This summer marked the first official summer back from the admin/management ranks of education and after a year back in the classroom I can firmly say I made the right decision. One day I may right a book about the experience but I think it is enough to say here that I am glad I had the experience but even more pleased that it is over.
The summer began with the hottest Canada day weekend in several years and we played, ate, drank and swam (not necessarily in that order) at the lake. It was the perfect way to kick off the holidays after a very cold spring.
One of the highlights of the summer was going back to Gabriola Island to stay at my friends place on the ocean. We had a week of perfect weather and filled our days with walks to the beach, playing in the sand (OK, the boys played and my wife and I napped), and eating. It was a great week just hanging out together with no phone calls, email or any other of the distractions that are so much part of our daily life.
From Gabriola we were back in town for a few days before we headed out to our annual family vacation at McLeese Lake. It was another great time with my wife's family and the boys had a great time playing with their cousins.
After Mcleese lake we headed straight to Kamloops for a week to visit grandparents and soccer camp for the boys. The weather was, as usual, incredibly hot and the boys had a great time at soccer in the mornings and visiting in the afternoons.
After Kamloops we were back home again for a week to mow the lawn and get in a little lake time before I headed to Edmonton to compete in my first Marathon. I had just decided while on Gabriola Island to enter Edmonton as a tune up for the Kelowna marathon on October. I have set a goal of running a 3:15 time in Kelowna to qualify for the Boston Marathon and I hoped that I might even make the standard in Edmonton if I had a good day. Well, for most of the race I had a good day but struggled over the last 10 kms and missed my time by 10 mins. It was a good experience and I learned a little about pacing (tip: don't try and stick with the leaders for the first half of the race when you have never ran that distance before) for Kelowna.
After Edmonton we could start to see work looming in the distance as I had to go in for a few days to run a summer camp and my wife goes in for a few days early to register kids. I did, however, manage to sneak out to the Babine river with a good friend of mine for a little Salmon fishing. There is really not too many things cooler than standing in a pristine river with Salmon rising all around you waiting for one to hit.
Yes, it is tough finding time for all the recreational activities, BBQs, travel and down time. If only we had one more week ;-)
