First Day of School

For a change, I think Nick and Gaby were looking forward to returning to school.

It's been a low key, OK, kinda crappy summer for them. I started chemo on July 13th and as a result, we didn't do much or go anywhere. The house in NC didn't pan out this year. Plans to Canada were put on hold and eventually shelved. Sun sensitivity is one of many side effects for me, and with the record high heat and humidity, the A/C was my desired climate. I believe I had more summer posts on my other blog, so it's time to get back to the everyday stuff. The chemo is done, thankfully, and the upcoming radiation shouldn't impact our lives to the same degree.

So yeah, this year, back to school is a good thing!

Breakfast of champions!

They actually didn't eat together. Nick is usually out the door around 6:35 to get his bus, which comes at 6:44. Gaby's bus comes around 8:20, so she's generally still in bed when Nick leaves. But on the first day of school, only the freshmen start at the regular time. This year, the rest of the students started 2 1/2 hours later, so Nick didn't have to hop his bus til after 9.

But being the willing and cooperative guy that he is, he humoured me by getting up before Gaby left, to pose for a couple of pictures with his baby sister.

Notice how Nick has no shoes on!

And notice the almost matching book bags. Different genders and almost 6 years apart in age, these two don't possess much matching anything. So I HAD to capture this! Notice too how Nick's bag seems pretty empty? Unlike his sister, who had packed hers about two weeks ago, he was planning to take care of that after breakfast, just before the bus!

Still on our own at the bus stop this year, though we were hoping for more kids next week, as kindergarten started later. And our wish was granted, as there is now a boy in Mrs. McG's class who has joined us at our corner.

But on the first day, it was just Gaby climbing aboard. We're happy to see the same driver. Back in the same routine already.

Meanwhile, back inside, big brother still had some time to relax before he was on his way.

And off he went, round the corner to his bus stop. No pictures there. The entire neighborhood loads up at that corner for the high school and I wouldn't want to show up and embarass him. But I might do it discreetly one day. I love the image of this group of barely awake teenagers dragging themselves on board at the crack of dawn.

And me, what did I do that first day with the kids gone? Groceries, photo printing, made a pot of chili, popped over to Gaby's school for library duty (last minute unpacking of the entire school library. the windows were changed in the entire school over the summer and the library was done last, so hundreds of boxes of books had to be shelved) I only stayed for a couple of hours as I was picking Nick up at school for his allergy appointment. Back to our Tuesday routine.

Back to our school year routine.