The Great Canadian Road Trip: Montreal

We have officially begun our Great Canadian Road Trip!  I'm going to try to attempt to keep up a "photo blog scrapbook" during our journey so those of you who care can keep apprised of our travels.  To keep things short and sweet, I promise that each entry will contain no more than 10 photos (even though I am probably taking close to 200 photos per day)!

The first stop on our journey was Montreal!  I thought it was a beautiful city with an amazing history.  The highlight was strolling through Old Montreal which seems more European than Canadian.  We kept very busy and the kids were patient with my desire to photograph as much of the city as possible. 

HIGHLIGHTS

1. We ate dinner at Schwartz Deli.  Celine Dion ate here.
2. We toured the beautiful Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Montreal.  Celine Dion was married here. 
3. We visited Oratoire St-Joseph.  No official Celine Dion connection available at this time.

Next stop:  Quebec City! 

Eight Grade Graduation

I did it!  We did it!  Tyler did it!  He successfully completed elementary and middle school and will begin high school in the September.  I officially have a child in high school.  WOW!  I've been thinking back over Tyler's "educational career" and what a ride it has been . . .

KINDERGARTEN

Tyler began Kindergarten at Kyiv International School in Ukraine.  He missed the first week of school because we were still in the process of moving from D.C. to Kyiv.  How strange it felt to be sending my baby off to school for the first time in a foreign country.


FIRST GRADE



















We were still in Ukraine . . . still at KIS.  Tyler was learning to read/write in both English and Russian.  He was in a split 1st/2nd grade class.  The memory that stands out the most is not showing up for his end-of-the year Russian play because I didn't understand the note from the teacher.  I felt terrible about it.


SECOND GRADE

A new year, a new school.  We moved to Manila, Philippines and Tyler began 2nd Grade at Brent International School.  Brent is truly one of the most amazing schools I have ever seen.  Tyler loved it and still begs to return.  One of my favorite 2nd grade memories is the 2nd Grade Bazaar.  We made tons of homemade playdough for Tyler to sell.  When it was all said and done, Tyler made the most profit in his class.  I'll never forget the smile on his face as he counted all his money.


THIRD GRADE

Tyler also enjoyed his 3rd grade year at Brent.  Favorite "proud mom" moment?  Watching Tyler perform the role of Joseph in the production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.


FOURTH GRADE

Tyler attended fourth grade at Oakridge Elementary in Arlington.  It was great to be back in the U.S.A.  He had a great year - and especially enjoyed working on his "moon crater" science experiment with his dad. 


FIFTH GRADE

Hola Mexico!  Tyler attended 5th grade at Instituto San Roberto in Monterrey, Mexico.  He had classes in both English and Spanish. By the end of the year, he would be reading, speaking and writing in Spanish.  Que Bueno!

SIXTH GRADE

Tyler remained at ISR for his sixth grade year . . . it was during this year that he began competitive swimming.  At the end of the year, the school held the MOST OUTRAGEOUS sixth grade graduation you can imagine. 

SEVENTH GRADE

Tyler began middle school in Toronto, Canada at a small private school called The Yorkland School / North Toronto Christian School.  He had a great year.  The biggest challenge was learning French alongside students who had studied the language since 2nd grade.  We were so proud at the end year of the year to learn that Tyler had been selected by his teachers for both The History Award and The Nehemiah Award.  So proud!!



EIGHTH GRADE

What a great year! Tyler won THREE 1st place ribbons and one 2nd place ribbons at the ACSI swim meet.  He won 3rd Place in the school creative writing contest.  He scored in the top 25% in a national math contest!  At graduation, Tyler won the Computer Studies Award & the Bible Studies Award. The most exciting part is that he was awarded the night's top honor - The Spirit of the Apostle Award. We are so proud!!!

Happy Graduation Tyler!! 

We can't wait to see you shine in high school!!!

Treasure Hunters

A few weeks ago, I suggested to the kids that for Father's Day we buy Scott an inexpensive metal detector.  He has supposedly wanted one since he was a child.  The boys were immediately supportive of this idea.  Hannah rolled her eyes and made some sarcastic comment about how "our family wasn't geeky enough" but eventually succumbed to our plans.  So today after church we headed to the local elementary school to see what treasure we could discover.  We searched for about an hour (our adventure was cut short by rain).  We found . . . .

