teeny tents and really big backpacks
Realized that bookings have taken over my life. We're not even done yet. There's enough done that I could take a breather, but it's probably better to keep the pressure on and get it done.
I successfully submitted my paperwork for the upcoming Pathfinders Fantasy Camp, yay me!! Only took one set of revisions. I'm pretty sure those assessors are on crack but whatever. I don't question. I don't care. I just make the changes. Even if the changes directly contradict what the last assessor told me. Grad school was good training for this. I used to care about the senselessness of it all but then I got numb and life was easier.
So we've booked like a thousand things. It's basically everything we plan to do for a year.
I thought I had all the time-critical things booked but then I just remembered about my son's BIRTHDAY PARTY. Which is three weeks away. Argh. Kid, why you gotta be born in June? Just why.
I hear science has solved this mystery of why people are born at certain times. Whatever. I'm too busy for science.
OK new plan: Get his party planned TODAY. Optional: Pathfinders camp bookings, Pathfinders camp prep.
The fam and I want to try a new hobby: Back country camping. You get a permit to hike as far as you want into a national park and plop a tent down anywhere. No amenities, of course, so it's the honour system to clean up. And you're on your own re: wildlife. A little scary but also possibly very cool.
LLB and I spent three hours last weekend looking up provincial parks and making a "to do" list for the summer. The Atlas Obscura was awesomely useful. We found all the weird local things to see and do within a 300k range. Some we've already seen and would like to see again, and others the kids have never seen, like the world's biggest truck in Sparwood. Hokey but fun for kids.
After we got bored of looking up campgrounds and tourist spots, we moved into shopping research for back country camping. We have almost everything already except for really big backpacks and tiny, light tents. Backpacks can be bought used but tents need to be new. We spent hours reading consumer reviews and comparing weights and sizes. Finally found a brand with a good compromise between price and weight for beginner backpackers.
We'll get two tents to start, a 2-man for the kids and a 3-man for the adults. Unsure if both kids will actually fit in a 2-man tent, we won't know till it arrives. Might end up ordering a third tent.
The tents will be super useful even if we never go back country camping again. Bug and I want them for Pathfinders so we don't have to wrangle the crappy District loaner tents. In fact I'm going to suggest to all the Pathfinders families that each girl should have her own little tent if possible. They don't cost a ton and it'd be easier for the girls to use their own instead of the crappy loaners. I already floated the idea to one mom and she's 100% on board.
LLB and I chose a park in BC to go back country camping in, just over the border. Can't remember the name but apparently it has a lot more wildlife than most national parks. At home, in our living room, this seemed like a positive thing. I hope we will feel that way when we get there ha ha.
My question about backcountry camping is, If you're off the beaten path, how do you find your way back to the car? Using actual compass skills? GPS on phones? Wouldn't satellite service be unreliable in big national parks? Are you allowed to mark your trails? This needs more research.
P brought up the interesting point that with a boat, we could just... boat into camping spots instead of hiking in. That sounds super fun too.
I put in the paperwork for LLB's new school yesterday. They emailed me after to say they noticed his gifted code and did I want the gifted program? And I got a little pugnacious because I already talked to their Diverse Learning person about that. And it seemed like kids with special needs get chosen last for the program. Probably for a reason like they cut supports to the program. I don't need him losing the few supports he already gets, in exchange for the dubious benefit of a gifted program TM. We're just at the school for the hockey anyway.
Worried about the accompanying gig I took on. Normally scores for accompaniment are around level 5-7. I knew this music was harder but I still underestimated it. My sightreading isn't great but I can sightread level 8 fine, level 9 badly.That's two of the pieces. I still have to practice them but just for fluency. But I can't sightread the Bach concerto anywhere near speed, which is freaking "allegro" btw, because of course. There are a ton of 16th note runs because of course. It's definitely level 10. Getting there in a few weeks is causing me way more stress than I bargained for. A rookie mistake. Next time, PLAY the music before agreeing to a price.
