McCune-Dickerson

Last Days of Summer

2011-10-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

Looking outside to a rainy weekend, these photos seems like ages ago, but they were only taken a few weeks ago!

Birch Bay State Park is only about 15 miles north of home, and when you catch it at the right low tide time the shallow bay waters are warmed by the sun creating an quality beach experience.

Sunny beaches with kiddo's is reason enough to go to the beach for an afternoon.
However, when it's combined with a seafood feast, the fun/cool factor goes way up. This summer was our summer to discover local dungeness crabbing. Which in my limited fishing/gathering experience, crab has a very high return on the work to reward ratio. Our gear is modest, a simple collapsible crab trap, Shannon's kayaks, and the secret fresh fish guts from locally harvested salmon!

Recipe for success: Drop the said implements into the bay, hang out on the beach for a few hours, then retreive and enjoy! Crab is best consumed fresh off the beach as the sun sets, accompanied with fresh salmon, salad, a dutch oven cobbler, and homemade ice cream on the beach. GO BIG. Special note, the more friends you can share the experience with, the better!

Puttin Up Food and Goodness!

2011-10-04T23:10:00.000-07:00

Aurora the bucket head picking raspberries with Grandma.
(okay, really just eating them and playing around)

Rowen enjoys the blueberries

Mmmm mmmm....

Canning peaches for the first time

We have been really enjoying this season of bounty and harvest. Abram gave me a great cookbook this year on Puttin Up food so we've been freezing and canning and jammin it up.

Lopez Island!!

2011-10-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful, wonderful, fantastic time at Lopez Island (in the San Juans) with my sweet parents, dear Aunt Don, and our good friends Mike, Nora, and Bridger.

Rowen loved the ferry ride!! (who doesn't love windy rides with pinwheels?!)

We learned to crab! We just put the pots out with the kayaks in the bay by the cabin. Here's Abram with our first catch.

We had some great times in the sun, by the beach, exploring the island by bike, and on the water.
It was wonderful to have time together, to see the ferry coming in by day and night, and having long visits in the evening
with grown ups!

Some Summer Highlights

2011-10-04T22:05:00.001-07:00

Lopez Island!!

Happy Birthday Little Ladies!

2011-05-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

Aurora wanted a blueberry cake "with blueberries named Francesca." She is a delight and a force to behold. We are so proud of her and so crazy about her. Sometimes, when we tell her we love her, she says, "No, you guys crazy bout me."

We wanted to have a picnic for Aurora at the farm where she was born, but it's been a rainy May, so we had the cake and ice cream with some of Aurora's new neighbor friends at home.

Abram biked from work to meet us at Birchwood Park for Rowen's 1st birthday. He and Mike and Bridger (our dear friends) and Aurora came here a year ago the day she was born.

Climbing, crawling, crayoning, chatting it up, Rowen is so fun. She is certainly beginning to have strong opinions that she clearly expresses.

First Camping Trip of the Year!!

2011-05-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

So psyched to go!

Aurora and I engaged in our favorite water pastimes.

Our new awesome 4 man tent--palatial compared last summer. Aurora is giddy with the joy of it and already had her baby doll snuggled up.

Our darling little one year old soaking up the sun on Howe Sound, BC.

Clayton Beach

2011-05-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

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Amazingly enough, I realized recently that we've been back in Bellingham for a year now. Time has flown by--Aurora turns 3 tomorrow and Rowen will be 1 on Thursday. We have felt so blessed to be able to continue developing friendships with dear friends spread out between Olympia and Squamish as we live in this beautiful coastal region--we just move more of them would move to Bellingham:).

Clayton Beach continues to be a favorite haunt of ours-- a lovely drive by Chuckanut Mtn, leafy hike down through the forest along a stream, and then down to the ocean, looking out to the San Juan Islands. When the tide is low, as it was during this picnic dinner, there is plenty of bouldering and exploring for everyone.

Daddy Daughter Dirtbags

2011-04-24T14:53:00.001-07:00

Last week the Explorations students were on Sucia Island in the San Juans for a week of environmental education and I, being 1/2 time faculty, was on a spring break! After few days of projects Aurora and I took of for Pentiction BC for 3 days of climbing at the Skaha Bluffs.

We met up with our good friends the Wild-Reilly's as well as hoards of other Canadians for sunshine at the crag. Summer like conditions were in effect and moving over the granite face clipping bolts and plugging in gear was a welcome change from a persistent wet cold spring. It was pretty inspiring to be out with just Aurora, she had a great time climbing, biking, running, digging, and being outside for 3 full days. We totally dirt-bagged it together sleeping in the back of the van, showering in questionable low-grade campground facilities, and keeping a low budget so we could have enough gas money for the trip. It was pretty special times for the two of us.

Maybe we'll post more in 2011...

2011-01-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Stalwart Checkers of this Nearly Uninhabited Blog!

Well, I of course composed dozens of blog posts this year that were never put up. Where to even begin now?

How about a few recent photos:

The wee Dickerson Ladies. They're starting to look alike...

And Rowen can already wear Aurora's diapers (which fortunately Aurora only uses at night!)

Getting the girls ready for our family ski day at Baker with the Skinners. Hours of preparation, bags and bags of gear, but it was still worth it (especially since the madres got most of the ski time:P )

Aurora on a Daddy-Daughter kayaking camp out on Baker Lake (you can see Mt. Baker in the background). I was deeply jealous, of course, but Rowen had a nasty chest cold and I actually had some really great quiet time at home--imagine that! Anyway, after being gone most of the summer Abram certainly deserved to fulfill the desire he'd had for months to take Aurora out on a little adventure one-on-one.

Aurora discovers the "hiking stick" and begins wanting to hike more on her own. Then we found a bunch of wild blueberries and it took a really long time to convince her to ride in the backpack on Grandpa Dickerson's back and our hiking objective really went out the window....

These last few are from our most recent little family hike on Chuckanut Mountain, our local haunt, on Martin Luther King Day. It was so good to get out even though we got a little rain.

Aurora is 2 1/2 now, still loves "beebee" dolls, but is also quite passionate about trains, glueing, cutting, painting, swimming at the Y, and of course going hiking with her hiking stick and any other outdoor venture. She is hillariously vocal about 'hings. ' I love seeing the world from her perspective. Unfortunately there are so many funny and insightful and sweet moments that if I don't re-tell her words to someone or write them down, I forget.

Here's one story from the family hike to Fragrance Lake (pictures above). On the way back from the lake, Abram was running with Rowen in the jogger and I had put Aurora on my back in our Ergo carrier, the first time in a year I think for me (we do have a bigger kelty kid backpack, but the Ergo puts them so close) and I was really enjoying being able to hear everything she had to say in her wispy sleepy voice. I showed her some incredibly thick moss growing on one of the trees and she said, "It warm. It tozy." I thought, hmm, actually its kind of damp and chilly kiddo. Then she looked up toward the weak January sunlight and said "When the sun goes up, dems tozy." (dems = trees, tozy = cozy). Pretty sweet.

One more: Aurora picked out a shirt that is really too short for her and I was really how much taller she is these days and how very quickly she is growing. I pulled her in my lap and squeezed her and said that she was growing so fast and that someday she would be a grown up and I couldn't hold her in my lap anymore. She said, "Yeah, you can hug me, but not hold me in your lap when I get big." Sigh.....

Rowen is still a peaceful soul, some of the time, but she has really discovered her voice of late and chatters, grunts, squeals, snuffles through a scrunched nose, and giggles the days away. She's 8 months now and must be well over 20 pounds because 2 months ago she was just under and already the weight of the average one year old.

She can definitely manuoever her way around a room with her army/seal crawl and loves to sink her four little teeth into anything she can stuff into her mouth. She has recently learned how to wave, flapping her little left hand back and forth at the end of her bracelets of chub. It really does seem at times to be used in socially appropriate moment. Abe also declares that Rowen intentionally leaned forward and smooched his puckered lips this week. So there you have her major accomplishments to date:) We are so, so happy to have her in our family.

Well, there's a bit of catch up for now. If you're valiant enough to have read this far, here's a snippet of us "live."

The video above is from a wonderful Christmas we spent in Indiana with some of Abram's family. We had so much fun with everyone!

about that blessing

2010-11-28T18:35:00.001-08:00

o.... I meant to actually write about Rowan/Rowen's blessing, but I have a faint recollection that after writing it one evening, she woke up and I went to put her down and never made it back...

We had a wonderful day with friends and family up in Vancouver for the blessing. My parents and Abram's brother Dallin drove up with us from Bellingham and then we were joined by wonderful friends from our beloved Acadia community: Nora, "Papa Mike," Bridger, Julia, Olivier, Ugo, Hannah, Marley, and Lisa. It was so good to see so many dear friends in our Vancouver 1st Ward as well--we dearly miss being a part of that sweet, loving congregation.

We had some lovely treats in the park provided by Grandma McCune (complete with the decorative touches for which she is notorious:) and played around in the sun-baked grass (can you hear the nostalgia as I look back from the beginnings of wet winter?).

Here's a few more photos from the day:

We felt very blessed not only to have such a sweet little soul joining our family, but also for the wonderful friends and family that were able to join us in our celebration and gratitude. We miss all you beloved Vancouverites!

July 25 2010

2010-11-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

La Familia!

