Aldergrove Lake

So i am still working out the bugs - learning how to run this whole blog "thing" Amanda T has been kind enough to make me a banner and a button for my blog - but she can't seem to get it to work on here - so if anyone out there can help - let me know! Thank you!


Anyways, Geoff & I decided to go for a lengthy walk today, we were originally going to go for a 9 or 10km walk. We debated between walking the 4.5km one way walk out the Jetty at Iona Beach down near YVR - that would have been a good 9 km walk. We also thought about doing either the West Dyke trail in Richmond from Garry Point Park in Steveston up to Terra Nova in Richmond ( i think its near YVR) or walking the South Dyke Trail which goes from basically #2 road in Steveston out to the George Massey Tunnel along the river. Both Dyke trails being 5km one way - that would have been a good 10km walk as well.

After some discussion, we decided to head east today - to Aldergrove Lake. It was the same length of drive from our place in Surrey - plus it would include a pit stop at The Domaine De Chaberton Winery. The park is in the GVRD district and is located on 8th avenue & 272nd street, about 10 min from Hwy 1. Aldergrove lake is a nice quiet park. It has a small "lake" that you can go swimming in (personally -i still don't see how something so small is considered a lake). We walked a trail that was 4km - they give you an hour to do it, personally... i would REALLY need to doddle and stop and take my time to make that an hour walk - but it was a nice 4km walk, winding up to the highest point in the park to back down to the parking lot. There are horse trails, there is a off leash dog part as well. No bikes are allowed on this trail - yet some guy decided to ignore the signs - and made ME move out of his way as he came speeding around a corner. We even got to see local wildlife - granted - they were garter snakes! I think Geoff & I will have to make a trip back out there really soon - and try all the other trails. A 4km trail walk was too easy for me - should've gone around twice

I have some really nice photos from the walk - i just have to figure out how to add them into this blog (again if someone knows how, please help) :)

We ended our advenutre in the East (i know i make it sound so far away) with a stop at the Domaine De Chaberton Winery on 216th & 10th in Langley. I had never been before, Geoff apparently a few times - and i still made him take the tour. I thought it was pretty cool. I think my favourite part was going into the Oak barrel room (i have photos, and will eventually put some up). The smell of the cedar building was so fresh. Anyways, i am not a wine expert - and probably sound like a fool haha. We ended up walking away with 3 bottles today, a white, rose & red. Now the real dilemma was what to make for dinner and what wine will we have tonight?

reminder: i am currently fundraising for the Diabetes Association - my goal is to raise $10,000. Click here to donate.

The Real Reason

Joining Team Diabetes was a big decision - a somewhat hard, yet easy decision. The hard part was knowing I would have to raise a significant amount of money & the idea of running (completing) a full marathon. It took me about 2 weeks to make up my mind - I wanted to make sure I had the support from my friends and family - a lot of them are very optimistic - a few of them - not so much. I wanted to help those people with diabetes - I have seen what it can do to people first hand. My mom is diabetic - as well are numerous family members. I used to work at the Diabetes Centre at Vancouver General Hospital for a few years as well, which allowed me to learn a lot about diabetes. Because of my mom, family and my experience at an old job, i felt more driven to do this.

My mom was diagnoses with type 2 diabetes about 6 years ago - so 2002 i think. I only recently just learned that my great-great-grandmother had lost her life to this disease. Recently a close family friend lost his father to his diabetes. I have been lucky - up until March of this year, i had never had to experience my mom having a diabetic episode. We were at my great-grandmothers' funeral the friday before Easter. Mom kinda "went into another world" she "zoned out" - those are the only ways i can explain what happened, a few minutes passed and she came too. The entire time she just sat there staring - you could've spoken to her, but she wouldn't have heard you. This was honestly the scariest thing i have seen so far - because it happened to my mom - it makes it that much worse. I remember back when she found out she was diabetic - her Hemoglobin A1C (Hgb A1C) was at 19.0 - a normal person's A1C is anywhere between 4.0-6.0 . We took a day trip to Victoria one day - and i remember her being so happy because she tested her sugar levels (which she does numerous times a day) and it came out at 12.0 - she was so excited because that was the lowest her sugar had been down to.

Mom just had her 3 month blood work down - her A1C? 6.4 - how was is that!!!! She has been controlling her sugar levels through diet and pills.

I haven't told my mom why I am doing this marathon & fundraising - she knows' that i am doing it to help people with diabetes - but she doesnt know the reason i signed up. I am doing this for her, because of her. The day at the funeral back in March was an eye opener for me - scared the crap right out of me. We don't have the closest relationship that a lot of mother/daughters do - but we have our own. So its official - mom - i am doing this for you. There i said it - i have been able to tell people why i am doing it - it has brought me to tears explaining to people the real reason - heck it brings me to tears now. Its out in the open - and even though im writing this on here - it was not an easy thing to do - cause its admitting the real reason.

So everyone please find it in your hearts to donate - http://www.teamdiabetes.ca

My First Blog!!

Well I have never even considered writing a blog before. Ever. I figured facebook and word of mouth was good a enough way for everyone to keep track of my life. You will have to bare with me over the coming X number of blogs I will be posting - my spelling and grammar is not the greatest - infact I am expecting to hear a lot from Geoff about how I said something wrong - whether it be phrasing or spelling. I get it a lot from him. I am constantly reading blogs all day - my favourite? www.miss604.com. Becky has even talked me into joining Twitter - another way for friends to keep track of me - but it doesn't help when she is the only friend i have on twitter - so sign up everyone - i need more friends to follow and have follow me!

So I decided today - after a little - ok, a lot of persuasion from Amanda - to start my own blog. So this is it - my first blog - my first post - I never thought I would be able to keep writing - but I guess i can! So i hope that you enjoy following my progress - i now have no excuse to slack off now as I'll be posting as much as i can! Please comment as you wish - I look forward to your comments - and i guess i can look forward to criticism.

To help me on my way to my goal of raising $10,000 please go here to donate.