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A Father-Son Road Trip: Québec City, Parliament, and the Canadian War Museum

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A trip journal Location: Québec City and Ottawa · Mississauga → QC → Ottawa → home · 29 June–4 July 2026 Day 1 — Arrival, Pasta Night, and an EV Road Trip We left Mississauga at the end of June for a loop I’d been meaning to do with Ewan: a few nights in Québec City, then Ottawa on the way home. Father and son. Five days on the road, give or take the last stretch. It was an EV trip — Circuit électrique stops along the way — which sounds more complicated than it felt. You plan the chargers, you stretch your legs, you keep going. By the time we rolled into town we were ready for something simple. Our base in Québec was an Airbnb called Au toit d'argent – Le contemporain , hosted by Marie-Eve. Comfortable, contemporary, close enough to Old Québec that we didn’t feel like we were commuting to our own vacation. That first evening we didn’t try to conquer the city. We made pasta, sat down, and let the drive fall off our shoulders. Ewan was exci...
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Lessons through Basketball

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Things have been a little rocky at home lately. By that I mean the fights between your mom and me have increased. But this weekend we finally found some time to play basketball together.   Over the last few weekends we’ve been playing soccer as the weather has improved, but it hasn’t really made us very happy. For some reason, we were both quite elated after Saturday’s basketball session. As I reflect on it now on Monday morning during my drive to work, I feel a combination of gratitude and pride.   One of the biggest reasons is the lesson you learned on Saturday. You were losing at our game of 21 and you got angry—so angry that you kicked the ball twice, and one of those kicks hit me in the chin. I didn’t get mad because I know how difficult it is to concede defeat. It’s a skill that took me a long time to even begin mastering.   After the game you told me you were very happy, and I could see it on your face. You learned that playin...
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Brampton Tournament 2026

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Hi Ewan, It's been almost a year since your last tournament. Your Sensei pushed you to compete in this Brampton one to get back into the swing of things.  Today is the day. We all woke up late except Ma. But made it on time. When we got here, you were quite nervous. Frozen even. You kept staring at the tatamis in the warm up mat. I kept asking you to warm up yet you just did you Kata. Maybe you were already warm or maybe you were terrified. Couldn't really tell. I think you lost some valuable time there. [ warming up.] Anyhoo, not even 10 minutes later, it was time to head to tatami 2 to line up.  You did five matches and executed well. Your nerve slowly vanished though you did get nervous on the last match. You won most of the matches but kept losing to this kid named Mateo from York dojo. It was soon apparent that your Kata selection was not strong enough. You did Saifa, which is short and doesn't show off some of the harder techniques. While the o...
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Yellow belt test

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Hello Ewan, You have been doing karate for since March this year. It is now September so it's been 6 months. Today was your first belt test. this picture is from your green belt test.
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Young Chess Master Siu

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Hello Ewan, Two weeks ago, you won your first chess tournament in school. You were so sure your friend Asher would beat you. But to your surprise, Lena beat Asher, and you beat Lena. Ma and I are so proud of you. We are proud not only because you won, but because this would give you a confidence boost. And more importantly, give you a taste of how it feels to win. Like really win. The days after, you ask me to play chess with you every spare minute we have. And I loss to you fair and square. I no longer had to let you win so you don't get upset. You have grown into a legitimately decent chess player.  In Fort Lauderdale, after watching Queen of Chess together, you told you me that a Chess Master is what you want to me when you grow up... To be famous, and to get a girlfriend.
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Adventure on Easter Monday

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I had a rare four-days-off situation during Easter this year. It has been a fantastic short vacation with plenty of rest and spending time with Ewan and WY. Today is Easter Monday and a day off for LL and me but a work day for WY. We had some errands to run but also wanted to do something fun. So here's what we did. 1. Scootering at Lakeshore Promenade: The lake of shimmering waters. Very pretty weather. It is one of the first Sunny spring day in Toronto. Barely warm enough to spend time outside. And a sunny day is so hard to come by these days I want to make sure we take advantage. So after running some errands, we went scootering at the Lakeshore promenade. It is right on Lake Ontario. I have been there by myself one year ago during one of my unplugged days. We also came here one time on a sweaty summer weekend, which was crowded and not so fun. Today was perfect as it is quiet. I didn't know where exactly to park. I found this park called Secret Park . It is nestled in a res...
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First Trip to Asia

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Dear Ewan, On January 22, you and mom took a month long trip fo to Hong Kong. Mainly to visit your 婆婆, 公公 and , 支支. It is the first time for you to travel to such a far place. And because I went to Hong Kong recently , I did not go with you guys. So it was just you and Mom. Here are some of the highlights of that trip from my perspective. Getting there: It is worth mentioning that this trip was supposed to take place in December. But our family taught covid and had to delay until January.  Month prior, mom already read tons of blogs about traveling with kids. She also systematically started making a packing list and reading up on health policies when entering Hong Kong. This trip was months in the making. Luck seems to be on our side since most Covid restrictions were shed. On the Sunday that you left, it was tough for me. After I said the many goodbyes to you and Mom at the security checkpoint, I walk back to my car feeling empty and depressed. Things slowly got better. In the mea...
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