Here's our little angel on the day of her blessing

Laughing with her dad

Mazama Camping Trip

2010-07-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, just after Rowen was born, our good friends Mike, Nora, and Bridger invited us on a co-family backpacking trip to the Washington coast. We accepted under the pretense of low miles, shared loads, and sunny weather. However, and not surprisingly, during the planning/packing phase the would be epic of carrying 4 days of provisions, and 3 children amongst 4 adults was deemed unnecessary to enjoy a wilderness outing as families. We opted for a milder car-camping and day hiking destination on the east side of the cascades and the sunshine and mountains of the Upper Methow Valley.

None of us had been through the North Cascades and over Washington Pass and we were not disappointed. As the thick trees, lakes, and forests dropped into the mountains shadows into the open meadows, rocky crags, and open forests of the eastern side of the mountains we knew we had "settled" for a great location.

The trip had a relaxing a mild flavor with great hikes, meals, and lots of time hanging out. Our first full day of the trip Shannon, Nora, and Bridger did a long loop hike up into the upper valley and discovered a open meadows and abandoned cabins. And the next day Aurora, Mike, Shannon, and I climbed Goat Peak and arrived at a fire-lookout opening a view across the valley and deep into the Cascades

Mostly though we had a great time just camping out with the kids. Aurora and Bridger spent lots of time along the river thowing rocks, playing in the dirt, and livin' in the out-o-doors.

Strawberries!

2010-07-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

It has been a persistent wet spring delaying the onset of the berry season, but with the sun breaking through the grey we finally have enjoyed the first round of Northwestern berries.

We tried out a new smaller farm this year with great success! Rows and rows of succulent fresh strawberries. When first picked each berries had an almost fluorescent sheen. Aurora had a great time running up the rows with more berries ending up in her mouth than in her bucket, which is what we love about "u-pick"!

With Grandpa and Grandma McCune visiting we picked several buckets of berries. We got a little to carried away with so many berries so fresh and so easy to pick. When we finally pulled ourselves out of the pach we had almost 5 gallons of berries totalling over 40 lbs of strawberries!

It has been a berry past several days, we've made LOTS of strawberry jam, strawberry shortcake, frozen strawberries, and the much loved chocolate covered strawberries!

Pictures of the Fam

2010-06-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

Rowen Grace McCune Dickerson

2010-06-20T12:46:00.001-07:00

Though it comes just over a month past I am making the time to write Rowens birth story. With today being fathers day, I believe is an appropriate use of my time. While I could not be happier having two beautiful daughters, I still wonder if this is possible. Am I really the father of two kids? I've discovered that I have difficulty comprehending many of the monumental events in my life. The uncertainties of life, my own inadequacies, and the significance of such events are so weighty that I sometimes find it difficulty to appreciate the gravity of the events as they are happening to me. I felt this a lot with Rowen's birth. Finishing grad school, moving, settling in to a new home, getting the garden in, working, taking care of Aurora, being a husband, and all of life's requirements left me little time for it to sink in that this birth is going to happen. Ready or not.

Winni, our wonderful midwife, had told Shannon at her last checkup that she would bet $50 our baby would come late. We were still in the middle of transitioning from Vancouver to Bellingham move and were glad to have that "extra" time.
Especially so since we had recently, with all of our belonging were packed in a 24' moving truck, almost gone into labor. The day we cleaned our apartment and turned in our keys we were camped out on the Calukins-Timmerman couch when Shannon woke me up saying she was having contractions. And they were getting stronger. THis pronouncement was accompanied with focused intent breathing "whoooooo-sshhhhhhooooooooo". I was deer in the headlights. EVERYTHING was packed. I spent about 30 minutes in complete shock, before I settled into the thought of "okay, we are with great friends (the home of our doula i.e. birth assitant), we can do this". By then Shannon had walked around the apartment and things were receding. We were able to sleep, and finish the move the next day with baby still in utero.

The next two weeks were a wash of unpacking, organizing, getting the garden, and settling into a new home. We were still pregnant, but it felt as if we had dodged and early bullet. I zeroed in all the projects around the house and started a interim job painting houses. On the calender we were reaching the due date, but I wasn't too worried since we still had time. Shannon however, was less excited about the garden other projects and wanted to make preparations for the home birth. On May 18th, two days before the due date, it rained. Since one doesn't paint exteriors in the rain, I was home all day to take care of all of the things on Shannon's list; the must do's before delivery.

We enjoyed a full day of organizing, setting up the birthing room, and making a delicious meal. As we sat to eat Shannon started to feel, "something". That something grew into contractions. Irregular but strong. In my mind I'm thinking, "Is this really happening? What about the baby coming late? Today is 2 days before the actually due date!" After about an hour of increasing labor signs something was definately happening, and this wasn't going to be a false alarm. We called Nora, our doula, who came down from Vancouver with her husband Mike and their son Bridger. (These guys are some of our closest, nigh-unto-family friends). They arrived around 10:00pm, just as I was finishing making homemade strawberry shortcake. Between bites, contractions, getting small children to bed, and calling the midwife we enjoyed the charged anticipation of the calmer moments leading up to real labor.

At 11:00pm I was exhausted, I had been up since 6am, making birthing preparations with no expectation that the baby would be arriving within the day. I went to bed to get some rest, knowing that if this is it, there was a lot of work on the horizon. Winni arrived around 11:30 and checked on Shannon, her contractions were strong, but irregular and largely in her lower uterus. She suggested that Shannon try to get some rest, anything that could be slept through would still be "preparatory" labor. Shannon came to bed at 12:30am. Feeling a mixture of disbelief, anticipation, and mutual exhaustion we fell asleep. The next several hours for Shannon were spent breathing through contractions and falling asleep until they built in regularity and intensity. Through which time, she expereinced an accompanying frustration, that these weren't the real thing, given that the contractions were only concentrated in her lower uterus. At 4:30am, I was woken up with the request to apply pressure to Shannon's lower back. This was it. At 5:00 the contractions were lasting up to a minute and coming every 5-8 minutes. Nora, who had been sleeping upstairs with Mike and the kids, came down to help. We called Winnie, who was sleeping a the nearby birth-center, she would be right over.

Winni arrived at 5:30, and heard Shannon laboring instinctively she said, "oh, that sounds like a pushing one". What? She checked Shannon and said, "we are going to have a baby here soon". I was shocked. WIth Aurora, Shannon had labored for nearly 12 hours before pushing. At this point Shannon had only "really" been laboring less than 2 hours. Irregardless of the surprise this was to both Shannon and I, within minutes of Winnie's pronouncement Shannon was on the bed, bent over her laboring ball and pushing.

It is impossible to describe all that happens in the agonizing moments just before delivery. One feels the anticipation of arrival for a new baby and wonder at the miracle of the human body and the process of birth. Simultaneously though, one experiences deep heartache and suffering as you watch the one you love at the pinnacle of pain and childbirth. With that one can help but experiences a pervading helplessness. One desires to support and comfort but knows and experiences that there is little you can do. A partner can encourage, support, and hold but ultimately all one can do is observe the strength of the one you love, and watch as your child is brought into the world. However, when the moment of birth arrives, and for the first time you see the face of your child, hear their cry, and witness their delivery; all sorrow are turned to joy, all pains are surrendered to love, and the world is new again.

Rowen, a beautiful girl, our little red one. Healthy, peaceful, and tranquil. Without hardly a cry she entered our lives and her mothers arms. It was a beautiful morning, the sun shone through our bedroom window and we were surrounded by loved ones, friends and family. Aurora had slept through the night and woke up with her boosom friend Bridger. They were playing happily with Mike as I came up stairs and invited them to come and meet Auroras new sister. Aurora was excited, she touched the baby, and when we asked her what we should call the new baby she said "soup". Which name she continues to use for her new sister. It was a perfect morning. As Winnie and Nora attended to Shannon I introduced Rowen to Mike, Nora, and Bridger. We laughed and smiled as we reviewed the events of the night. Everyone was healthy. Within a few hours of the delivery Shannon and Rowen were asleep together, as the rest of the birth team including our midwife Winni, enjoyed a breakfast of buttermilk waffles, fresh strawberries, and maple syrup. It had been and was a beautiful birth day.

Happy 2nd Birthday Auroa!

2010-06-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

With all of the things happening of late, finishing grad school, moving, working, and living within the possibility of any day moving from pregnancy to birth we opted for a quiet and simple birthday celebration for Auora. The 16th of May fell on a Sunday this year, so after church we had a picnic lunch at Aurora's birthplace, Woodstock Farm.

It's hard to believe that "smoochers" has been a part of the family for 2 years! I can't imagine life without her. She has grown into such a fun loving, adventurous, and sensitive little girl. Which would be a good blend of both of her folks. Thankyou to all of the many friends and family who have been there to love and care for her!

It will be exciting to see where her free spirit takes her in the year ahead!

Graduation?

2010-06-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

It doesn't seem real but, I've finished all of the work for my Masters degree in education. Having never been one for convocation or much hoopola I've skipped out on all of the fanfare. While the completion of these studies is exciting, it did/does open up some room for big decisions. One of the saddest being a move out of family housing. We have made so many wonderful friends in the last 2 years. So many relationships seemed like they were just beginning. It was a very hard to leave this incredible community. We took some comfort knowing we would just be going back to Bellingham, and told ourselves that we would be keeping in touch. Which we have, but a move is a move, and we miss many of the people that we shared regular visits, meals, interactions, and life's goings and comings.

