This year, Robert got the cool Ratatouille costume (Jakub's from last year.) He was actually Ratatouille's brother, the fat rat, but very cute none-the less. And Jakub got lucky and was a Dinosaur. The costume we borrowed from our neighbour friends was actually of an alligator, but for Jakub, it was definitely a dinosaur.

Robert initially hated to dress up, but that's probably because he didn't know what was about to happen. When we finally got on the road and asked for candy, he was content, especially when he realized all the candy and chips and goodies was for him and only him, and all he had to do for all these treats was wear a silly costume, say trick or treat and then thank-you.

Jakub, remembering from last year and probably from talking about it at school, wanted to go to bed early the night before, saying that he just can't wait for Hallowe'en... he was so so so happy; he's so funny. In the morning he dressed up in his costume and went to school.

Here are some pictures of the two of them... such cute little babies we have!

Jakub is becoming a little brainy boy - maybe a bit of a nerd. He started reading real words in both english and polish - Polish is much easier to read (not as many silly rules, it's very phonetic), so it's much easier for him to read longer words in Polish (even though Alex would dispute this). He also loves to add on a number line and add with his fingers, and even subtract. He likes to talk about big numbers like "I love you a million, no wait, three hundred million. He also loves puzzles like solitair and Rush Hour and loves to play tic-tac-toe with Alex. But recently, we decided to introduce him to Sudoku. Here is his first Sudoku Puzzle ever! Of course we had to do it with him, but he got the idea right away! I was so proud of him!

If he could just as easily learn to wipe his bum, peel eggs, tie his shoes, then I would be in heaven. Unfortunately he is a reluctant learner when it comes to basic and actually important-in-life things like that!

From Other Pictures

Our friends Melanie and Joel started a website called Family Vacay. It is just in its early stages, but when it gets big, it should be a great resource for families that travel with their kids. You can submit stories and reviews of places where you've been, as well as read other families' experiences. Check it out: Family Vacay.

I would suggest that everyone do the Niagara Fall Marathon!

Two weeks ago I tried another marathon to get to Boston, and the lucky one was Niagara Falls. It starts in Buffalo, we cross the bridge into Canada, run up to Lake Erie and then run down the Niagara river finishing right at the Falls. It was spectacular.

The run itself was quite good. I had some Mitch Hedberg comedy on my MP3 player and ran well for the first 10k or so, then running up to the mouth of Niagara river very near the turnaround I felt a sharp pain in my achilles. During my last long run before this race I had injured it, but I had taken good care of it for the week prior and hoped it would last.

I immediately changed my gait to more of a Terry-Fox style to avoid using my calf and heel. The pain went away after just a couple of minutes and I was running well again.

Everything was great for another 12 or so k when the heel came back. This time it stayed for about an hour. My pace went down to around 5:30 or 5:45 or a minute + slower than I needed it to be. It is a good thing Bogusia didn't come watch me during that time because I would have gone off with her.

An hour later and the heel was numb, which allowed me to go faster again and I hit under 5:00 for the last almost 10k. I had enough energy to rocket through the last 500M at a flat out sprint which I paid for.

Final time: 3:27 Personal best, under 3:30, improvement of almost 8 minutes from a month ago and only 17 minutes off my goal. The race was a pleasure with great weather and scenery. I'm happy with my time and I think I ran close to the best I could have.

Look at my beautiful little princesses:

From pictures for gierus site

So I ran the Montreal Marathon.  My excuses, in advance, are:  I had a cold, it rained and there were puddles so my shoes were wet the whole time.  Also my aerobics instructor targeted my quads on the Thursday class, compromising my delicate muscular tuning.

My goal was 3:10, Boston Qualifying Time.  I achieved 3:34:23.

Positives are:

• The time was decent.  It was very close to my all-time best of 3:31:45, which was achieved in Vancouver after training at altitude (700M in Edmonton).  It was at least 15 minutes better than last year's time, which was done at the peak of health and during which I felt like I had run a strong race.
  • Analysing the results I see that this was a tougher marathon than Vancouver.
  • In Vancouver I was in the top 17.6% of all men and 24.2% of those in my age group.
  • In Montreal I was in the top 12.6% of all men and 15.5% of those in my age group.
  • Median time in Vancouver was 4:15, median time in Montreal was 4:17.  The winner in Montreal also ran 2 minutes slower.  Not sure what that means, but doesn't seem like much.
• The route was great.  We ran through some classic Montreal locales
  from the Formula One track, to the Old Port, various historic
  neighbourhoods, and finishing with a 3/4 loop around Olympic Stadium.
• My 10K and half-marathon split were perfectly paced for achieving the 3:10.  I had never been able to control my pace in a marathon before.
• I did beat the Running Room's 3:30 pace bunny.  I think.  I saw him only at the starting gate.

