Family Update

A family update is long overdue, and Mother's Day seems a good day to post one. We're all doing well, but it's been a busy year.

Over March Break, Julia went on an exchange trip to Switzerland with her French teacher and a number of classmates. She first spent three nights in Paris (lucky girl!!) before meeting her French-speaking host family in Switzerland. She received a very warm welcome from her hosts and had a fabulous time there. Among other experiences, she got to see the Louvre and go snowshoeing in the Alps. After her return, we hosted her exchange partner from Switzerland, a lovely girl named Zana. The school took her on the requisite trips to Niagara Falls and the CN tower, and we had our own family excursions to the AGO, Chinatown and the Eaton Centre (a must for most teen girls, it seems, regardless of nationality). We were much impressed by Zana's willingness to try all kinds of Asian food and her excellent command of English, and we hope to see her again in Canada in the future. A few weeks later, Julia went on another school trip, an intensive week-long science/technology course in Ottawa with her entire Grade 9 class.

Concert season is almost over for Kate. Within the past three weeks, she has performed in an orchestra concert, a group violin concert, four Kiwanis competitions (violin, piano and composition), a school talent show with her band (for which she plays guitar), and a dance recital. Phew! It's not usually this crazy, but somehow, all the season-end recitals landed at the same time. She has one more violin recital to do next weekend and then she plans to do nothing for an entire week except play computer games.

Todd is still doing the usual stuff: travelling for business, playing guitar, building tube amps. I'm still reading, knitting, and writing software. I've also been volunteering with the adult literacy centre, tutoring a student once a week. It's been an interesting and rewarding experience.

For those of you who have been concerned about my mother, I'm happy to report that Mom is out of the ICU now and on the road to recovery. She seemed in good spirits when I spoke to her today and is getting stronger every day. She is still in the hospital but will likely not have to stay there too much longer. Happy news indeed for Mother's Day!