A Weekend With Mr. Owl

Sam's teachers have decided on an Owl Theme for their classroom this year.  One element to this theme is the class pet, Mr. Owl.  Mr. Owl participates in some class activities and spends a lot of time watching over the class.  Each Thursday he picks someone to go home with for the weekend.

Last Thursday Sam's bag came home with one extra passenger on board, along with a note that read, "Your child has been chosen to take Mr. Owl home for the weekend!  Mr. Owl has been watching over our class and has spotted your child following the rules and being a great student!"

He was the first one to be selected.  Color me floored, and proud.  And Sam was pretty excited about it, too.

We took Mr. Owl everywhere with us that weekend.  I can't say that we took him on any terribly thrilling adventures, but we did our best.

On Monday we printed out some pictures, Sam dictated a summary, and he cut and taped it all together.  We turned in the first page in Mr. Owl's adventure book on Tuesday morning.

I can totally get on board with this kind of homework!

New Year, New School

Sam finally – FINALLY – had his turn to go back to school!  With a September 10 start date, I think it’s pretty safe to say that he was about the last child in the state to go back to school this year.  And let me tell you, we were all ready for him to go back!  We did a lot this summer, but Mommy was out of ideas and we are all a little bored with swimming every day.  

Sam has been concerned with the idea of a new preschool since last spring.  I can’t blame him, Zion was like a second home for him and the new school held nothing but unknowns – hard for an adult, even harder for a young mind.  We visited a couple of times over the summer, and by the last week he was just so ready to be back in school that he was finally excited.  Hooray!

I learned through the grapevine that “meet the teacher” gifts are a “thing” in our new neck of the woods.  As much as I feel this practice is primarily for the purpose of winning the teacher’s affection early in the year, I would also be mortified to be the only one showing up empty handed.  So this happened:

The morning of the big day.  I wanted it to be full of excitement rather than fear or nerves.  What is more exciting than sprinkle pancakes?  Not much when you’re 4.  If only it were this easy to bring such joy to everyone in my life!

Sam walked into the new school with purpose and enthusiasm.  I was so proud of him!  He saw his name on a shelf with a few other lunches already on it and quickly asked for his so that he could put it in the right spot (putting your own lunch away was a big deal starting in the 2’s class at the old school!).  He walked back to the door at the teacher’s suggestion to give me a hug and then he was gone.  It was fast and it didn’t feel like I settled him properly, but I walked away.

And then I spent all day missing and thinking about the boy that I’d been in need of a break from for the past 2 weeks straight.

We were first in line to pick him up that afternoon.  He seemed to have a good day, but he said that “some things made me boring and some things made me nervous.”  Upon further digging it was all a combination of the unknown and a more formal learning environment (which would have come this year regardless of his school).  He loved the playground and is much fonder of the Spanish class at this school.  He has been singing little songs to me and slowly I am hearing more about their classroom.

Of course I heard plenty at Parent Orientation night.  Although his teachers are technically new this year, Miss Erin used to teach elementary school (before staying home with her baby) and Miss Jackie has taught here in the past.  I am excited about them and I think they’ll have a great year.

And finally, a story.  I told Sam that this year he will start to learn to read at school.  This really excited him and helped motivate him for the first day.  On our way to school on day 1 he told me, “Maybe I can read a story to you at bedtime tonight!”  On our way home he said, “I didn’t learn to read today.  How am I going to learn?”  If only it were that easy buddy…practice makes perfect!

Florida Trip

Because we had Chris's family at our place for Thanksgiving last year, it had been 15 months since we had been to Florida, (well, technically it was 13 because we DID stop at the river on our way home from Hilton Head last summer, but that was for about 36 hours, so...) this years trip turned into quite a long one!  We left on a Thursday night and returned on a Sunday morning, but that length turned out to be a good way to break up our last month of summer.

 

We spent Friday through Monday morning at the Hunnifords' house in Sarasota.  The kids played a lot of "pool table" and swam a bit in the pool.  Mommy and Daddy went on a date.  We played in their cul-de-sac and visited Great-Grandma Nordin at the nursing home.  That was interesting, because everyone there knows who we are "because of all the pictures" in her room.  My children certainly bring a spirit of livelihood when we visit - hopefully its a welcome one!

On Saturday evening Dave and Debbie hosted a family get-together (26 people from every branch of the family tree!) at their home.  Pizza for everyone!  I loved watching Sam play so well with all of Chris's cousins, who range in age from 4-12 (well, there are tons more, but that was the group playing in the pool that day).  It continued the rest of the trip, but that night we saw how well he plays with bigger kids!  It was great to be able to catch up with so many people at once!

Monday morning we all headed north to the river, where we met up with Becky and Benton, as well Aunt Val and Uncle Mike (whom Sam now calls "Uncle" or "Unc"), and their sons Nathan and Alex, and Nathan's girlfriend Gina.  Good thing we stayed at the borrowed big house again!

The river was high this year - the highest that I have ever seen it in person.  Most of the docks along the river were under several feet of water.  This definitely made for a different dynamic in the water than we are used to - with the water so high, there is virtually no current.  Usually you have a hard time standing in one place and things float away quite quickly.  "Runs" were taking twice as long as they usually do, and much paddling was required to make it down the river.  The kids didn't quite have the attention span for sitting in the tubes that long, so Chris and I actually only went on 2 or 3 runs the whole time we were there!  Sam did enjoy stopping by the floating docks to jump from them to a grown-up's tube - fun!

But we played in the water off the dock A LOT - so much more than usual!  Debbie bought a huge float that Chris anchored off, and we hung in tubes and stood on the dock (under water!) and swam.  Sam worked his way up to swimming back and forth between the dock and the raft, but the cold water temps (generally in the 70's) was hard for him to get used to.  Annabelle actually really enjoyed being down by the water.  She was NOT a fan of her life jacket, but fortunately the slow current allowed us more freedom to take it off of her.  She liked to be held and dipped in the water and tried to jump off of my tube right into the water more than once.  Silly girl.

The slower current also allowed me to try another new river activity: kayaking!  Chris and I took the double kayak out one afternoon during a chilly on-and-off rain.  I could never paddle upstream under normal circumstances, but it was a really fun way to see the river a little bit differently.  


Speaking of exercise, I have now decided that there is no better way to end an early morning run is by plunging yourself into a cold, still, quiet river, swimming for a bit, and then returning to a house filled with family and coffee. 

The playing was not limited to the water!  The kids made sure there was plenty of playing during all of their waking moments.  Sam made rounds through all of the adults, building Lego's with Nathan, making music with Alex, planning a scavenger hunt with Gina and Val, running around with Papa, golf cart rides with Benton, etc etc etc.  Annabelle stole a few hearts herself, loving on her new vet kit (animal obsessed - she excitedly touched a frog at some point!).  That girl love the golf cart!

 

I MUST mention the scavenger hunt - they took several days to plan it and it was awesome.  Detailed puzzle clues that made you think, made you run.  Nathan and I (team Poop Deck!) won, but don't tell Sam.  He still think that he and Papa won.  The grown ups enjoyed some awesome games after bedtime, too.  A good game group!


Lots of relaxing, lots of laughing, lots of eating.  And then it was time to go home.  Sam wasn't himself the last afternoon, so neither of us were surprised when he threw up in the car on the way home.  And then the next day we pulled a tick out of his head.  And then the next day he had a cavity filled...but I digress.  Another good trip, our third week-long trip of the summer.  And I think we're all ready to be home for awhile.  We are definitely ready to get back into a fall routine!