End of the Year, End of an Era

Well the school year has come to a close for 2nd grade. To me, it went unbelievably quick. The other day, Mia and I counted that she made NINE new friends this year. Crazy. She learned so much this year and has really developed her creative writing. Man, she had a ton of spelling tests which actually have been great with getting those words spelled correctly. Luckily this year, we didn't really have any bad bullying issues for a change and hope it'll continue for 3rd grade.

Thursday, I had a dual art lesson with students Micah and Gigi. They've been itching to do some painting so we worked on a water colour/pencil piece of a koi fish. The girls did fantastic and are looking forward to their next lesson. Mia painted as well and did an awesome drawing of a unicorn. I wish I could just do this for a living. Oh well. I'm looking forward to a busy Summer teaching more kids art and hope they all have fun. I'm going to work on this week getting an updated logo for Thrill Factory and promoting the lessons. Gigi wrote the sweetest letter on why my art lessons are so great. Thanks kid!

Friday was a half day for the diva. Sort of a pointless day but she had a surprise visit from her original 2nd grade teacher which put the biggest smile on her face. Honestly, we couldn't have had a better teacher for her. I traditionally brought Remi to pick her up and just about every kid ran up to give him some love. He of course didn't mind :) Mia said goodbye to some friends before we walked home. Later, she went to Stone Fire with Jill and her Grandparents. When I got home from work, there was a huge unicorn she won.

On my break Friday night, it was officially announced that Eden Hazard signed for Real Madrid. An end to an era. They have been rumoring almost his entire career as a Blue that he would leave for Madrid one day. The Prince will be painfully missed at Chelsea and has left an incredible legacy and huge shoes to fill.  His 7 years were fantastic and we all have some great memories of some of his incredible goals. He was a great servant to the club and always gave his best. He never dove and penned a great "farewell" letter. Couldn't have been any classier. Mia and I will miss watching him tare apart defense and scorch the keeper's net. Despite leaving for a club I loath, I wish him luck and hope he's treated well in Spain. Maybe he'll come back to the Bridge one day...Pictured is the shot I got of him when I saw Chelsea take on Inter several years ago when he took a PK and got the 2nd goal of the match.

Saturday we kept pretty damn busy. Because of the beautiful weather, we went to the zoo. We had a quick picnic before wandering around. Mia, Jill and myself were laughing hard at this duck that was flying and skidding across the water several times. Super cute. Mia enjoyed snapping pictures of the flamingos, giraffes, birds and otters. The red panda area was closed for some reason. The weather was too warm anyway for the critters to be out. Bummer.

Later, Mia and I picked up some food and went to the Torrent game. The girls played their heart out and got the big win 1-0. Mia had the best time cheering them on and pounding my drum. I sincerely love that she has this excitement for soccer (football) Whether it's watching the Torrent men/women's team, or our beloved Chelsea FC, it's something we get to enjoy together. Normally, we stick around for her to kick the ball about, but we had to go home and pick up Jill to go see Secret Life of Pets 2.

The movie ended up being pretty good and better than I expected. The girls crashed when we got home. Today, we did some grocery shopping before I went to work. This week, possibly some art lessons, hopefully some park visits with the diva and she's got her final rehearsal and recital this weekend. Crazy she's almost done with her dance career and ready to move on to other things. She's stated she wants to focus on her soccer and snowboarding skills, but has shown some interest in the girls running club and the newspaper club. Till then, we've got plenty of Summer to enjoy, although I think I speak for all of us that we wish we were heading back to Hawaii like last year. Oh well. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

The Home Stretch

Good evening everyone! Made it through another hectic week at work, and after this week, Mia will have completed the 2nd grade. WOO! This week was the Chelsea vs Arsenal final for the Europa trophy. I was pretty pretty pissed to have to work and miss it, however I Was stoked Mia wore her Chelsea shirt to support our fav team. They triumphantly defeated the Gunners 4-1. Hazard, who's rumored to leave London for Spain netted two goals. His farewell to the team he gave everything too. Unbelievable. Was stoked to watch the highlights when I got home with a much needed beer. It was such a rough season for my Blues, but they ended it on a high note picking up hardware. Hazard was injured the last time Chelsea was in the Europa final, so this win was a redemption. The EPL truly will lose one of the greatest players when he leaves for LA Liga. His creativity and incredible skills are unmatched. Mia's going to miss her football idol as well. I was super stoked to her the next morning that our beloved Blues pulled off the win :)

Thursday, we went to her little play at school the different groups put on. Her and a few kids performed a short Puss in Boots play. Mia was a magic mirror that she made all by herself. The kids did a great job and it was pretty cute. Originally I was going to do an art lesson, but it was sorta last minute and I didn't have any source material for my students to use. Hopefully we'll get in some more lessons too. Mia and I picked up Jill after work and we chilled out and had dinner.

Friday was our anniversary. 11 years married. And.....we didn't do anything. Jill and I love each other very very much, but we didn't find it necessary to take off (well me take off) from work to go out to dinner or anything. We reminisced about our wedding with Mia before she went off to school. Saturday, we celebrated my Mother-in-laws birthday a bit early with some dinner, a cake and fun. Jill and Mia made a strawberry lime cake but it didn't quite go as planned. Frosting was still really good. We watched Monster University before calling it a night when they split. I gave Mia a bath before she passed out for the evening.

Sunday, they came over for a picnic at the park on a gorgeous afternoon. Remi especially enjoyed it. We haven't taken him to Pro HealthCare Park in quite a while so he was super excited. We even let Mia walk Remi, which by the way was super cute and terrifying. I think as he's gotten older, he's gotten way better with walking and doesn't want to run immediately. He knew Mia was with him so he behaved well. I'm really the only person our dog ever runs with. I was proud of both Mia AND Remi for handling the walk. Later, I cut a bit of grass before calling it a night.

Lastly, I had some great drawings for Mia over the week. A pretty well-received quick sketch of some small orange cuties, and a very very rare attempt at Spiderman. I don't do superheroes but was intrigued by the classic comic book character and gave it a go.

This week is her last week of school. The home stretch. Sorta wish I would have got off on Friday since it's a half day, but what can ya do? Nothing else majorly planned so far. Possibly going to the Torrent game with Mia Saturday night. I'll continue looking for a new job as well. That's all for now, thanks for reading!