We get to do in-person Cheer starting this week! I am happy!

He said

With the regulations lifted, allowing us visits to the trailer for longer than 24 hours, we are looking for any moments where I have a couple of days off to make a beeline for the trailer. The bonus is when my days off coincide with Danielle’s weekends too. With the trailer only an hour door-to-door and two vehicles, it makes it easy to plan overlap where it doesn’t work that our ‘weekends’ match exactly. As much as I love my job, it is the one bummer of retail life. But we make the most out of it whenever we can.

This weekend worked as good as you could hope for. Emelia had a PD Day Friday and luckily I was off Friday and Saturday. So, as soon as I was done work Thursday, Emelia & I were loaded and off to the trailer. Danielle was able jettison herself from work on Friday and meet us up at the trailer. Having the two cars up there and only being an hour away meant I could leave from the trailer first thing this morning to be back to London for work. And Danielle & Emelia could spend the day there and come back at their leisure in the afternoon. And that is the reason that we love this location so much!

Friday & Saturday I was able to do some solo rides on the Guelph to Goderich Rail Trail. And then, because Emelia has come to enjoy the rides too, she and I got me out for a second rip on a Daddy/Daughter ride on Saturday afternoon. Having the trail right there at the campground has been an absolute godsend, and another reason we’re so cemented with this location for now. My new Vanterra Gravel Bike is perfect for both the Thames Valley Parkway and the G2G Rail Trail and the type of riding I am enjoying doing. And Emelia & Danielle have shown interest in doing a longer bike-packing style trip so we may do one of those together next summer over a weekend. I really love that this is something we all can do together.

On the COVID-19 front, there’s been some acceleration to the second dose of the vaccine in Ontario. I get mine this coming Saturday which was moved up from July 4th. Danielle has her second dose booked for July 5th, but she’s trying to get it earlier if possible—the plan in place for those who had the AstraZeneca vaccine now can have a second dose of Moderna or Pfizer at 84 days post the first dose. So Danielle is on every wait list she can get on. And Emelia will be able as of early August to have her second dose of Pfizer. All this is to say things are moving a lot faster to hopefully get us back to some semblance of normal life. We’re incredibly hopeful it will!

She said

Things are finally moving in the right direction on the COVID front and with the fast rollout of vaccines as of late it means that we can slowly get back to a normal life. This cannot come fast enough especially for Emelia. She has mentally been dealing with the brunt of this isolation. She is home all day alone, doing school online alone and with no siblings it has been terrible on her mental health. As her parents we can see how her anxiety is starting to get bad again so having a bit of normal has been the best news for her.

This week with the announcement of phase one being moved up by a few days it allowed us to know for sure that she can now return so a modified outdoor training for cheer. Emelia has fallen in love with this sport and with her training during lockdown and the skills she already had and has gained she is excited to get back to in person outdoor training. She has worked so hard that we are happy she is finally able to get back to a bit of a normal life.

Emelia’s cheer gym has been incredible with their constant adaptions to the rules and the latest training is no different. With a sizeable front grassed area at her gym they have been able to make a spaced out in small groups outdoor training. So Emelia has been signed up to 90 minute training twice a week training. She is so excited to show the coaches all the work she has done and is so excited to kill it this year. And as her parents we are always proud of how she overcomes such diversity and somehow always comes out stronger on the other size.

So bit by bit we hope that with things changing that we can give Emelia and all the kids a bit of their lives back. We are getting there.