What we've been up to

2010-04-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

We've been doing a cooperative daycare/joyschool with some great families in our beloved student family housing neighborhood. We have a different host family for each day of the week and usually one other parent comes to help as we often have around 6 kids between 20 months and 3 years. We host on Tuesdays and I volunteer half of the Thursdays. Its kept me pretty busy (alongside three little part-time jobs: teen programming at the community centre, facilitating parent group and watching a neighboring toddler). Aurora loves all her little friends and has a great time going to others' houses two days a week.

In the above photo, our friend Nora and I took 5 kiddos to go visit the new chicks out at the UBC farm. We had a great time.

First picnic of the year! This was at the beginning of March, but since mid- February we've been having some really beautiful days sprinkled amidst the rain. We went with our dear friends Mike, Nora, and Bridger. Aurora's pose says it all.

Taken today! Wahoo, how very timely of me. Our little court had an Easter egg hunt in the mini forest behind our houses. We love our neighborhood and neighbors. It will be so sad to leave this family and child-friendly utopia.

And, as a bonus, since you're still reading our blog even though we didn't post for 2 months or so....

Here's our breaking news:

We are moving to Bellingham on May 1.

Its been a pretty excruciating decision to leave 2 months before we get booted from family housing, but Abram and I are both feeling pretty anxious to move forward with this decision that we've felt so guided to make (moving back to B-ham) and get settled BEFORE baby comes, rather than having a move hanging over our heads for when baby is a month or less old.

So, that's our news. Now you know. We're excited to return to lovely Bellingham but so, so sad to leave our wonderful friends and neighbors here.

Frisbee inventor dies aged 90

2010-02-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Walter Frederick Morrison, inventor of the Frisbee (Pluto-Platter) has passed away. I have enough of an attachment to this simple yet

marvelous device that felt I needed to take pause and and pay a small tribute of thanks. The breadth and depth of the market

is such that as consumers we are far removed form the invention someone somewhere has worked to organize inspiration

and materials into something worth having. Thanks Watler, for all of the good times had and many more to come enjoyed by your

simple instrument for joy and distraction.

Fun Times with the Ladies at the Aquarium

2010-01-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

We took advantage of a rainy day to go to the Vancouver Aquarium with our wonderful friends and neighbors Lindsay and Shelby and Lisa and Zoe. I also had a little neighbor that I watch twice a week, Greta, but fortunately for me, she preferred riding in the stroller, so I only had one toddler to chase most of the time.

It was so fun to see the girls running around together and getting excited by the same things.

Lisa and Zoe

Aurora in awe of some of the BC Coast collection.

Shelby checking out the floor-to-ceiling tropical aquarium.

There's an Amazon area with bats (Aurora was psyched), giant fish, some piranha, and then a walk-through area with trees, birds, and turtles. There were two blue parrots that kept saying "Hello. Hi. Hi."

The girls were completely facinated. A few minutes later we found several turtles near the fence and Shelby walked right up to them and waved and said "Hi! Hi!"

Aquarium, Aquarium....

2010-01-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

Climbing as usual. Aurora loves all the fake rocks and piers in the BC Coast section.

Aurora and Greta, in the discoteque-style kids area. They've got these incredible clear archways that are tanks with starfish and crabs, etc. If I was a kid winning the "make a wish" program, I would want a room designed and maintained by the aqaurium folks. In fact, I'd be psyched to have one as a grown up.

Zoe, Shelby and Aurora in front of one of the amazing jellyfish tanks. Several of the varieties they have at the Aquarium remind me of Japanese ink drawings, these included. I really need to get back to the Aquarium when Aurora is either asleep in the stroller or with someone else so I can just stop and gawk at all the amazing sights and read all the information they have posted about the animals-without having to dash off after a toddler.

December and Our First Bike Ride of the New Year

2010-01-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are! Finally posting in the New Year, or as Stephen Colbert calls it, '010.

We had a great Christmas break. We were able to attend my cousin Seth's wedding reception and see many Castleton cousins. We spent time with our beloved friend Aparna, flew down and spent a week in St. George with my family, saw some good friends, and even managed to lure Abe's brother Dallin down to stay with us for a few days.

Aurora had a great time with "Namma," "Nampy/Nampa" and Auntie Erin, Uncle "Taut" and Uncle Dallin. Unfortunately, our camera didn't make it out much, but here's a few photos.

Abe and good friend Brian Poulsen made it out for some climbing, as did Dallin. I only made it out on Christmas Eve unfortunately.

It's really convenient that Abe and BP have in-laws in the St. George area, right by year-round climbing.... :)

Aurora definitely learned what presents are! She had a great time and loves her new toys, crayons and beloved hair clips.

First real bike ride of the year! We biked around the Stanley Park seawall with our friends McKay, Julianne and Banyon. It was the first bluebird day in a while, so of course, the seawall was in high use.

Looking due west (our house and UBC are somewhere on that distant dark area on the far left).

It was pretty fantastic to be able to enjoy such a sunny day in January, but Julianne and I were pretty frozen afterwards!

The Dream-Climbing Ice in Squamish

2009-12-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

The pain of writing final papers really sets in when the winter rain gives way to pockets of cool crisp sunshine. After what was literally weeks of daily wet weather, the clouds cleared and cold arctic air poured across lower main land BC, just in time for finals. For almost 2 weeks temperatures rarely rose above freezing. With papers completed I was anxious for some adventure.

Ice climbing in the North West is traditionally inconsistent, thin, and often a dripping wet affair; as we were picking our route Kris, a local of 11 years, told me he had never climbed ice in Squamish. However, as the cold persisted I was sure that ice was forming.

We decided on a moderate WI 3-4 gully, A Scottish Tale, that if fully formed promised almost 1000' of climbing. However, after our 7am dawn start, and 1hr+ swim through the forest under brush, we arrived at the route to find another party moving up the first pitch. Rather than catch the brunt of the ice that would certainly be funneled down onto us, we explored some of the other smears we has seen out on the granite face to the right of our proposed route

We discovered a beautiful line, The Dream, that looked "do-able" and just barely protectable. Kris led the first pitch on thin ice. Up delicate smears and through overhanging chandeliered corners, it was a brilliant lead- especially impressive Given Kris had not climbed ice in 6 years.

The second pitch was more straight forward ice climbing, steep and easily protectable, however I found it was quite he head game. My tools and crampons felt more like awkward metal than the natural extensions of my body that they once were. Despite the mental obstacles the climbing was beautiful, with a steep pillar giving way to narrow runnels of ice in granite corners.

Kris finished the climb with another incredible lead, a full 60 meter rope stretcher through a mixture of step curtains, thin runnels, and challenging corners. I was happy to follow and feeling more comfortable as we moved upwards and acclimated with the icy terrain. As we topped out it was clear we had gotten more than we had planned on for the day, but we had certainly gone ice climbing.

We rapped the route and packed as dusk fell; it would be another 2 hours before we reached the car. We arrived after crashing through thick undergrowth, falling over rock and logs hidden in the undergrowth and darkness, but we found adventure, challenge, and a great day in the hills.

November

2009-12-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my third attempt at putting up pictures tonight. I had planned a real blogging bonanza for you--three posts each with their maximum 4 photos. Alas, the first two were demolished by "Error # 400" and then a foolish mistake on my part (not that i make those very often).

So, November had its ups and downs. The major down being the rain, overcast skies, and ever-shortening days. It got so bad I was wondering if I was suffering from prenatal depression, and actually I'm not joking. However, we have since experienced almost 2 weeks of sunshine and I have felt 100 % better, so it appears that I do not have the constitution for rainy, wet winters despite my Irish heritage. What I do thirst for is SNOW. You could have seen some nice photos of Aurora in her new snow gear, but .... instead we will focus on what is often seen as a monumental moment.

Graduation

I have to admit that I strongly considered not putting the photos up because it feels rather self-congratulatory, but then I thought about how one of the primary purposes of having a blog is to share events large and small with loved ones who often live far away, it might seem odd to not include anything about it.

So, Aparna Rae (our dear friend and previous roomie) and I decided that we would "walk" at graduation despite the fact that we'd both finished several months ago. I admit that dressing up in our ridiculously expensive gowns did somehow make it feel more official than simply working more and not having any more papers due.

I really have felt like a new person since graduating--not feeling like there was always something I should be reading or writing hanging over me. I've had more mental energy for enjoying freindships and family and the rest of life. However, I do find that I am also a bit less productive with my time now, particularly in the evenings. I could also blame that on pregnancy. Yes, let's do that, shall we?

It was one of the coldest, wettest days possible. I wanted a goretex gown, but they didn't have any.

The following day was the first sunny day in two weeks. We celebrated by going to the beach.

It was pretty cold and not quite as pristine as summertime, but the coast is pretty unbeatable on a sunny day.

So, what I don't have photos of is our Thanksgiving dinner, which we had on Friday, the 27. It was lovely--great friends and food. It was such fun to have Aparna back in town, with her brother visiting and more opportunities to hang out with Stephen and the rest of her entourage.

So, yes, it's halfway through December now and its been mostly sunny and quite chilly. We've actually had little bits of snow the last few days, enough even to somewhat cover the ground today. I love it. So does Aurora, who calls snow "NooOoo!" Sometimes I wonder what she's loudly protesting until I see that she's looking admiringly out the window.

We are enjoying the Christmas season and looking forward to seeing lots of Castletons and McCunes and some Hawleys in the next few weeks. We are wishing we could see the rest of you too!