Negatives are:

• I should have been able to hit between 3:05 and 3:20 I thought.
• I may have "wasted" a year of training because I'll have to it all again when I try next year.

Anyway, it was great overall.  The training was great for my body and I continue my tradition of running a marathon a year.  Thanks so much to Bogusia for letting me spend the time to do those runs, and for cheering me on during the race.

A little late, but here are the pictures and stories from our camping trip to La Vérendrye Reserve. You can click on the slide-show to get a full-screen version.

The Réserve Faunique La Vérendrye is huge, covering over 12,000 square km with 4,000+ lakes in it and 800km of defined and maintained canoe camping circuits. We started at the serviced entry point, Le Domain on Saturday of the Labour Day weekend. Out intent was to spend two days and one night, avoiding the traffic of the entire North Western quadrant of Quebec being serviced by a two lane highway running through many small towns.

Saturday

We arrive shortly before noon, purchase our park entry ($7/night) and fishing license ($12/day inside the reserve), and pack the canoe.  Everything fits.  Put-in and take-out are on a great sandy beach where the kids played until we left.

Last year we found an excellent campsite and we hoped to get the same one again.  It was the sole site on a very small island with a great view; very successful for our family and the Altons with the dog and kid entourage.  Unfortunately we deduced that our target campsite was taken because we saw two canoes charging full steam to the island it was on. Our idea was stolen by a quicker Quebecer.

Campsites are marked on the map as a number, and on the shore with bright yellow diamond signs visible from a distance.  The number tells you how many tents fit on a site.  We wanted one with only 1 or 2 so we wouldn't have to share and could the dogs and kids run free.  Our new target became a "2" site on the point of a moon-shaped island about 4 kms away.  The nearest other site was completely on the other side of the island.  We chose our side because it was close to other islands, which we thought would provide good swimming, fishing and viewing opportunities.

Success:  The site was vacant and it was gorgeous.  We covered the sign with a lifejacket indicating that we were there.  Canoe unloading and tent set-up followed.

It was late afternoon by this point and I wanted to get a swim in before evening.  Jakub and I, along with the dogs, swam about 100m to a tiny island.  The water was chilly but we had no problems, not even Jakub since he was wearing a lifejacket.  He is turning out to be a champion swimmer.  I decided to take Robert as well by towing his lifejacket.  Fantastic fun at first until a couple of waves wet his face and he started to fuss.  Of course the fussing meant that Robert turned over, got more water on his head, swallowed some, and generally thought that he was going to die.  No danger of course since he was completely secured in his life jacket, but he stopped having fun.  We got to the island and decided to come back because Mommy was the cure for near-death anguish caused by Daddy  Back we went.

Then came dinner:  A yummy pasta, fire-browned marshmallows for desert and tea. One of the great things about this park is that you can harvest wood from the forest, which means big fires for us.  We burned a tree and a half -- don't worry, they were deadfall and not that huge.

At dusk, between dinner and desert, we did a little fishing.  It was very exciting because, although we ultimately got nothing, we saw fish coming to take our bait at least five times.  Bogusia even got a full bite, but it got off before she brought it in.  Jakub lost his fishing rod in the water but cried like it was a leg he'd lost.

Sunday

On Sunday the view from the campsite was breathtaking.  Perfectly calm water upon which floated a slight mist puncuated by the sound of loons exactly like in those Canadian nature commercials I remember.  I did a little more fishing before breakfast, again with no luck.  We caught a leech and sentenced it to be bait this time instead of the fake grubs.

Breakfast was ichiban au eggs and maple sausage.  Delicious and filling.

We headed off fairly early so that we could see something interesting around the lake.  Our tour took us up a little stream to another lake, and past some of the scenery and other islands, until we finally reach a beautiful shallow beach where we ate lunch and played for over an hour.  Since it was close to the take out, maybe 2 km, we decided the dogs could wade that far or chase us on shore.  It worked great except when it got deep and the dogs tried to swim several hundred metres. They were no Phelps doggies and we had to send them back to shore.

That's it.  Take-out, jump in the car and head home.  We did hit some traffic, but it was due to construction not Labour Day jams.  Have a look at the slide show. You can click on it to get a full-screen version.

At the beginning of Summer, I took the kids to Calgary. I wanted to take advantage, one more time, of Robert going on the airplane for free (under two years olds get to fly for free). The journey was hard, especially because we had a stop-over in Winnipeg, and the kids (especially Robert) didn't appreciate the second leg of our flight. My brother was waiting for me at the airport, and my Mom came rushing in at the very last moment, before we were about to leave (traffic in Calgary is a killer). She then took us to her place (the Ranch where she lives in Porcupine Hills).

