Month: August 2020

This past week was our first real outdoor family adventure: a 4 day canoe/camping trip down the Kootenay River!  This is the sort of thing that the sabbatical is supposed to be all about. New experiences, quality family time, connecting with nature, feeling alive (in this case by risking death by drowning or hypothermia).  Maybe the most powerful experience was being without cell service for days. Turns out the world went on just fine without us. And the kids learned that there is in fact life outside of Instagram and SnapChat.

The trip was an incredible success. At no point did we need to alert the park ranger for an emergency helicopter extraction. Yes, some canoes tipped and cargo (gear and human) floated down river to the next eddy, but that was all part of the fun! Thanks to our good family friends who led the expedition, all 4 adults and 7 kids emerged happily and safely from the river 75kms downstream from where we launched 4 days earlier. 

It was truly an eye opener for a family of city slickers like us.  We learned:

• Life is harder without our nanny there
• It gets more painful sleeping on the ground as you get older
• Wine takes the edge off when camping too
• Showers are a luxury that even the kids eventually missed
• The humility of having to “go to the bathroom” in a hole you dug yourself
• But, we also learned that nature is a truly spectacular thing

There were so many great moments and stories coming out of the trip. This will no doubt be a lifelong family highlight and something we look back on with fondness.  Maybe we’ve even started a new annual family tradition.  If nothing else, that would allow us to better amortize the cost of all the new gear we bought…  Next year, Amazon River?

Week 5:   See week 4.  More of that.

I have to admit that my procrastination with social media and other general correspondence hit all time highs this past week.  I think it’s a function of actually approaching a state of mental relaxation. More great family time at the lake, supplemented by visits from friends, has helped me tune out the real world. 

Passing the day with plenty of sun (>35C), wine (red, white, pink), and boating (not necessarily in that order).  So much so that I haven’t even ridden my mountain bike or swung my golf clubs that I hauled out here.  And somehow I also still haven’t knocked off much more than a chapter of the book I’ve been reading for about a year now…  I may actually have moved from a state of procrastination to abject laziness.

Sadly, the sun is now setting on our family summer vacation time at the lake.  Back to Calgary to prepare for our greatest family outdoor adventure yet:  a 3-day canoe trip down the Kootenay river this coming weekend! 

I earned my “Intermediate” canoeing badge (with distinction) at summer camp in 1986 so this should be no problem for me.  It’s the rest of the family I’m concerned about.  Granted, we’ve taken one group lesson a few weeks ago, which I think should be fine for navigating the class 3 rapids…  I expect there will be ample content to blog about next week.

PS:  For those wondering about the results of our family 360 degree wakesurf spin competition, the race is still wide open.  The new board didn’t help.  Even hired a “wakesurf coach”.  No luck yet.  Next I may have to get a new boat…

Week 4. It’s been almost a month since I last logged on to the work network and email volume is down to a slow trickle. This is officially the longest stretch that I’ve ever been off.  It’s taken ’till now to shake the constant feeling (guilt?) that I need to be working. And I’ve definitely noticed a change in my demeanor. More relaxed and patient (although my oldest son may not fully agree with this assessment).  

Another great week of family vacation at the lake. Highlights include:

The quest for the wakesurf 360. This continues to be the elusive holy grail move on the wakesurf board. Everyone is close(ish) and wants family bragging rights for landing the first one. To that end I went out and bought my own board this week, better suited for the “husky gentleman”. Despite not working, I still have the financial means to buy my way to victory over the kids. Tune in next week for the results (smart money is still betting on my daughter).

Windsurfing. Brought my 1988 hot pink Mistral windsurfer out of retirement (for full disclosure, I only bought it 5 years ago on Kijiji, used it once, and it’s been in the garage ever since, as the thing proved to be much harder to ride than I remember when I was 15.)  My oldest son saw it and thought it looked cool.  After 30 minutes to assemble it and about 5 minutes of trying to ride it, he concluded the same thing.  This may be the reason this sport has been on the decline since the 80’s. Unrelated, but freestyle ballet skiing also peaked at the 1988 Calgary Olympics… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvk4PpFORD4

Daughter’s birthday party. It’s a much-anticipated annual celebration at the lake with many branches of the family tree in attendance. It’s always special, but 13 is a big one. It’s yet another reason why I’m doing this sabbatical now, as I’m afraid that we’ll soon lose her temporarily to the teenage years and the “troubles” that they bring… Happy birthday sweetheart!

P.S. The day was definitely not about me, but I would note that my new specialty summer cocktail, Spicy Watermelon Margaritas, was a hit with the adults at the party…

Don’t forget to follow our fun on Instagram: @sabbaticaldadjon

Apologies to my loyal blog followers who were looking for a new weekly update yesterday.  I’m on Okanagan time now. This past week, and for the next couple, I’m actually on sabbatical from my sabbatical. It’s our “official” annual family vacation at the lake.  This is where we would be, even if I was still “working”.  But this time around it does feel different. Way better.  No lingering work issues and email chains.  Straight to holiday mode.

I’m not sure that I’m going to be able to advance some of my bigger picture sabbatical goals during this time.  The days aren’t quite as productive. I’ve been sleeping in every morning, hanging out with the kids on the dock/boat during the day, and then happy hour tends to roll around pretty quick.  Although, now that I write it down, that’s exactly the goal of the sabbatical…

I’m still approaching vacation sabbatical life with the same philosophy and mindset, enjoy the moment and looking for new life experiences. For example, I tackled the Thursday farmer’s market on my own for the first time. What a scam that place is.  Spent more cash than that night in Vegas. I’m now considering growing Kale and making artisanal soap as a lucrative new career.  Although I will say that the $20 avocado lavender body bar is very nice.

This week’s (slightly less ambitious) project has been to develop a new Sabbatical Dad summer cocktail. Still working on the prototype but have landed on the concept: Spicy Watermelon Margherita. Tune in next week for the recipe.  (This is going to cost a fortune in mellons at the market on Thursday.)

Note that I’m slowly turning Sabbatical Dad into a multi-media empire.  Be sure to now check us out on Instagram at SabbaticalDadJon.

Also will try to figure out how to get a “subscribe” button on the blog for real time notification of new and exciting posts. I will message my website help desk in India. Let you know how that goes…