I’m still trying to get the basement organized so was moving stuff around this morning…and he found his glow-in-the-dark race track. He and Katie played with it on and off all day, but he wanted to go down at night to actually see them race in the dark.
Owen helped Katie get ready for battle with a helmet (his bike helmet), a sword (pipe insulation), and shield (a push-up grip). The tutu was all Katie.
So, all the literature about BTS Night mentioned taking the bus from the local library to the school. I could totally understand this because we’d been at the school and there really isn’t much parking (well, at least not for back-to-school type numbers of people). A last-minute email also mentioned available parking at a nearby church and grocery store, but I googled, and it still appeared to be about a mile walk…? (Unless there were hidden walking paths through the trees that didn’t show up.) I figured there would be street parking since it is a neighborhood, but I couldn’t imagine that many people trying to park on the streets…so I just figured the library bus was the best (most popular?) option. I even envisioned two or three buses to take the hoards of people. Besides, we knew both kids would LOVE riding the bus (Katie is infatuated with school buses).
Katie: SCHOOL BUS! SCHOOL BUS!
Owen: C’MON! LET’S GO!!
So we get there and…where are the throngs of people? Where’s the bus(es)? Well, we were 10 minutes early, but still. So the bus arrives at 3:55 and we pull out about 4:05 and there was a grand total of about 20 people on the bus. Huh? I was intrigued—I couldn’t wait to see how many people were actually at the event AND see where they were parking. Yeahhhh…turns out all the surrounding streets were PACKED. (That said, next year? We’re driving. Three hours was TOO long.) But there were lots of people there!
My first thoughts?
It was a madhouse. The kindergarten rooms are fairly big, but add in two parents for most of the kids and other siblings…all trying to talk to the teacher and fill out forms at kid-sized tables. EGADS.
What a melting pot. I honestly think Caucasian is the minority here. I have no problems with that—it’s just an observation. Just look at this class list (last names obviously obscured), keeping in mind that some of the more Americanized names are…not:
Other random things:
Owen was—SURPRISE!—super shy. He didn’t want to go look for his name and was glued to my side. However, he did go with the teacher when she invited him to come look for his number and cubby.
Owen’s teacher is a tiny thing and when they were standing next to each other, I just kinda went HOLY CRAP THEY’RE CLOSE IN SIZE!! I didn’t get a picture, but I’m sure I will eventually. I didn’t immediately LOVE her…but anyone trying to live up to Miss Ashley is going to have a hard time. 🙂 I look forward to getting to know her. She had a few old students come in to say hi, and in briefly chatting with the parents, I could see she is obviously well-liked.
We discovered that one classmate lives in our neighborhood—they recognized us from the pool—so that’s cool. It was so busy I didn’t get a chance to talk to her, but I’m hoping we’ll see them at the pool party this weekend.
So, then the teacher gave a presentation which was fine…except Katie threw a fit during it because she wanted to play with the baby (another person’s actual baby!) and we wouldn’t let her. The teacher heard me saying “No, you can’t play with the baby” and took a moment to stop and ask if I meant the toy doll that was just out of reach and when I said “No, the real baby” the entire room laughed. 🙂 So Tom had her in the hall for the rest of the time.
She said their class has a late lunch this year—1:30! So, snack time will be in the morning instead of the afternoon. (And we have to use a special bag to send in their snack every day. Lordy. I’m sure they know it works, but what a pain.) Another new thing is no mats for rest time—it is just considered Quiet Time for reading or something quiet at your desk. The kids all got name/room stickers to wear the first week so people can help guide them to where they need to be—they have safety patrols out at the buses (older kids, I’m guessing, from those I saw wearing reflective-wear today).
We only had about an hour in the classroom, and it wasn’t long enough because everyone wanted to talk to the teacher (as expected). We could have easily used at least another half hour. Really though, there wasn’t much else (for us) to do. They had a table set up in the cafeteria with info on the school lunch program and you could add money to their account (which long story short, they assigned a SIX-DIGIT number for Owen to memorize to use his lunch account and I was all REALLY? FOR KINDERGARTENERS? so she let me pick a 3-digit number)—and the gym had a few things like Scouts and PTO—but by the time we got done with the extra time in Owen’s classroom, it was time for pizza (Owen ate FOUR slices!) and then we just kind of wandered around. We did get Owen a school shirt, though.
And even then, we still had almost 45 minutes to waste before the bus took us back to the library. So we went out to the playground.
I was stunned that THAT was the entire playground area. Granted, they do have a huge paved basketball court and some soccer fields, but for an actual playground area it still seemed SMALL. So imagine my surprise when, as we were leaving, we went past the kindergarten classroom area and saw another SMALLER playground area. Hoo boy. I’m hoping that’s actually for the Pre-K classes so we’ll see.
Overall, it was fine. Katie was a bit of a mess on and off but she didn’t do too badly. Owen wanted to go home about 30 minutes in but then he rallied.
I just can’t believe HE STARTS SCHOOL IN FIVE DAYS. The worst part, I think, will be me not being able to take pictures…and Katie going through Owee withdrawal.
This happens at every meal.
Papa happened to call right as we were walking in, so I Skyped them back so they got to watch Owen do a few jumps and watch Katie swim around.
He kept doing this and I finally asked what he was doing… You’ll never guess. He was trying to do a somersault! 🙂 I told him I’d help him when we were in the big pool!
Katie saw Owen holding his nose, so she was trying to do the same thing!
The kids she had been playing with in the kiddie pool were going home, so she was at the fence saying “Guys! Guys? Where are you going?”
He loves just floating like this.