Here is a recap of our trip. I'll use the photos to help me recall all the fun things we did in Alberta!

We woke up, and right away my mom told us that she needs to go out and feed her baby cow "Fred". Somehow he got lost without a mother, and therefore needed someone to feed him. My mom filled that void. He would lick himself so hard when he saw my mom coming every morning.

Then of course the kids had to ride on the tractor.

Robert turned 2 that day, but because I we didn't feel like driving all the way to a store for a cake, I decided to try my baking abilities. I baked a pretty delicious cake for Robert, although the icing didn't turn out as I had hoped (good first try though). Robert loved the cake, and especially the candles which he had to blow out.

The second day we decided to go to the Rockies (as I love them so much). We met Alex's mom in Canmore for a lunch, and then continued to Banff to do the Tunnel mountain hike. Jakub was a true hiker, but Robert got tired right away and needed to be carried most of the way. We took turns as to who would carry him.

We tired ourselves out and took to relax at the Banff Hot Springs. Robert absolutely loved the hot water, and didn't want to ever leave.

Instead of heading straight back to the farm, we did a night stop-over at my brother's house in Calgary. He took us in graciously, although wasn't really prepared, and my mom was annoyed, as he didn't have any tea (my mom's true addiction). We showed him the pictures from the day's trip, and he decided to zoom in onto my huge bum, so that it filled the whole TV screen (love between me and my brother is so so strong, just like the old days).

But don't worry, I got back at him. Check out my brother's fantastic physique:

When we got back to the farm, we went on many hikes/walks around the fields and found many beautiful wild flowers. Jakub really liked to collect a bouquet every time. Robert liked to be carried, but whenever we stopped, he had the most energy and wanted to play. Very cute!

And of course we had to go visit Nanton's greatest attraction: the Model Train Museum. Jakub remembered from previous years and was showing Robert all the ins and outs of the model trains. Robert was in awe, and absolutely loved it.

Jakub is fascinated and obsessed wtih dinosaurs, so when he got a present from his grandma (babcia Bozenka) a Disney movie: The Dinosaur, he had to watch it at least once a day (usually when Robert went to sleep during the day.

Also, for this reason, we absolutely had to go to Drumheller - the hub of dinosaur digging in Alberta (if not in all of Canada). They also have a huge dinosaur museum there.

After the museum, we went on a walk in the Hoo Doo mountains - kind of a dessert like area with cactuses all around, and these strange mountainess configurations. Jakub thought we would find some dinosaur bones, but the closest we got was finding rocks that we said were "dinosaur eggs", which of course we had to take home with us to Montreal.

On the way back to Calgary (still in the town of Drumheller), we stopped at a small water park with a humungous T-Rex. The kids loved it.

We also went to the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth - the Calgary Stampede, and enjoyed a free stampede breakfast. Unfortunately the day was really cold, and we got caught by a great hail storm on the way home.

The next day I left the kids with grandma, and went to visit my friend in Edmonton. She just had a baby, and I couldn't wait and see her new born and her being a mother for the first time. I had a great visit and Trina, my friend, was the calmest and most relaxed mother I know. (Congratulations Trina!)

After our short stay in Calgary with Alex's Mom, we came back to the farm and Jakub wanted to learn how to take photographs. Here is a sample of his photography. Kind of shows what he sees. Not bad, eh?

While we were at my mom's place on the farm, she found an old slide/swing set. The kids liked that a lot.

Many times, when I put the kids to sleep (in their separate beds), they still wanted to play together. Then one day, when I came down to check up on them, they were sleeping together, hugging... so so cute!

Since I really miss the Rockies the most from Alberta, we again decided to go on a hike to Beaver Pond in Kananaskis (a provincial park close to Banff filled with many trails), and we had a great picnic there.

Near the end of the trip, Tomoko came to visit me at the farm, with her husband Rob and her little cute son Kasper. What a great visit (and another shot by Jakub Gierus).

Jakub adors Tomoko, and didn't want to leave her side.

The last day was another fun experience. Brian, my mom's husband, arranged to have some of his cows moved to a distant field. He had his brother come and some other people to help him with the hearding of the 70 cows through the gravel roads and fields. There was also some other kids that came to watch it all unfold. We all wanted to see the procession, so we threw the six kids (including Jakub and Robert) into the back of an SUV and followed the cows and the men and women on horseback. It was quite an adventure.

How to tie a tie in 10 seconds:

How to fold a shirt in 2 seconds: