The last days of summer have passed.

Bring on the new school year.

Katherine off to be a freshman in high school and Rebecca off to be a 7th grader in middle school. The boys off to wind down their careers in elementary school. Jonathon in 4th and Nicholas in 5th.

The general consensus... the first day of school was acceptable. Katherine called her day "Awkward" since she didn't know anyone in her classes, the hallways during class changes moved at a snails pace, but Biology looks like it'll be great. Rebecca said her day was "OK," she knew a couple kids in most of her classes, is really looking forward to science and extended math, and was glad she brought a packed lunch since there were kids still in the hot lunch line when the bell rang for class. Nicholas came home with a "Great," he likes his teacher and his classroom and the fact that at dismissal he was released last... a 5th grader. What an improvement over last year. My only qualm with that is his teacher looks very very pregnant and Nicholas likes things to stay as they are. Jonathon said his day was "Fine" and couldn't remember anything about what he did.
Originally Katherine's busstop was at the boys' elementary school, a quick walk from home. With budget cuts, her stop is now at the next nearest elementary school which could be reached in about a 20-25 minute fast walk, but instead we drop her off. Yesterday Ian brought her to the stop and waited with her (I know, she's a freshman, right?) until the right bus came at 6:50 a.m. The stop is for all specialty program busses so kids going to various schools wait together. I'd written her bus number on her hand, just like a kindergartener. Hey, I did it for Rebecca's bus too since her number changed even though she has the same pick-up point and same driver as last year. The boys walk to school and didn't mind me bringing them on the first day, or even both of us bringing them today. Nicholas may be one of the big kids on campus, but he's still one of our little kids.
On the first day everyone was up with their alarms. On the second day, everyone was up with their alarms. Here's crossing our fingers for the third day. And the fourth...