School's out for the summer!

Blake's last day of school was June 27th and we wasted no time kick-starting our summer camping season!!  On the 28th we headed to Miquelon Lake Provincial Park for the July long weekend.  

Cooling off - the kids spent a lot
of time in these dingy's!!  And thanks to Sharla
for the virgin pina colada's and margarita's ;)

Checking our GPS during geocaching :)

We had a fabulous time, camping in a group site with 6 other families/couples.  This is the second time we've been to Miquelon and we really need to go back more often.  It is quite close to the city, not a far drive for us, and the park is beautiful with many nice trails, ponds and parks.  The beach is also quite nice but the water is touch and go!  We stayed in a group site this time, which was awesome, with a large enclosed shelter where we had our Saturday night pot luck meal and stayed dry on Saturday night during a short thunder storm!  Heidi didn't have to wear a leash and was free to roam around, just like the kids ;)
One of the group sites even has flush toilets and your very own showers - we're booking that site next time!!  The parks centre at Miquelon often host's events and activities and the weekend we were there, we attended a geocaching event.  We've been wanting to try geocaching for quite some time and we all had a great time!  Blake and Em really enjoyed themselves and we look forward to more geocaching this summer.  

We're hoping to try it out in Jasper in August.  We can't wait for our next camping trip, just next week, at Ol' MacDonalds Resort!!  A family favorite :)
This week Blake and Emerson are in a bike camp, ran by Atlantis Programs and Pedalheads.  We enrolled Blake in the camp last year, as he loved to ride his bike but after an incident where he nearly got hit by a car (backing out of a drive way, not Blake's fault at all), he felt quite nervous when biking and a bit hesitant.  He loved the camp last year and even tried riding a 2 wheeler!  Emerson just started riding her bike this year, after 2 years of running alongside Blake!!  lol!  She had no interest in riding her bike last year but this year she hopped right on and off she went.  She loves riding her bike and wanted to go to bike camp with Blake.  The camp incorporates riding their bikes with fun and games and bike and road safety.  So far they're loving the camp, it runs Monday to Friday from 9:30 to noon.  Blake's training wheels were off his bike for a while last summer but he never really felt confident in riding a 2 wheeler so we put them back on and now they are off again!  We'll see what he decides at the end of the week - keep them off or put them back on?!  The camp leader took Em's training wheels off on Monday, much to our surprise and so far she's insistent that they will not go back on!!  We'll see at the end of the week ;)  They were excited to see a friend from Sunday school in their camp!  Emerson actually made her a card last night, it was really cute.  Cal and I have been enjoying 1 on 1 time with Reese while Blake and Em are at camp.  She keeps us on our toes and talks enough for all 3 of them!!!  The things she says and her facial expressions are the best entertainment around!  She's so funny, I love it!  For the first hour or so of bike camp, she's been riding her plasma car.  I think she feels like she's part of the bike camp, as she wears her bike helmet and cruises around!!  I have a feeling she will be asking to go to bike camp next year ;)

We hope your summer is off to a great start!!  Talk to you soon :)

~Tracy   

A Kindergarten Graduate!

Blake has had a fantastic first year of 'formal' schooling :)  He thoroughly enjoyed Kindergarten and all the new experiences that came with it!  Blake had a great little class and made many new friends.  I really enjoyed meeting the other parents and Blake's classmates and found that we were all pretty close, seeing each other quite often at birthday parties on the weekends and sometimes at hockey or the local park!  I like how all the kids were friends and played together and included everyone.  I'm happy to hear that everyone is returning to the school for Grade 1.

Blake's last month of Kindergarten was a very fun and busy month!!  He had an in school field trip (The Number Farm), a field trip to Genesis Early Learning Centre, an ice cream sundae party, a water fun day, a classroom pot luck and a school-wide Games Day!  I volunteered for Games Day and was lucky (ahem) enough to be stationed at the face painting table ;)  It was a great day, I enjoyed myself and I think the children were okay with my limited face-painting skills!!!  Next year I will suggest I am stationed elsewhere!!  Blake's school doesn't do kindergarten graduation pictures or a ceremony although his teacher did put together a nice binder of all his work, a DVD of pictures from through out the year and gave him a kindergarten graduation certificate ;)

Both Blake and I were a little bit sad on his last day of Kindergarten :(  Blake kept asking, "Will I see Mme. Emilie again?  Will I see Max again?  Can I still play with Gavin?" etc, etc, etc.  It was hard for him to grasp that 2 months of summer vacation flies by and before he knows it, he will be seeing all of his friends again, but this time all day, 5 days a week!!  The day after his last day of school, he said to me, "Mom, can I go to school today?"  I giggled a little and told him he was on summer vacation.  He said, "I know, I just thought maybe."  So cute and nice to hear that he enjoys school that much!!  He will enjoy Grade 1, I am sure.  I'm hoping their enrollment numbers don't change too much because as it stands right now there are two grade one FI classes, one with fourteen students and one with fifteen students.  I like those numbers!  I knew Mme. Emilie was moving to another school next year but didn't tell Blake, in hopes that she would pass on the news and she did do that on the last day of school.  Blake came home and said, "Mme. Emilie is going to another school to teach Grade 1.  But she said we could come visit her!  Can we go visit?"  I said, "Of course we can!!"  Although I'm not sure when, as her school calendar will be the exact same as ours!  I'm glad he had a great year and will miss his teacher!

The year flew by so fast and it makes me sad because my baby is growing up.  I think I will be an absolute mess when Reese's kindergarten year comes to an end :s  I am also sad because he will now be in school 5 days a week, all day :(  I will miss him!!  But it is great to see him grow and learn and take on new challenges.  I am excited for him to start reading in French and in a few short years, he'll be bilingual, reading, writing and speaking both French and English!  I'm finding that it is a bit difficult for some people grasp that he is not reading yet when other children who are in English kindergarten have begun reading but it is nice that quite a few of our friends and some of my closest friends, also have children in FI and so we can chat and discuss the program and what not!  And hopefully this will benefit all our kids in the long run.  For quite some time now we have noticed that Blake has a love for numbers and 'figuring things out' but he is now really in to long addition, subtraction and even some simple multiplication!  Last week he said to me, "Mom, is eight plus eight, sixteen?"  I said, "Yes it is!"  Then he said, "Oh, so four times four is sixteen!"  I was pretty proud!

I saw this post on Pinterest and decided to do this for all my kids but instead of using the Dr. Seuss book (because I have a feeling a lot of kids are going to be getting that book when they graduate Grade 12!), I chose to find a different book.  I bought the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein for Blake and will buy a different book for each of the girls when they start kindergarten.  I absolutely loved this idea and hope that this is a gift they will treasure forever.  I got teary-eyed when I read Mme. Emilie's note, as I'm sure will happen every year when I read their teacher's messages :)

So as we say goodbye to a great Kindergarten year, we have a tear in our eye, but we also look forward to all the amazing things that Grade 1 will have to offer!

Blake, we are so proud of you and what you have learned during Kindergarten.  We are proud of how friendly and helpful you were in your classroom and proud of how hard you have worked to learn new concepts, ideas and tools.  We can't wait to see you flourish in Grade 1!

First day of Kindergarten -
September 4, 2012

Last day of Kindergarten -
June 27, 2013