I attempted the Great Lake Walk last week. It was a wonderful experience and I would suggest everyone tries it once!

I had a few goals for the walk:

1. Raise $5600 dollars for the Canadian Cancer Society - DONE!
   • I ended up raising $6301. A big thanks to everyone who contributed. An especially big thanks to my Dad who helped my raise the majority of it during the Sea Hawk Cup and a big thanks to Jeff who matched $1400 worth of donations. My team ended up winning the Largest Amount Pledged (Team). YaY
2. Stay Healthy so I can still look after Aaron - DONE!
3. Walk for 8 hours - DONE!
   • I ended up walking for 12 hours most of it with my sister and my aunt.
4. Complete the walk, all 56 KM - 88% done!
   • Some nasty blisters did me in at just over 49 KMs. I think I cried during the last couple of KMs I would say it was made up of 30% pain and 70% frustration of knowing I was not going to complete the walk.
   • My sister Shelagh and my Auntie Karen finished the walk in about 13 hours and 30 minutes. I am so proud of them. If it wasn't for their support and company I would have never made it as far as I did. Also having my dad as a support vehicle really helped.

So will I do the walk again? NEVER... at least that is what I was thinking during the tough parts of the walk and the few days after it. Now the memories of the pain are starting to fade and my mom mentioned she might do it next year so I will say maybe! I would definitely do long walks in the future, Shelagh for a 32 KM one along the galloping goose in Victoria - sounds like a snap

So what would I do differently?

• Walk faster - I don't think I could do much about the blisters but if I walked faster they may have held up for the complete walk
• Weight less - I am still not back to fighting weight, about 15 lbs over still. 15 lbs times 12 hours = a lot of pressure on your feet
• More Organized - I had soo much stuff to bring with me on the support vehicle but there was too much stuff in the truck it was hard to find stuff and then I forgot my bag in the craziness at 4am getting to the starting line.

OK onto some pictures

Karen's Krusaders

Front Row (L-R): Auntie Karen*, Me, Shelagh*, Helen

Back Row (L-R): Angie, Steven*, Nicole*, Michelle*

*They all completed the walk!

Me and My Sister

Me Sneaking into a Picture

 My Aunt, me and my sister

My sister and my aunt at the end!

Where the Hell's the bell?

So what is so great about the great lake walk?

• The weather - it was perfect - cloudy most of the day, no rain, good temperature
• The scenery - it was beautiful
• The greatest thing - all the wonderful people!!!! - everyone who donated to the Canadian Cancer Society, the volunteers, my team, my sister, my aunt, my dad and my family at the finishing line.

Well not all in one day of course :) I am going to try to do 35 miles in one day!

Since Aaron has been born I have been training for an ultra marathon and now it is only 5 days away!

It is called the Great Lake Walk - www.greatlakewalk.com, it is 56 km walk (or run if you are insane) around Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island - Lake Cowichan is not one of the "Great Lakes" but is is a great lake regardless. I spent a lot of time on the Lake - swimming, boating, camping and just having a wonderful time since I was kid and now I am going to be walking around it - crazy!

I am fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society because cancer sucks. My goal is to raise $5600 - $100 for each kilometer of the walk. I am getting close to my goal thanks in a huge part to my dad and my husband but am not quite there. If you would like to contribute please follow the instructions below.

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Donate online (and triple your donation):
1. Click here
2. Fill out and submit the form
3. Please let me know how much you donated and if your company does matching (email me, message me, or call me)

I have convinced Jeff to match the donations up to $1400 and then Microsoft will match Jeff’s donation. So if you donate $100 the Canadian Cancer Society will receive $300.

Here are some suggested donations amounts, any amount can be donated of course:

• $0 – If you join me on the walk, no need to donate on my behalf.
• $5 - Represents giving me a high five!
• $35 – $1 a mile
• $56 – $1 a kilometer
• $93 – $1 a day between the birth of my son (June 14) and the Walk (Sept 15)
• $776 – $.01 a step I will take on the Walk (77,600 steps!)
• $5,600 – this is my goal :)

If you have questions please let me know.

