Our First Hut Trip

Written by Meggan

Fri Jan 7th
Jason worked until 5:30pm, then we shoved down some dinner, jumped in the car and drove South.  No border issues - just had to explain that our Chariot ski sled was not a dog carrier.  Rachel did not seem to enjoy the car ride, and did not fall asleep as usual (actually she cried for over an hour), so she had a late night.  Our room at the Mt Gardner Inn was lovely - talk about a great deal!  We arrived at about 9:45pm and promptly went to bed.
This was Rachel's first night in a hotel room.

Sat Jan 8th (am)
Woke up to a beautiful view of sunshine, snow, and mountains!  Yipeeeee!  Connected with our friends, Dave and Stacey Cleveland, and packed up for the trail head.  They told us of a sneakier trail head that cut our distance from an expected 14.5 km to a mere 7km from car to hut - SWEET!
So we parked the car and got organized.  Meggan donned the backpack while Jason strapped on the chariot (full of stuff) and a smaller daypack.  Dave and Stacey left a little later and would meet us at the hut.

And we were off!

... And we were huffing and puffing!  ... And we felt like falling over!  Skiing with all that weight and climbing up and up and up was even harder than I'd imagined.  Jason pulled Rachel and extra gear in the Chariot and I lagged behind carrying the big pack. 
In my head I heard voices of people who questioned our sanity when we told them about this adventure.  I skied 25metres, then rested and caught my breath over and over.  I thought 'I've never skate skied with a backpack before.  This is our first time camping with Rachel.  I've never been to these trails before.  I've never had to feed Rachel in the snow before.  What an adventure!'
The trail flattened out a little and I started to enjoy myself much more.

Dave and Stacey (who had started out later than us) zoomed by at Cleveland-speed (for those of you who don't know, Dave and Stacey are both incredibly fit individuals).  We stopped for a snack break and let them go ahead.  Rachel had slept the whole time and we had been out nearly 2 hours.  I was sure she would wake at any minute screaming for food, but our snack break came and went and she continued to sleep.

Off we went, assuming we were getting close to the hut.  Dave and Stacey appeared, having returned to us to warn us of steep hills ahead on our last ascent to the hut.  They helped carry some gear as we pulled and pushed the Chariot up the incline and arrived at the hut.

Sat Jan 8th (pm)
We unpacked, started the fire, and had lunch as the group schemed about the afternoon.  Since we had skied only 2 hours, it was generally felt by the group that a glorious afternoon outside awaited us.  Do we go out as a group, split into couples, or does someone stay in the lodge with Rachel?  I stayed in the lodge with Rachel while Jason, Stacey, and Dave punished themselves climbing up toward Rendezvous Pass to check out two other huts (Gardner and Rendezvous).  Rachel napped and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle and enjoyed the view while I stretched out my sore legs.  There was no way I could keep up with those other energetic folks and I was pretty proud of what I'd accomplished already that day.  Plus, Rachel was just finishing off a growth spurt - meaning that after 3pm she might become physically attached to me for several hours.

The gang returned back to the hut before dark (amazing if you know Dave) and we finished the puzzle, made dinner, melted snow, played cribbage, and had an intense match of Phase 10.  Rachel went to sleep without much trouble although she became quite congested and raspy.  The only real consequence to this was that she made loud noises breathing all night and woke several times for extra snacks from Mom.

Sun Jan 9th
Sunday morning we awoke to a beautiful view and planned out a morning adventure.  The families split up and the Cleveland family took off since the Oliver family was a little slow going.  We like to blame Rachel and the Chariot for this, even though only one of us has to pull her.  So after Rachel had a few breakfasts, we sought out to explore.  We rolled our way toward the Cassal Hut, and ran into Dave and Stacey at a turn off.  They warned us of a steep climb ahead that they had come down - a black run leading up to the hut.  I felt good skiing with no extra weight and encouraged Jason to go up with me.  Thank goodness he was the one pulling Rachel because it was a very long, steep climb!  A great workout!  The turn-off to the hut rewarded us with beautiful views.  We had a snack break and headed home - a morning 2hr ski covering about 15km.  Despite being prepared (again) with bottled milk, Rachel slept through the entire adventure and still slept while we started lunch and packed up.  Wish she slept this much at home!!!

We left the hut and pulled our gear back down to the car.  We knew most of the way home was downhill, which was fantastic because all of our legs were feeling the burn by this time.  We made it back to the car in about 45 minutes, and Rachel was content the whole time.
We packed the car, changed in Winthrop, and headed to Omak.  Dinner at Pizza Hut allowed us to feed and change Rachel a few more times before we continued our drive North.  Rachel started complaining here and continued to complain (ie. cried and screamed) about being in the car as we headed home.  We think this sped up the border crossing, but slowed our progress home as we stopped to feed and snuggle her several times trying to decide why she was so upset.
We made it home, tired but happy, in time for normal bedtime as we parents fell asleep hard and fast with exhausted bodies but happy hearts.

Rachel's Clothes

You might think that Rachel's clothing is fairly simple. Most of the time, she wears a sleeper (definition: a garment that covers her from neck to toes). These generally have fun patterns, bright colors, or animals on them. Occasionally she wears other articles of clothing, but these are generally harder to put on, take off, and change her diaper in, so Daddy doesn't like them as much. They are quite cute, and she will definitely be exhibiting more style in the future.