If you didn’t know he liked to do it, it might freak you out because he looks…well…dead.
This is how Owen moves across the pool when he’s not actually swimming.
And then it was time for the special surprise! Not only was daddy at the pool with us…but we ordered pizza for dinner! Poolside! (Ever since Owen saw the signs and saw someone have pizza delivered, he’s wanted us to do it. Since the pool season is almost over, today was the day!)
She loves being tossed in the air…but can’t quite manage to count to three. 🙂
My turn with Katie. The video isn’t that great (meaning Katie doesn’t appear to be having that much fun) but she really was…and it’s rare for me to actually be in a picture or video with the kids. So here it is. 🙂
I finally got a video of Katie getting out of and back in the pool. However, she only did it once. The other day, she just kept going up the ladder then back into the pool—time after time after time.
And the bonus to the whole day? I started talking with a girl at the pool (she was there with a little girl who Katie was playing with in the kiddie pool) and long story short, she’s a babysitter and lives in the neighborhood! WOOHOO!
And the funniest thing of the day? While I was at the kiddie pool talking to the girl, Tom came over to tell me what Owen had just said. Tom said they had a race across the length of the pool and of course Tom won, but when Owen finished, Tom asked if he was tired or if he wanted to go talk to me. Owen’s response? NO! I’M PUMPED UP! LET’S GO! 🙂
So I thought I’d try to get some better swimming shots. 🙂
Posing because he’s a goof.
Pouting because I wouldn’t give her the goldfish and juice (which were for the snack break later).
Getting into the pool and then swimming around. I LOVE her little legs just scooting her along!
Someone did NOT want to take a nap today…and decided instead to trash her room. First time ever. I think her new bed threw her off.
This isn’t the best video of how great Katie swims but it’s something (I have one week left to get a good video). She has no fear and just kick-kick-kicks her little legs so cute and motors around the pool.
Her favorite thing to do, however, is to climb up the ladder (not the steps—the ladder on the other side of the pool), walk two steps to the pool edge, then get back in the pool by sitting on her butt, rolling onto her stomach, then sliding into the pool. I hope to get a video of that, too. 🙂
Owen has apparently taught himself how to swim by watching other kids and maybe taking a few small tips from me (though he never seems to care, he must be listening). He obviously does better when he’s not holding a gun in one of his hands but it’s still miles ahead of where he was just a few weeks ago.
I can’t wait to get them both lessons next summer.
Both kids also like playing with other kids. Two little girls were there and at break time (when the kids have to get out of the big pool) they were all in the kiddie pool. The girls started to leave and Katie piped up: “Guys! Guys?” Their mom told them the little girl wanted them to stay, so they did. 🙂 Later when they did leave, Katie said “Bye! See you soon!” 🙂 Later, Owen was over playing ball with the girls and Katie had to be right in the middle of it. 🙂
They were both entranced!
I tell her she can hold my hand or Owen’s hand—and she always picks Owen.
Before we moved, I bought a Groupon for Pirates Cove Waterpark and today was the day! It’s not huge like Great Wolf Lodge, but it’s plenty to keep the kids busy. We started in the wading pool (which is where Katie was supposed to stay since she isn’t potty trained).
She did pretty good at waiting her turn in line when it was just a few kids, but when it got to be more than four or five, she either wanted to push to the front of the line or wait and let everyone pass her.
While I was with Katie, Tom was with Owen over in the bigger pool.
We asked him why he was swimming like this and he said because someone had tied his hands behind his back with a rope! Tom said he even went DOWN the waterslide like that. I love his imagination. 🙂
Unfortunately, I could only keep Katie happy and occupied for so long before she REALLY wanted to go in the big pool with daddy and Owen. As in she was starting to throw a fit. So we left the gated wading pool…but the wheel only worked for about two minutes.
Finally! She was with daddy in the big pool and she was HAPPY. And fearless. She went under twice, coughed and spit a bit, and then kept on chugging.
She loved loved LOVED the waterslide. She would have gone down it the rest of the day if we let her.
She really liked the pirate, too!
And then we had a major tantrum because it was time to go back to the wading pool and she DID. NOT. WANT. TO. GO. I’ll spare you the few tantrum pics I took (and deleted). We got a funnel cake for a snack and that didn’t really even appease her much. Then she saw the sand area…so that’s where we headed.
We had planned to stay longer, but about 2:30 we were leaving. Tom came up and said that Owen was being a major grouch so he lost his pool privileges. It felt like we had been there for a long time…but it was ONLY TWO HOURS. Egads. But the kids had fun. I can definitely see us getting a summer pass next year!
Waiting and watching.
Owen, upon seeing Katie playing with the steering wheel: Katie, that is NOT a toy.
This isn’t the best video but it makes me laugh. Owen wanted to run again, but he had to “exercise” (stretch) first. He obviously got the idea from somewhere I have no idea about. 🙂
And his cheering section—she’d clap wildly while saying “Run Owen!”
Owen locked Katie in his bedroom (technically accidentally but kind of on purpose because he was playing) and—SURPRISE!!—we don’t have a key to open it. None of the generic tools I found were working, our landlord didn’t have a key either, none of the neighbors we knew were home, and the hinges and knob screws were on the inside of the door (so I couldn’t remove them). Oh, and Tom is 1000 miles away.
Cue subdued panic for about 30 minutes while I texted Tom, texted the landlord, visited the neighbors, hunted for the tools, etc.
I finally jimmied it open…and now his knob is reversed, too. Is 9:30 too early for a drink?
Oh! The best part? All Owen was concerned with (if we didn’t get the door open) was he wouldn’t be able to sleep in his bed tonight.
Off my office desk.
