Outdoor adventures so far this summer...

So....

Just thought I'd share with you some of the enjoyable things we've gotten to do this summer so far. I put together a quick montage of the photos of the events, plus a couple videos...

The events are:

Paddle Camp 09 - where I achieved my Paddle Canada Instructor certification!

First event with the climbing wall

Camping - Black Lake with our good friends Karl/Raena

Paddling with Mohan's family on the La Salle river

Paddling the Brokenhead River with Dusty

Paddling the Whitemouth River with Mark & family...

Enjoy!

These next 2 videos are a result of my suggestion... the rapids were a little lacking due to high water, so I suggested Mark & Dawson (his son) do some seal launches into the river to up the excitement level.... perfect conditions for it - but they would have liked banks twice as high.

So that's the summer so far - I had also taught my first Paddle Canada Flatwater Canoe course last week, which was a fantastic experience - I really enjoyed it. Coming up, my parents come in this weekend, we have a trip planned for down to Minneapolis next week, the following weekend we go camping with other friends, and the August long weekend I've got a guy's weekend happening - either canoeing in Ontario, or the Manigotogan River. Throw in a few evening paddles, some mountain biking and some climbing, it's going to be a great rest of the summer! We may be leaving Manitoba but we're soaking up every moment we can before we go! I am going to miss it terribly...

Jenn's Intermediate Presentation

Hey All...

The following video is the intermediate thesis/practicum presentation that Jenn presented to her faculty on April 20th. The presentation went really well, and Jenn received some great encouragement and feedback from her professors/classmates. After the presentation we thought that it would be nice to share this with all of you for you to get a greater understanding of what exactly she has been doing since January - believe me she has not been sitting idle, and even when she is physically idle, her mind is always on this topic. So we recorded her presentation, then put the slides to the audio for your viewing pleasure. Make sure you have about 16 minutes and 25 seconds, because that's how long it is, and it is worth listening to.

I just redid the video, so you will be able to read the text now - you just need to click the full screen button once the video starts playing (the four arrows pointing away from each other...)

Enjoy!

Jenn's intermediate presentation from dan wall on Vimeo.

Life since January

Hi All!!

Well I have several things to post and just haven't done it. So I'll start with posting this video on our happenings since January. At least it allows some of you to experience Winnipeg vicariously......Enjoy.

Check this out!

So this is an animation I came across.... Jenn and I both really enjoyed it, and since I can embed it into our blog, I hope you can too!

Cheers!

Dan

Big Buck Bunny from Blender Foundation on Vimeo.

Christmas Recap.

Hello family and friends! I've put together a little recap of Christmas for your enjoyment...it is a little long, but I had to get all the great times in. Hope you are all doing well. We'll post again very soon and give you updates on our lives.....'til then.

Anyone care for a chair?

So..... here's an update as to what's been occupying our time for the last few days. Part of Jenn's assignment in this latest studio was to build part of her design at a 1:1 scale (full size). So she decided that she would build one of the moveable furniture items she had designed, which was a chair/recliner. Not quite sure which word describes it best... You'll have to be the judges on that. I was her 'helper monkey' which was quite enjoyable... although there were some moments of disagreement and frustration :)

We started Saturday morning off with a good breakfast at Tim Horton's, then onto Home Depot & Rona to select materials; plywood for the structure, and red cedar for the seat. Oh, and to rent a jig saw and a belt sander. (It's so weird for me to have to rent tools; I guess I'm more than a bit spoiled with having Dad's tools accessible for any projects I want.) I was able to borrow a nice hammer drill & mitre saw from Michael, and some saw horses from someone else.... so at least I didn't have to rent everything.

The rest of Saturday consisted of layout, cutting, predrilling & spray painting. Sunday afternoon/evening we started assembling, then finished the assembly on Monday night & tonight. Here's some pics & movies so you know what I'm talking about.... enjoy!

As you can see from the first few clips; it's cold and we have snow. That's something else I'm spoiled with; I'm used to having a heated shop to work in! We did bring a thermos of coffee outside to make it a bit more bearable; for assembly last night it was -20; so we dragged everything inside and set up on our kitchen table!

And it's finished!

Update...

Hey All....


Past due for an update... where to start? How about starting with a very cute baby... here's a quick slideshow I put together of Brielle, my niece who is now 4+ months old! (Song from Steve Bell's cd 'Sons & Daughters'....)

These next pics are from Thanksgiving, which we spent out at a cabin in Ontario with some friends; Michael & Esther (our landlords) and Henry & Shirley, who are an older couple that we know here in Winnipeg through Michael & Esther. Henry & Shirley caretake this cabin for a family that works for the UN, and only return to Canada in the summer. It's a neat rustic place on a small lake, with a main cabin, plus a sleeping cabin. It was a lot of fun; games, food (what a surprise), sleep, and a good 2+ hour hike that Michael and I went on during which we got absolutely soaked... so much fun :) We even had turkey dinner, with stuffing... Henry made turkey rollups, which was comprised of a turkey sliced into thin slabs, rolled around a stuffing mixture, then barbequed. Sooooo good.

