I had the best week, our school had their HOCO and the boys football team won AND Belle, Bri and I found our dream prom dresses!
He said
Finally, for the first time in months I think we can finally say we are all on the mend from this cold! Emelia despite battling it for the longest, was ahead of us this week getting away from the constant coughing. But, in the latter part of the week both Danielle and I started getting longer spaces between the cough fits and more importantly getting more restful and complete sleeps. By the end of the week, we were all over it, despite being over it for a month. I definitely got the lightest version of it, but even at that for me it was nasty, nagging and just unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.
That said, it certainly didn’t stop my time on the bike and my consistency streak. This week I crossed another milestone towards my goal of 10,000kms on the year. As of my ride on Monday I hit 8,700km on the year leaving me only 1,300 km to hit that milestone. I am way ahead of the plan that I need to be on in order to hit that. In fact add on a week of rides and I am now at 8,921kms ridden with 1,079 to go which leaves me 1,271km ahead of plan. At my usual daily distance of 26km it will only take me 42 more rides to get there. There are 86 days left in the year. So, suffice it to say this goal that I set at the start of the year that I was doubtful if possible, seems very possible and I am delighted with that!
What was great about us being on the healed side of the cold was that there was that Danielle and I were able to get out for bike rides together for three straight days this weekend. We went Friday after work, yesterday as we were off together for a longer one, and today after work again! It’s the perfect time for us to unfurl the day together and to talk about all that is going on. Aside from the physical benefit from of cycling there is a huge mental benefit for the two us having this time together. And for the two post work rides we had this weekend, we were treated to some pretty spectacular sunsets as part of the ride to boot!
This week is an exciting one as both Danielle and I have some time off work together so we’re going to finally get back up to the trailer for a stretch. I am off work from Tuesday to Friday and as of Wednesday, Danielle joins me in the time off work club. So, Wednesday morning we will head up to the trailer and spend to Friday there. We’ll definitely get in rides on the G2G but we will also work on getting the trailer ready for the end of the season. This will be our first season ever leaving our trailer in the park in the offseason and not storing it so it is going to make buttoning it up for the offseason significantly easier. And this was the other reason we were delighted to get a spot up on Snob Hill. So will the time there will be bitter sweet as camping season comes to a close, it will also be great to get a bit of time to soak it all in before we’re all done.
The other thing this week is a story I will let Danielle tell, but I will share that one of the things – the big things – to come with Emelia’s last year of high school is the Prom. Emelia and her besties ever organized and wanting to not leave it to the last minute decided they wanted to figure out their prom dresses locked down before it became next to near impossible to the closer it got. There is going to be a lot of really important moments this her last year of high scholarship (gasp), but I feel like Prom and the Prom dress is right up there as one of the bigger moments. I don’t know if I am full ready for her to day goodbye to high school yet, but I do know the dress she aid yes to is absolutely stunning one and she looks lovely in it!
She said
Emelia was for sure living her best life this week. Emelia has started getting some of her early grades for her grade 12 classes and so far she is sitting with a solid 90s in all her classes. The one class she is loving more than she expected is law. Almost every night she lets me geek out from my major in criminology and she talks about the cases and studies they are talking about in class. We are so happy and proud of her this year, it is a stressful year for her. We are already starting to get into the grind of her last year of high school. We have already bought her grad year hoodie, there is talk and fundraising for prom and the teachers and guidance counsellors are prepping the for post secondary applications. It is all getting very real for her.
Thursday night was another grade 12 highlight. Its was the last HOCO for Emelia and her friends at Lucas. Emelia has a bunch of friends on the senior football team and they had an incredible game solidly destroying Saunders in their annual HOCO game. Emelia is trying to take all these last year experiences. She was bouncing between all her friends and had the best time.
But the true highlight of the week for any teenager girl is her prom preparation. For a graduating class that did not get a graduation in grade 8 due to covid this celebration is even more sweet. When I was at work earlier this week I received an invitation to join a chat thread with Emelia and her best friends and the moms. The girls got word that some of the girls in her graduating class had already purchased their prom dresses and the girls were laser focused that we MUST go out this past weekend to start shopping.
After looking online at about 100 dresses the girls each had their top choice styles chosen and a list of stores in town they wanted to look at. The moms packed up in one car and the girls in the other and off we went to shop number one. The girls were all over the shop grabbing colour choices and styles they wanted to try on. The moms sitting there were in awe seeing our little girls all grown up and looking beautiful in these stunning gowns. After one store none of the girls found the ‘one’. Off we went to store number 2, this store (Elizabeth Noel) the customer service was absolutely amazing. The owner and another sales person were helping up and just made the girls feel like queens. They would listen to what the girls loved and didn’t love about the dress they tried on and then would adjust and bring a new batch for the girls to try on. After a few hours and what felt like 100 dresses the three girls all found the perfect dress that looked stunning on them. And the funny thing is that other than Emelia the other two girls left with dresses completely different than they thought they would buy. Bri was set on a sparkly bright orange dress and Belle was set on a red dress. Neither ended up with that but found dresses that made them look stunning. It was the perfect day and we had the best time. We missed out on this experience in grade school and I will forever cherish we had this day with the 6 of us.
To add icing on the cake for Emelia’s incredible week is how cheer is going. Both of Emelia’s teams are tweaking and fine tuning their routines to prepare for competitions that are coming up very fast. On Thursday Emelia was at Valour practice, this is an open level 3 non-tumble team. This is Emelia’s second team and she is loving it. The routine is so good and the girls look great. But honestly what made Emelia’s week was some changes that the coaches made which moved Emelia to the front row for jumps. Emelia has worked so hard on her jumps and is so proud of how far they have come. And to be seen by her coaches and to be highlighted made her week. She knows now she has to really work hard to make sure they are the best she can do before this teams first competition in January. Today she was at Sovereignty practice (U18 level 3) and this was their first attempt at a modified full out this season. The first run went pretty well with only a few errors and one stunt that came down. For this time in the season that is incredible. Her coach is the best at the gym and we know she will have them in strong position before they compete for the first time next month.
So all in all it was an amazing week. We cannot get over how fast Emelia is growing up and how fast her last year in high school is already going. We want to push a pause button so we have time to take it all in.