an excellent time. Can't wait to get to do it again, but we will be sitting out the 2012 Nationals as it is too far away for us. We are hoping it will be closer in 2013, and maybe we will have 3 dogs competing at nationals by then...who knows.
Last off I would like to take the time to thank so many people that helped make this trip a reality. Tamara did a lot of fundraising to help with the costs selling hundreds of chocolate bars and also hosting a fun agility day at the Paws for Fun Canine Center. Big thanks to everyone who supported her.
Trevor
Fast forward a few months to the beginning of August.
Andre and Ace are travelling with us to save on expenses, also Tamara refuses to leave Storm home. So the Mazda 5 is pretty full with 3 humans and 3 dogs and crates and tent and chairs and other luggage. Ace is pretty excited about the trip and lets me know all the way there with a pretty steady supply of Wet Willies. We drive to Drummondville the 1st day. We are all pretty excited and have fun during our stops for the dogs to pee and stretch their legs. We also introduce Andre to planking and it is an instant hit with him so we find a few places to plank when we stop. We hit lots of rain on our second day of driving, but we refuse to let it dampen our spirits.
Our time in Ontario was fun and very exciting, and even though we went with no expectations other than gaining some experience, I think that we did accomplish some small victories and made some excellent memories. Some of the highlights include meeting Susan Garrett. Seeing Erin and Toffee win the 16" Specials division. Tamara and Meeka impressing one of the judges with their honesty and good character and also with her handling. Meeka having a 11th place finish in one of her Standard runs. Frozen yogurt. Mucho Burrito. Build your own Brushetta. Last minute visit from Elisabeth and Sophia. I am sure I have probably missed some but those are the ones that come quickly to my mind.
Overall I think the trip was a pretty successful one. We learned some things we needed to know about a big event like this. Overall we had an excellent time. Can't wait to get to do it again, but we will be sitting out the 2012 Nationals as it is too far away for us. We are hoping it will be closer in 2013, and maybe we will have 3 dogs competing at nationals by then...who knows.
Last off I would like to take the time to thank so many people that helped make this trip a reality. Tamara did a lot of fundraising to help with the costs selling hundreds of chocolate bars and also hosting a fun agility day at the Paws for Fun Canine Center. Big thanks to everyone who supported her.
Trevor
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