I hope you are each enjoying sweet times with family and friends in this wonderful time of year that softens our hearts and reminds us to be more loving and generous, a little more like the Savior each day.

Much love!

Shannon

Skiing Begins in the North West!

2009-11-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

November can be a tough month in Vancouver BC. The days are short, the sun rises at 7:30 and sets at 4:30. And as usual for this time of year it has been raining for days. Fortunately, with the progression of winter, there are also dropping temperatures, which of course means snow. Not where we live at sea level but in the mountains.

As I have been working away with school, skiing has been a consistent thought in my mind, though buried under academic pursuits. It almost came as as surprise to learn that recent storms had brought over 50" of new snow to the coastal mountains. With work that could be all to easily postponed for another day, it only made sense to get outside.

As a family we did the Gerabaldi Park classic, 5k skin to the Red Heather backcountry day lodge. It didn't take long to figure out that skiing as a family is going to be a bit different this year. Aurora is heavier, larger, and squirmier. It's not going to be as simple as putting an immobile baby into a quilted snowsuit and going for it. But, for today it worked out. She learned the word 'snow', now she needs to figure out 'ski', and not just to talk about it either.

Skaha

2009-10-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Up here in Canada they celebrate Thanksgiving in October, so for us Americans living up abroad that means 2 turkey dinners! We spent thanksgiving #1, on a camping/climbing road-trip weekend with our friends the Wild-Reilly's to Okanagan Falls Provincial Park near Pentiction BC and home of the Skaha climbing scene.

We had beautiful fall weather, the days were sunny and warm (in the sun) and the nights were clear and cold with a -10* Celsius. We kept kiddo bundled in a snow suit during the cold mornings and evenings and she waddled around camp looking like a puffy orange marshmallow. We slept warm as a family cozily in van bed while the frost coated the windows and froze our drinking water.

The climbing was excellent. Aurora got on her first route a slab climb on at a crag appropriately named "the daycare wall". She didn't do much actual climbing but I was on a toprope next to her and hoisted her up as I climbed. She was totally content to be up high, checking out the rock, chewing on the rope, and hanging out in her harness. Not bad for 17-months.

With all of the family centered climbing/camping and cold weather it seems that the only time the camera came out was when kids were doing something cool. Next trip we will be sure to point the lens at other interesting things.

Living the high life in Tofino

2009-09-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

Our little toddler waiting for the next little wave to come in.

She has grown exponentially lately--physically, verbally, mentally......

My parents out for a paddle on Dad's 72 birthday

Abe in our superhero outfit.

We both rented surfboards and had a great time.

The view from the cabin. Sigh..........

It was such a beautiful and refreshing vacation. Gorgeous settings, perfect company, great times in/on the water. A record four dates in one week for Abram and I.

Many thanks to the parentals!!

Tofino with my parentals!

2009-09-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Them from wence I comes! Aren't they wonderful?

On the private patio (i.e. cement poured on a rocky outcropping) of the cabin in Tofino

Taking Aurorita out on a wet day--she is in love with her red boots.

The fam with Jake's petit double kayak gracing the van.

Summer in the City

2009-08-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Vancouver turns into a beach town in the summer.

Despite our northern (from an American perspective) positioning, the bay here is quite shallow, so people are swimming all along the beaches until dark. Abe and Aurora have been visiting the various beaches this summer with good regularity--including our closest and most scenic Wreck Beach which also happens to be the clothes-optional spot. I however, have been swimming maybe six times this summer. Tragic, I know. I have been writing, working, and writing some more. If all goes well, I will finish the revisions on my graduating paper this week and be DONE with my masters degree. If you listen closely at night, you might hear me howling with joy and relief one night next week.

Not only is it exciting to be done writing "scholarly" papers for a while, but I am also really looking forward to working part-time and putting more energy into other pursuits (adventures with Aurora, being able to put more time and energy into friendships here, gardening, making good food, sewing, and a million little projects I've been wanting to get to--don't I sound domestic?!). Maybe I'll finally start paddling weekly and being more balanced physically.

I'm definitely looking forward to not having papers hanging over my head every time I have a moment to spare. That might sound like a lot of griping. Really, I feel very blessed that I've been able to balance motherhood, work and school at a world-class university. AND I'm ready to move on and apply my learning and drive.

I have been hired to lead two very different parent groups which I am excited about: Parent-Child Mother Goose and Strengthening Families. The Mother Goose program involves stories, rhymes, and songs with parents and small children sitting together in a circle. It is focused on building bonding between parents and children, encouraging language acquisition and literacy for kids, and helping parents connect with each other and develop support systems. I will be co-facilitating with librarians at two different food banks each week and Aurora gets to come with me--how great is that!

The Strengthening Families Program is for families with kids 6-12 and is a focused intervention to help families draw closer together and prepare kids to withstand the pressures for drug abuse and other high-risk activities. Parents and kids have separate groups for half the night, share a meal and then have family activities based on what they've both been learning. Its been well-researched and shown to build family's communication and bonding as well as helping kids delay or completely avoid certain high-risk activities. I was trained for to facilitate this program several years ago in Washington and then my agency never put it on, so I'm really excited to be working with an aboriginal family services agency to share this program with families.

I feel really blessed to be able to be starting work with families with these two program that are based on building family connections (and, admittedly, working to prevent a variety of troubles). Wow, I just went on and on..... Well, now you know what I'm up to.

Ahhhhhh......summertime in the coastal Northwest is hard to beat.

It's easy to forget all about the short, damp winter days.

Note the heavily loaded bike, I love how much you can bike here. This particular night we met up with friends Julia, Ugo, Jake and his visiting friend, Rie, and watched the last night of Vancouver's fireworks festival--put on by the Chinese. It was spectacular and, hilariously Aurora was awake for it. She watched intently and was still for the longest I've seen her while awake in ages. (she is such an active little bundle of inquisitiveness these days!)

This is Ms. Aparna Rae giving Aurora her first ride on a bike by herself (in front of our apt). She was giving off happy chirps and squawks throughout.

[Aurora incidentally is crazy about bikes and all things with wheels which she can ride or push. She adores her bike helmet and will put it on anytime she can get her hands on it. We think she associates it with good times. ]

Aparna has been living with us this summer and it has been really, really great (at least for us:). I have loved having another woman in the house to visit with--and gang up on Abe with. Aurora adores Aparna. Abe and I are both in awe of Aparna's culinary prowess. Add to that the she is incredibly generous ("Oh, Aurora was crying in the night, I thought I was just having a bad dream") and super fun to be with and you see why we love(d) to live with her.

However, Aparna is wrapping up her masters in art education this week and tragically leaving us and her dude man for the allure of Seattle....or because she got a great job there. We are really going to miss her.

Other occurrences in the McCune Dickerson household?

My folks are here and we are heading for a holiday to Tofino for a whole week--wahoooooo! I'm looking forward to taking them out sea kayaking and reading books and playing on the beach with Aurorita.

Well, this has been a bit disjointed, but now you have a glimpse of what we've been up to lately. I hope you are having a wonderful, sunny summer too.

Howe Sound Crest Trail

2009-07-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Summer is in full effect here in BC. Sunny day follows sunny day and unfortunately we are busy with school. Blagh. Things are especially hectic with some accelerated summer courses. The good news is Shannon is wrapping up her degree and I am knocking out all but one of my required courses. The bad news is all the work translates into long days and late nights. This has thankfully been made possible by several generous neighbors who have been watching Aurora. THANKS!

This weekend was a forced exception to the madness. Shannon is in an outdoor education class that required her to spend the weekend camping and kayaking (tough class eh). So with mom away and the subsequent lack of hope to do any work, Aurora and I, so reluctantly, took the day to hang out OUTSIDE.

With my other family climbing friends committed to other tasks, we opted for a hike. After dropping Shannon off at the ferry we were on the North Shore of Vancouver and headed for the Howe Sound Coast Crest Trail. We had a good time; 6 hours of walking with 21 lbs of live weight and several more in food, water, diapers, baby-pack, extra clothes for kid, and stuff. Chalk that up to a committment to outdoor parenting and training. I'll be psyched for classes to end and get out some more in late July and August!

Finding the Real with Michael Jackson

2009-07-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

So I am in a diversity and multiculturalism class, and we had to respond to a blog posting on the sexual and racial identities performed by Michel Jackson. Here were my thoughts:

Where does one find the "real" with Michael Jackson? Certainly his music, his dance, and innovation as a performer have literally moved millions of people. Whom among those growing up in the era, or shadow of the era, of “Thriller” or “Beat it” has not spent at least some time trying, unsuccessfully in my case, to appropriate a personal version of the “moon walk”. Few can contest that the man had moves and he had rhythm. In these realms I celebrate his life and contributions to the world.

In relation to the sexual and racial contradictions enacted throughout his life I find it harder to find the “real”. Possibly it is precisely the unknown and fluidity of his sexual and racial positioning which drew increased attention to his passing. With millions of viewers watching was it all an honoring and paying of respects? Or was there a perverse hope that in his death and the cameras decent into Neverland the chance of revealing some scrap of evidence that might add certainty to an identity that is shrouded in mystery, conjecture, and option.

