A photo posted by Cecile Lu (@cissyartcafe) on Mar 20, 2016 at 8:38am PDT

This past Sunday, Hera participated in the Kangaroo Math competition! Kangaroo Math is a nationwide competition across Canada (there's a USA version too) that tests creative and logical thinking around mathematics. Obviously the test changes depending on your grade level, but the first and second grade tests are the same. Hera participated last year, and this year she decided she really wanted to win an award, and the entire family came to cheer her on.

I'm not kidding. Mom, dad, and I sat around outside the lecture hall (the venue was a building on the UOttawa campus) that she was testing in for an hour waiting for her to come out. My dad had his iPad at the ready to take a picture of Hera when she was leaving the lecture hall, to capture if she came out in smiles (a good sign) or if she looked upset (a bad sign).

While we were sitting around, I took the chance to look around and sketch part of the building. The building appealed to my artist side - it was strange and unpredictable and had bizarre shapes. Of course, my architecture side hated it. There didn't seem to be any logic to anything!

Good thing it was my artist side that needed to be present to urban sketch the building. I haven't sketched a building in a while, and my straight lines definitely need some work. I've gotten quite spoiled with all the software we use in architecture to draw things.

Hera came out all smiles and with a pretty good sense of how she did. Here's to hoping she did well!

I don't really remember ever participating in competitions like these, but let me know if you did in the comments below! Did you enjoy them?