Life lesson | Lessons from my daughter

When the doctor told us we were having a girl, Jonathan asked what were the probabilities that he (the doctor) was wrong?

Little did he (Jonathan) know that a father’s love for his daughter can’t be measured.

He had no idea what was coming his way.

More than 17 years later, the bond Jonathan and Emily share is unbreakable. Regardless of Emily’s struggles or maybe thanks to Emily’s struggles, the love between them as flourished and continues to grow.

It has grown enough that Jonathan is comfortable being at an American Girl Store with his 16 year old daughter, looking at dolls and picking out outfits.

If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you know that Emily loves American Girl dolls. Before this latest trip, she was the proud owner of 13 dolls. Some we bought, some she bought, some were bought for her from other family members… She has quite a collection of dolls, clothing and accessories.

On May 4th, when we landed in Orlando, Emily knew that the plan was to check into our hotel than get a cab and find our way to the American girl store.

By the way, that mall as valet parking. I grew-up in a town that still doesn’t have a mall…. Valet parking? That’s fancy!

Let’s meet Grace, the doll Emily wanted to add to our family.

After adopting Grace, we had dinner reservation at the American Girl restaurant.

Good looking girls!

Hot dad! Nothing is sexier than a man helping fix his daughter’s doll’s hair.

My gorgeous daughter

Something you will not see really often… Me! Jon got hold of the camera 🙂

Once back at the hotel, it was pajama time!

Look at my 4 girls!

I know, this isn’t a photography blog….

This is a blog about Emily and the life lessons she’s teaching all people who come in contact with her.

Today’s post is about finding me… allowing myself to learn something for me… something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time but never got to it for so many reasons.

Over the years, Emily has taught us so much about ourselves…

Jon and I know each others dream and know what we both had to set aside at one point or another to continue our journey of learning with Emily.

Our journey is different than the one we planned when we met at 21 and 23 but believe me, we “now” love it. It was and still is difficult but we are making it work and we are now having fun! We are enjoying our family life.

Last December, Jonathan took Emily shopping for my Christmas/Birthday gift. They bought me a Canon Rebel T5i

I spent the first 2 months looking at my camera, thinking I had no more excuses. My family gave me the tool I needed to learn something I have been wanting to learn for years. Photography!

I didn’t read the instruction book and couldn’t figure it out on my own… 😦

So, I paid someone to give me a guided tour of my camera in early March.

I used it once in April and took it on our vacations earlier this month!

We went to Florida for Emily’s dream come true vacation which was granted by the Sunshine Foundation of Canada. We went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, we visited Universal parks, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Magic Kingdom.

Since my concussion (October 2013), I get massive headaches when traveling by plane and this time wasn’t different.

I don’t like roller coasters so it wasn’t difficult for me to pick taking pictures and playing with my camera as opposed to going on rides with Jon and Emily. Jon was worried I would get bored but eventually realized I was having an awesome time with my camera.

Here are some of my favorite “artsy” pictures from our trip.

This is a candid shot of a real man. My husband who will do anything for his girl. I know, that’s so sexy right? I love him and Emily adores her dad. We are so lucky to have Jon in our lives.

Flowers on the table, I just love the color.

Emily listening to our “behind the scene” tour at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium It was fascinating to see her pay attention and even contribute info and ask questions.

Emily, Mallory and Hope. My pictures are not as good as the CMA photographer but I like them.

This was much harder to do than I thought. The lights or lack of in there played tricks with my camera.

Again, my girl, completely engaged.

The whole island is covered with these. I took many pictures to try and show the thousands of seashells but I’m not 100% happy with any… That’s the best one, I think.

My girl

My girl and hubby sitting front row! I caught them on so many rides. I’m really proud of my roller coaster pictures.

Candid shot of my girl laughing.

Reflection in a window

I got the fire!

I photographed those suitcases 7 times before they looked this good. Again, the light was playing game with me.

My girl sitting front row once again. I photographed many strangers before taking this :). If we zoom in, you can see Emily laughing like crazy.

Animal kingdom. I have many more pictures of hippos, rhinos, lions, elephants and so on but the ones below are my favorites.

One of two baby gorilla napping while holding the most amazing monkey position ever. Scratching armpit and head? Seriously, that’s how he slept while the one kept rolling around 🙂

I might have to frame this.