What remains certain is the uncertainty. MJ's personal struggles with identity manifested in personal transformation were played out in the media’s eye, uninhibited by any financial constraint. He could afford to manipulate physically that which others grapple with in quiet and hidden places. Many people conduct identity experiments and alterations. Usually these are manifested in a new wardrobe, trying a new hair color, a tattoo, or a piercing. Few carry their experiments to the extent and audience of MJ. Possibly his vivid and exaggerated uncertain sense of self and subsequent physical manipulation was the hyper version or the supersize of our own questions and experiments with self?

What is real is the gratitude I have for those who were patient, non-judgmental, and compassionate with me in and through my search for self. If others struggle as Michael did, and they do, maybe we should supersize our compassion?

The STATS

2009-06-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

In addition to the fact that our little darling is past the one year mark, I thought we should share some of her latest accomplishments and signature moves.

First word: Hey!

Second word: Hi!

Oh yes, this is a social little creature. She often uses Hey! to get strangers' attention or to greet people entering a room.

Others which are occasionally repeated: Da da (sometimes meaning Abe), Mama (sometimes for me)

Bye!

Wagon (agon--close enough)

Loolo (must be important, she says it all the time:)

De de (for Aparna de de, our fabulous roomie)

Yesterday she did something clever and I said "Good job" and she said " ood ob!

First birthday gift: bike helmet

Aurora LOVES riding on the bike with us. She laughs and kicks her little legs and starts pointing at things we past and narrating. She really enjoyed going out for cycles when we were visiting my folks in the desert and getting to sneak up

on Grandma or Grandpa.

Favorite sport: Climbing

I know, I know, but we don't have horses yet and somehow taking her kayaking, well, it just doesn't seem to be time yet. Something about those hypothermic waters.....

At the end of this post there's video evidence of her first major ascent (after 2 weeks of trying)

Most trusted mode of falling asleep: the jogger

Most enthusiastic caregiver: Grandma McCune

First discovery of whipped cream: May 15

Preferred mode of travel: Scooting

She sits upright with the right leg tucked under and her pulls herself around with the left leg leading out. I'll have to upload a video of it, but as you'll see below, our camera seems to record in hyper mode....

First series of steps (4!): June 18 with Grandma McCune

I really think with the scooting and speed of crawling, she just hasn't been that motivated to try to walk more, but she'll be walking the rest of her life

(God willing), so we're in no hurry to rush her out of scooting.

Climbing things however, is a major temptation.....

ONE

2009-06-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

This posting is coming over a month late, but our little lady is growing up. As long as she continues to "scoot" and crawl we can get away with calling her a "baby" but I don't expect that to last much longer.

Ronin's Corner

2009-05-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

When the sun comes out in the North West this place is hard to beat. We took advantage of another sun filled saturday climbing with friends in Squamish. This weekend we joined forces with some friends, McKay, Julianne and Banyan for another family day at the crag.

Spring Climbing in Squamish

2009-05-10T17:53:00.001-07:00

Spring is happening here in the North West. We took advantage of the beautiful day, driving up to Squamish to climb with the WildReilly family. This has become something of a tradition. Waking up saturday morning, packing up, driving along the Sea-to-Sky highway to the "Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada".
Instead of heading straight to the crag, we end up at Jen, Chris, and Eric's home and have breakfast. This time it was french toast, maple, syrup, and fruit salad on a sunny deck looking out over the mountain scenery. What starts out as a slow morning, always turns into a full afternoon.
We climbed at the smoke bluffs; the octopus's garden wall that had a good mix of moderate to challenging crack climbs. Aurora slept for an hour in a small pack and play that we had carried up with us and then spent the whole afternoon playing, eating, crawling and hanging out with Eric. We are psyched that she is always so chill hanging out outside. Shannon had a great climbing experience, ticking several climbs including an awkward 5.8 off hands route that was really pretty tricky. We climbed the entire afternoon, juggling belays, kids, and climbing. As usual it was great afternoon and another successful day of family climbing.

St. George

2009-05-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

After a whirlwind of classes, papers, conference presentations, Bethany's wedding, more papers, and research work; things took a welcome pause in St. George. The desert was in spring bloom and the temperatures were on the rise. Our North West climatization had us running for the shade. We had a good visit with Shannon's parents and spent some time bouldering in Pioneer park. Several times I had driven along skyline boulevard, past large white house-painted "DIXIE" on the south facing cliffs overlooking St. George, and thought "I am sure there is some bouldering back in there." Sure enough in the local guide book the bouldering section included a brief description of un-rated problems on good rock that were easy access and family friendly. There were several things I'd like to try again with a larger crash pad and a spotter who wasn't distracted with an 11 month old discovering cacti. The great thing about having family in that part of the world is we always find our way back there.

Bethany Rose Barnes

2009-04-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

It is still a shock for me to see these photo of my sister... Married! When did she grow up? When did she become such a beautiful, hilarious, intelligent, caring, and capable woman? We had a wonderful time with Bethany, her now husband Christopher, and most of our combined families. I had he humbling privilege to be the surrogate father, as my folks are on a mission in Cambodia. We had a fun filled reception followed by a beautiful and simple ceremony the following day at the Salt Lake Temple. CONGRATULATIONS Bethany and Christopher!

A Political Cartoon I can Especially Appreciate

2009-03-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

Ultimate

2009-03-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

After what seems like months of talk, a few of the local young family folks from the ward finally came together for some ultimate frisbee. Saturday was a classic NW cool rainy saturday, a perfect day for running, diving, and catching a disc. The original idea was that shannon and I would take turns with kid. Which worked out well until it was my turn to sit on the sidelines. Auora ended up (as usual) on the back, in the pack, and played a great game. We scored twice, one a double knee slide in the mud, and she had a great time. She ugghaagggg-eeeeedddd up and down the field as we sprinted after the disc.

In the end all the action took its toll. She was asleep as the last plays of the game were made.

Skiing in Squamish with the WildReillys

2009-03-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

Woo hooo!!

Reason 1 why you non-British Columbians should come visit us: yes, we are skiing and that is the ocean behind us.

Last Saturday, instead of Abe and I splitting the day to study or hang out with Aurora, I made the incredibly self-sacrifical decision to let Abe have the whole day to study (oh, and then I would get Monday) whilst I whisked Aurora off to ski with Eric, Jen and Kris in Squamish. Its been a hectic month for school, so I really think it was quite gracious of me to let him have the day, don't you?

It was a 5 km skin up an old logging road through the forest and then up into more open, subalpine meadows. We took a lovely little lunch break at the Red Heather shelter, which gave Aurora an opportunity to demonstrate her complete affection for Eric (2 years). Let me preface this with this shocking list.

Top People Aurora Smooches

1. Abe/DaDa

2. Eric

3. Shannon/MaMa/provider of sustenance and unconditional snuggles

So lets just say that she seriously adores Eric. The first thing she did when she saw him at his house that morning was crawl over to him, pull herself up by his shirt, and smooch him.

Here they are sharing a snuggle.

So, Aurora is really into food these days. Especially fruit.

This is the first time I've ever seen her share. And it really seemed quite intentional.

So, then we headed up for a little longer. Unfortunately the sun came out and it was gorgeous. I was really kicking myself for not trying to get in a few hours of studying.

here's Eric in his sweet chariot on skis.

And these are Eric's awesome little skis. He was pretty psyched to get out of the chariot and head down with his Dad-man. And then he gallantly let Aurora ride in his chariot on the way down.

It was pretty fun to tow her behind me. I got a pretty big kick out of it, especially going over little hills, etc. No squeals of excitement yet, but maybe next year....

All in all, we had a wonderful time and fresh snow made up for the week of rain down below. I have to admit I really do love winter. It was a beautiful day and really great to spend time with the superbly supportive WildReillys.

Let the Garden Begin!

2009-03-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Last fall when we arrived at UBC, we were pretty psyched to find that as students living on campus we could apply to have a plot in the community garden. That in of itself was cool, but even better this spring I applied for and was hired to be one of 2 Community Garden Coordinators. The position doesn't mean much other than a free plot and a small stipend in exchange for some organizing but, we are finding there are some other perks.

Recently Shannon, Aurora, and I have been doing some plot cleaning and scored lots of herbs and strawberry plants. Coordination/cleaning means we have first dibs on what has been abandoned by gardeners who have moved on. This weekend our entry way transformed from bare dirt and weeds to, what appears to be, an established herb and strawberry garden. We are psyched. Hopefully our transplants live the rest of the winter an if all goes as hoped this summer we will have strawberries growing 2 steps out our front door.

Dirty Duo 25K

2009-03-08T23:08:00.001-07:00

My relationship with running has has it's ups and downs. The past 6 months the relationship has been pretty good. The trails are an easy 3 min walk away and Aurora has been my running partner/motivation. We have done some "longer" 2 hour runs and some weeks we have gotten out 2 or 3 time, overall it has been consistent. Naturally my thoughts gravitated to some extra "umph" to the training so I signed up for a 25K trail run/race. Shortly after the consistency took a dive. I got sick, then it was reading week, and then Aurora (my motivation) went to Utah with Shannon. And then it was race week! 4 Days before the race I did a 2 hour run with Aurora which included laps on the hills down to the beach. I figured, I can pull this off for another hour or so.

It went pretty well. A 3 hr 20 min, was a mid-range time, and I was able to walk the same day. However, I was handed some humility. The hills I have been training on I run with Aurora in her jogger, not a good prep for the elevation gain/loss and the technicality of the trails found on Vancouver's North Shore. Overall I had "fun" it was a good challenge and I was totally impressed with the other I ran with. There were some folks, men and women, with 10 or 15 years on me who smoked me.

