My friends and I walked around homecoming this weekend, we had the best time!

He said

This weekend, we crossed over into Fall officially which honestly we’ve felt coming for a couple of weeks anyway. The mornings have been cooler and the sun has been waking much later for my bike rides. But also the daily temperatures have been consistently cooler and the foliage is in flux too. But, make no mistake I am not upset about the close of Summer as Fall is my all-time favourite season.  And, it is one of the best seasons to do biking. Not only are the temperatures much more comfortable for an activity that normally I sweat quite a bit doing. But also the scenery is quite stunning and the sunsets are something to take in every morning—they make me forget the early alarm clocks on some days. And the rides this week have been absolutely all of that—and then some!

With the routine of school, work & Cheer and now the added itinerary item of Emelia’s ever burgeoning social calendar, it seems that a large part of our week (again, well, Danielle’s) is getting Emelia to and from all of her events. Emelia has decided that she is potentially going to do Wrestling again this year which starts in October we think. So things might even get busier. But the immediate focus the last few weeks and the next upcoming month is Emelia getting in all of her practice instructor-led driving sessions so that she can keep on track with potentially doing her full driver’s license test at the start of November. She’s done a great job of taking charge of scheduling her sessions around her schedule and making sure they happen so that she’s ready to take the driver’s test as soon as she is able to.

With all that is going on in life, we haven’t been able to get up to the trailer in some time—the last time we were there was in August. We’re definitely feeling it, but with all that is going on, we just haven’t been able to. The one down side to Fall arriving means we have to regrettably accept that the end of camping season is very near. The conversations about getting up there now is focused on the notion of getting the trailer ready come home to winter storage. I have Saturday off this week so we’re going to make a day trip up to the trailer to start the process of getting the trailer packed up and ready for hibernation. We won’t pack it all the way up as it looks like we should be able to get up there for some of Thanksgiving weekend as a getaway. But, after that weekend the trips there will be about ending the season and bringing the trailer home for winter.

And, as much as that is a place we’re never quite ready for, this year has been a bit of a strange one for us camping—we didn’t get there near as much as we have in the past or would have liked. And, add that Emelia has now gotten to the age where she wants to go less & less and she has a life she wants to lead. It is interesting to think how much differently we would buy a trailer today vs what we did four and a bit years ago. Especially considering that seasonal camping wasn’t even in our mindset then. Most of our priority was around giving Emelia the space and privacy of her own whereas now we might look for more of a couple’s coach with space for occasional guests  like she is. Regardless we’re still happy with our trailer and seasonal camping so don’t see this as the seed of possible change at all.

Sadly in a few weeks we will be getting a lot more final on the camping season and bring the trailer home to put it into winter storage. This Saturday when we’re there, I will for sure take in another bike ride with Danielle on the G2G Trail (I am hoping not for the last time this season).  Then, sometime after Thanksgiving weekend the trailer comes and back to London. And then we’re back to countdowns to camping season all over again!

She said

Once again things have been so busy. Work has been nuts, so many changes, big announcements and generally incredibly busy. I have been putting in long hours and everyone on our team has been burning it at both ends to make sure everything gets done. I do love my work, I love the work we do with students, with faculty and the entire Western community. Every week at work we think, things might quiet down next week but honestly it won’t for a long time. Every day is a challenge and for that I love and the people I work with. The big event at school this week was the planning for Homecoming. To say Western does Homecoming big is an understatement. For years the party school was just that, and honestly at times it got out of hand. The last couple years the entire university and city planned things differently.

It is still a weekend to remember for the students, lots of parties but with so many things going on at the school, the closing of streets around the school and increased police presence it was a party but no serious issues from what we can see. This year Emelia and her friends wanted to see what this was all about, they spent last night wandering around the neighbourhood and came home with the best stories of the insanity of the University students, Emelia was chatting away with the police, students and her friends. She had an absolute blast! Needless to say I think she cannot wait until she is able to really do Homecoming in its full glory, for now this was as close as she wanted to get.

This weekend was a busy one again for us. Today I was able to spend the day again with the little girls. I was talking to Testza last night and we found out after almost 2 weeks in the hospital Greg was finally getting released. With a lot of manouvering and help getting him settled in we both thought it was best that the girls came here for the day. I was able to spend the morning with them at Emelia’s old grade school playing in the playground. After heading home and back to the house we packed up and the girls came with me to watch Emelia’s cheer training. They were mesmerized. I had them set up with their iPads, crafts and snacks but they wanted to spend more of the time with me watching Emelia and her team work on their routine. The just loved everything about it.

This week should be a bit quieter and our big hope for John and I is to sneak up next Saturday for the day to the trailer. As John mentioned with everything going on over the last few weeks we haven’t been up to the trailer now for the better part of 6 weeks. Right now our focus is elsewhere to more important things. But we do miss the trailer and are hoping to sneak up for one more overnight before the season is over. This summer hasn’t felt like the ones of the past, we haven’t been able to be there as much as we once were. Emelia has little interest in going, we were able to get her to come a few times when she had her close friends up but that was about it. We knew the day would come when she would want to spend more time with friends vs us. As her social group grows she is off in her own world every weekend and most days in the week. But we do hope to get one more overnight as a family before John and I pack it up until next summer.