The Great Update

If you've stuck around, ever hopeful of a new blog post, I'm here to reward (?) your long-suffering. Read on...

If you'd prefer the abridged version here it is: The last post before today was published in March 2020. Today is August 2021.  It has been a minute.

What a year it has been. Since our last post we've gone from school-at-home in March to June 2020, to summer holiday under our first "lock-down". School for the kids was back in-person for the entire academic year beginning August 2020 until June 2021 and their reward was ten weeks of summer holiday ... and now here we are, one week away from the 21/22 school year - masks and all.

Somewhere in between that, I graduated from college and participated in our online graduation ceremony as the 2021 student speaker! (Yes, I don't know either...) Completing the two-year degree felt really good and I'll admit that a part of me misses it already...but don't tell anyone I said so. 

It seems as though Adrienne has been in Preschool for ages and finally she gets her chance in Kindergarten. Ethan heads off to Grade 4 and Jorja is moving to the Junior/Senior High building for Grade 7.

 On the sports front, Jorja enjoyed a slightly shorter and mostly masked-up basketball season. She had the opportunity to play in the Elementary team as well as the Junior High team and played hard! Games were shown on YouTube since non-essential spectators were prohibited - that's something to show the grand-kids! 

Ethan attended a baseball camp (twice) during this summer and has learned an entire new set of ball skills. We're still trying to clean some dried up mud in his shoe crevices from a particularly wet camp day! It was good that he learned so much because we ended up attending almost every home game of the UV Nighthawks this season! The Nighthawks are a college level baseball team and their home field is just down the road from us - plus admission was free all season, so that worked out really well as a post-dinner treat. Unfortunately, just as we were feeling comfortable with the players, plays and terms, the season came to an odd and untimely end due to unseasonable rainy weather and player shortages due to many of them leaving for the new college semester coming up. All we can do now is look forward to next season. Go Nighthawks!

Since the last post, Ethan has had a 9th birthday, Jorja has had a 11th and 12th birthday and Adrienne has had a 4th and 5th birthday. Quick! How many candles are there altogether? Kidding.

 

 

Birthday parties have simmered down a lot over the last two years (well, maybe not so much for Adi) and as long as there's a birthday cake and a gift, no one's complaining!

Now as the summer comes to a close, I am thinking about what's happened and the special memories we now have...

Jorja asked her Aunts to attempt the High Note Heart Attack challenge, slept in a treehouse despite her strong dislike for bugs and took up sketching. Her favourite items of clothing are jeans and leggings although she is trying to move away from too much black and enjoys painting the nails of anyone who will let her. She wants a musical background for every activity - Pa se kind.

Ethan became a major game-kop and really made the most of the days that he and cousin Zac were home on the same days - despite the time difference. Now we all know that he can go for hours without toilet stops and snacks! He also became an avid blogger and is probably the reason why I'm finally back here, having watched him post. Blogging forms an important part of his school work in Grade 3 and 4 and I have been quite surprised by all the things that he thinks of to write about. Feel free to check out his posts and comment. Now to find a way to showcase his drawings too. 

Ethan has cooked many scrambled eggs breakfasts and a toasted cheese lunches for his sisters this summer, but is less keen on the clean up!

 Adrienne has learned to tie her shoe laces - forgotten - then remembered again and learned how ride her bicycle on two wheels in just a few days. She has had one major wipe-out since then and suffered some bad road rash but as her Uncle Andel says, that's the making of a fine future pro-cyclist! She has also spent quite a bit of time in marshland looking for frogs and around tree stumps looking for inch worms. Enough said.

All of the kids have grown about two inches taller and I can only hope that come winter, we won't have too many pieces of snow gear to replace. There have been roadtrips and campfires, snowmobiling and lake swimming until almost nine o'clock at night. We have made new friends, waved goodbye as friends moved away, Zoomed for about 10 000 hours each - even attended a wedding virtually - and put all the longing we feel for our family and friends back home in South Africa into making the most of our time here where we are. In a season of great sickness, loss, change and restriction, we still have so much to be grateful for.