A bit overdue, but here’s my report! I think I was actually better at posting while I was away – because I worked at prescheduling so much – so maybe I need to plan my next trip so that I get back to all that prescheduling…
I had the privilege to travel with the Burlington Teen Tour Band to Ireland in March (actually a month ago this week!). They were invited to participate in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade and had a number of other scheduled performances as well. I volunteer as one of the photographers for the band. It’s a great way to work on my photography and editing skills, give back to an organization that has meant a lot to me and my family, and hang out with my band friends (both young and not so young anymore).
Photo: Burlington Teen Tour Band – Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Festival Parade 2023
The Burlington Teen Tour Band is a city sponsored marching band of youth – aged 13-21. (Right now, they are a pretty “young” band, I think they are mostly around 15-16 years old??). The majority are from Burlington, but we also have teens who travel from nearby cities to participate. They march, but also perform concerts (sitting down…), and include a colour guard section (the ones who carry the flags and twirl the baton). I was a member when I was the right age…LOL, and later my son was also a member in his teens, which is how I got re-involved with the band. The parent group, the Burlington Teen Tour Band Boosters, do a lot of fundraising and also chaperone on trips and events with the band, and I actually reconnected with a lot of people that had been in the band at the same time as me! My son retired from band a few years ago, but I stuck around as one of the volunteer photographers.
(spot the band in red in the sea of green as they make their way along the parade route)
This tour had been delayed a couple of times due to COVID, so it was great to finally see it happen! Unfortunately, the band equipment was delayed in arriving in Ireland (despite being packed and at the airport for transport days in advance of the band’s actual departure/arrival), so a couple of performances had to be cancelled and schedules re-worked, including a last minute extra practice once the equipment DID arrive! In the end, it was all good – the band performed really well in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Festival Parade and won Best Overall Band, topping a number of US college bands, which is quite a feat.
We did also get to do a bunch of site seeing, historical castles and building, farms (sheep and horses!) and cities. Number one most purchased item (besides the badges/pins for band jackets) – RAIN GEAR. It rained pretty much every day. One of the positives to so much rain (besides a very green landscape) though, is the number of rainbows we saw.
If you want to learn more about the Burlington Teen Tour Band, their website is https://teentourband.org . If you want to see more of the pictures from the trip and other activities taken by myself and Andrea, my fellow photographer (and also a fellow band alumna), you can go here.
Last but not least, you may have seen my attempt at a travel reel – I did one on Instagram, but I also did one on TikTok – and I think the TikTok editing was a little better….LOL. You can see that if you follow me on TikTok – or below! (yes, I usually post crafting videos, but had to commemorate my first time travelling internationally in 4 years!!).
Taking a moment to give thanks to those who served and sacrificed on this Remembrance Day.
Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, France
This year I travelled with the Burlington Teen Tour Band to England and France. The band was invited to take part in the commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. Along with performances, the band also visited a number of museums and sites, including the Juno Beach Centre, and significantly, the Canadian War Cemetery at Bény-sur-Mer in Normandy, France.
Prior to the trip, each person was given a set of dogtags, which were fundraisers for the Juno Beach Centre. The dogtags included one engraved with our name, and one engraved with the name and information for a fallen soldier who was buried at Bény-sur-Mer. Band members were tasked with doing research on their fallen soldier ahead of the trip. This made it a bit more personal, and during our visit to the cemetery, you could hear band members talking about going to visit the grave of “their” soldier. Many left tokens or messages from themselves or family members of the soldiers themselves. We actually made two visits to the cemetery – once during an official commemoration ceremony, and then once again – because the band members really wanted the opportunity to spend more time there. They also had the opportunity to speak with a number of veterans and families who were visiting the cemetery at the same time who shared their personal stories of the war.
This was such a significant trip for everyone who was able to take part – and it truly helped us to know that “freedom is not free”. As one band member recently said – “We will always remember to never forget”. I am sure that going forward, Remembrance Day will have a particular significance for everyone involved.
OK so I know it’s technically not even summer yet…but here’s my “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” entry – or “why it’s been a little more quiet than usual in the YamStamps world”.
I have almost recovered now I think – I haven’t been overseas in a few years and I don’t remember the jetlag being this bad last time – but this was a busy trip and we came back to a full moon so maybe that’s part of it…?!
Burlington Teen Tour Band performing at Juno Beach Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer France as part of the DDay 75 Ceremonies
I am privileged to be one of the photographers for the Burlington Teen Tour Band and the band recently returned from a trip to England and France. While in France, the band performed as representatives of Canadian youth during DDay 75 Commemoration events, including the above performance at the Juno Beach Centre.
photo of photographer courtesy of D VanClieaf!
This trip was a busy one! We started with an overnight flight to London, and a couple of days sightseeing before taking an overnight ferry to Normandy. While in Normandy (sleeping in a community gym for 4 nights!) the band practised and performed a number of times, including a fun performance in front of local school children, one of the highlights for me (and many of the band members!).
Before the trip, members (also chaperones and staff) received a dog tag – part of a fundraiser for the Juno Beach Centre. Each set of dog tags had a personalized one for the band member, and then the dog tag with information for a soldier buried at the Canadian Cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer. Band members were to research their soldier – you can find their research (still being uploaded) here on the Burlington Teen Tour Band site. We made a couple of visits to the cemetery – and it was one of the significant events for the band. Each member sought out “their” soldier and was able to pay tribute at the gravesite – with Canadian flags and mementos. Some members wrote letters, others carried messages from family members. These moments made this tour so much more significant for all of us.