Freaking Bach. I hope he dies.
I successfully submitted my paperwork for the upcoming Pathfinders Fantasy Camp, yay me!! Only took one set of revisions. I'm pretty sure those assessors are on crack but whatever. I don't question. I don't care. I just make the changes. Even if the changes directly contradict what the last assessor told me. Grad school was good training for this. I used to care about the senselessness of it all but then I got numb and life was easier.
So we've booked like a thousand things. It's basically everything we plan to do for a year.
I thought I had all the time-critical things booked but then I just remembered about my son's BIRTHDAY PARTY. Which is three weeks away. Argh. Kid, why you gotta be born in June? Just why.
I hear science has solved this mystery of why people are born at certain times. Whatever. I'm too busy for science.
OK new plan: Get his party planned TODAY. Optional: Pathfinders camp bookings, Pathfinders camp prep.
The fam and I want to try a new hobby: Back country camping. You get a permit to hike as far as you want into a national park and plop a tent down anywhere. No amenities, of course, so it's the honour system to clean up. And you're on your own re: wildlife. A little scary but also possibly very cool.
LLB and I spent three hours last weekend looking up provincial parks and making a "to do" list for the summer. The Atlas Obscura was awesomely useful. We found all the weird local things to see and do within a 300k range. Some we've already seen and would like to see again, and others the kids have never seen, like the world's biggest truck in Sparwood. Hokey but fun for kids.
After we got bored of looking up campgrounds and tourist spots, we moved into shopping research for back country camping. We have almost everything already except for really big backpacks and tiny, light tents. Backpacks can be bought used but tents need to be new. We spent hours reading consumer reviews and comparing weights and sizes. Finally found a brand with a good compromise between price and weight for beginner backpackers.
We'll get two tents to start, a 2-man for the kids and a 3-man for the adults. Unsure if both kids will actually fit in a 2-man tent, we won't know till it arrives. Might end up ordering a third tent.
The tents will be super useful even if we never go back country camping again. Bug and I want them for Pathfinders so we don't have to wrangle the crappy District loaner tents. In fact I'm going to suggest to all the Pathfinders families that each girl should have her own little tent if possible. They don't cost a ton and it'd be easier for the girls to use their own instead of the crappy loaners. I already floated the idea to one mom and she's 100% on board.
LLB and I chose a park in BC to go back country camping in, just over the border. Can't remember the name but apparently it has a lot more wildlife than most national parks. At home, in our living room, this seemed like a positive thing. I hope we will feel that way when we get there ha ha.
My question about backcountry camping is, If you're off the beaten path, how do you find your way back to the car? Using actual compass skills? GPS on phones? Wouldn't satellite service be unreliable in big national parks? Are you allowed to mark your trails? This needs more research.
P brought up the interesting point that with a boat, we could just... boat into camping spots instead of hiking in. That sounds super fun too.
I put in the paperwork for LLB's new school yesterday. They emailed me after to say they noticed his gifted code and did I want the gifted program? And I got a little pugnacious because I already talked to their Diverse Learning person about that. And it seemed like kids with special needs get chosen last for the program. Probably for a reason like they cut supports to the program. I don't need him losing the few supports he already gets, in exchange for the dubious benefit of a gifted program TM. We're just at the school for the hockey anyway.
Worried about the accompanying gig I took on. Normally scores for accompaniment are around level 5-7. I knew this music was harder but I still underestimated it. My sightreading isn't great but I can sightread level 8 fine, level 9 badly.That's two of the pieces. I still have to practice them but just for fluency. But I can't sightread the Bach concerto anywhere near speed, which is freaking "allegro" btw, because of course. There are a ton of 16th note runs because of course. It's definitely level 10. Getting there in a few weeks is causing me way more stress than I bargained for. A rookie mistake. Next time, PLAY the music before agreeing to a price.
Freaking Bach. I hope he dies.