A. Your mom tells you how very attractive your wedding party is

B. Your friends tell you how very attractive your wedding party is

C. Your wedding party tells you how very attractive they all are

D. You see pictures of you wedding party on the website for your wedding location!

E. All of the above

Well of course it is all of the above but take special note of D!

Jeff and I got married on October 2, 2004 at Royal Road University (same place they filmed X-men)- Shelagh was my maid of honor, Scott was Jeff's best man, Kepmen was my friend on honor, and Angela was Jeff's friend of honor. Any who Jeff was talking to a friend on Facebook who is going to Royal Roads and Jeff mentioned he got married there and she said yeah I know I saw you on the website!

Check it out here:
http://www.hatleypark.ca/weddings/

and here:
http://www.hatleypark.ca/weddings/packages/ 

and here:
http://www.hatleypark.ca/weddings/packages/garden-wedding-package.htm

and here:
http://www.hatleypark.ca/weddings/packages/vow-reaffirmation-wedding-package.htm

 Aaron is blogging a lot more than me these days. Check out the most recent post below.

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Five Weeks and some fabulous firsts

Hello again - yesterday I turned five weeks old! A few exciting firsts happened:

• My first class - my mom and I went to Mom and baby class. We met a lot of moms and babies and mom learnt some stuff about taking care of me.
• My first throw - I was sucking on my pacifier and I decided I didn't want it any more I grabbed it with my hand and threw it on the floor. I think this will make my Grandpa Danny happy - since it is the first in many steps of his dream of seeing me play in little league. Right after I threw it though I realized I wanted it still and Dad washed it for me.
• My first sleeping through the night - Just to let you know sleeping through the night is medically defined as five hours of sleep - well I managed to go 5 hours between feedings for the first time. My mom considers sleeping through the night 8 hours or more. I will think about it, I do enjoy night time partying with mom and sometimes dad.

Well people are always wanting more pictures so here are some recent ones. Enjoy!

Dad and me doing our favorite thing....

Mom trying to get a cute picture of me and failing - please NO flash. Mom said I look like the scary guy in The Goonies in this picture! I think not!

 

Me and my pig. I am thinking about being Spider Pig for Halloween!

  

Me looking cute

Me ready for a ride!

 Aaron did a great job talking about his first 9 days! Check it out :)

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Hello World!

Hello World! I am 9 days old today and to celebrate I am writing a blog post. My first week or so has been great... My days consist of nursing, burping, cuddling, sleeping, pooping, peeing, getting cleaned up and then repeating everything over and over again. It is wonderful. My parents are keeping up with me because my Grandma Debi (my mom's mom) is helping them out A LOT.

My Likes:

• I my Family - Mom, Dad, Grandma Debi & Grandpa Danny, Auntie Shelagh, and Grandma Edie & Grandpa Paul. I am also looking forward to meeting Auntie Laura and my Great Grandma Rita and other family members really soon
• Nursing - my favorite is lait du sein droit
• Cuddling and sleeping - especially with my dad (although he snores it doesn't bother me)

My Dislikes:

• Going to the Doctors - I had to go 4 times this week - nothing to be concerned about there were monitoring my bilirubin levels (Jaundice) it was a little high but not high enough to do anything about - except measuring it. I need to get a needle in my foot it makes me cry and my mom upset, I am so glad it is all done.
• Getting my diaper changed - imagine you are all comfy and then all of a sudden you are exposed to the air. To show my dissatisfaction I sometimes pee on my mom, dad and grandma; I think it is hoot.

Things I don't understand:

• My parents are keeping track of what is in every one of my diapers, personally I would rather forget them
• When my dad talks to me he sounds funny compared to when he talks to my mom
• My mom keeps taking pictures of me sleeping

Another interesting thing is how I got my name.