$5.78 CANADIAN and $.05 FILIPINO PESO!!!!

No, Scott probably can't quit his day job but the kids were thrilled and it was a great Sunday afternoon family activity!  It reminded me that one of the things that I really admire about my husband is that nearly all of his hobbies (and he has had several over the years) are all things that he can do with the kids.  He just really enjoys spending time with them.  So whether they are hunting for buried treasure, making their own smoked bacon (Tyler & Scott), building a model of the Titanic (Alex & Scott), or playing softball (Hannah & Scott), I'm thrilled that my children have a dad that is invested and involved in their lives.  So Happy Father's Day to Scott! 

Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex's 10th birthday fell during a whirlwind weekend!  Grandma Pat flew in from Kansas, we traveled to Niagara Falls for the Canada Eh! Dinner Show, and we hosted a birthday party for Alex at the Fairview SilverCity Theaters.  We did manage to to take some photos.  Here is a glipse of all of the weekend excitement!



Alex is all about the Avengers right now!  He LOVES his new Captain America costume!



Captain America reading about himself!



Alex & his friends getting ready for Madagascar 3.



Awesome LEGO cupcakes!



Grandma Pat & kids with a Canadian Mountie.



Alex & Canadian Lumberjack



Hannah & Anne of Green Gables.



Happy 10th Birthday Alex!!  We love you!!

Ballet Recital 2012: Seasons

We survived one of my least favorite / most favorite weeks of the year!  Ballet Recital Week!  I dread it because I literally spend hours driving Hannah to and from extra practices.  I LOVE IT because for two nights I get to sit it a darkened theatre and watch my only daughter take the stage and amaze me. 

This year's recital was titled SEASONS.  The show was divided into four parts:  Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.  Hannah was in the Autumn portion of the show.  Since ballet seems to always be symbolic of something, I guess she was supposed to represent the arrival of the autumn colors . . . her dress was stunning.

We have a very poor video of the Fall Waltz . . . we have a better video, but you will have to come to Toronto if you want to see it.  For the beginning of this dance, Hannah is front row stage right.  She then leads the girls around in a circle.  She then is in the front center. She finishes the dance in the back row stage right.  Are you confused yet? 

During the second Act, they eleaborated on the season of Spring with portraying a garden filled with flowers . . . Hannah was one of the blue flowers.  And YES, this is the mystery dress that I photographed a few weeks ago!

We have a terrible video of this dance too.  For most of it, Hannah is second row stage left.

So . . . the recital is over until next year.  Hannah was kind of sad when it was all over . . . exhausted and sad.  The boys gave her a big bouquet of flowers after the show.  We then stopped for ice cream.  A nice finale to a long but rewarding week.

Good Night Moon . . .

Every photo blog that I read encouraged me to photograph the moon tonight so here it is.  I'm not thrilled with the result but I'm too tired to stay up and take any more photos. I'm going to bed.

Hannah's 12th Birthday!

Hannah celebrated her birthday today.  Sigh.  I LOVED celebrating Hannah's birthday when she was a little girl.  I loved Angelina Ballerina themed birthday parties, princess themed birthday parties, and American Girl themed parties!  The more PINK, the better!

Today was fun too!  I took Hannah and two of her "BFFs" to a local pottery/ceramic studio.  They each chose a ceramic piece to paint.  I was really impressed.  They painted for almost two hours - and the end results were beautiful!  The items still have to be fired and we can't wait to pick them up in 7 days!  I'm sure they will be beautiful!

Hannah chose a Locker Bank.  She still loves the color pink!

Celine chose a Cake Trinket Box.  She did an excellent job with the "sprinkles"!

Katie chose a Present Trinket Box.  It was a lot of work painting all the stars!

After all of that hard work, we celebrated by having lunch at Texas Lonestar which is the closest thing we have found to TexMex in Toronto.  Hannah even agreed to let us sing "Happy Birthday" to her while she wore a 10 gallon hat! 

Happy 12th birthday to Hannah!