Sunday night was spent visiting my brother where he lives which then made it an easy run to Adelaide on the Monday.
Monday night was the Year 12 curriculum evening to plan 2020, along with the tertiary expo in the foyer. Miss A has a fairly clear idea of what she wants to do post year 12 so we targeted specific stalls at the expo. This has proven very fruitful.
Tuesday morning was a productive meeting with the school Careers Counsellor who will be coordinating the Cert 4 Library and Information Services school based traineeship, the employer and the year 12 subjects so allow Miss A a day a week on the job site.
Miss A and I then targeted 3 specific public libraries after school on Tues, Wed, Thurs that had been recommended to us by our local library (thank you Jeannie). We are looking for a library that offers a lot of services, is busy and gave Miss A a good gut feeling.
We spoke to the head of staffing at each one and had lots of questions answered. I then went to a particular City Council and spoke to the HR rep, as each library is owned by a council, and the council employs the library staff.
Basically Miss A were door knocking, showing her face, introducing her to staff to show she's keen and making those connections for future reference. A bit of leg work that will pay in dividends we hope.
A second meeting with the Careers Councillor to update her on details, pass on the contact names and the information we had learned. Miss A and I have a lot of the basic work done to make the next step a bit easier for the councillor.
Tuesday night was an appointment with a surgeon about getting Miss A's wisdom teeth out, driving in the teeming rain in the city and shitting myself because Google Maps took me out of my comfort zone. Thankfully no boo boos, no horns honked at me. In fact I drove the city like a boss!!! (Thanks Zani, you were in my head.)
Wednesday saw me at Orthopaedic 360 seeing the surgeon about my upcoming knee replacement. I had a bunch of new questions and we booked the date. This was dependant on my 50th bithday trip to Sydney and Cruise early next year. So we have settled on April as I wouldn't have rehabbed enough to tackle the Bridge Climb, walking Sydney and the Cruise Ship if I looked at surgery later this year.
Saturday morning was spent at the Uniting Church netball courts watching Miss A play. Then off we went to begin the prep for her formal that night.
Obviously a shower to freshen up, and then the hair do. Tbh I was a bit disappointed with it as it started to drop straight away but Miss A was happy and that's all that matters.
Miss A's Pre Pre started with lunch platters at Aunt Chelles and makeup by Bridget and Jazz. It was a family affair with Aunt Tarn and little Samantha coming as well as Nan. We even had input from Luci via text who is currently travelling Greece atm.
This whole afternoon was a bit of deal for Miss A as she's never worn makeup, never had her hair 'done', never worn heels (so had been practising during the week) and never worn a gown. By the time she was ready for her Pre she was truly a princess.
Miss A's pre was in Glenelg and Bridg very kindly Ubered us there as I had a ride into town for the Formal Walk In with another parent. Of course I had the camera with me and took a few pics of the other girls and their dates at the home of the Pre.
It was time for the girls to head into the Convention Centre on North Terrace in their party bus and us parents to try and get there in time before they walked into the ballroom.
The headmaster was fully kitted in his tartan kilt, and greeted each of the year 11 and 12 students as they made their way into the room.
I gave Miss A a hug and left her to it. The boarding parents and some day parents had organised for a dinner over the road at the Strathmore while waiting for our kids.
When it was time to pick up Miss A, I waited under a tree outside the Convention Centre, to allow her the room to wish her friends goodbye without being in her space. I needn't have bothered. She spotted me through the foyer glass and gave me the biggest wave and beelined to me. Her shoes were still on despite a couple of blisters, unlike many of the girls who had shoes in hand walking barefoot on the footpath, long dresses hooked up over their arm or in hand.
She had a brilliant night, lots of dancing so earned her blisters. The year 11's go to the formal to support their year 12 friends and to have an idea of what happens when its their special time as a year 12 next year. The best thing Miss A learned was not to have a floor length gown as she was forever having to carefully hold a handful of it in her hand so she didn't step on the hem.
We had a lovely breakfast at Pavè the next morning before she went back to boarding with Nan, and I started the long 8 hour drive home.
All in all a very productive week for both of us.
