Summer! Ah! The sun was hot but oh, so little time. It was a good one though. And for the first time, we had a wonderful summer trip as a family. Keshia had the most of the summer. Kyle started his “full” summer term at his school (YMCA Day Care Center). Karen completed the first part of her course (with flying colors). She also had a summer job with NB Power after her practicum there. As for Jr., as usual… enjoying life.
Summer kinda started a couple weeks early. But only to even out later in early July. It was all rain and cold. It took two more weeks in July to catch up with the blistering heat of summer. And for the first time (since we came here), a smog and health safety alert was given out when forecasted temperatures were in the 30s and humidex in the 40s. It wasn’t too bad anyway.
This edition of Home Page contains summer news (although it is getting cold already here) and back-to-school bits. We hope you enjoy your visit.
Kyle’s first week at his day-care was quite an experience. For the first time in so many months, he will be on his ‘own’. It took him a full week to adjust with the new environment (he calls ‘school’). His teachers were patient with him as he slowly found his own ‘corner’ and rapport among his ‘classmates’. After two weeks, he is very excited going to ‘school’. He even knows the routine in the morning as soon as he gets up. He also knows that we bring Mommy to work then Papa will bring him to his school. He liked his school so much so that he asked if he will still go to school even when he is in Ohio.
Keshia had a long summer vacation. She also had her first train ride (just like Kyle and their mom). She joined the Spring Music Festival Piano Solo Level 1. She didn’t placed in the top three but her scores were good for 4th. Keshia later took her RCM exam in late June. Her scores were sent in August. Her scores were higher than her festival marks.
We had a brief vacation just before classes began. Karen and Kyle followed Keshia to Ohio after Karen’s summer job. Jr took the long drive a week later. Karen and the kids were able to visit Sea World (near Cleveland). Kyle had a lot of stories about the animals he saw including Shamu – The Whale. Jr was able to visit his parents and brothers in Sarnia & Chatham when he drove on his way to Ohio. On our way home, we visited Jr’s brother in New Jersey. He brought us to the lady-with-the-torch (it was our first time). We also got to stroll along Fifth Ave. near Rockefeller Center. It was a tiring week but the kids enjoyed it. You can see some of our pictures during our visit to the Big Apple.
School started right after Labour Day. Keshia and Kyle were very excited to go back to school. Keshia is in 4th Grade and Kyle is back to his day-care. It is very interesting to note that both of their teacher’s are Hubbards (we found out later that they are sisters-in-law). Karen was back to school, too. She was offered a part-time job at NB Power but later turned it down because of the school work load. She is in to a lot of database (Access) work. Her course will run until early January next year.
Keshia is back with her piano lessons. During the summer break, she was able to practice “Fur Elise”. She liked playing it. Kyle began drawing houses, cars (vans in particular with wiper on the back), people (not the stick-people), and tree houses. He also started copying words from books. He still likes Veggie-Tales and Keshia still likes Road to Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables). Keshia and Kyle also spends time playing their favorite computer games. Keshia has Carmen SanDiego (Math) which Jr took quite a while to install. (That he even have to reformat the whole hard drive and reinstall Win95 and everything.) Kyle plays Putt-Putt & Fatty Bear and Big Thinkers (Kinder Edition). We hope to publish some of Kyle’s art works as well as Keshia’s when our scanner is ready.