What you can't see from most photos is that she has about 2 million pieces of clothing in her room. Most of these are used clothes from friends and family, which we like because it means less consumption of new stuff. In fact, we realized today that we have yet to buy a single article of clothing for our daughter -- no complaints there! So after we arrived home from being on the Island for two weeks, it was time to organize her clothes. The piles in Rachel's room quickly grew taller than she is, as we sorted them into categories based on when they are supposed to fit her. Here is a photo of Rachel and Mommy posing with the piles (called "now", 6-9 months, 9-12 months, and "really far in the future").

Rachel amused herself during this 4-hour process (we did take a break for dinner, several naps, 2 diaper changes, and a snack break) by sitting on Daddy's lap, lying on her changing pad, and later having a tug-of-war contest with herself. She recently learned how to bring her hands together at the center of her body, and is very entertained by pulling on one hand with the other. She also discovered a new toy (called the "Winkle" -- thanks Andi and Giles!) that had previously been uninteresting. Today it was a hit, as she tried to pull it in two directions (one with each hand) and eat it at the same time. The following video shows this amusement.

Rachel's First Christmas

Monday Dec 20^th, 4am: Rachel’s first flight

Wake up!  Shower. Eat. Dress. Pack car.  Wake up Rachel.  Rachel screams.  Feed and change Rachel.  Drive to airport.

 

Rachel’s first flight had caused Mommy some anxiety over the last few days.  Check a car seat?   Take a stroller?  Nurse her or give her pumped breast milk in a bottle?   Will her ears hurt and will she scream? 

For all my worrying, everything went perfectly.  Good things: in 2010 baggage allowances were quite generous for infants, especially considering they don’t pay for a seat domestically.  Daddy came to the airport to help check our car seat and two big bags.  Then Mommy could go through security with a carry on bag, Rachel, and the front carrier.  The hardest part of the travel was getting dressed again after going through security, getting my ID out, and not dropping Rachel.  I felt pretty stoked boarding the second plane (Vancouver to Victoria) with Rachel asleep in the carrier on my chest… only to have the flight attendant inform me that I could not take off or land with her in the carrier.  I had to pull out ninja moves to remove Rachel from the carrier without waking her up.

 Uncle Jeff picked us up at the airport, which was really special, since he hadn’t met Rachel yet.  After a backbreaking 30 min requiring two Masters degrees to install Rachel’s car seat in the car, we were off.

Family Visits

First  Rachel met her great grandparents Alice and Stan Hunt.  “Grandpa Hunt” had just been discharged from the hospital post heart attack, and was at home learning about his oxygen tank and walker.  During the week we visited there a few times, and joined in on a few appointments. 

Rachel got to see Pops (Meggan’s Dad, Richard) again, and then it was off to Uncle Jeff and Auntie Janelle’s house.  Five kids were there, eager to meet Rachel.  Teagan had already met Rachel but her two brothers and two other cousins had not.  They mauled the baby for a while and took turns holding her and poking her before they satisfied their curiosity.

We rounded off the day with a visit to Uncle Tony and Aunt Adrienne’s house.  Rachel met her cousins Ella and Benson.  They entertained us with videos of the kids singing and explaining energy management.

We had many more family and friend visits over the next week, including visiting the BC Forest Museum Christmas Lights train with the entire Hunt family, and a fun Christmas dinner with Meggan’s cousins, the Bjornsons.

Babysitting by Nana and Pops

On Wed, Dec 22^nd, Meggan had a high school reunion night planned.  Meggan’s parents “Nana” and “Pops” were due to babysit over bedtime and beyond.  After a busy day, things weren’t as organized as Meggan would have liked and she almost called the whole thing off.  But then, our little angel went to sleep at 7:25pm and didn’t stir until after 6am!!!  A new record sleep and Nana and Pops didn’t have to do anything at all.

Dec 27^th Skiing at Mt Washington

Wake up!  Shower. Eat. Dress. Pack car.  Wake up Rachel.  Rachel screams.  Feed and change Rachel.  Drive 2 hours in rain and then past clouds to ski hill parking lots. 

Beautiful snow and sunshine.  Pops and Jason take the first turn on the slopes with Mommy and Rachel in the lodge.  The weather deteriorates after that and we continue to take turns in the lodge.  Meggan and Jason get time to ski together and play ‘follow the leader’ in the trees while Pops takes his turn in the lodge.  We return home late to Duncan after a long and wonderful day in the snow.

Dec 30^th To the US Consolate in Vancouver

Wake up!  Shower. Eat. Dress. Pack car.  Wake up Rachel.  Rachel screams.  Feed and change Rachel.  Drive to ferry. 

Ferry.  Drive through a deserted post-holiday Vancouver in record time and park with time to spare.  Intimidating security screening and then a lengthy process of having all our pictures, paperwork, and fees screened before we received the official stamp: Rachel is now a dual citizen.  She has her Canadian Passport and her USA Passport is on the way! The clerk explained after our paperwork was complete that Rachel’s would be the last “Consular Report of Birth Abroad” ever printed in Vancouver – in the future they’ll all be printed in the States. Remember this valuable trivia fact, everyone!

Dec 31^st New Year’s Eve at the D’Abreos

Although tired, we had a good time with Dana, Robin, Taylor, Rylie, Andi, Giles, Nya, Esme, Christine and Cory.  It was hilarious to see the 5 little girls playing and showing off each of their own developmental stages.  We stayed up past midnight playing games (translation = laughing at Robin as he continued to mess up). 

Jan 1, 2011  Returning Home

After 12 nights away and a fine drive home, we were thrilled to return to our own house!