the graduate

(this was supposed to be posted in June 2018)

In truth, I don't really think of Grade 5 as a graduation.  (Possibly because I didn't graduate until Grade 8?)  But I needed to take a moment to commemorate this milestone.

I'm so incredibly proud of Josh as he goes from elementary school to middle school.  He's gone from a little kid who once said to me in Grade 2 that he hated school, to a big kid who told me that he is both nervous and excited to start middle school.

We've definitely had our share of ups and downs so far in his academic journey.  But I mostly wanted him to be able to read this when he's a bit older and can process what I'm saying and know that as difficult as it may have seemed at the time, it was all for a good reason.  I don't think we would have gotten to this point without going through this journey.

From Arnold to Kumar to Danica to Liu to Prunier, we got to see Josh grow and learn the entire way.  Not only did we have to navigate the academic challenges, but we had maneuver through social and behavioural challenges as well.  Is this seriously elementary school?!  This is supposed to be the easiest part!

I recall a particularly pivotal meeting I had with Josh's principal in Grade 2.  She said to me, "I know that we have done our jobs when you can come and talk to me and NOT cry.".  Wow, was she ever right!  I didn't know what that looked like back then, but I'm sure glad I do now.

Having said that, my most important take away from this journey is this:  Brian and I are the only ones who will advocate unfailingly for our kids.  It's no one else's responsibility but ours.  As Josh goes into middle school, then high school, we take this knowledge with us - the knowledge that we have the power to advocate for him.  Our under-resourced school system has measures to help kids who need support.  But they aren't always able to be the ones to say "your child needs help".  Once we can accept this fact and take the first steps to getting that support, the rest will fall into place.

So, I'm going into the next stages of Josh's academic career with cautious optimism - feeling a bit better equipped to deal with what may come, but still aware that the road ahead will have ups and downs.  I said earlier that this is a journey.  And we want to be sure that Josh knows that we are all taking this journey together.

Congratulations on this milestone, Josh.  You deserve to celebrate it!

my fashion critic

Wearing my shirt on the stripey side.

A: WHOA! 

(Full stop.  She really didn't need to say anymore.  I was ready to turn my shirt inside out.)

Y: What?!

A: Is that a new shirt?  (Hahaha.)

Y: No, it's reversible.  I usually wear it on the other side.  It's grey.  Should I turn it the other way?

A: (without pause) Yes.

50th celebration

My parents celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.  In keeping with tradition, Mom let us all know that she wanted to go on a cruise as a family to celebrate.  So, after alot of planning and coordination, we managed to get all 23 of us to Florida this past August to hang out for a week on Marco Island and then hop on the Harmony of the Seas for a family cruise.

I am very thankful for the dynamic we have in our family.  I'm not sure how the rest of my siblings felt, but I don't think that I can be the only one that, after 2 weeks together, felt sad that the trip was ending!

For our first week on Marco, we rented a house a stones throw from our family's condo.  The house had a pool and the condo had beach access, so it was perfect!  A subset of us even managed to throw in an overnight jaunt to Orlando and spend a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom.   This is where I lost a child the first time 😳 (the second time I lost a child was at the outlet mall).  Believe it or not, it's much less stressful losing a child at a Disney park than at the outlet mall (and, yes, those were the only 2 times Brian wasn't with us!).

Some family couldn't join until the cruise, so it was a big reunion once we boarded the Harmony of Seas. Our stops were on St. Maarten, Puerto Rico and Royal Caribbean's oasis, Labadee, on Haiti.  There was also a plethora of activities on board the ship too!  The kids managed to decorate cupcakes, go to the spa, make sushi, go skating (!), play mini-golf, participate in a volleyball tournament, zipline across the ship, ride the waves, slide down slides, carousel and sing karaoke (take a breath!).  Not to mention the endless gobs and gobs of self-serve soft-serve!  

There were also the typical cruise stuffs - shows, themed dinners, casinos, shops, etc.  A never-ending supply of entertainment for 5000+ passengers 😱!  The only place we didn't "manage" to spend time was the pool.  The number of passengers divided by the number of pools on the ship made it a bit too "germ-friendly" for our liking!

In the end, it was the quality family time that we enjoyed the most.  Getting to see Josh and Aves hang out with their cousins was heartwarming.  And getting to spend some time with my siblings was pretty priceless too!  Thankfully, we all get together more than just once every 10 years, but we sure are grateful to be able to all vacation like this together.  Thanks for a wonderful vacation, family!  And Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad 💖!  (Full photos can be found here)

a memorable dance season

Showtime 2018!

Falling behind on posts already! 😩

This past weekend, Aves had her end of year dance recital.  Every year Boswell Dance Academy puts on a pretty big production!  This year, they decided that the finale would incorporate the Disney dance performance.  Aves usually isn't in the finale (reserved for dance grads and competitive dancers).  But since she was in Disney Dance, she was able to take part.  There were 2 shows and as I watched the finale of the second show last night, I felt a bit nostalgic and weepy for all the time that went into Disney dance (perfect segue into a post that I've been meaning to post for the past month!)...

Toward the end of May, we headed to Cali with Aves' dance group so they could perform at Disneyland!  When the opportunity came up last summer, Aves said she wanted to do it in a heartbeat.  I was excited for her - what an opportunity to dance at Disneyland!

It was a tough 8 months working hard to get the production ready.  The practices started last October as 2 hours every other week, but by the beginning of this year, they ramped up to 3 hour practices.  As the date got closer, they added extra practices, dress rehearsals and it all generally took time to get everything ready to go.  The girls, the dance coaches and parents all worked hard to make sure we were ready and organized for Disney.

