first day of school!

Today was the kids’ first day of school. They had a great time and both of them loved their teachers. (Hurray!)

They had to get up early, of course; Wesley didn’t have much trouble with that. Mary, on the other hand, had to be pried out of bed. As usual.

Here’s Wesley, ready to go:

And here’s Mary in her new first-grade uniform:

Wesley got ready and everything, but he didn’t sleep well last night; he was too excited about school. So by the time we got to the parking lot, he was…well, he didn’t know what hit him.

Mary held Wesley’s hand and led him to his classroom. She said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take very good care of him.” (What a good sister.)

On another note, I just realized that this week is my ten-year teaching anniversary. Ten years ago this week, I started teaching my first class. I cannot believe it’s been that long, but it also seems like I’ve been a teacher forever, so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising.

Definitely one of the three or four best decisions I ever made.

visit from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Mike!

We had a lovely visit from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Mike. They headed home on Wednesday, and I think the kids are recovering right about now. We ate well, had lots of conversation (shocking!), and drank some very good wine.
We went downtown to check out some memorials. Wesley and Grandma Sandy shared a little hug.

Grandpa showed Mary the Braille underneath the letters on the quote and she went hunting for every A.

Kids had a snuggle–I think this was solidarity over the fact that they were both hungry.

A little rest time:

On a different day, we visited a local historic mansion with a cool garden.

 

There was a cool playground for the kids (all three of them):

 

 

 

 

At a local aviation museum, Mike explained the rotary engine.

…and used the flight simulator.

 

We had a great time–especially the kids, who were a whirlwind of activity interspersed with complete collapse.