September Belt Test.

September marked another belt test for the kiddos. Here are a few from the test. I'm happy to report they both passed with flying colours.









Yay!

Our 11th wedding anniversary.

11 years, it's very poignant considering that's how long we had Obi. We celebrated by going to see the Picasso exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I'm very lucky to share the life we have built together with my best friend and partner. I couldn't ask for a more supportive and loving wife. Here's a few pictures from our day together.

September PNE

To be perfectly honest, keeping up the blog has been tough since we lost Obi. I really did write it for him. Now that a few months have passed, coupled by the fact that we've decided to get another dog. I feel a bit rejuvenated by it all. In fact, we're going with the same breeder and obviously the same breed. We're actually going to pick her up in one week's time. I'm still going to keep the name of the blog the same, but soon enough it will be written from her perspective. You'll soon get to meet our new dog. So to pick up where we left off from the last post, I'll be trying to play catch up.

We missed the PNE this year so to make it up to the kids we went to Playland instead. A great time was had by all. We're all amazed that the kids can be so brave about all the rides. Here are a few pictures from our visit. We were lucky to be joined by Matthew, Lucy and Tamara.

Our trip to Kelowna

This post is a bit late, but with all the things that were happening with Obi, I delayed posting it. Also, truth be told since Obi's gone the motivation I once had to post has diminished. Perhaps it will be renewed once we get another dog, but for the time being post will be more sporadic. Here's our slideshow from our multi-family trip to Kelowna.

Obi rest in peace.

On August 12, 2016 we said good-bye to our beloved Obi. I haven't written an entry in the blog for so long for this reason. Obi was such an important member of this family. It's amazing to think how such a little dog could leave such a big hole in our hearts. Obi's cancer had gotten to the point of no return. In his last days he stopped eating and drinking, we knew it was time to say good-bye. I looked in his mouth and the two tumours had more than doubled in size, preventing him from opening his mouth. In truth, he had been suffering for several weeks, but you would never know it. He loved us very much and put on a brave face everyday. In his last days we brought him to work with us so we could spend as much time together as we could.

I've been writing this blog for over 10 years now and it all started with our wonderful dog. It had morphed into more of a family blog, but definitely he was my inspiration. We gave him the best life we could. He couldn't have been loved more by anyone else. We did our best to give him a wonderful home and the best care possible; in return, he gave us his loyalty, trust, love and happiness. That's more than we receive from many of our friends and family.

The one thing that we've noticed the most is the quiet, we miss the pitter patter of feet down the hallway, the greetings we would get when we came home, and the urge to go out for a walk in the mornings and evenings. Having a dog just becomes part of your daily life and once they're no longer here, it changes things. Again, it's the quiet... the gaping hole where we feel it the most. He's no longer sitting at the end of couch where we can pat him, he's no longer at the foot of the bed where he'd hog the bed. We miss him dearly and he'll never be forgotten. Rest in peace Obi, thank you for being a part of our family for the past 11 years. Here are some recent photos. P.S. the second most worst thing when you lose your dog, everyone else comes up to tell you their dead dog stories and then you feel much worse. :(

End of year field trip for Malcolm.

So Malcolm ended up with four B's and three A's when all was said and done. B's in Language Arts, Science, PE, and Fine Arts. A's in Math, Social Studies, and Health and Career Development. All in all we were happy with the results, but there are still issues of motivation (or lack thereof) and continuing bad attitudes. We hope that he'll turn it around in Grade 5 and to make sure Roger and Tracey have enlisted the services of a tutor. After this week, they're going to bring the tutor in at least once a week to at least keep up good study habits. Melody is now reading at level 17! That's tremendous progress for her. Grade 1's should be reading at levels of 14-16. The kids have grown a lot since September: link. Here are some pictures from the end of the school year including Malcolm's trip to Cultus Lake Waterpark with his class.

Melody's first tooth!

Melody felt her wiggly tooth, she tried to pull it out because it felt strange. She got a tissue, wiggled it back and forth and pulled it out! As blood streamed down her chin, she was very excited about it all. Unfortunately, Melody had bad dreams about the tooth fairy. She saw millions of tiny sparkles in her room and thought the tooth fairy was there to take her tooth even though she had written instructions not to. Malcolm's first tooth had to be extracted due to an abscess, which happened when he was six as well. Here are some pictures of the milestone.