The funny story - my parents are very organized and efficient they got a baby name book took a look at the first name - Aaron, couldn't find anything wrong with it so they went with it!

The true story - Dad wanted to honor his Grandpa Steinbok - who unfortunately passed away some time ago. His name is Moses Aaron Steinbok - one of Dad's cousin was already named Moshe after Moses so they decided to go with Aaron.

My second name Campbell is to honor my Great Grandma Ruth (my mom's dad's mom). Her name was Ruth Tiesu - both of which didn't really suit me, her maiden name was Ruth Campbell. My mom really likes the name Campbell so they went with it.

So my full name is Aaron Campbell Steinbok. I like it! Really I am just glad they didn't got with Tank or other funny names my mom was considering.

Other interesting things that we discovered after I was born:

• Great Grandpa Moses Aaron Steinbok was born on June 15, I was born on June 14
• Aaron has a history in my mom's family too. From Anne from Betty: Aron is an old Tiesu family name!  Walter's [my mom's dad's dad's dad] grandfather on his dad's side (Jakob's) was Aron Aronsson Tiensuu (born 1830) and his great grandfather was Aron Jahansson Tina (born 1792).  Aron Jahansson Tina would therefore be Aaron Campbell Steinbok's  great-great-great-great-great grandfather  (the family pedigree actually goes back one more generation to Johan Johansson (born 1753)

Now the moment you have all been waiting for... pictures:

Me and my dad sleeping:

 

Another one of me and my dad sleeping:

 

Guess what? Here is a picture of me and my dad sleeping:

Me and my Auntie Shelagh:

Me awake:

Me asleep:

 

Me with wide eyes:

Me and Microsoft (no idea what that is but whatever):

Me getting tired of my picture being taken, please no more mom:

Well that is it for now. Take Care!

  Here are some pictures of me with and without a belly!

Before – I was 2 weeks pregnant and weighted in at 130lbs
After – I was 37 weeks pregnant and weighted in at 165lbs

Don’t worry my lulu lemons were not injured in the after shots – I wore them for the pictures only.

The sound and speed of typing

Data  

Short meetings

Long meetings that are productive  

Sun

Chocolate Milk

 Jeff does a post about our Hawaii trip. It was awesome :)

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Back from Hawaii

Nicole and I just got back from our last vacation as a 2-person family.  We took a quick week-long trip to Oahu to relax in the sun and get away from the cold and wet (and snow apparently) in Seattle. 

We had a great time, and amazing weather.  Some hilites (pictured here) include the Polynesian Cultural Center; essentially a theme park that discusses culture from the various polynesian countries such as Fiji and Samoa.  The Center is actually run by the Mormons in association with BYU-Hawaii.  Most of the employees are students that are on scholarship from the various polynesian countries.  The day at the Center ended with a traditional Luau which was great, except for that since the Center is run by Mormons, there was no alcohol to be found anywhere.

Second hilite was the scenery...just beautiful!  Check out the photo on the left of the North Shore of Oahu just before sunset.

Third hilite...check out the photo on the right.  Paradise Air does powered hang gliding over Oahu's North Shore.  It was an amazing experience.  Not only the views, and the feeling of total freedom, but its also a flying lesson.  Apparently due to some FAA technicality, these ultralights can only be used for instruction.  Therefore, they have to let the passgengers have a chance to fly them.  What an experience!

Last, but certainly not least...check out the wreckage to the right!  Yup, that's right, the wreckage from "Lost".  They film on the North Shore, where I took the glider flight.  In fact, we first saw the wreckage from the air, then drove to it to take a picture.  ABC apparently rents some space in the airfield.  Accross the street from there is where they film many of the beach scenes.  The day we were up there, they were setting up for filming...so we saw all the trailers and crew, but not star-sightings.

 

All in all, this was an excellent vacation.  One of the best we've had.