I have/had been entertaining the whole "run my age" thing this summer. But this race helped me to see that to pull that off I will need to do more than go out and jog with kid. It would mean sacrificing actual play/ski/climbing time which would make me a "runner" instead of some guy who likes to keep fit while running with his kid.

Squamish Climbing

2009-02-22T17:33:00.000-08:00

This term at school Shannon and I each have 2 classes, we haven't done any daycare so we end up with a lot of juggling of kid. One of the ways Shannon gets an entire afternoon to study is for Aurora and I to go to the climbing gym. Usually we boulder, but about a month ago Aurora met Eric at the gym. He was there with his parents and we spent that afternoon and a few others since then gym climbing as families. Eric lives in Squamish and with a forecast for beautiful weekend of weather we got invited up for a day of climbing outside.

We climbed at the South Facing Smoke Bluffs Penny Lane crags, Eric did some boudldering and swinging from his harness. Aurora ate dirt, leaves, rocks, and hung out with Eric in his chariot. They really do play together which is quite entertaining. Both kids did great all day and were super great to hang out with between climbs.

It is fantastic to be able to get out with other like-minded folks who share the sense that getting outside as a family is normal and totally doable with young kids. It's fun to swap tales of camping trips with infants, skiing, and cragging as families with others who can relate to both dynamics of climbing and parenting. Importantly it helps to continue and expand the vision of possible trips.

Kris and Jen (Eric's Parents) were both great to climb with. Shannon roped up for the first time outside since Aurora was born and did great! She had lots of encouragement and support and genuinely enjoyed her climbing experience. Which bodes well for many more trips this summer.

Mt. Baker Backcountry, First Family Ski Trip

2009-02-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

Skiing/Snow conditions in the North West this year have been pretty poor. We had a huge storm mid December but since then the accumulations have been marginal to meager. One benefit to sparse storms for family skiing is a bombproof snowpack. This week Shannon and I had our "Reading Week" the Canadian equivalent to a spring break, and decided it was time to take our snow angel out for some turns.

Kid had a pretty good time. We went out for almost 4 hours with her in the pack on the back and she didn't complain once.

We skinned for almost 2 hours to the saddle between Table Mtn. and Mt. Herman. By the time we reached our high point Aurora was asleep. She woke up as we took off our skins and made preparations for the downhill..

She was pretty mellow with the actual ski turns, she let out a few "uuuggghhhmmmmppphhhh's"

Not what I interpreted as squeals of joy, but no tears and no fears.

We had a great time, and are actually okay with it raining today in hopes that the snow will improve and we can do some more family touring this season.

Shots and Thoughts From Home

2009-02-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

We have had a few adventures of late that have motivated us to download images off the camera and update the family blog. These are a few images and thoughts as life happens for us in BC!

Shannon and I have both taken advantage of Auroras capacity of sleeping in the jogger. Combine her ability to sleep with the miles of trails from our backdoor and the result is no excuse for regular trail runs. I have gone on more trail runs post parenthood then ever before. The Pacific Spirit Regional Park, part of the university endowment lands, is literally our backyard. Now that we have been running for a while it is amazing the link ups, loops, and connections we have been able to make. We can get from our door to the beach overlooking the north shore mountains and downtown, all on trail in under 1/2 hour. It is more positive punishment than fun but, it has motivated me to sign up for a few trail run races this spring/summer to keep up the psyche.

This is the post nap in the pack position. It really is quite hilarious. The baby pack is for us an absolute parenting essential. It becomes the key to multi-tasking, laundry, dishes, skiing, biking, running stairs, reading, and just about every task possible. Aurora doesn't live in this thing, but she rarely misses a day where she gets strapped into it.

This grin is all about our newly acquired 1981 vintage Vitamix Blender. With it we found some recipes for "green" smoothies. Banana, pear, vanilla soymilk, frozen melon, and spinach- Aurora loves it, and it matches her outfit.

Desert Holiday

2008-12-31T14:01:00.000-08:00

These are some photos from the last week in St. George Utah. Shannon's folks live here and it is always an anticipated opportunity to come and visit. Usually we can expect to have all sunshine and warm weather; this year was an anomaly with almost 2 weeks of snow and a white Christmas!

We managed to get in a few hikes as a family. Aurora is right at home in the back-pack, there has maybe only been a handfull of days of her life that she hasn't spend some time in a carried contraption. What that means is she is pretty mellow as she is carried across the desert, up mountains, and rock climbing trips. We are beginning to think that we can take her skiing in the backcountry this way (moderate safe terrain only).

Views of where we live--Shannon speaks again....

2008-11-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

Here are Abram and Aurora after we all biked down to the beach for dinner.

This is on the rocky western edge of Jericho Beach. You can barely make out downtown Vancouver in the background between the two gigantic ships.

This is a (craning) view from our upstairs bedroom window of our shared backyard. There are just two buildings making a V which is filled in with the grass and trees and one tiny jungle gym. Our main view from this room is of three red (well, they used to be, now they're bare) trees backdropped by a towering row of dark green cedars. Behind the cedars is the path to our community centre where I work.
Our patio doesn't have any nice furniture, just Aurora's jogger and my kayak hanging under the eaves.

Our darling in her megasuit.

Enjoying a walk in the forest along Whatcom Creek while we were back visiting Bellingham. I love the moss and ferns. I love how much of the green stays through the winter (admittedly, however, I would trade it for snowy winters)

We're enjoying where we are while we're here. We feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place.

It is amazing.

Where we live

2008-11-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

Wayfinding at UBC

Click on the link above and then scroll down to see the map.

I just wanted to post a map of University of British Columbia's campus. We're always trying to explain to everyone how amazing the location is: ocean, acres of forest, and campus and our home smashed in between. We live in "Acadia Park," if you want to try out your map skills. What the map doesn't show, is that the forest behind us extends for miles east, north and south of us. We've really been enjoying running in there, submerged in the green of coastal forest.

The University is out on a peninsula, Point Grey. Following the coastline from the northern most point of this map, you would go along a long section of ocean access, Jericho Beach, and would see downtown Vancouver in the distance. I'll add a photo of Abe with Aurora from the wooded part of Jericho Beach.
It really is a phenomenal city as far as layout and natural beauty go. You can be all alone walking along the beach and you're about 6 miles from downtown.

Speaking of beaches.... As if you didn't already have reason enough to come and visit us, Wreck Beach (find it on the map) which is accessed pretty much from campus, is a nude beach. They have annual "Buns on the Run" to raise funds and awareness.... Need I say more?

Halloween (shannon's debut blogging post)

2008-11-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

Aurora didn't know what was coming.

She didn't know that her tights said "troublemaker" on the back, for instance.
And since she's still far from fluent in any languge, no one could have told her.
Such is the travesty of being an infant on Halloween.

Or, any day I suppose.

Another case of infant ignorance: she still doesn't realize that her main nickname "Bug"
(as derived from the Latin root, Snugglebug)
might signify to others like she is an instect.

So, taking full advantage of the fact that she had absolutely no say
on what she wanted to be for Halloween this year,
I turned her Baby Bjorn (carrier) into a caterpiller suit.

And Abe made these fabulous butterfly wings for us parental types. My only complaint was that they were so small.

If you're still reading now that the pictures are over, we had a good time as family bug types.
The leadership and volunteering group that I run with our teens living on-campus was getting together to go "Trick or Eating" for canned goods. After a ridiculous amount of emails back and forth with these kids ("Do we have to wear costumes?" "Should I bring a bag?"), I realized that this was probably the first trick or treating for quite a few of the youth as they are internationals. I think a grand total of 4 out of the eleven that showed up were in some way dressed up, and then they wouldn't take the candy I was offering them! Things are usually hit and miss with teens I suppose, but this population is quite different from the kids we've been working and living with for the last few years (seriously, who turns down free chocolate!)
So, I made Bloody Finger cookies while they were out collecting goods....(they look gruesome, but it's just PB and powdered sugar with almond sliver fingernails). Those made some waves, but eventually most of the kids at least tried one.
It definitely was fun to see how this crazy holiday of ours is received for the first time by newcomers. Our little Canadian neighbor girls (7 and 9) thought the bloody fingers were "coooool" while our 10 year old Korean neighbor boy told his mom they were too creepy to eat, but he did want to take a picture of them.

Burrard St Bridge Vancouver

2008-11-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

I have never considered myself to be much of a "big city" person, generally associating such places as hectic, crowded, expensive, and overwhelming. For sure I have never really considered a city the kind of place I'd be all that interested in living. I think though I am finding that not all cities are equal, and Vancouver is a lot more than what I typically associate with big city.

We have the best of both worlds, the view from the Burrard St. bridge is not the view from our living room window. For us home is a relatively secluded apartment surrounded by trees and great neighbors, but a 15 minute bus ride and 5 min walk we are standing where you see us in the photo.

There is definitely more to this city than the skyline. It is a confluence of rivers, mountains, oceans, cultures, art, ideas, and interesting people. For example, I am doing some work for the visual art department in a wood shop that is run by the university theatre department. The shop is close to downtown, and few hundred yards from where my painting studio is. The other day I was in the shop for orientation and from the the ceiling of the warehouse 2 women were doing arial dance/acrobatics wound up in 60' lengths of "silk". It was a mix of ballet, climbing, and acrobatics. Their bodies moved as dancers but they seamlessly incorporated the friction of the cloth as their only protection suspended literally up to 60' off the ground. As they moved the silk swayed in motion with their bodies, it was pretty incredible.

