Back to School!?

Friday all the kids got to pick up their new school schedules and or meet their new teacher. Monday morning I woke early to make sure class was still scheduled as Tropical Storm Fay was lurking not far offshore. Sure enough, school was in session! Kierstin was elated to learn that her best friend is in her class again this year! The teacher they have is also really good with lots of enthusiasm, so she should have a great year! Steven starts the "gifted" program this year. Because of that, he is in a class with completely new students to him! His teacher also seems energetic. Steven's curiosity was peaked when his teacher asked a volunteer to bring in Lucky Charms and Gushers to school as some class school supplies. What will they do with the cereal and sweet treat? Jessica, as expected will have pretty much the same teachers as last year. However, after her first day of class, she learned that the students are different. What a great chance to make new friends! David began his first day of middle school! He has many of his friends from last year in all of his classes. The kids are grouped together with their core teachers and pre-engineering class to facilitate cooperation between the teachers with homework. The theory is to spread out the homework each night, instead of having each teacher assign the same day of the week. We shall see how the system works.

Monday night the announcement was made that no school would be held Tuesday due to the storm. Tropical Storms are tricky. Sometimes they pack lots of rain and no wind. Other times, the opposite is true. So....what is a tropical storm like? Well, if you have ever experienced one of South Florida's summer, afternoon, downpours imagine that happening all day. T.S. Fay's winds began to pick up late Monday night. In our area, we were under a tornado warning so we brought the boys downstairs to sleep. All night and into the next day, the wind would gust and the rain would fall. Fortunately for us, there was not much wind. I think we accumulated about 6 inches of rain which is what we usually get in one month. All in all, this was an easy storm. We never lost power in our neighborhood! Tuesday during the storm, we ventured outside to jump on the trampoline. There was a nice breeze blowing with occasional drops of rain. We even saw a small patch of blue sky for the first time in 24 hours! How grateful we are that the storm passed without much concern for us. I dread having to put hurricane shutters up!

No, this is not a blurry picture, it is all the rain! We dropped the trampoline net to protect it from ripping.

This morning, the kids returned to school. Steven had a tough time waking up but, Kierstin was bright and cheery at 6:30! I am surprised to see the sky still cloudy and windy outside. I guess the feeder bands still stretch this far south. Tomorrow all should return to normal. Swim in the morning. School during the day and soccer in the evening. Welcome back to school!