Alice first school work of first grade

Translation: The kids are walking to school. They are a boy and a girl. (She's very literal but not very literate.)

Alice's First Day of First Grade

Today, Alice had her first day of first grade at the new school. She also rode the bus to school for the first time. She was completely unfazed by all off this, although she was a bit bonkers at the bus stop in the morning. I, too, was relatively unfazed, and I didn't even shed a tear as the giant yellow bus swallowed up my daughter and transported her off to school.

Parker (2nd grade) and Alice (1st grade)

The bus stop

The school is less than 10 minutes from our house, but the girls will have a 45-minute bus ride every morning. They are the second stop on the route.

She came home with her first grade hat, so I guess she's certified now.

Alice didn't say much about her day other than that it was great and her teacher asked her to not keep getting up to ask her questions all the time.

Goodbye neighbors

We've become good friends with our next door neighbors over the past 6 months, spending random evenings in the cul-de-sac with them and occasionally hanging out the pool. But unfortunately this is their last week here. Joanna got a job a doctor for the White House so this weekend they're moving to Washington, D.C.  We'll miss playing in the cul-de-sac with them! (They had some trees removed from their yard this week, which provided great entertainment for the kids.) 

Last day of summer vacation...

Sunday was the last day of summer vacation before Alice starts school on Monday.

We made the most of it:
Zac took the kids on a bike ride in the morning, then I took Alice and Simon to a birthday pool party in the afternoon.

I still can't get used to Simon biking around like a normal kid. I'd thought he'd be scrounging around in the dirt for bugs forever.

Above, Alice with the birthday boy, Lukas. Don't they look like siblings?

Below, Izzy, Anna, Alice.

I just love how Alice's daycare crowd has really stuck together despite dispersing to different schools.

Simon slugging and shooting

In general, Simon loves getting into containers, even the trashcan. I think he's actually a hermit crab.

file photo from 8-18-17

He eventually got fully dressed, and had much fun shooting his airplane.

Tell him how you really feel

Alice: "Mom, Simon broke my bridge I made him and I not going to make him a new one!"

Sera: "Ok.  Go tell Simon how you feel."

Alice: "Simon, I hate you! You're the worst brother ever! I don't like your shirt and you're mean!"

Sera: "I meant the part about not making him another bridge because he broke it."

Alice visits her new school

On Thursday afternoon it was "meet the teachers" night at Alice's new school (because we moved). I picked Alice up from her summer camp and took her straight to the school. This year, and until 5th grade (barring some redistricting) she will attend Dillard Drive Elementary School.  Most of the schools around here are just named after the road they're on. It's very boring, but this is the south, so it's probably better than naming them after historical figures who tend to have some racist baggage.

I'd never been to this school, but Alice's friend from across the street, Parker, goes here and her mom spoke well of it. I was sad about leaving Cary Elementary, and nervous about this school since their test scores are lower.  However, after visiting and seeing the other families roaming the halls, I suspect it is because it has a large immigrant population and many ESL kids (or kids where a different language is spoken at home so they have less exposure to English).  Whereas Cary Elementary was mostly white and hispanic, this school seems thoroughly diverse. It will be great for Alice to (hopefully!) make friends with lots of kids from different backgrounds. Plus, the teachers all seemed nice and friendly and the school had a good vibe. 

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We first found the class lists in the hallway to see who her teacher was. There was no suspense here since I don't know any of the teachers or any other students to hope for her to have in her class.  It also turns out that Alice's 1st grade teacher, Ms. Jones, is best friends with the health teacher at my school. So that's a fun connection.

We visited the classroom and Alice got right to work with some shapes while I filled out paper work and chatted with the teacher a bit. I just wanted to make sure Mrs. Jones knew that Alice was new to the school (unlike most of the other first graders) and would need a little more help finding her way around the first couple of days.

We also checked out the library, gym, and cafeteria.

I got Alice signed up to ride the bus to school in the morning (leaving around 8am and arriving at 8:45--yikes that's a long ride!) but since we can't drop her off until 8:45 (way too late for our work schedules) we're considering the bus free before-school care. And she'll get to ride the bus with Parker, so it should be fun.

The after school program is run by the YMCA on site (meaning she stays at school and doesn't get bussed to the Y). It is more expensive than the in-house after school care at her old school, but probably much better quality. And anyway, what choice do we have?

She starts school on Monday and we're bracing ourselves for yet another transition and adjustment.

Alice at Camp Happy Trails

For the last two weeks of the summer, Alice is at Camp Happy Trails at the Jaycee Community Center, near my work.

Overall, the summer camp experience has been interesting. I think Alice struggled a bit, socially,  moving around to so many camps. I think she often misbehaved to get attention. I'm not quite sure what to do about next summer.