This city seems to be full of opportunities for similar experiences. Community gardens in downtown amongst hundreds of stories of apartment complexes. Duwali, an east indian religious festival with food and fireworks. Restaurants, art galleries, festivals, lectures, community events, films and culture; so much goes on that we miss most of it and manage to bump into just a small part of it. While we never consider or envision ourselves settling in this or any other city, we are pretty psyched to be going to school here.

Squamish

2008-10-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

I probably ought to title this post "Squamish....finally", becasue that is more how it feels. 6 weeks we have been in BC and only yesterday did it finally work with weather, school, partners, and all of the other stars in my universe to align. Climbing felt good, and as usual only whet my appetite for more.

Life

2008-09-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

We seem to be reaching some sense of "normalcy" in our routines. It is rather surreal to realize that we are moving into the fourth week of classes and simultaneously feeling like we are moving in. This week saw some marked progress in the settled direction, specifically a broom and dustpan (no more borrowing from the neighbors), shelves in the food pantry, a mounted coat rack, and a telephone. That last item is obviously a pretty big one. A few family members and friends have mentioned that they have tried our cell phones and that they don't work, which is what happens when you move to another country. We do have a USA phone # that folks can can reach us on and it will not be an international call: 360-306-5404. It all works through the Internet so we actually have Canadian and USA lines through an Internet phone service.

Other news is Shannon is working part time as a community assistant within our greater family housing environment. It is a supportive work environment and flexible enough that she can involve Aurora. She will be planning and coordinating activities, volunteer work, and youth leadership with teenagers who live in on-campus housing. It was a crazy thought that some students would have teenagers, but it turns out most of the kids in that age category are children of faculty who live on campus. Which is kind of a unique thing, but evidence of really what a great place the UBC campus is to live on.

Aurora is working on teething. I bought a climbing gym membership. All in all we are feeling like this will be a pretty good lifestyle for the next couple of years.

Smart Bell

2008-09-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

President Bush Addresses Nation on Economic Crisis

2008-09-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

Follow this link to the: President's Address to the Nation

Even though we are living in Canada with out a TV we managed to catch a piece of Bush's address to the nation on the pending economic crisis. This is an issue that goes way beyond political divisions. Our current President outlines very clearly the history, potential consequences, and justification for a 700billion dollar bail out of a financial system that sustains much of our dailiy consumption. With all the pundits, interpretations, and risk involved hearing all of the speach, from the source is worth listenting to.

Vancouver, BC

2008-09-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

At this point re-capping all the events of the past few weeks would require more text than most would care to read or I would care to write. We made it home, to no home, from Moscow. On the way I spent several days in London touring the art scene and met up with Shannon and Aurora on their layover and together we flew to Seattle.

Home was a pretty loose term for us initially, we did get a spot on campus at UBC, however we arrived home on Aug 27th, classes started on September 2nd, and we couldn't move in until the 4th of September. Thankfully to generous friends and some manipulation of the housing system we had places to stay and did successfully move into our new home on the 3rd of September.

So that means that we have been living in Canada now about 2 weeks. Things are hectic, Shannon and I are both students, we are still unpacking boxes, we don't have a phone and are mooching the neighbors Internet, we are in the middle of starting and applying for work, and in the midst of it all we are keeping up with aurora. Of course this was all a choice, we could have easily moved in sometime in August and then life would be more "normal". Instead we unpack slowly, eat dinner on the beach, Shannon paddles, and I wake up early to climb in the campus gym (while it is still free). It it an adjustment to full time school with the family, but we are figuring out how to balance it all.

Moscow Photos

2008-08-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

Moscow's Metro

2008-08-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is a map of the Moscow Metro, the worlds 2nd most heavily used rapid transit system. On a given weekday it will move over 7 million people. To put the map into a little bit more context, Moscow is home to 10,382,754 inhabitants who live within 417.4 sq mi. The Metro system is almost entirely underground, and the different lines exist at different elevations crisscrossing each other on different planes underneath the city. Escalators carry the city's population deep into stations that are beautifully decorated, often with soviet era sculpture and mosaics in tile and stone.

The first day we arrived in Moscow, Craig took Shannon, Aurora and to Red Square. The system was overwhelming. Hundreds of people all speaking Russian, crisscrossing tunnels, stairs and escalators leading in every direction, and no sense of where we were going much less any reference for N,S,E,W. The largest contributor to the confusion was the Cyrillic alphabet. Foreign signs and symbols left us unable to pronounce much less decipher where we were going or more importantly where we had come from.

Day 2 on the metro. After a total sense of helplessness had sunk in I determined that figuring out how to navigate this system was essential to seeing the many galleries, museums, sights, and totally mundane parts of Moscow which made this city, the former capital of the Soviet Union, home to the largest number of billionaires in the world, and Russia’s country's political, economic, religious, financial, educational and transportation center.

The key to unlocking this labyrinth of colors and symbols, turned out to be a map containing both the Cyrillic and Romanized spellings of all of the stations. My first chance navigating the system require an hour of preplanning, consulting the guidebook, and familiarizing myself with the pronunciation of my destination and origin. That first trip, as well as each trip I've taken since then has each had it's moments of uncertainty but the Moscow metro has allowed us to see for the first time great art by: Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, Dega, Bounarrd, Monet, and many Russian artists. Shannon, Aurora, and I have seen, the Kremlin, Russian Markets, cathedrals, and museums, and a small part of the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of Moscow.

Arrival in Moscow

2008-08-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

Until recently I never imagined myself as a husband, father, and international traveler happening all at the same time. But here we are, in Russia…We arrived in Moscow on a Wednesday the 13th of August after 23 hours of traveling, an overnight flight from Seattle to London, 6 hours of layover (a quick trip into downtown), and then a 3 hour flight to Moscow. Aurora was of course our biggest concern and she was amazing, some small cries, no screams and a lot of eating and sleeping.

Shannon’s parents are here in Moscow as missionaries for our church. Craig is a physician who is the overseer of heath concerns for hundreds of missionaries across Russia, no small task. Lorna is a great support, hostess for sick missionaries, teaches English to the Russians and local culture to new missionaries. They have what is a very spacious apartment close to a metro line, therefore within about an hour of any site we would care to see in Moscow. We have and will be taking advantage of this incredible opportunity.

Oregon

2008-08-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

After our week in Indiana with my family we flew back to seattle, spent the night with family and friends and took off for Oregon the next day. Shannon's extended family has a reunion every 2 years in Albany, we have been adoped into the clan throuh cousins, 2nd cousins, and adopted grandparents. Shannon knows the correct classification of all of this pedigree, I just call everyone family. Camping out we took advantage of our new family Mini-Van, the swing feature was not something Mercury had in mind but comes in quire handy.

Indiana

2008-08-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Aghh, Indiana. There is more than cornfields in this state. For the first week of August it was home to the entire Dickerson family. With my folks headed to Cambodia later this month for a church mission all of my siblings, their spouses, children, pre-fiane's, and girlfriends were all togeather. Which means we spent alot of time planning what our next move would be. However we managed to follow the essential family traditions: projects, pictures, ultimate frisbee, and rubber guns; and added some new ones as we shared slideshows, birthdays, meals, a baptism, and a baby blessing.

For Aurora it was an opportunity to bond with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who she had never met. This reunion was unique for me having contriuted to the posterity and the mahem of the now 9 grandchildren I felt a renewed connection with siblings and parents. We had a great time, I somehow managed to not get the complete family portrait pics that ought to accompany this post But, we had a great time togeather.

Homeless

2008-08-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Homeless. After having worked for the last year in a homelss prevention capacity Shannon, Aurora, and I packed most of our possessions into storage, keeping the most essentials in our van and began a month of travels that will end in September, hopefully with a place to live, in Vancouver British Columbia. Between when we left on the 29th of July, now, and our eventual landing date we have and will be vistiting family in Indiana, Oregon, and Russia.

Aurora Speaks

2008-07-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying incredible summer weather here in Bellingham. Last Sunday we picknicked at one of our local beaches and shot this, which we think is hillarious, film of Aurora.

Sauk Mountain Experiment

2008-07-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

Quite a lot is happening in our lives currently. Tuesday of this week we said goodbye to the last youth that was placed in our home through North West Youth services. This ended of an incredible year of working with homeless and foster youth in our home. So in celebration of independent family living we took Aurora on her first backpacking trip!

Sauk Mt. is small peak in the North Cascades, easily accessed from Hwy 20 East of Concrete WA. I think that this is likely one of the most scenic 5mile round trip hikes I have ever been on.

The trail head is somewhere in that 4,000ft elevation range, so right out of the car there are incredible views of the Skagit Valley, the Sisters Range, the North Cascades, and beautiful meadows of wildflowers. In essence this hike starts our great and only gets better with elevation

Shannon's sister Erin was visiting with us and our plan was to backpack into Sauk Lake, camp out, and the next day enjoy the summit. Our plan however was less inviting as we viewed our destination still covered in snow and ice. We could have spent the night near the summit but with setting sun, lowering temps, hours before dark, and of course Aurora, we opted to hike back to the trail head and camp there for the night. Which was great. We had an excellent sunset and slept with Aurora in the van and the next morning went raspberry picking in Skagit Valley. Aurora had a great time, at least we think she did, she slept in the little front pack during all of the hiking and was totally content on the summit and camping as long as she was warm and had food on demand. All in all our experiment in family backpacking was a total success everyone had a great time!

