Lets Go Kiddo

Finally…. Finally….. Break is here.  Not quite, not 100%, since J still needs to go in all next week for PD and Training and stuff like that, but for Kiddo it is here. The days before the break were filled with some last minute stuff and finalizing the year, but grades were done and already put in, so it was more turning in late work and doing all the end of quarter stuff.  Teachers know.  There was also a performance in Chinese Class and Kiddo was the leader for her class.  She got to get up and do the speaking parts with her teacher.  The other kids had a line or two here and there, but Kiddo had about a dozen lines.  Then, it was time for the dance, which again, Kiddo was right out front and center for.  I’m super proud of her…. Not just for the Chinese language skills, but also for the performing.  I hated stuff like that when I was her age and would purposefully tank myself so I could avoid doing that.  Kiddo loves it.  She gets n...

Break is approaching quickly and we are ready for some warm temps and good times.  It’s raining and cold today as it’s about 7C (44F) and windy.  Yesterday was better, it wasn’t rainy, but it was still cool.  We had planned on going to Century Park since it was supposed to be in the high teens to 20 degrees (62-68Fish), but it never got there and it was overcast and windy, so the feels like temps were nearer 9C (49F) and that is a bit too much to consider walking around the park and riding the rides there.   We tacked a different direction and headed out to one of the many museums here.  The girls had gone before, but they took me.  It was nice.  It was the artifact museum and the place is larger than you would think with 5 floors of displays.  We popped in and saw bronze items, some of the jade, and the pottery; some of which was 20,000BP or Late Paleolithic Era with a rough date of 22,000-18,000 yrs BC, so that was pottery and made items that ...

It’s a slow march towards break.  The long slog through fatigue and keeping up with all that’s been going on until it is finally here.  Until it’s finally break.  Until it’s finally February.   J has it even harder, as she started 2 weeks before Kiddo did and Kiddo has had some half days, but those were working days for J.  As for Kiddo, come February Break, she will have completed 63.4% of her school year and had 10 days off.  TEN!  Compared to if J were still with OSide School going into the same February break period, the kids would be 62.9% done (almost the same), but would have already had 19 days off.  The march towards the break here is brutal.  For all of us. Kiddo is burnt.  The longest break she’s had is the first week of October and that was 6 days.  However, she’s also had 3 weekend days as “make up” days following days off in October, another random day off in November that was made up on a Saturday, and then a make...

As a father the one thing I hate seeing in Kiddo is heartbreak.  That is something that I try to avoid her feeling and experiencing at all costs.  As we’ve planned our February and have been talking about our summer breaks, we’ve included Kiddo in those talks.  One thing we’ve been most adamant about is that we are NOT returning to the States this summer. Last night, all those talks caught up with us.  Kiddo went to bed and all was fine, until it wasn’t. As J and I sat and started a movie.  About 15 minutes later, Kiddo comes out with a pinched and worried look on her face.  She was distraught and heartbroken. She wants to “go home.” We comforted her and told her we were home.  Her, Mumma, and Dada were all home.  The doors were locked and everything was safe.  She cried harder and she wanted to just not live in China, but to go home. There was loss and heartbreak in her voice.  We tried to calm her. Finally, we asked where ...