Burlington Teen Tour Band at Beny sur Mer Canadian Cemetery
We capped off the trip with a day of sightseeing in Paris before heading home again. You can check out the tour photos here and the tour vlogs here.
This was not my first trip to Normandy – I actually participated in the DDay 40 band trip as a band member (stop doing the math in your head…). There were 4 of us who returned – 2 of us as chaperone/photographers and 2 as staff members. That’s not counting the number of second generation (well, technically there were also third generation) band members whose parents had been on that tour, and the staff members who had been on the 2nd tour 15 years ago (some as band members). I think that’s one of the things that I love about the Burlington Teen Tour Band – it’s such a positive experience and well run organization that generations will return to be involved in it.
Anyway – I returned home to the patience of the Monthly Class attendees who dealt with my jet lag (note to self – arriving home on a Monday evening from a country that is 6 hours ahead of your home time zone and having class on Wednesday may not be the best scheduling choice). I think I have recovered…kind of…and will be ready(ish) for the New Catalogue Open House and Retiring Product Sale this Saturday, June 22nd, running from 9am til 11am. Please RSVP and let me know if you need directions. I also apologize if you tried to contact me while I was away – connectivity was limited (you should have seen those kids with 5 days of no wifi…LOL).
I have this Stampin’ Up! set on order so can’t wait for it to arrive! It’s called Capture the Good. I think I’ll be able to come up with some ideas for using it…LOL.
OK back to the regularly scheduled programming – but hope you enjoyed the “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” entry (especially since I think that’s probably it for my vacation plans for the next few months!!). Otherwise you can check out some of my cheesy tourist selfies in the YamStamps Instagram “travel” highlights!
I am having a moment….(well, this is not a new thing really). I like to think that I’m organized, and I know that in certain situations I actually am….but that is not always the case!
My life:
Anyone else relate? And as a side note, the stock photos for “messy planner” are laughably NOT messy. (That being said, these ARE stock photos that I found…).
All this to say – HEY I updated the YamStamps Events page and corrected the date for the New Catalogue Open House & Retired Product Sale – oops! It is Saturday June 22nd from 9 am til 11 am. Hopefully you can make it! Please RSVP for directions and to reserve a copy of the catalogue!
We are into thefinal week for the current Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue before we say goodbye and move on to the 2019-2020 Annual Catalogue – be sure to place your final order well before June 3rd at yamstamps.com/shopto ensure availability of product (and avoid the last minute log jam on the site!). The new catalogue items will be available to order June 4th around 2pm Eastern. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!
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If you’re in Ontario – Happy Family Day! If you’re not – Happy Monday! On this Family Day, I find myself reflecting on family….and trying to keep a work – life balance (if there is such a thing!).
That’s me and my son in 2002 – when we were living in British Columbia. This is about the time when I started with Stampin’ Up! Canada as a demonstrator. The company was expanding into Canada from the US and I jumped on board. Crafting gave me a creative outlet and helped me carve out some me time to get some life balance. At the time, I lived in an area where I had to take a ferry to get to Vancouver (and area), and we had no craft store locally. It wasn’t unusual for me to spend a day to travel into the city, drive to a stamp store or craft store (plus hit the big box stores and maybe a mall LOL), then turn around and head home again (usually with toddler in tow, so it wasn’t always the most efficient trip either haha). This would happen maybe once a month at the most? (My memory grows foggy). Anyway. I realized that signing up to be a demonstrator would be the easy way to get my own paper crafting supplies delivered right to my door! The other bonus was that it gave me an opportunity to socialize with other adults. While I did enjoy being the parent of a young child, there’s only so much conversation you can have with a toddler…so this definitely came at the right point in my life! I often do card classes with moms who are enjoying a chance to get together with their friends and have some “me” time, so I know I was not an anomaly!
Fast forward a few years….LOL. I continued with my Stampin’ Up! business, which survived a cross country move (back to Ontario to be closer to my extended family), and managed to grow my business while keeping a “regular day job” in health care as well. Around 2014 I was getting burned out with my day job, though. My job was flexible, but I was finding that the flexible component often had to be me! Demands were growing higher, as was my caseload, despite my efforts to set limits. This, on top of parenting was a lot to manage, and life balance was definitely out of whack! So I made the decision to reduce my day job hours – officially becoming a part time employee. This allowed me to continue with client care, but gave me the opportunity to enforce some boundaries so that I would not get so burned out again. My Stampin’ Up! business was able to fill some of the income gap, while continuing to give me a much needed creative outlet and socialization (at this time, I was the parent of a young teenager, and once again, conversation with a teen boy can be limited…)!
These days, I enjoy that I can change my schedule to choose to spend time with my teen, as I am realizing that he’s not going to be in the family home for much longer! (selfie photo is from a family trip to England a few years ago). My Stampin’ Up! job is flexible, but I’m the boss, so I’m in control of the schedule and workload!
I am going to spend this Family Day enjoying a little down time and hanging out with my teen (well, as much as he’ll let me haha!). Maybe I’ll also get a little crafting in there as well….we’ll see what the boss says….!
