Well I've done it!

I set a goal for myself to take the air brakes course and I did it and I passed the first time around! The course was done over a weekend. We had 3 tests to do. I passed them all and the final one being the official ICBC test! Can you believe? I got all 25 questions right!! Yes sireeee, 100%!! I am still amazed at myself. I really knew very little about mechanics going into this class. I feel so great for ME!! I am not sure what I will do next now that I accomplished this goal....but the whole purpose of taking the class and getting an air brakes endorsement is so that I can drive the big green Literacy Bus to the events I plan on the North Island for preschoolers and their families. I have a new job too. I am the Literacy Bus coordinator. I have a few plans for it but first it needs to be reclassified from a bus to a motorhome. It used o be a 72 passenger school bus. Now it only seats 8. I will take some pictures of the inside and post them later this summer. Once it is classified as a motorhome I will be able to drive it! Then I really will be Mother Goose on the GO!

Carter has a job at the pool. He is a lifeguard in training. Over the winter he will work on getting certified and take the NLS course needed to guard next summer. We have an outdoor pool that is a few blocks away so it is easy to get to and the pool manager was so very happy he applied and gave him a great big hug when he showed up to be introduced to what was expected of him. His newest interests include Jr Fire fighting and scuba diving. I think he will try to encourage get Drew to re-certify so they can head out together and explore the ocean. He also enjoys comedy and loves to share the funny stories he hears. Come to think of it he even shares funny stories from work. He is finished Grade 11, yikes, Grad next year. He did quite well on his report card! As I think of him I realize there are few 'moments' left before he is grown up and will be heading out on his own. Where has the time gone? As I go to one of my jobs, Toddlertime, and visit with the Moms there I am reminded to the days gone by with little Carter and living in Alert Bay, walking to the post office everyday, rain or shine. Pushing him in the stroller and watching his little hand give the 5 fingered wave to the vehicles passing by. Or watching him run to the window waving his arm good bye, when he hears the planes taking off as they leave the Bay.

Dexter seems to master what ever he puts his mind to. He is currently working very hard at beating the last song on Guitar Hero 3 for WII at the expert level, doing straight leg back flips on the trampoline and chatting on msn with numerous friends at once. Now Dexter is trying to head spin on the tramp and learn some songs on the guitar. He enjoyed his season of soccer. He was on the Fighting Irish team and their jerseys were bright green, his fave colour! They won only 4 games the whole season and they really pulled together at the end of the season and their team won the final tournament in Hardy!! They played a total of 4 games that weekend, they lost the first one and won all the rest. Dexter is heading to Grade 9. He really enjoyed his year at the Secondary School. "It is so much better than elementary" he told me on a number of occasions. This semester he seemed to really blossom into a social magnet. Often he would come home with 2, 3, even 5 friends at lunch. They would all hang out eating, chatting and jumping on the trampoline. I had to put a stop to the computer/video game time because I am not an entertainment stop for lunch, only on Fridays were they allowed. It was a busy time some days and there was always a bigger mess to clean up but all in all I really enjoyed the time.

Hyrum is happy that Dad has picked up his old hobby of yo-yos because he now is the proud owner of 5 different yo-yos. Hyrum is working hard to beat Dad's record of loop the loop tricks. I think he is up to 150. His friend saw him do 110. He can do rock the baby, around the world and he has made up a couple of tricks. He had an unfortunate accident a couple of months ago, he fell out of a tree. He only remembers the beginning of his fall. No broken bones but his hip, lower back and one leg were very sore for quite some time. He missed a little over a month of soccer and shuffled as he walked for 2 weeks. He is back running around and bike riding. He is quite excited that Alick is sharing his new bike and so he has a few bikes to choose from when he wants to go out. Hyrum finished his Grade 6 year with Dad as his teacher and a new lap top to work with for school assignments. He was fortunate enough to slip into the 5th spot for psyched testing this spring and on the last day of school I attended a meeting to receive a summary of the results. Hyrum will be getting the long awaited help he needs in school next year with writing and reading. Up until now I have been the one to recommend the adaptations for his course work. It will be nice to have the 'professionals' support him at school! Drew has been great to work with as his teacher. Actually his teacher last year was great too. It has been a hard task for me to 'see' what he needs and then to get the school to 'see' what I see. phew. I have come to learn through Hyrum that there is more to learning than what school provides and that there are other ways and opportunities to learn! He has been a great help to me this year as I went from school to school doing the Ready Set Learn activities. I gave him a job and then he would be off for the rest of the time, usually an hour and half. He found jobs to do and would often say, do you want me to do this for you?

Alick came home today and said his friend down the street is selling his sweet bike. He was all in a tizzy over this bike and the family was getting ready to go camping for the weekend. I needed to hurry and come see it. So Hyrum, Alick and I went down the street to check it out. Hyrum thought it was great, I think it is a bit too much for Alick and Alick is now motivated to learn to ride a 2 wheeler. (I have been trying for a couple of years to get him to head out and bike ride but he just wasn't interested. I guess he needed the 'right bike'.) I will post a picture another day, I am sure you will agree it is sweet. We went to my 'little' brother's wedding in May. Alick was asked to be the ring bearer. He looked so handsome in the tux and took his job seriously. I was honestly a little worried that he wouldn't follow through with it all but he did awesome! While we were in Victoria we went to Chinatown. Alick took me to a certain store where he showed me on the certain rack the kimono he wanted me to buy him. Well, now I know why I have started working part time. It is so I can be the money bags for the 'cool' things he wants.....Alick finished Grade 2.....I wonder what next school year will bring for him. He had an average of 91% in spelling!!!

Drew has finished and passed his Masters Degree. I say passed because for his final project he needed to put together a portfolio of the things he did over the course of his Masters program and the students were either given a pass or a fail. He passed. Actually he did very well for himself in his classes. I believe he had a 98% on a number of them. Phew it is done. Great work honey! He has 3 courses to complete and then he will be able to move up to the top of the pay scale. He enjoyed his learning and is looking forward to putting some of it to use in his classroom next year and the following years. Eventually he will look into moving into administration. As a matter of fact he 'thought' of applying for a Principal position for the fall, but it was in Alice and I am NOT moving there. Sorry. The road is absolutely awful and besides the church building is here in town. I told the boys we 'could' move to a bigger house... in Alice......NO WAY!!! Dexter's friends said they would hunt me down if we left..

Well in closing, Drew did a wonderful job performing the wedding for my brother and his wife and he will have the great opportunity to MC at sister's wedding. We enjoy the time we get to spend with family. It is just too bad that we live so far from all of you. You are often in our thoughts, prayers and conversations. We love you all!!!!