Also some pics in this one from when we hung out with friends (Michael & Esther, and Chris and Allison Danielsen) on Halloween. T'was good fun; a bit of wine, a bit of appetizers, a bit of pumpkin carving. Ours was the one with the crazy eyebrows. They looked much friendlier with the lights on. :) Can you guess what the last picture is of?

The music is something I have just discovered - Steven Delopolous, formerly of Burlap to Cashmere. (some of you should recognize that name?)

Those are the highlights in our pictures, although we haven't been very good at taking pictures lately. We have been very thankful for the number of friends we have here, and have been doing a lot with them, from games nights, to nachos & bowling, coffee, etc...

One last pic; since most of you have heard a bit about my friend Mark Friesen, I thought I would post a pic of him so that you know what the guy looks like. This is from when he got me involved in helping out with Love Winnipeg, which is how I met Michael Banman, now a friend/coworker of mine, who helped get me the job at Stantec.

It has been a blessing and an adventure for me to know Mark; he's the kind of guy that just gets you involved & doing stuff... from serving breakfast at Siloam Mission, to playing guitar for a chapel service at the prison, to biking the hardest trails I've ever ridden (while he and the other guys we were with were very patient with me...), to fiddling with a portable climbing wall... (more on this later, once we get it working). This winter there are plans of building quinzhees and camping out for a night or 2, which I haven't done since Explore, ice climbing, and last time when Jenn and I were hanging out with him, his wife Heidy, and their daughter Kara, there was discussion of something called a poor man's bungie... both moms: don't ask what that is :)

That's it for now; hopefully our next post won't be as long in coming as this one was...

Our trip to BC - Aug. 10-26.08 - Enjoy a few shots!

Camping & more...

Hey all,

Just thought we'd share some of our latest ventures & happenings with you all. I guess the first thing and most exciting, is that we now have a niece! Brielle Alexandra Voth was born to my sister Caralee and her husband David on July 3rd; so super exciting! We are heading out to BC on our 'baby trip' in less than a week, primarily to visit them and see her, and Jenn's cousins Rachel & Jeff and their new daughter Linnea (born in April) in Edmonton on our way back.

Caralee, David & Brielle

I'm thinking this is some quality burping time with mom

Proud new grandparents in the hospital - finally got what they wanted, although the pressure's not easing up. Now the thought is that they want somebody for her to play with when she's at Oma & Opa's place. :)


Brielle. I think she looks like an elf here. A very cute elf. Or maybe a smurf. David and Caralee- maybe you should paint her blue for a day just to see if that works or not.

So that's the biggest news... Other than looking forward to seeing her and Linnea, we have also been out camping a couple of weekends.

First, on the July 5/6/7 weekend we went to Rushing River Provincial Park on the east side of Lake of the Woods in Ontario - about a 3 hour drive from here. It was a beautiful area, although a bit overcrowded for our liking. We went with our good friends Corey & Melissa (pronounced Meleesa- interesting hey?) and had a blast, even though it was rainy & windy the first couple of days.

I think Jenn made me cry or something.
Out on a hike with Corey & Melissa. (Did I mention Melissa was 7 months pregnant?)

Corey & Melissa heading out in the canoe.

Jenn & Melissa!

Then last weekend Jenn and I went by ourselves to Black Lake, in Nopiming Provincial Park - another 3 hour drive - this time north-west of here. It was an absolutely gorgeous area - we did a bunch of canoeing, and kibbutzed (isn't that a great word? Kibbutz. I learned it from my friend Mark. Also 'schtooz'. As in 'that Mark, man he loves schtoozin' around in his kayaks'... pretty neat hey?) around the lake, and just enjoyed being there together with the mosquitoes. ;) Oh yes and got a parking ticket for parking without a park pass, which we had paid for but didn't receive, and felt very frustrated about but couldn't do anything about.

Us at the outlet of Black Lake into Black River. Pretty little set of rapids. And a pretty little wife. :)

Pretty little wife in the reeds.

Pretty canoe :) A day trip we took along the Rabbit River, which we followed up into another lake.
Hiking along the shoreline of Black Lake.




Also, we boiled our water, since that's what the sign at the pump said to do. But then, since there was a lot of sediment left in the water, we filtered it thru some paper towel. Very handy stuff paper towel is. :)

Me schtoozing along on part of the Rabbit River. If I don't tell you, Jenn will edit this and tell you that it was me who asked for her to take pictures of me & video me paddling solo, so there you go. Now you know how vain I am. :) I won't discuss Jenn's vanity with you, I'll let her do that next time she posts.

And that kind of sums up the highlights of our summer so far. It's been fun!

Canoeing on LaSalle....

Dan and I went canoeing on LaSalle River on June 21...it was a lot of fun and we did the whole 4 hours without getting mad at each other!! Canoeing used to be a tense sport between us!! But thankfully we have mended our differences!