Choir and sports day!

As the year winds down, so does the academic rigor. As far as we know, report cards have already been submitted and we're now heading for the home stretch. Malcolm even has a end of the year field trip to Cultus Lake waterslides! Malcolm also had his end of the year choir concert this past Thursday. He belted out the tunes and looked good up there. Friday was sports day, Melody representing the Green team and Malcolm a member of Red team. They paired up the intermediate kids and primary at each event to balance things out. Here are the pictures:

Roger's birthday and etc...

A pretty big and disappointing revelation came to light a few Sundays ago... Malcolm has been hiding his assignments and projects and Roger and Tracey only just found out that he's now significantly behind on all of them. First it was a math workbook, then three year-end projects that he's supposed to have worked on, all neglected for almost 4-5 weeks. They had to bring the hammer down on him the last few days, he's been working furiously to try and catch up. He missed TKD on Monday and may miss some up coming events depending on how much work he can do. It's a very frustrating situation and things all came to a head the other night. Roger simply asked him why? Why did he not do his work all these weeks. You see, Tracey and Roger ask him every night what homework he has and repeatedly he's answered that he had none. Also, when pushed to answer why, he said that he simply didn't want to do it. It's such a shame because he's a smart kid, but lazy and unmotivated as ever. He often doesn't care to do a good job, he doesn't have that innate nature to do his best, but to do the bare minimum. Assignments and projects are only going to get more challenging, one can only hope that he turns things around soon. We're not sure if he'll ever learn though. Since then, one of Malcolm's assignments was returned and guess what? He got an "A". Not sure where the lesson learning comes in here. Basically, due to the diligence and prodding from the parents, he's come out on top again. In other news, Malcolm's baseball team ended up winning the division. It was a pretty big accomplishment considering where they started this year. I think we were 0-5 before we registered a win. The team was super proud and Malcolm has even made some strides, maybe next year he'll actually get a hit. We'll work on his fear of the ball during the off season. He's still got another year of minors so hopefully that will give him some time before moving up. It was Roger's birthday last weekend. He's 44 to be exact. Roger and Tracey spent the evening with friends for dinner and pool. Roger has been feeling pretty good as of late. He's been on the Ketogenic diet for over two months now and he's lost almost 18 pounds. The birthday weekend was a bit of a write-off though, where he ate carbs and sugar in the form of ice cream and strawberry slice birthday cake. Let's hope 45 is just as good.

On and on...

The good news is that there hasn't been and re-occurrence of any cancer. Roger and Tracey are both happy about that. Eating is good, elimination is good, and even demeanor is quite normal. I think Roger feels bad that a full yawn cannot be achieved, but overall knowing the prognosis, we have to feel happy about our current condition. We'll have to wait and see what happens next.

In other news, Melody passed her belt test. She's now a yellow stripe, one more away from orange belt. She managed to perform her pattern well and break her board on the first try (push-kick). Last week, Roger was able to accompany Melody's class on a field trip to Science World. Apparently, all 5 girls under Roger's supervision were quite good. They explored, played and even managed to learn a few things along the way.

Malcolm is progressing with baseball, but it's been tough. I guess the bottom line is that he's enjoying it, but truth be told we're not sure he's actually getting it? He's yet to overcome his fear of the ball when it comes to batting and catching. It's paralyzing for him. The fear is so great that it truly affect the way her interacts. Roger has tried his best to help him, but ultimately he'll have to do it on his own. Uncle Bill provided some hopeful words mentioning that Ty was also scared last year (his first year of minors) and perhaps Malcolm would come along next year when it came to his fear. In fact, this year Ty was even pitching and making plays at shortstop.

It looks like a busy summer coming up with lots of camping, summer camps and even a week away with friends in Kelowna. We're all looking forward to a great summer filled with sunshine and good times. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks, including some from a day at the ballet with Ballet BC (Roger got to go to the dress rehearsal and take some pictures at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre).