2 weeks, 2 hikes, 2 times the fun!

Last week we all went for a hike up the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) along Chukcanut Drive to hopefully make it to the Bat Caves, but we started out too late to make it that far. We made good time and did get up high enough to enjoy the view, sat at the bench someone lugged up there for a while and headed back down, great sunny warm January day!




Today we rented snowshoes and drove to Mt Baker. Parking lot was dry concrete so we got all suited up and walked over to the edge of the snow, got our snow shoes on and headed out for another sunny hike. Alex was not enjoying the snow shoe hike as much as the trail hike to the caves, so he and Debbie turned around about 30 minutes into the hike. Jacob and I continued on, but not too far, we went to the base of Table Top Mountain. Everyone had more fun on the deeper snow rather than the cat track we were using to get up higher originally. We all met up at the car and home safe. I think we all had fun, but in different ways.

2008 year in pictures!

It goes so fast, but all these pictures and more bring back such great memories, I say let's do it again in 2009.

Hunting for Eagles in January

From Gervais2008

Manning Park vacation in February

From Gervais2008

Bike to School and Work Day in May

From Gervais2008

Jacob and Alex Ice Sculpting

From Gervais2008

Escape From Alcatraz Vacation in June

From Gervais2008

Glenn Escaped

From Gervais2008

Jacob Clear Lake Triathlon in July

From Gervais2008

Cannon Beach vacation in July

From Gervais2008

Renee and Chris Wedding!

From Gervais2008

Family Camping in August

From Gervais2008

Halloween!

From Gervais2008

Camping in NOVEMBER!

From Gervais2008

Tons of Snow in December

From Gervais2008

Enjoy these, but be sure to check out all the best of the family pictures on our web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/ggtriguy/Gervais2008. If you want to print any of these, you can download from our web album, if that is not a large enough resolution for you, please email me and I can get you the original(s). Happy New Year! and here's to a great 2009!

One horse open sleigh

We left for a walk in the snow up and over the hill to Haggens about 3:30 in daylight and after some dinner and lite shopping we started back in the dark about 5:30 and got home an hour later. I pulled one or two kids at a time and got a great workout.

Mountain biking in the snow!

Note: Additional Pics on Mike's blog

The snow started about 6 pm last night and only came down for a few hours, just enough to allow some mountain biking but deep enough (up higher on Galbraith) to make it tough but still fun.

I took off about 8:10 to meet Mike and John at the Whatcom Falls tennis courts who had left from their side of Bellingham at 8. I got there a bit too early and kept circling the round about just to keep moving and warm. It was 22 degrees when we started out. (25 when I got home 3 and a half hours later).

Finally headed up Galbraith and instantly knew it was going to be a long tough haul, just riding up the switchbacks of the Miranda trail had us walking. yup walking up the lowest trail. We'd stop and regroup every now and again and at our first stop I couldn't drink out of one of my water bottles already frozen up. Once up a bit higher we decided to stick more to the logging roads, but that was still tough as that was where most the snow was and 5 or 6 inches deep to keep you on your toes or else you'd slip out pretty easily.

Made it to the kiosk and rested a bit then off to Cedar Dust and Rock n Roll before riding the pipeline road all the way to Samish Way. We laid the first tracks on Rock n Roll and Pipeline, a bit tough on RnR but the powder was flying on Pipeline. We continued out the other side of Galbraith onto some upper trails of Lake Padden before riding half way around the lake to a trail that took us to Fairhaven and the Taylor dock and the waterfront trail with a fierce headwind all the way into downtown Bellingham.

The guys headed back towards their places and I road through an alley and finally weaved my way to the Railroad trail back up to Lake Whatcom and home and a nice warm cup of Hot Chocolate. I wonder how Debbie knew to have the water already boiling, perfect timing. (The kids had just come in).

Truly a great ride with friends on some of the best trails Bellingham has to offer on such a beautiful day!

BMX racing!

We spent a couple extra days after Thanksgiving at the grandparents so Jacob could try BMX racing at the track in Sumner. They race year round rain or shine at Riverside Park organized by River Valley BMX.

We went out to check out the park on Friday and to give Jacob a chance to ride the track with his 16" 'mini bike' as he calls it and Grandpa's 20" BMX bike. He was faster by quite a lot on the real BMX bike and we spent some time after getting back to the Grandparents to take off the reflectors, chain guard and other stuff they don't allow on the track when racing. Alex had fun running around the track and would 'race' Jacob on foot and he'd cut the course and win every time. I think they both had a great time.

Saturday morning we had a big breakfast and got to the track around 10 for sign ups and allow Jacob some more practice time on Grandpa's bicycle. We got there about 45 minutes too early. Sign up is from 10 to 11 and we had too much time to wait around for them to get everyone registered and announce the moto's. Jacobs cousin Johnathan came and signed up too, so we got some good visiting in while they warmed up. I think Sophia was thinking about trying it after seeing all the other girls who signed up.

