With the birth of Mackenzie, I wanted to have a trip back to visit with everyone, and hang out. The plan was to rest, relax, play some golf and catch up with everyone again. Mission accomplished - details to follow...

So first and foremost, this was about visiting with my new niece. Mackenzie is beautiful, and getting the chance to see her just days after she was born was amazing. Here's a couple of pictures:

Normally when I'm back for these visits, I end up spending more time driving around visiting with people, than anything else. This time I decided to stick close to home for the most part. This resulted in me playing a lot of golf - happy times! I played all three courses at Osprey, and managed to play the best three rounds of my life! I'm not sure what happened but rounds of 85, 84 and 81 are not likely to be topped. The weather was very warm, and the courses were pretty much empty. All in all, it was fantastic.

I also manged to visit with Tom and Mike from PG, and Tom took me for a round out at Cherry Downs. Cherry is also one of my favorite courses, but it was getting a chance to catch up with Tom that was the most enjoyable part. Sadly, my golf game came back down to earth...

I also had a chance to go up to Stoney Lake and hang out with Carolynne, Graham and Alexandra for a weekend at their cottage. I love that place - it's quiet and relaxed, the lake is great to swim in, and they have lot's of fun toys. I went tubing for the first time, which is a riot! Graham seemed to enjoy figuring out how to toss me off the tube a little too much. This was the first time I've been up to the cottage during the summer since I moved to Vancouver - normally it's winter when I visit, so it was nice to be up there in the summer.

And last, but not least was the "social event of the summer" - Alex's birthday party. And it lived up to the billing. It never fails to amaze me how much family we have, and how much fun it creates. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and everyone seemed to have a good time. There was a volleyball net set-up, people were playing badminton and disc golf, and of course there was a ton of food. All in all, a great day.

New York Awaits...

OK, well the big excitement for me in the near future is that it looks like I'm going to attempt another marathon. Earlier this summer I found out that I managed to "win" a lottery entry into the 2006 ING New York Marathon! I've been slowly working on my conditioning for the past couple of months, and I am now into serious training. It's been going well, so I thought that now would be the time to tell everyone.

I'm pretty excited about it, and I am hoping that my body will hold up through the training and the race. Seeing that I'm two serious injuries (another knee surgery, and a busted ankle) removed from my last marathon (3:48 at Victoria), my goals this time are a lot more modest. My expectation is just to finish this race, and to really enjoy the whole experience. I love New York, and the New York Marathon is supposed to be an amazing experience.

I'll try and keep everyone updated, and let you know how the training is going. I'm being a little smarter about it this time around, and have stopped playing all the other sports that I normally play. This is going to allow me to focus on running, and hopefully avoid any injuries. This is pretty exciting for me, as New York was always the marathon I've wanted to run.

Mackenzie Victoria

My first niece was born July 19, 2006. I had the pleasure of visiting with the little girl the week after she was born, and it was amazing! She's tiny and beautiful, and I think I like this being an uncle thing. I'll add some pictures shortly.