End of Elementary

It was the end of Elementary - Gr8 graduation.
Next stop is high school.  I'm sure the 4 years will go by in a flash.  These past 2 years did.  He's certainly proud of his school.  And he loves it there and enjoys going to school.
What more can you ask?
Every year he seems to progress a bit more.
It may not be leaps and bounds but progress nonetheless.
And that's a good thing.

I think Kieran's taller than Tresa's dad?  His legs are longer.  Just look at the location of their belts.

These are Kieran's buddies.  Some of them anyways.
They're smart too.  #1 and #2 in his year are beside him.  Birds of a feather!  Hopefully.

The only expectation for Kieran was to do his best.  If he didn't, then he knows he's got some work ahead to improve where he needs to.  Next September is another year to improve and get better.

Another Father's day.  Another violin concert.
He got me this card the day he went to check his exam marks.
He got me a beer mug too, and candy.

You know what that means.
He didn't do as well as he thought.
It's okay.  He did much better throughout the year and was doing well already going into the exams.  That was the strategy from Sept.  And he accomplished that.  Next step in the progression is to prepare better for exams.
Exams are totally different animal altogether.  Next year will be a bit better.


At this years violin concert Dorothy had him lead the youngest ones in doing their 'twinkles'.  That was good.  He's now one of the older students in Dorothy's violin school and it was good for him to do this.


There was no 24Hr race for me this year.  Which I was totally okay with.  Too many things going on.  I was happy to just be on my bike enjoying the great weather up at Sir Sams.

Kieran came too. Last time he was here he survived Slushfest Fatbiking.  He was huffing and puffing riding up.  But that's okay.  Everyone does.

And after a long and chilly spring, summer has finally arrived!

We the North

This was history. Almost 60 Jurassic parks where people were gathering together to watch the Toronto Raptors play in the NBA playoffs and finals.
We watched the Raptors in Italy in our own Jurassic Villa at 2:30am local time in 2OT beat the Bucks in Game 3 at home.  No wonder I got lost the next day riding around Chianti.

The Bucks looked really good.  It seemed like they were the team to beat.  That 2OT victory was a lot of effort to win.  I wasn't sure if they would have the energy to win the next game, but the Bucks were playing to win in too and were tired too.  And the Raptors took Game 4.  They seemed to be able to make the adjustments and then won the next 2 games to finish off the Bucks at home!  They had won the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time and punched their ticket to the Finals against GSW.

Someone asked me if I thought the Raptors would win against Golden State.  I said for sure they will win!  I knew they had a great chance to win.  5 straight finals meant a lot of wear and tear on the GSW.  And they were beat up.  KD was out.  The GSW bench is not as deep as the Raptors. This was the Raptors year.  I was very confident that if they made it to the finals, the Larry OB trophy was theirs to lose.  It was clearly a window of opportunity. Many US analysts were picking GSW despite all the above.  Except for Charles Barkley (he loves Toronto!) and Jalen Rose (a former Raptor!) and the white dude on Jump! He was saying the exact same things I was saying. They just had to play the way they can.

And they did.  If they had won Game 2 at home.  They would have swept.  But that's a big IF.  I am 100% sure GSW would have responded in one of the games for sure.  The Raptors had a chance to win at home in Game 5, being up 3 games to 1.  But they messed up the last play of the game.  No time out.  Still.  They only needed 1 more game.  Being up 3 games to 1, is a huge advantage.

What would have happened if the Raptors did win in the 6IX? It would have been massive!  I still remember the 1992-93 Blue Jays World Series win.  Wall to wall people walking up Yonge St from the Skydome.
I was in that mosh pit, with my friends!  We were all hanging onto each other so we wouldn't get separated.  Hearing from some friends that did make it to the parade.  I heard it was a bit scary.  So maybe it was a good thing they didn't win at home considering the parade crowd.
Still it would have been nice for Kieran to see what winning brings to a city.  It unites people.  And it was nice for Drake to do his Canadian thing and tell people to give someone they don't know a hug on this celebration day.  That was a nice touch.  And a way to give the world a bit more Canada.

Although GSW wasn't making it easy.  They are a great team.   And Even with their injuries they are a tough team to beat. Playoffs are a different league altogether.  Everything goes up another level, players play faster, harder, inspired, and they play injured, all for the sake of winning a championship. Why?

Because you never know when you will get another chance. And the Toronto Raptors still had 2 more chances to close it out, in Game 6 - they did it!  It was a weird and anticlimactic finish, but they did it.

I have never seen this many people in TO come out to celebrate anything.  This was massive.
The first time the NBA championship was won by a team outside of the USA.  I wanted to go to be in this crowd.  Just like I was when the Blue Jays won in 1992 and 93.  This was a lot bigger!  I could not believe it.  Incredible.  This was history.