Kira McDermid, Age 8.

17...16...15...14...13...12...11...10...9...8!!!

If only I could go back in time to when I was just eight years old! No worries, lots of time for play, the benifits go on and on.
And if I could go back, even for a day, I would in a heartbeat. But let's imagine it.

It is late June. School is winding down and the weather is perfect; warm enough for shorts! Its a Saturday, which means a whole day just to play outside. I wake up at 7:30 am. To an eight year old, this is not even early. If I'm lucky, dad is already making pancakes for me! I load them up with maple syrup, and eat at least seven. When I'm done, mom lets me pick out my own clothes. I choose my green shorts and a green tank top, my favourite summer outfit! Its still too early to go outside, so my sister Ali and I play inside and make a fort out of couch cushions. Then we play spies, or mermaids, or maybe explorers. Finally the dew has disappeared from the grass and we can go outside! Ali and I run over to my neighbors house and see if our friends want to come outside and play! First we play Natives, then hide and seek. Our parents let us eat outside at the picnic table for lunch! After lunch we start a new game with chalk. We draw a house complete with bedrooms, televisions and a Nintendo 64. Its late afternoon and we decide to return to our own houses. I pull out a book and read until dinner. After dinner mom and dad rent a movie and we watch it all together. Mom even lets us stay up late; which means 9:00! After we are tucked into bed and dad has brought us each a glass of water, mom and dad turn out the lights and shut the door. Luckily, I have a book and a flashlight hidden under my pillow! I read until mom comes in and takes away my flashlight. The end of a perfect day! 

Thanks :)

Thanksgiving! I have so many things to be thankful for.
Like:
Family
             - including my parents, cousins, sister, aunts, uncles...I could go on
Fall leaves
hiking
getting along with my sister
having amazing friends
coffee in the morning
books to read
dance
music
choirs at school
my job
memories

AAAAH! University!

Grade 12 is really great for making you think about "your future". In fact, if I am told that I have to think about "my future" one more time, I might scream.

But let's back up. Ever since Grade 9 I have known that I want to go to university for dance. I've researched schools and learned about the application process. Before grade 12 I was excited about university. But now I am hearing about it WAY TOO MUCH.

1. All my mother talks about is saving my money for school.
2. My teachers stress about the importance of good grades for applying for schools.
3. When I jokingly told my Grandma that "I'm not going to university! I'm going to live at home for the rest of my life." She looked shocked and said "Kira, you mayen't (is that even a word, grandma?) do that. You'll never get a good job! And you know how much it costs to retire these days."

EXCUSE ME?! Now I'm worrying about my retirement? I haven't even graduated high school!

And although my mom insists that I will love university blah blah blah, and I know she's right, at the moment all I want to do is enjoy my last year of cost free education.

So could all of the adults in my life leave me alone for a bit? I'll think about university when I have to apply
That would be great. Kay thanks.

Nothing's Sweeter Than Summertime...

Aaaaah summer. The sun, the water, late nights and for me, the laughter of children! This past summer I ran a dance camp in Wellesley, Ontario called Barefoot Dance Camp. Each week of camp had a different themes, like Princess Week, Cowgirl Week, and Fun in the Sun (can you tell this was an all girls camp?). The girls were ages 5-10. They came to camp for a half day, and during this time they had a dance class, did a craft, and played outside. At the end of every week, the girls put on a dance show for their parents. It was such a rewarding experiance! I had so much fun every day coming up with new games, teaching the kids new dance steps and playing with the girls. I loved it so much and I learned a lot about running a business and teaching dance.

I decided to run a camp duing the summer mainly because I had no other job opportunities, but also because opening a dance studio is one of my goals. I wanted to see if I could run a dance camp when I didn't have the pressures of paying rent, buying food and supporting myself. In order to start the business, I applied for a government grant through a program called Summer Company. How it works is you have to create a business plan, go through an interview process and then, if you are accepted, you are required to complete a certain amount of business training and mentoring sessions. Student entrepreneurs are given $1500 at the beginning of the summer as a start up grant. If you are sucessful (they define successful as making atleast one sale, doing atleast 35 hours of work a week and completing all of the training) the government gives you another $1500 at the end of the summer as reward for all of your hard work.

After finishing the summer, I have decided to let my business grow! I plan to do day long programs over Christmas Break, and I am defintely going to offer more summer camp programs next summer!