I finished Grade 9 this week and am very proud of my marks!
He said
After our glorious weekend off, together and up at the trailer last weekend, and given that starting Wednesday evening after work we’re all off work for a chunk of time and will be up at the trailer for a good length of time, it was expected that I would be working a stretch this week and through the weekend. And given that outcome, Danielle decided to have a weekend to herself up at the trailer since Emelia wanted to spend the weekend at home since I was going to be there anyway. Justin and Steph were heading up, so it wouldn’t be a total alone weekend and she would have friends to fire pit with.
On the bike front this week I crossed of another significant milestone on the GT. Since getting the bike on May 13th, I have managed to ride it every single day since. The first night was a fun, short trip from the Jornitz’s to visit my pal Jim. But, since that shorter, inaugural ride, every single day I’ve done at least 20km on it. So this week when I noticed after knocking off another 20km on my day off ride that I was just 30km shy of 1,000km I decided that later that day after I had gotten a bunch of the errands on my agenda out of the way, I would take the big ride out to Byron & back in order to cross the 1,000km milestone off. And that I did! And, what is even cooler is that next week while we are up at the trailer, Justin, Steph & I are going to make an attempt to ride the 135+km of the G2G Rail Trail.
Also, this week, for the first time I was finally able to see Emelia play softball! She has been doing it for three or four weeks and the way the schedule has played out, I haven’t been able to see her play. As luck would have it, Thursday I was off and Emelia had practice so I got to see what it was all about. It was so fun to see her doing something completely new and out of her wheelhouse. She was laughing and having fun with her teammates and it was crazy to see how far she has come in a short period of time since starting. I am really hoping that the schedule will work out so I can take in a game some time.
So, the weekend flew by and before I knew it here we are looking at three days of work before I am off for a full week! I am so looking forward to the time off and spending more than just a few days up there and getting in some serious time relaxing with Danielle and Emelia. As I said there are plans for a ride of the full length of the G2G, and then of course with it being over Canada Day there will plenty going on at Auburn as well. We’ll have friends, food and all sorts of fun. We’ve just rounded out review writing at work and we’ll be knee deep in delivering them this week and possibly when I am back so this break couldn’t come at a better time and I am so looking forward to it!
She said
The focus for us this last week was getting things wrapped for Emelia in school. In a blink of an eye she is done grade nine! This school year has just flown by. I wanted to say one big congratulations to Emelia and how much she had grown in grade 9. A few years ago Emelia was diagnosed with a learning disability, she essentially has no working memory. Add in that she has anxiety and ADHD learning hasn’t always been easy for her. Just a few years ago we had to enrol in an intensive reading program because she was a few grades behind grade level, she had to get almost weekly tutoring for extra support. Well this girl has taken on every obstacle in her way and this year ended with a grade average of 86%!!! She missed honour roll because of one B (for grade nine you have to have As in every class), the rest of her grades were all in the A to A+ range! I don’t know how she does it, she amazes me every day, she has more inner strength than she ever gives herself credit for, she works so hard and we could not be more proud of her. Way to go boo!
Now back to our week, the whole week was packed with activities for her every night after school as well. Softball has become a full commitment and this past week there was an additional game added to make up for a game that was rained out earlier in the season. So by the time the weekend arrived Emelia and I were really ready for some downtime. With our big first week next week at the trailer and Emelia being so tired from a long week she opted to stay home with John since Olivia wasn’t going to be a the trailer this past weekend.
Since starting camping I had never stayed in the trailer solo, I have done lots of just Emelia and I trips over the last few years but I have never gone alone. Steph and Justin were also kidless as well as dogless for the weekend so we had a quiet and relaxing weekend. Friday once I was done at work I packed up, made some supper for the three of us and ate with Emelia (John had to work later), once I was done getting some supplies at the grocery store I headed off to Auburn. Since Steph and Justin were not going to be up until a little later I wasn’t in a big rush to get up there, arriving around 8:30. Once I unpacked I got back in the car and headed to Goderich to do one of Emelia and mine favourite activities, watch the sunset over Lake Huron.
It really felt strange being up at the trailer without my family, originally as I was packing up Emelia was back and forth on the idea of staying home but after I encouraged her to reach out to some new friends from school she quickly had some fun plans with friends and it was all good and she wanted to stay home. It was honestly great to see her reach out to her new friends and see her excited to have time with someone outside of school other than her usual go to. She is still coming into her own, still building confidence and realizing that she does have incredible friends who cherish her for who she is! I got to spend the next two days relaxing and recharging, it was great but I really missed my family and cannot wait until next week when we can all get up there and make some amazing summer memories.