Day 3: Total Solar Eclipse Day!

Finally, it was Monday, the big day. It was forcast to be cloudy, so we were bracing ourselves for not being able to see much of the eclipse.

Alice, Annabelle, and Simon play on the balcony.

View of the condo from the dune area.

View of the dunes from the board walk. So many clouds!

That morning we staked out a place on the beach, just going in for lunch from noon to one. The eclipse started around 1:30.  The beach was lively, but not overwhelmingly crowded. This is because it was low tide, so the beach was large. Also because the resort was in a gated area, so people couldn't really just drive in for the day, like in other areas.

Simon had fun launching mud balls.

The eclipse glasses worked well!

It was hard to see the eclipse with the glasses through the clouds, so we'd have a look every time the sun peaked out from behind a cloud.

It was great watching the eclipse from the beach, because the kids could stay occupied. Simon wasn't interested in it at all, and Alice only looked a few times. Honestly, it was a bit boring most of the time. But the party atmosphere on the beach was fun.

After their naps and lunch, Laura, Annabelle, and Erik joined us down on the beach.

Solar eclipse day selfie.  We met in the fall of 1998, so we've known each other 19 years!

The kids all had great fun with the beach puddles Zac dug for them.

The following three videos show the beginning of the eclipse, around 1:30, and then right before totality, and then during totality (around 2:45 pm). Totality was really awesome, but I was a bit disappointed that it was too cloudy to see any of the cool effects with the corona. Next time!

A few minutes after totality, we packed up our beach gear, ran up to the condo, got showers, packed up all our stuff, and jumped in the van. There was a massive traffic jam to the one bridge going off the island, so that 10-minute trip took about an hour. Luckily Simon fell asleep right away and Alice stayed occupied with the iPad.

We took back roads for a while to avoid the traffic jam on 95.  While still on the back roads, we had to stop frequently. Alice was having stomach distress (no progress on the first stop, poop on the second stop, third stop was an emergency because she was barfing.) Simon's water bottle also spilled and got him all wet, so we changed him in a McDonald's parking lot. We eventually got on the high way, and the traffic was heavy but moving. Luckily, after much whining, the kids eventually fell asleep again around 10pm.

We'd left around 4:30 and got home at 11:30.  And we all had to go to work, school and camp the next morning. Next time we'll take Tuesday off too. But it was a fun adventure and worth the hassle.

Day 2: Life at the beach

For day two at the beach, we had a leisurely morning, then headed down to check out the beach, which was at low tide in the middle of the day.

That evening, after naps, it was high tide again so we went to the pool again. It was really a beautiful area and the weather was quite lovely.

The balcony from our bedroom faced west, and Zac had the good sense to go checkout the sunset.

Then it was off to bed, as excitement mounted for the eclipse the next day!

Day 1: Stuck in the Muck

On our first morning at the beach, we had to wake up early to be down at the marina by 8:30 to leave at 9:00 for an eco-tour.   We still had some time to enjoy the views of the sea from the nice condo Laura and Erik had rented for the week.

When we got to the marina, we had to wait a half hour until departure.

Luckily, our kids spotted a min playground in the middle of the parking lot, so we killed some time there.  

Simon loves anything with a steering wheel, especially up high, because he likes to imagine he is flying an airplane.

Alice had a different idea of fun.

Finally, it was time to board the boat--a large pontoon boat that held maybe 40 people. Here is a description of the three hour cruise from their website:

Capers Wildlife Exploration

Enjoy a 3.5 hour boat excursion as we venture to Capers Island, one of the few remaining undeveloped barrier islands. We will cruise through winding tidal creeks to find diverse wildlife living in this salt marsh environment. Common sightings include bottlenose dolphin, osprey, pelicans, bald eagles, herons, egrets, and more. Along the way we'll employ various nets and habitat traps for an up-close look at some of the rarely seen marine creatures that thrive below the surface. As you arrive on Capers, you will have about an hour and a half to explore its pristine "Bone-yard Beach" and interior freshwater ponds. Capers provides excellent opportunities for shelling and bird watching. 

The kids didn't really enjoy the boat ride that much, since they just wanted to get out and go swimming. Luckily, we finally arrived at Capers Island, and the kids headed for the water.

The kids loved playing on the beach, finding creatures, and sitting in the tide pools. But the best part was getting stuck in the muck. We'd even read a book about this very thing for the previous night's bedtime story.

Back at the condo that afternoon we had lunch, took naps, and checked out the beautiful pool surrounded by palm trees (which I forgot to photograph). It was high-tide in the evening and there was literally no beach, as the waves came all the way up to the dunes.