This week was Relay for Life, we raised 158,000 making Lucas the first school to ever reach $1.5M in fundraising for Cancer Research!

He said

The big focus for Emelia this week was the Relay For Life at school. The last two years she has dedicated her campaign to her uncle (my brother) Greg. With Greg passing after his birthday and before Christmas this one took on a much deeper meaning for her. She jumped out of the gates early and all on her own, reached out to family & friends and managed to raise $1,450 which put her sixth overall for her entire school. And her school has (historically) raised $1.5 million in the 15 years they have been participating. While that is super cool and for such a close-to-us cause, we are beyond proud of what Emelia was able to do this, despite all the sadness we’ve felt.

Danielle and I were able to get back up to the trailer this week, after missing last weekend with me working and there a lot going on her otherwise. It was so nice to be back and keep finding reasons we love this new site. It’s so quiet up there, and the neighbours are super friendly. And, because we’re still up on the hill, we still get sunset shows! We left for the trailer as soon as I was done work at six 0n Friday and within the hour we were up at the trailer cooking dinner and a fire started at the pit. we spent the rest of the evening after havin our dinner at the fire pit, enjoying sunset, listening to music and talking to the neighbours as they passed by. We’re so happy with the way this new site has worked out.

Saturday, Danielle & I took advantage of no reason to wake up early and took the morning at a much slower pace. After a big, hearty breakfast we took the bikes to Blyth and got in a G2G ride from Blyth to Walton and back. Once we were done that and had some lunch, we continued the easy-going pace. We needed to be back to London for today for my bike race, so we made he decision to come back last night over having to wake up extra early there this morning to be back for the race on time today. While it sucked to lose another evening at the trailer, it would have equally sucked to have get up extra early today to head back.

The race today was the Forest City Cycling Challenge, which is the second year I’ve done it. The forecast all week looked great like last year, however as we got to the weekend, then rain slipped into the forecast. First it looked like it might stop at my start time (9:30am) but as of last night it basically changed to rain from moderate to light for the entire time I would be riding. And I can confirm, that is exactly what happened. As I messaged my ride pal Steve to see what he was doing, we both decided to go over and pickup our registration kit and see what it was looking like and decide then.

The moment my sock got wet walking over the Check-In table, I decided what the hell? and that I was going to just do it. And Steve did the same, and we both were so happy we did. I did the 50km course (56km to be precise) in under 2 hours, which was faster than my time last year by about seven minutes. But, like I did last year after riding the first third solo, I managed to find another rider going my pace and we finished the last two thirds of the race together and the company made those kilometres fly by. And the best part was she works with the Bluewater International Granfondo (BIG) which I will be doing at the start of August! She was good company and while it was consistently wet, I had a blast. And like Steve always jokes at the start line, “see you at the end!” I did wait for him to enjoy his post ride company and confirm just how happy we were that we chose to throw caution into the wind er… rain

She said

This week was another busy one for Emelia. This week she had a full work and school load that kept her busy every night but honestly the biggest focus for her during the week was getting ready for Relay for Life. Her school goes all out for this event—it is hands down the biggest event of the year. We are always amazed at what they do and how much the kids come together for the event and how much they raise every year. When they set a goal of $150,000 I wasn’t sure they could hit it. As the event got closer they were getting closer and closer, and I am so proud to say that they once again beat their goal and raised $158,000. This put Lucas at the first school to hit the fundraising level of $1.5 million for any Canadian school.

For the event itself was an emotional event for Emelia. The last two years she has dedicated her fundraiser to her Uncle Greg. She had hoped more than anything that she could have done the survivor walk with him but instead she had to do it in memory for him. There is a part of the day where survivors do a lap on the track at the school and a walk for caregivers. Emelia found that moment hard but she was there with amazing friends to understand why that moment was so hard on her. Next year we hope to be there to see her last year in high school and to walk with her in the caregiver walk in memory of Greg and Linda.

This week were are preparing for the calm before the storm in Emelia’s sport life. On Tuesday she starts back to cheer with her new team this is going to make for busy weeks for her and an even busier weekend next weekend. Have to add in Emelia’s constant busy social life and she never seems to stop. She is very excited to get back to the gym and even more excited that she is getting a new coach and is really hoping next season is a much better one than last year.

For John and I it has been very stressful in our life and work. My work has been particularly stressful so having a way to balance out our life has been key. With everything we have been dealing with in our lives and realizing that life is short we are really focusing on balance. The trailer gives us that. This week we were only able to get up there for an overnight but even that short moments gives us the grounding we need. We cannot say enough how much moving sites has given us deep peace. We love our new site, we love our new neighbours – everyone has been so over the top welcoming. The whole space is so peaceful and gives us the chance to recharge and appreciate the quiet moments in our lives. And for that I will be forever grateful.

Going to enjoy the rest of our Sunday watching hopefully the London Knights win the Memorial Cup and the Edmonton Oilers advance to the Stanley Cup finals. So for the next few hours we will be basking in hockey stress before getting ready for another week in our real lives.