Well, the hard work paid off.  I'm pretty sure everyone in our group of ??? would agree!  (There were just under 45 dancers.  So, with family and friends, our BDA group was pretty big!)

BDA Disney Dance Group outside the Hollywood Studios backlot

Early in the year, I canvassed family and friends to see if anyone wanted to join us at Disney for a May long-weekend vacay.  So, in addition to our BDA dance group, our friends PLD decided to come along, too!

It was truly a blast going to Universal and Disney with friends.  It helped that PLD were pretty laid back and were willing to follow the itinerary put together by the BDA parents group!

I loved seeing Aves in this moment, too.  There was a mix of excitement and anxiety that I think she handled amazingly!  I'm not going to say much about it because I have 150+ photos that captured our memories.  But I wanted to share some photos here that showcase Aves, along with the dance group.  I hope she will remember this for years to come!  (P.S.  The last upload here is the video of the performance that Brian captured.  He tirelessly held his phone stable for 22 minutes while trying to make sure he could watch the performance IRL, too!  Please watch his labour of love! 😘)

Listening to performance-day instructions

A dream is a wish your heart makes...

Try Everything!

Here I stand!

Happiness is a journey, not a destination

The rest of the photos can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FMqh6e1MshTrvPA16

dreaming stuff up

A: I have a joke.
Y: ok.
A: What did the sushi say to the bee?
Y: uhhhh...I don’t know.
A: wasssssup bee? (Think: wasa-bi)
Y: (laughing) That’s a good one Aves. Did you make that up?
A: (completely serious) No, someone told it to me in my dream.
Y: (bwahahaha!) Ave, that means you thought of it, because the stuff in your dream comes from you!
A: (still totally serious and a bit exasperated by me!) No, I said someone told it to me in my dream!

Sigh.

trypophobic

I learned yesterday that I'm trypophobic.  I'm not even going to put a link to the definition because I'm sure there will be images and the images give me heebie jeebies.

I went out to dinner with work colleagues last night and we were talking about custard apples.  We wanted to get more information, so we googled it.  When I looked at the photo of the inside of a custard apple, I said, "OK, I can't look at that.  It gives me heebie jeebies."  That rang true for one of my co-workers and he said he thought there was name for that!

We clarified that what was giving me heebie jeebies was all the little holes in the middle of the fruit.  He said there was definitely a name for that.  He looked it up and sure enough - trypophobia!  Like honeycomb?  Yes, that gives me heebie jeebies.  Everyone gave examples and yes, they all gave me heebie jeebies (I had goose bumps on my arms to prove it!)!  The only example that didn't give me heebie jeebies was the inside of the pomegranate.  That was a bit weird.  Maybe it's because I think its so delicious, that I overcome the phobia so I can eat it?

Anyway, you can google it to see more examples.  I'm going to stop talking about it now because the thoughts are giving me heebie jeebies!  Hahaha.

the highlight of brownie camp

I always wanted to be a Brownie when I was little.  Not sure why my mom didn't put us in.  I don't even recall if I ever told her I wanted to be in Brownies!  All I know is that I never did it.  Fast forward almost 40 years.  I asked Aves if she wanted to be in Brownies and she expressed mostly apathetic interest.  I needed to live vicariously through her, so I signed her up!

She had one stipulation, though.  She wouldn't do any overnight camps unless I went too.  Ha.  I'm told this is the best part of Guiding!

I decided that I would sign up as a Girl Guide leader so that I could attend the camps and Aves wouldn't miss out.  I thought it would be a fun way to volunteer as well!  Not only am I volunteering for sleepovers, but I also help out in the weekly unit meetings.

One thing I have learned about myself: I am NOT cut out to be a leader.  And I'm definitely not cut out to be a leader of children!  I don't have creative ways to deal with the never-ending list of excuses and interruptions that kids can come up with!  Most importantly, I don't have the patience.  I don't lose my patience with kids, but I find that I'm not alot of 'fun' to learn from.  Not engaging.  At.  All.

This past weekend, we went on our first 2-night Brownie camp (by 'we', I mean me and Aves).  Aves loved it!  She had a blast.  Her highlights were roasting wieners and making s'mores at the campfire and singing campfire songs at night.  Her most difficult times were sleeping at night (but I think we've figured it out for next time!).  At the end of the weekend, I asked her if she wanted to go to District camp this summer and she said yes.  I asked her if I didn't go whether she would still want to go and she said yes (as long as we address the sleeping issue)!

I'm thrilled!  I wanted Aves to be a Brownie to help her develop confidence in her skills and to give her a sense of adventure.  It seems to be working!  I've registered her for the camp this summer, so fingers crossed that she will go when the time comes!

As for me, I'm learning that as much as I wanted to be a Brownie when I was little, I don't really see myself as a Brownie Leader.  Camp was mostly fun this weekend.  But I had alot of anxiety about the one activity that I had to lead.  And then after the activity was done, I worried about how the activity went over with the kids.

The kids were great, though!  It was interesting to see all the different personalities and how they interacted with each other.  And the lifetime Girl Guiders who were the 'main' leaders amazed me!  I can learn alot from them in how to navigate groups of children (none of them were actually parents!).

In the end, I had one big highlight: helping to make pancakes for breakfast for ~35 people!  Apparently, I enjoy helping, not leading.  Note that someone else took these pictures and I didn't actually get any pictures of the weekend as I was too busy stressing about being a leader! 😓