First Day of School 2011

Today we begin the first "return" school start for both girls.  Jacqueline starts first grade and Ashton third.  In theory, we have no new teachers as Jacqueline got Ms. Chan (Ashton's K and 1st grade teacher) and Ashton got her second grade teacher promoted to third with her.

Unfortunately, Ms. Seki, Ashton's teacher is out for some time as her husband is ill.  This gives Ashton a new teacher who she is really excited to win over.


Our first day went off pretty smoothly with both girls very excited to get out the door.  They both decided they had to take another shower this morning which added a little complexity but since they were ready so quickly it all worked out.  We'll see how it goes for Bob tomorrow after the adrenaline wears off and we get back to the swing of a schedule that has everyone out of the house by 8:15am.

It's a short day (ends at noon) so we will be back for pick up in a few hours.

 Ashton was excited to have friends from last year in her class again.

 Jacqueline was enthusiastically all pink and ruffles and sparkles for her first day.  Ms. Chan gave everyone name tags which was a great idea!

Soccer dad

Both the girls are starting soccer this year.  Ashton has weekly practice but Jacqueline's league is a bit less structured.  They did meet for a play date and uniform distribution. 

 Clearly, Jacqueline was loving the day.

 She even appears somewhat close to the ball.

 As a bonus she knew two girls in her team with one having gone to preschool with her and the other in her kinder class last year.  She is number 2.

But it seems that the playground equipment was still a big draw.

Glasses

For the past several months Jacqueline has been insisting she needed glasses to read.  Bob and I had been sure this "need" was about the fact that Bob wears glasses to read and so we got her glasses at the drugstore and removed the lenses figuring that was that.

As she got better at reading she was always saying she wanted to use glasses and when we said no she asked for a magnifying glass.  Later she was wanting to make the kindle setting higher to make the letters larger.

Still convinced it was about confidence in reading (new reader books have larger fonts) and not really about seeing... we decided it might not be a bad idea to have her eyes checked.

Bob scheduled an apt and he and Jaq went off to see the doctor while Ashton and I did some stuff at home.  Soon I get a text message that they are picking out frames (?!) so Ashton and I jumped in the car and went down to fashion consult.

 This pair was her choice.  It will be in her school bag.

 This pair was my choice (thicker plastic..).  They will be on her night stand for reading at bedtime.

This is her sunglasses she had to wear the rest of the day as her eyes were dilated for a glaucoma test.  The last photo was more of a parenting trick to get her to put her sunglasses on than anything else.

Of course, her glasses will be another week to arrive so she will need to suck it up for the first week of school.

Nature Hike with Dad

We found out about a nature hike in Mills Canyon last week and Bob and the girls decided to go (and let Mom organize the closets for school).

 The kids got clipboards and lists of things to look for on the hike.  Jacqueline immediately rejected hers (later to wonder why she didn't have one).

 It was quite the group -- lots of poison oak hanging around too.

 You can sense the enthusiasm from Ashton for the event and the photo.

They found some friends from school and decided to do a second trip. 

Gilroy Gardens

Decided to spend one of the last weekends before school going to Gilroy Gardens for a sunday.  It's a nice place to go when it's cold here at home as it is always hot in Gilroy. 

I've decided that amusement parks that are intended for the 10 and under set are way less annoying than other ones.  The adult-to-kid ratio makes them cleaner and less stressful generally (while still having the required kids meltdowns from too much sugar/excitement and too little sleep of course).

I rate Gilroy Gardens high for shade and fun and only really low for food.  The food is slightly less than marginal.  Girls even did a few roller coasters.