Back to school

Kids have been back in school for three weeks now. They did quite well the first two weeks, but last week someone was off sick every day. First Ellie was the snot monster. Then Hannah was the snot monster. Then Ellie seemed fine, but her temperature kept going over 100F while at school so she was sent home anyway.

I suppose I should have given her Tylenol before she went to school every day. Except she didn't actually NEED it - her temperature was absolutely fine every morning before we sent her off to school. Ho hum.

So all in all it was an expensive week for daycare.

Meanwhile Mark isn't really sure about school - he says 'All I learn is punishments and drawing.' He keeps getting sat on the 'take a break' chair because he and Darby talk or giggle or fidget. I'm keeping an eye on the situation.

Hannah also isn't sure about her new teacher. He's got a big act to follow - her last two teachers were fabulous. She says he goes too slow, and school isn't fun. We're watching that situation too.

Bit of a shock being back at work. I had about 25 meetings the first week. Second week I started telling people that I could do the work they wanted me to do, but they'd have to sit with me for a couple of hours and explain to me in detail their exact requirements and help me do the actual work. Well of course they were too busy to do that, so suddenly my meeting schedule eased off a bit.

I am still manically busy though. Our new LMS goes live Oct 4th, and I am responsible for sales training moving over successfully. We have a huge sales conference coming up (yes - I get to go to Vegas for a week!) which means I have to design a website. I have about four different other websites to redesign/design for people. We're rebuilding our new hire training program, and I'm trying to give advice on the best technology to use. I'm writing a business case for this, and allocating licenses for that, etc etc. We're definitely in 'back to work after the summer' fever.

Mike is equally busy AND he got the cold by the end of last week, and spent Thursday feeling very sorry for himself. For some reason I haven't got sick at all. Weird.

The weather is changing - one minute it was summer, now it's definitely fall/autumn. We spent today going through endless boxes of winter clothes, working out what we have and what we need. For a change we have pretty much everything we need. I knew keeping boxes and boxes of dusty clothes in the basement would pay off.

After our organizing we went to Recompense Shores campground to have hot dogs with John and Colette, who are camping there. It's one of those sunny and slightly chilly days - absolutely beautiful. Their campsite is right overlooking the water. We stuck the kids' bikes into the back of the pick-up, and they had a great time riding round the tracks and going to the park nearby.

It's the perfect time of year for camping - actually cold enough to use the sleeping bags. As long as it doesn't rain next week we're going to go to Chewonki, then go up to the Common Ground Fair. Can't wait.

Ice skating lessons started last week - much earlier than usual. They started Wednesday, so of course Tuesday after work we rushed out to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy three pairs of ice skates. Luckily they not only had the sizes we needed in stock, but they were all in the sale. Ice skates for $30 - fantastic deal.

Last night we were shattered after work, so we all went to Gritty's and ate on the deck while the children played. Much quieter than it was in the summer, less manic. It's been a really full-on summer this year.