Good morning Kirsten

Happy sixth birthday!

5 v. 6

This was you on your fifth birthday

And this was you today:

Updates

It’s been another packed year, including a couple of holidays. We went to Centre Parcs for the October week. It was great! Looking back on it, we don’t seem to have taken many photos. But I think that’s because we didn’t really stop the entire time we were there. There were lots of activities for all of us – I’ve included a photo below of you rock climbing – and lots of swimming. We were all exhausted by the time we got home!

The big trip of the year was to Disneyland Paris, which was a huge success. Your Mum and I were a bit concerned that you and/or Cooper wouldn’t be keen on the rides and that it would be too tiring.  We went for a week and stayed in one of the Disney hotels. The plan we had in mind was that we’d use the Parks as a base and perhaps we’d go into Paris for a day trip or two. We needn’t have worried. In the end, we stayed at the Parks the entire time and had an absolute blast! It was a proper break, with the highlight being that you met Princess Aurora (your absolute favourite!)

School has been going really well so far. You worked hard in P1 and had good reports across the board. You also seem to really enjoy school, which I still find surprising. P2 is going the same way. You enjoy playing squash after school one day a week and, just the other day, tried (and enjoyed) hockey for the first time.

What about you?

You’re constantly expanding your interests. You went to a K-Pop Demon Hunters drama camp over the summer and enjoyed the performance side of that. You also enjoy books and, increasingly, read yourself. We’re reading Harry Potter at bedtime (we’re on the Prisoner of Azkaban at the moment) and have the audiobooks going in the car. We now can’t get in the car without you saying “please can we put HP on?”

You’re a music fan. You know large parts of the Wicked soundtrack – you seem to think a song about “loathing” is my favourite… I don’t know why you’d think that would appeal to me – and, incredibly, you have gotten into Led Zeppelin in the last few weeks. Just this morning, you asked me to put Black Dog on in the car, after I’d said that HP wasn’t an option because it was only a short drive.

You’ve come to really enjoy riding your bike.  You weren’t particularly interested for a long time, but something clicked in the last few months and now you ride whenever you can.  You’ll happily shoot off round the park and come back boasting about how fast you went!

You’ve also got a mind of your own, and once it’s made up, that’s that.  I can’t really complain, since I’m exactly the same.  It doesn’t always make for an easy life, but it’s also far from the full story: you’re affectionate; you care about your friends and everything around you.  For example, most mornings, you won’t leave for school without tracking down the cats for a proper goodbye pat.

You and Cooper get on really well.  The two of you will now quite happily play together.  It was interesting when I was going through the photos for this year how many we have of the two of you laughing together.  Long may that continue!

It never gets easier, you just go faster

I talked last year about your Mum and I feeling like we were at Max Q.  We’re still there – in fact, if anything, we’re working even harder this year.  But I’m reminded of the Greg LeMond quote – “it never gets easier, you just go faster”.  I certainly feel that, too – we are making progress.

Now that you and your brother are getting a bit older, I can feel our horizons expanding a bit.  The two of you don’t need to go to bed quite as early as you did before; naps aren’t quite as important; and we don’t need to travel with quite as much kit as you used to.  All of that is great, and it’s given us some confidence to book a big trip to California next year, including to Disneyland.  Excitement levels are already very high for that!  

I’ll go back to Greg LeMond for my conclusion this year.  Greg LeMond won the Road World Championship in 1989 and, just last week, it was won by another American – Brandon McNulty.  That’s relevant for a few reasons: Brandon McNulty was not expected to win; he spends most of the year riding as a support rider for his team leader; and, most importantly, he has a Tash!

The reason he won is because his teammates did tonnes of unselfish work.  There were three of them at pointy end of the race and they said afterwards that they had agreed among themselves that it didn’t matter who won, as long as one of them did.

To the extent that our family is making progress, it’s because we’re working super-hard as a team.  Your Mum and I are both working at Max Q, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Until next year, pal.

Love,

Your Dad