Jacob was in Moto 11 and Johnathan in Moto 13. They put kids together based on age and classification. Jacob is 9 and a Novice, but there were not enough 9 year old Novices so they bumped him to the next group and was in the 10 Novice moto. Two nine year olds and one ten year old made up his Moto. Each moto races 3 times at this track gaining points for each race (1st, 2nd, 3rd...) and the one with lowest points after all three races is the winner. Jacob was very excited and convinced he was going to win his moto because the other two in his moto were girls. His first race proved it was going to be tough. He raced hard but finished third. Here is the video:



His second moto was a little better, I think he paced himself a bit better and was up in second place only to get passed in the last rhythm section. Third race he finished second and was very excited about that. One of the girls crashed, but he was just as excited about finishing second.

With three kids in a moto, they give trophies to the top two, but Jacob and Johnathan were not going to go home empty handed... First time racers get an award just for racing. Jacob and Johnathan waited and were called up and got trophies that were almost taller than Alex.



Done in less than 2 hours and everyone had a great time. Grandpa filled the kids up with sugar from the concession stand and it didn't rain, so all in all a great day at the races! I'm sure Jacob will try the races in Mount Vernon next summer. He is saving anything and everything to get a BMX bike for himself. Even selling some of his old video games.

Camping at Cama Beach

Camping in the northwest (for me) has always been limited to June, July or August, mostly July and August, but we just got back from a couple nights at Cama Beach state park on Camano Island about half way between Seattle and Bellingham.

Camping may be a bit generous as we stayed in heated cabins complete with refrigerator and microwave. Cama Beach is a historic site and no cars are allowed down at the cabins, so we unloaded and waited for the shuttle. Debbie and the kids walked down the trail while I waited and waited. Not the best first impression, but as it turned out, the worst part of the trip and all in all not too bad.



Once in our cabin we explored the area a bit and had a Gervais family traditional first day of camping dinner of cold shake-n-bake chicken that Debbie made earlier. After dinner we had the best family game night I can remember in a while, probably due to no TV, no Internet, no outdoor lights, just stayed in the warm cabin and played some games.

Expecting rainy weather, we had a great sunny day on Monday and hiked up to Cranberry Lake and spent lots of time outdoors playing horseshoes, soccer, reading out in the sun and exploring the beach. We also drove over to Camano Island State Park and explored the campground and checked out the beach.



After homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner we settled down, played a little chess, later the kids drew pictures and Debbie and I read books, a nice quiet evening.

Pretty much woke up Tuesday morning, had breakfast and packed and loaded. Stopped at the skate park and Starbucks in Stanwood and home in about an hour after leaving the park. Close, easy and very pleasant camping in the deep deep winter, OK just mid November, but close enough to mid winter for this summer camper.

Lake Samish Triathlon

Man it has been way too long since I last blogged. I am way behind on this race report. The Lake Samish Tri was way back on August 16th (over a month ago)

I almost did not go to this race because the kids were gone at the grandparents for the weekend and Debbie and I were renting a nailer to install hardwood floors in all three bedrooms including the stairs, hallway and closets. If not already paid and signed up I wouldn't of gone, but I was, so I did and I had a blast!



Great sunny day and got there early and was able to visit and catch up with friends before the race. Pretty good turnout for a first time event.

Ended up being a mass start for the sprint and a second wave for the tri-a-tri folks. They blasted the horn and we were off for a swim on some glassy smooth water at the north end of Lake Samish from Camp Lutherwood, no wind, very nice. I think it was a bit longer than the half mile quoted, but everyone had to swim the same course so no big deal.

Out of the water and into transition I had my wetsuit mostly off by the time I got to my bike and was pretty quick through. They changed the mount line due to all the gravel and glad they did.

Bike was two laps around Lake Samish, but in the opposite way that most riders ride the lake, which made it a bit more interesting and I think a bit faster, or at least it felt that way. I was picking off the faster swimmers and wasn't passed until on my second lap, so felt good about that.

Camp Lutherwood is not on the 'loop' around the lake, but a little spur which we had to ride both ways and felt fast coming back into the camp. Off the bike at the edge of the gravel and long run back to transition, but again was pretty quick to get out of bike shoes and the running one on and gone.

They adjusted the run to include this lovely little hill to avoid runners/bikers on same narrow section of road leading into the camp. This was no little hill, I ran this as part of the North Face Endurance Challenge and was still just as challenging, but once up and over and back on the Roy road it is pretty flat following the lake for a 5k out and back.

Coming back they made it a true out and back and made us run up and over the hill again. I ran the whole way and right at the top the guy in front of me, who walked most the hill, started running again just as I was about to overtake him. With less then a quarter mile left I was able to run smoothly over the top and get some speed down and pick it up and passed him before we finished.

Once done, I gathered my stuff and left quickly because I knew what was coming, laying some wood. Debbie and I laid wood from about 1pm - 9pm on Saturday and had enough energy to lay some more on Sunday, we went all day from 9am to about 9pm. It was very nice that the kids were gone at the grandparents for the weekend. We got 95% of the floors down over the weekend. I just had to finish the stuff close to the walls that the nailer couldn't fit into by hand over the next few days. The floors look great and am just now finishing up the final finish/trim painting. almost done.