Journal Entry No.40 | Klutch Photography | Vancouver family photography

It seems this two day, three-night whistler/Blackcomb family adventure is becoming a "thing" every April. How lucky are we to live only two hours away from this gem, how unlucky are we that it's so expensive, lol! 

With that being said, it's our year anniversary of buying into Embarc/Diamond resorts, which we thought might be a mistake after our blood pack, not going to buy into this "timeshare stuff", five-hour meeting, signing the papers, pay for it, and then the customary buyer's remorse sets in! But in one year, we've gone on four trips using our purchased points for our international accommodations. So It's safe to say, both of us are sold on the purchase thus far! Hellllooo! Who doesn't want to travel more? oh ya, I know who, my Portuguese mother! Good thing I'm the black sheep of the family who likes to "travel", and good thing she prays for us while we're away for our safety! Got to love a paranoid Catholic mother to keep the bad travel juju away!

So a miracle happened, Amara skied this year! Thank the lord, I wonder if that was my mom's doing? She is pretty tight with the man upstairs. Like I always say, a family that skis together, (while mom does her own thing) stays together!

Also, the Embarc Whistler resort was AMAZING for families, their waterslide was almost more fun for the adults! We didn't even need to leave the resort really (except for some ciders and the cold beer and wine store for one million dollars, insert your pinky to the corner of your mouth), and we did manage to sneak out for some spectacular sushi tho from Sushi Village.  Honestly GO eat there, we all agreed that it was top three places we've ever eaten sushi at.

Again Beautiful BC for the win!

 

 

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Tough Mudder, the gin made me do it! | klutch Photography | Vancouver Family Photographer

It was December 31, 2016 and we were spending the rest of our Xmas holidays up at our family cabin (located at East Barriere Lake) and the multi-generational New Year's Eve party was in full swing at the Jensen/Coulthard cabin, which has now become an annual event of sorts. The gin and sodas were putting me in what I call a "yes mood"..." yes kids, you can have more sugar", "yes Greg, your going to get some action tonight", "Yes kids, you can stay up with us till 2 am"!

This gin inflicted  "yes mood" I was in is the only reason I was a participant in the  Whistler Tough Mudder 2017 this past weekend!

As I recall it must have been about 11 pm when Linda "life coach" Hamilton, who is the world's happiest drunk ever, suggests that we "the ladies of the lake" should do a Tough Mudder team this spring!!  I in this moment truly believed that this will be a life changing, spectacular idea!! I respond with...

"FUCK YES Linda, best idea ever, I'm in"!

Now as you would all suspect in the morning I was thinking drunk Linda will probably forget all of this crazy talk about doing the Tough Mudder! Because now that I'm sober, the idea did not appear to be so "spectacular" anymore.  I was hoping come work day January the Third, she (Linda) will be back to help others organise their lives to personal perfection and all this "let's make a lake team shit" will pass, right? Drunk talk, never plays out in the end...ever!?

Yay, clearly I underestimated the life coach.

By 1 pm on the 3rd of January, I received the email, my dreaded gin induced obligation that I signed with soda, lime and a fuck yes had come to life.  She, life coach Linda had the whole thing laid out. Groupon info, where we would stay and the timelines etc. SHE REMEMBERED, of course, the freak'n life coach would remember and be committed!.

I think my exact reaction after reading the email was.

F U C K. me. Fucking gin!

But I don't take my drunk commitments lightly or real ones for that matter...so I thought, how hard can it be! Within a matter of an hour, it was official, I Dina (a very unfit Dina might I add) would be doing the Half Tough Mudder in Whistler on June 17, 2017.

Then I forgot about it.  

Like ignoring the reality kind of forget about it, you know put the blinders on, fingers in the ears chanting "BLA, BLA, BLA" not thinking about this event period, till my brother in Victoria (in March) did the shoulder shake "wake the sis, you need to get in shape. This event isn't a joke!".  He was right. It's not!

The fear set in, I was really out of shape. So the next 50 weeks was a blur of lifting weights, workout dates with friends and mindful eating for the most part. All documented on youtube to keep me honest.

FINALLY, some of my muscles found their way back to my arms and so did my confidence that I will not leave on a stretcher by days end on the 17th because I could actually do the eight monkey bars at my kid's school, barely, but I could do them! Winning.

There were 17 of us participating, ages ranging from 16 to 64! Our only true connect the dots connection was EBL (East Barriere Lake) and FOMO (fear of missing out!). We stayed in two cabins side by side and the night before we reviewed strategy, personal fears, drank a little and laughed a lot. Some of us worked out for this event others did nothing and a few were in the middle of the two. 

The morning was tense (at least for me!), the best way to describe it was me on "crack" nervous! 

The event from the start to finish was a battle and a victory for everyone. For me, I learned that being short was a blessing and a hindrance. I also ran (way too much) and I knew better I shouldn't have as I have a runner's knee injury that flairs up and boy did it ever!  At about the halfway mark of the race, it started but I pushed through the pain and ended up with a pretty painful hobble (think Terry Fox) for about 45 minutes of the race which now made me unable to stay warm (by running). That was the next big lesson I learned was how quickly one's ability to perform mentally and physically is affected by being chilled to the core! With fingers and toes numb, muscles tense, totally soaked with no sun and lots of wind, it was a HUGE MENTAL MIND FUCK but I (and we) did it!

As we hit the finish line, I walked up and grabbed that white terry towel, made in China hand band, probably worth 50 cents and slapped in on with champion pride! Ate my one free granola bar, danced on one leg while waving the our "finisher" grey tee shirts in the air...WE DID IT!!

Our last task was to choke back a FREEZING cold beer because that's exactly what a pack of almost hypothermic women want to do, lol. I only got down three sips as my hands were shaking so badly and well, most beer tastes like ass to me anyways (no love lost there).  Now had that beer been a Strongbow there would have been some glug, glug, glug down the hatch kind of behaviour hypothermic or not!

Never has warm clothing ever felt so good, boy what a shit show in the parking lot I tell ya.  Our ass's and bras were hanging out everywhere, it was as though we had given birth again and you just don't give a dam who see's what! All we wanted was to remove the cold wet layers and stop the ability to cut glass with our nipples. I personally got trapped by my sports bra in the oh so awkward arms up position, thank God for Catherine's usable hands, like a mother freeing her toddler from a tight tee shirt, I was saved!

I even took a picture of my boob to text and prove to Greg (hubby) how cold it was!  Because my nipples never get "cold". He asked if I was drunk? I said nope. He then asked if I could send a picture when I was drunk, I said nope. He also asked if he could save this image on his camera roll? I also said nope (clearly I wasn't drinking gin)!

Our evening was spent eating and drinking after we emptied out two townhouses worth of hot water tanks from all the showers and laundry! Bruises and wounds were compared that night and we even told Life Coach Linda that we were no longer angry at her for roping us all in, some of us would even do it again!

So what started as one common connection (and FOMO) has ended in a true female bonding experience, full of personal & group victories and boatloads of inside jokes. I personally would not change a single thing that happened this weekend, not one!  Thank you, EBL ladies for a helping my check off another bucket list item I didn't even know I had!

 

The pictures you see during the actual events during the course were taking with my camera, edited by me but were completely captured by Michelle J ! SHE NAILED THE EMOTION AND THE MOMENT of these images, I'm so impressed and I'm so incredibly grateful that herself and Karen M was there to support us and help us with our gear. You ladies are truly fantastic, thank you.  Go pro footage throughout the event was captured by Life Coach Linda and Karen B.  

 

 

 

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