Week one of Grade 11 in the books! I love my courses!
He said
Wednesday rolled around and sure enough the twins showed up at the front door and Emelia soon after and and one thing was clear—though they tried to play it cool, they were excited to be heading back to classes. For sure they were not fans of what they called a way-to-early wakeup, but you could tell that the social aspect of school they were happy to have back. But the thought that struck me as we got them lined up on the porch for the obligatory back to school photo, that this has been the routine with the twins for the most part thirteen years back to when they met the first day of JK. The friend group has expanded in the last couple of years since hitting high school and playing varsity sports, but the core three have always been in tact. And, it has been amazing to have front row seats to see them turn into young women.
This summer Emelia’s social calendar has exploded which made us happy that she finally got some of the high school experience that Danielle & I remember from our time at that age. Covid really delayed a lot for everyone, but I think kids Emelia’s age really had the most challenging time as a lot of how the world shut down for them, left then isolated and alone in a really important time for their development. Finally back to some semblance of regular over this last year, Danielle & I have been delighted to the social life blossom. The other big factor in this is Emelia getting the job at Silver City and meeting & making friends there too. Where she was used to the one being introduced to new friends, she’s now the one doing that.
With school, being back it means also the return of the other big September event the Western Fair. With Testza looking for something to keep our nieces busy this weekend, and Emelia being available, plans were quickly hatched for a trip to it yesterday afternoon. By all accounts while Zoe was a bit standoffish about the whole idea before they left, they all had a really great time! Emelia had such a blast that she made plans to go back in the evening with her work friend Nour after she was wrapped up at work. So they spent the evening down there until the Fair closed up for the night. And, before we even got her home, she let us know that the school group of friends – including Anna & Grace – were going to go back there tonight, together. While Danielle & I aren’t the hugest fans of the Fair, Emelia certainly is!
With us having a bit more time this weekend with Emelia finding plenty to do herself, Danielle & I were able to get out and do her second ever half century (50km) on the bikes. Being that it was Saturday and the roads would be much busier I devised a route that would take us more on the Parkway and avoid more of the roads. The up side to that was that it actually means a few more kms. So, last week where we just crossed over 50kms, the ride on Saturday was 53½kms. So in one week, Danielle clocked over 100kms on 2 rides which is a huge accomplishment for her! To say the eBike has been a huge game-changer for us and given us the ability to ride more is the hugest of understatements.
And oh yah, this week I turned 52. No big whoop, but Danielle did make me an amazing rib dinner and we had cheesecake for dessert. It was a nice, quiet evening with the two that matter to me most! Just the way I like it!
She said
As much as Emelia isn’t a huge fan of being up at the crack of dawn every day again she is loving her classes and being back with all her friends at school. After a few hiccups with Emelia’s calendar the day before school she had all the changes she hoped for and is so happy with the classes she has this year. What made things even better for her is that she has close friends in every class including 2 with Anna. The big change for Emelia this year is that she is fully taking the lead on school, work and her friends. Without any prompting from us she reached out to her guidance counsellor and advocated for herself and why she wanted the course changes. She researched before talking to her guidance counsellor what classes she would benefit from for post secondary and what classes she wanted to drop to ensure she had a balanced year but strong grades. This is a massive change for the insanely shy child she once was. She has really grown up so much as a person this year and we could not be prouder.
This week for the work week there was a break from sports but this did not mean we had a quiet week. Monday she went to a party with her friends from school and work, spent Tuesday with all her friends to make the most of the last day of summer before heading back to school. Wednesday morning the three girls were ready to go first thing in the morning. Although not thrilled they were all actually looking forward to getting back. The tradition continues, 13 years of first day of school later, their friendship is as solid as ever, if not even more. These three plus their core friends at school have been through so much together, so many challenges and it has really made a strong and supportive group. The friend group keeps growing and evolving and we just adore the girls Emelia has brought into her world. She spent years not being sure of herself, feeling she was not enough, to have a group of friends who do everything to build each other up vs tear each other down. We are so proud of the person she has become.
This weekend the theme for Emelia seems to be the Western Fair. After going over to Greg, Testza and the girls Testza had asked if Emelia would be interested in going to the fair with the girls as an extra set of hands for Testza. Emelia and the girls just adore each other. So Emelia happily agreed. Saturday later morning they were off. From all accounts they had a blast, we were sent lots of pics of very happy girls. After a few hours Emelia came home, rested up and before we knew it we were off taking Emelia and her close friend from work Nour back to the Fair. Emelia and Nour have become so close over the summer, Emelia has made an incredible group of friends from work but the connection between Emelia and Nour is the strongest by far. The girls stayed until the fair closed and then came back to our place for the night. And tonight, want to guess where Emelia is at? Yes back to the Western Fair. This time with the huge group of friends from school. We fully expect that the girls will want to be there until they close again tonight. Honestly we wouldn’t have it any other way. We love seeing our girl loved, valued and living her best life!