I got to try Acro and Jazz dancing this week. I really like it!
He said
What an all-around kooky week! We went from having a girl, happily involved in one competitive sport (gymnastics) to a girl talking our ears off at every chance about wanting to give Acro dance a chance. A friend of hers at school is in it and that sparked an interest that quickly became the main focus for obsessive Emelia. That meant that Danielle and to spend pretty much any idle moment trying to find a tryout session in the city and as luck would have it, she was able to get one with the same group Emelia’s friend from school goes to. While this gave Danielle some reprieve from Emelia’s persistent nature, it added another night of having to rearrange life in order to get Emelia to another activity! So add to her already 3 days a week for gymnastics, another 2 nights for Acro and Jazz dance classes, and we have not much room left on the Calendar.
As much as it seems like Emelia is running the show ’round here (and lets be honest, she really is), we couldn’t be happier with how active she is. You can see it in the physical shape she is in, but also in the confidence it has given her to get out of her comfort zone and her shell and try something new and different. And even though we couldn’t get her into the exact same class as her friend Evelyn, she’s excited to give this a try. Anything that keeps her active, healthy and challenged is definitely worth any shuttling or adjusting to our lives. Danielle was able to get her into two trial classes this week and by all counts she really loves it. So we officially have her second weekly activity. The nice thing with this one is it doesn’t run through the summer, so it won’t impact camping season.
This week I was able to get my hands on an iPhone X through an upgrade on our phone plan. It was quite the domino effect as we have been planning to switch Danielle over to Telus for some time, and in doing so it allowed me to get the iPhone X, Danielle to take over my iPhone 7 Plus, and Emelia to upgrade her iPhone 5S to Danielle’s old iPhone 6. Everyone is happy with their new phones. While Danielle wasn’t happy with the cost of all this upgrading, our stocks did well enough I was able to exercise some to pay down other bills, and the old winter tires we had from the Pilot sold on Kijiji in 23 minutes flat Thursday ahead of the snow squalls that evening for the same price I paid for the phone. I really love the phone already—it is the perfect combination of the screen size I loved in the 7 Plus, but in the hardware size of it’s smaller non Plus sized phone, but still gives me the dual lens camera. The same camera Danielle has quickly learned how great is too.
For the second week in a row, Danielle and I got to have a grownup night in getting out for a concert. Emelia went over to Mom & Dad’s and had a sleepover so we could go see a band we both love, called The Dears. They’re out of Montreal and have been around for some time, and we’ve been fans almost as long. Through social media and friends of friends, I’ve actually become friends of the husband and wife duo that formed the band so it was extra special to be able to see them come through town and get to say hello to Natalia after the show. Danielle and I had a great evening that closed out with picking up pizza after the show because we had skipped dinner in lieu of getting Emelia to and from her first Acro class, and then right over to Mom & Dad’s before the show.
The end of the week was a little bittersweet for me as one of the other Managers at the store had his last day at the store on Friday as he is moving on to an exciting new venture. He and some friends have started a gym (MVMT Strength) as fitness is one of his passions and it has taken off better than anticipated and he was having a difficult juggling the two. We all knew it was coming, it just came a lot sooner than anyone expected – most notably, Isaac. He and I started together when the store opened and we’d both had similar, exciting journeys to become Managers. He was a great sounding board and definitely made me a better Manager and person. I am certainly going to miss him around the store but the good news is he is still in the city so plenty of opportunity to see him. I wasn’t scheduled to work Friday but I made sure I went in to clap him out – it was a treat-filled but fond farewell.
This week we finally get Wolfie Too winterized and shore her up for winter storage. The snow we got Thursday night certainly made the end of the camping season rationalized, but the moment the antifreeze goes into the trailer and the battery gets disconnected, that is where it gets obvious there is no more camping this year. We had an amazing and full season of camping so there isn’t the last bit of loss with this – just the anticipation of the next season to come!
She said
Every week I think wow we had a very busy week, and then we add more to our to do list.
Emelia has always been an active child, even as a toddler she was go-go-go. Well nothing has changed as she gets older. What I love about Emelia (there are so many things) is her willingness to break out of her comfort zone and try something new. Emelia by nature has always been a shyer girl, but this is changing as she gets more and more confident. Sports has brought this out in her. Admittedly she still likes to be close to home, with her parents and her close group of friends but lately she’s been taking even more risks.
The first was a few years ago when she took on gymnastics head on. She walked in 4 years ago to a class where she knew no one and stood out from the first moment. Once she had that confidence there was nothing stopping her. She has taken on every year and improved each and every year. This year has been her biggest challenge, the movement from level 2 to 3 has been a huge change but she’s taking it in stride. When she gets herself down, we talk and she picks herself up and tries even harder next time. This year her biggest focus was getting her back handspring. She has been working constantly on this for weeks. Well this week she got it! She got over the mental block that was stopping her and nailed it – and hasn’t looked back.
As much as Emelia adores gymnastics it was starting to become a sore spot for her, she felt it was holding her back from trying anything else new. And that was coming from us because we kept telling her that gymnastics wasn’t inexpensive and a huge time commitment. Well that was making her second guess her choice, this broke my heart because I know how much she loves it and also how much it has given her in confidence. We chatted and discussed potentially adding second sport, but the deal was I wanted something that was fun without the pressure of a competing. It didnt take long before Acro dance was the sport of choice. This made complete sense to me, it was a chance to take on those bigger tumbling tricks she wants to learn so much. It was the perfect compliment to her gymnastics and it would be so much fun for her.
So off we went to research options. The problem we were running in to was finding a place she could try after the season had already started. After sending out countless messages out we heard back from 2 dance schools and luckily the one we heard from and had the type of classes we wanted happened to be the same place one of her close friends at school also goes to. The rest of the week was trying out a few classes, getting Emelia assessed and finally enrolling her into the acro class she wanted, this school requires a jazz class as part of acro so we are signed up for 2 evenings of activities. Yes this seems insane but honestly she is eating up the challenge, she knows that her school work comes first and we get to see our girl really come into her own. I would rather spend our evenings seeing her do sports than home vegging in front of a TV.
To add to the insane week we also managed to squeeze in Emelia’s Christmas pictures with our photographer, a sleepover with one of her gymnastics besties and a play date with her best friends.
I would like to say that next week will be quieter but honestly that won’t be happening. Life is busy, but good busy!