Mt Baker Climb

2008-06-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

About 2 months ago I was approached by a friend at church with plans that the stake had for all of the priest age young men (16-18yrs) to climb Mt. Baker, somewhere in the vicinity of 60 people had expressed interest. My response, "I want nothing to do with it". Over the next few weeks a few phone calls about the trip came trickling in until it was established that I knew something about climbing. I was asked to be the leader of the group coming out of our building, about 12-15 folks. I was confident that number would come down and I agreed.

At 10,781' Baker is the northernmost stratovolcanoes of the Cascade range, due to the high annual precipitation the mountain is almost completely covered in glaciers. Our route traversing the Coleman and Demming glaciers is not a technical climb but required solid rope and rescue skills in addition to the basic crampon/ice axe business.

In my mind the climb was fraught with uncertainty. Would the group (down to 3 boys and 2 adults) physically be capable of the climb? Would they be able to acquire the skills to do the route safely? Would they have adequate clothing and shelter? Would the weather cooperate? While we did a lot to prepare by climbing the North Twin Sister and doing rope and rescue scenarios my doubts lingered. My uncertainty escalated as we arrived at our base camp at 7,000' in 50mph gusting winds, snow, sleet, freezing climbers, and collapsing shelters. As every one was going to bed I told them I was pulling the plug they were all freezing, hungry and wiped out... though after eating, and thawing in a warm dry sleeping bag my thoughts began to open again to the idea of climbing.

I woke at 4am to clear skies, later than I had hoped, but not to late to make and attempt. I wondered how the group would react to the call to climb after a difficult approach and 5 hours of sleep. Not a single complaint. We left our camp at 6:30, 6 hours later all of us were standing on top. For me the best part of the climb was not the summit, but a specific moment during the climb, it was when we attained the West ridge leading to the summit. We were still hours from our destination, but at that moment looking up I knew that we were going to make it, that was something to feel good about. For these green climbers it was "an experience of a lifetime" for me it was an opportunity to share something that I love, adventure, camaraderie, and the freedom of the hills.

Leavenworth

2008-06-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our household met some up with some of our great friends, Joshua and Rebekah O'Halloran, in Leavenworth. I wouldn't say this is the best place to climb but it was and mostly is dry, a stark improvement on the conditions west of the Cascades.

The trip was Aurora's first official camp/climbing adventure, at 4 weeks old she showed no change in her typical eat, sleep, poop, routine but we are pretty sure that she had a good time.

The trip was pretty mellow. We were adjusting to family camping and Joshua had just returned from 3 weeks of guiding on Mt. McKinley in Alaska, summit included. I think we did a great job enjoying the experience and managing to get some climbing in.

Thoughts from Aurora

2008-06-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

"What is this thing they keep sticking in my face"

"I am not going to be caught making such a cheezy face"

"This warm watery sensation, it feels so...familiar..."

"I am only 4 weeks old and they are already taking me camping, what's with them?"

Coleman Ski

2008-06-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Thursday Matt Schutz and I made for the hills. Over the last month I have been working with 3 young men and 2 leaders in the Young Mens orginization at church, we are planning a Mt. Baker climb this month. I wanted to get up on the glacier and take a look around at what was happening before guiding 5 green climbers up the mountain. I liked what we saw.
While it is hard to say what the "best" part of the day was, a highlight was a transition during our approach. We had left the treeline and were beginning our ski onto the Coleman Glacier and were in the thick of clouds. I was frustrated because spending time on a glacier in the clouds is not fun, the classic adage likens the experience unto being trapped in a ping-pong ball, and the consequence is no sense of direction. I turned on my music and tuned out. As we continued our climb we passed through this wall of white to emerge above the clouds into the most beautiful clear day. The contrast was incredible, especially after being trapped an overly-typical wet, cloudy, and rather dreary NW "Not-Summer".
The rest of the story is pretty obvious. Great turns, incredible views, and excellent company.

North Twin

2008-05-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have been able to take a whole day away from home and a telephone, very refreshing. For the week before Aurora's due date, the 2 weeks she was over due, and the first week of her life I opted out of all day excursions. Today with mom and baby doing well I escaped to the Sisters Range. This small range, a mere 20 miles from the ocean, is home to the largest body of exposed olivine in the Western Hemisphere. The rock weathers a rust colored orange, but where it has recenly fractured it reveals its drab green coloring. The texture is rougher than sandstone, but not so sharp to tear up pads, its climbing quality is superb. I lament that there are not longer more sustained route opportunites. The West ridge is an excellent solo with low 5th class scrambling and good exposure. It is hard to beat, only a 30 min drive and 3 hr approach to the base of the ridge. Car to car, 7 hours of good times.

Week One

2008-05-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Parents, who us? No...having a baby is one of those things that happens to other families and to other people. The fact that Shannon is a mother, which makes me a father, is difficult to grasp and yet family is exactly what is happening to us now. There is no denying a crying infant, poopy diapers, spitups, and the effects of compromised sleep, and still at times it is almost impossible to believe that she is real, so perfect, helpless and beautiful.. We feel like we are living in a pause, a fragil moment wherein this new reality cannot possibly last. When we are shaken from our dreams it is usually to a hugry infant or a dirty diaper at 3am, and somehow this is exactly as things are supposed to be.

Aurora

2008-05-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that the single most significant word that will repeatedly resound in a persons’ life will be their name. Prior to pregnancy I can remember naming a pet rat, Strados (St-ra-dough-s), later in life after participating in several climbing first ascents, I’ve helped to name these rock and alpine routes. Not a lot of preparation for naming a human being.
The criterion for our naming our baby was something, unique, significant, and easily adaptable for nick-names. We chose Aurora McCune Dickerson. McCune is Shannon’s maiden name which she has been very reluctant to relinquish. When we were married she dropped her middle name Margaret and replaced it with McCune. She still uses and confuses people with McCune Dickerson as her full last name. I have committed to changing my name to from Daniel Abram to Abram McCune, and am just waiting for the extra $100 to make it official. We have decided to use McCune as the middle name and Dickerson for the last name for everyone in our family, the both of us contributing to the constitution of our family.
Aurora has a strong association with light. Aurora Borealis are natural colored light displays in the polar regions and are caused by collisions of charged particles in the earths atmosphere, they are very beautiful. Aurora is Latin for Dawn, and refers to the Roman equivalent of Eos, the ancient Greek Goddess of the dawn. Dawn is the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of soft light, while the sun itself is still below the horizon and should not be confused with sunrise, the moment when the leading edge of the sun itself appears above the horizon.
Aurora was born at 6:10am on Friday May 16, 2008, sunrise that morning was at 5:26am so technically she was born just following the dawn however the pushing process of her entrance into this world occupied a beautiful dawn morning in a lovely cottage adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the beautiful Northwest.
Aurora is “aurorable” with her soft features, she has my nose and her mothers fingers, and perfect little chin. Her, peeps, mutters, and cries have earned her the title “Roarie”. She is perfect, our little “Rora”.

Aurora McCune Dickerson

2008-05-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

A new dawn has arrived in our lives, Aurora McCune Dickerson, born Friday May 16 2008, at 6:10am. Most of you know that we have been waiting for this moment with anticipation, joy, disbelief, fear, uncertainty, and love. Thursday morning we were 13 days overdue and facing the forced option to be induced the next day. We were prepared for this, but Shannon very much wanted to have the intimacy and privacy of a home birth; assuming we could do so safely. Our day was filled with every prayerful, medical, and heretical attempt to “naturally” invite labor: castor oil with breakfast, eggplant parmesan for lunch and a visit to the acupuncturist in the early afternoon. Something worked. The baby already head down dropped several more inches, cramps came and went, and contractions began. We took a walk to the beach, Shannon walked with her mother, I bouldered, we sat in the sun together, and together we anticipated the hours and experiences that lie ahead.
As the contractions increased in intensity and regularity we walked back to the car, and drove to Woodstock Farm, a property owned by Bellingham Park and Recreation. Friends of ours are caretakers on the property and live in a small cottage nestled in the sheep pasture that overlooks the ocean. The location was ideal; simple, secluded, and beautiful. Our team consisted of an experienced and loving midwife, a wonderful doula, and the two of us. With these beautiful people and in this incredible place we delivered our baby.
I learned a lot about love that night, I witnessed sacrifice and selflessness like I have never before imagined. Shannon never once complained and the labor was long and hard. We spent most of the night together in the tub, I massaged as Shannon’s uterus prepared for delivery. The baby was slightly turned from an ideal position resulting in near constant back labor and slow progress. She worked so hard. At 4:00am, through the painful sleepless stupor we could hear birds singing, and with them came the urge to push. Those next 2 hours were an eternity that passed in instant. Then she arrived. Beautiful, slippery, sobbing, a miracle, our daughter. We became a family.
8lbs 3oz, 20in long, healthy, beautiful, and perfect. Shannon is recovering well; she experienced some tearing and has yet to complain I doubt she ever will. Aurora is feeding better with each suckle, she pees, she poops, and she sleeps. I don’t know how this is possible but she is the most beautiful thing in the world and somehow exponentially increases in splendor each day. We are filled with love and wonder over this life and blessing in our lives and are grateful to share it with each of you! Your prayers, thoughts, calls, and love are all so appreciated. We love you.