On the way back from the beach on Wednesday, we passed by one of those old flea market places and there was a Civil-War era cannon out front. DD asked what it was, so I told her. Then she asked what it did, so I said, "It shoots cannonballs." She left it at that until tonight.

As I'm drying her hair:

Do the cannonballs hit people?
They used to.
Why did they hit people?
Because they were fighting each other.
We don't use cannonballs anymore?
No.
Because we don't fight people anymore?

I wish.

Short version, we had a blast at the beach.

Long version:

Traffic was a breeze and the trip down took so much less time than it did last year.

The weather on Saturday and Sunday was so warm that we were able to use the beach house's pool (unthinkable last year).


The kids had a blast with my friend's girls. The only downside is my friend's two-year-old kept waking up at night and then proceeded to wake up everyone else. DD was excited to come back home, sleep in her own bed, and not be woken up at night (she wasn't the only one)....

DD found tons of seashells to add to her collection and everyone had a great time at the ocean. The winds weren't nearly as bad as they were last year when the pelting sand made it impossible to go to the shore for more than ten minutes.


The only thing we missed out on were the go-carts. It rained the day we'd planned to go there (Tuesday) and then we left the next morning (Wednesday) so DD was a bit disappointed by that.

I used to be *such* a beach person. In college, my friend Jen would come and pick me up after my Friday 9am class and we'd drive to the beach (with a stop at McD's on the way) and just sit there. It was like weekly therapy. The best part about going to school in Miami is that the beach is always there, so it was no big detraction from actually going to class. We would have sorority mixers at the beach and being outside was such a part of living down there. That's the part I miss the most.

I'm just glad that we all had a good time. I got a much-needed break and the kids got a chance to make some wonderful memories.

We're just about to head out to the beach. I don't think I've needed a vacation this bad ever.

The adjustments that have come with having one child in real school and the other still in preschool are greater than I even imagined. Tack on the extra-curricular activities and the asinine half day every Monday and things are really just nuts around here. Then add on the fact that my entire staff moved on to new positions and we have NO ONE to do the work but me and my more senior boss and I'm just overwhelmed.

I can't wait to just get the hell out of here.

On the up side, DD just started her soccer season and it's gone so much better than all the other times we've tried to get her acquainted with our favorite sport. The first time, the coach was scary. The second time, the class was all boys and she wasn't a big fan of that. Now she's got two mommies as coaches and the team is all girls -- one is even in her kindergarten class.

I *think* I've got most of the preparations done for her birthday party in a few weeks.

DS is having a great time in his new preschool class -- his teachers are the same ones DD had two years ago. He is apparently turning into the class clown, which is great on one hand for a boy who previously had speech issues. On the other hand, we'll have to keep an eye out that his antics don't devolve into discipline issues.

I was reminiscing with a friend today about where we all were seven years ago. It's hard to imagine that our children will never know a pre-9/11 world. Then again, we grew up not knowing anything but the Cold War and threats of nuclear holocaust and we turned out okay.

We all survived.

Seriously, I'm at my wit's end with DD's new school. I've never been a helicopter parent and I've never wanted special treatment for my kids. But ENOUGH. I've had it with the school and DD hasn't even started there yet. I'm not a person to make a fuss, but even I have my limits. Quit treating my kid like she's an afterthought.

See below letter to the principal for more details of the crap from this past week:

Dear Mr. V*******:

I am writing to express my frustration and disappointment with how poorly the start of this school year has gone for this new S*H* ES family. We received the notice of our daughter's classroom assignment with surprise, as the teacher she was assigned was not recognizable as one of the two kindergarten teachers we had met at the Kindergarten Roundup in April. Still, we understand the last-minute way the details for the kindergarteners are put together, due to the late registration of some children.

We were slightly disturbed to learn at the New Family Night that her classroom would be nowhere near the other kindergarten students, but recognize the difficulty of finding space in a school that is already at capacity. I'm curious, though, why the kindergarten class was the one to move from the large pod area and not perhaps one of the second-grade classes, whose children would have more familiarity with the school.

The transition from preschool to kindergarten is a difficult one, so my husband and I have made every effort to make it as seamless as possible for our daughter -- I attended the PTO meeting last October to hear the discussion of full- or half-day kindergarten at S*H*, both my husband and I took off work in April to attend the Roundup, found a babysitter for our younger son in order to devote time to the New Family Night, and took even more time off of work to bring our daughter to meet her new teacher at the Open House.

Despite all of this, her first day of school will bear NO resemblance whatsoever to any of the "orientations" she has been through at S*H*, including the ones held the week before school:

* Her teacher is not one she was able to meet in April
* Her classroom isn't even near the other kindergarteners
* We were informed via a phone call yesterday that the classroom we visited at the New Family Night and again at the Open House isn't even going to be the same -- how much more change do you expect new parents and students to absorb?

I would recommend in the future that if this many changes are going to be necessary, that there be some consideration for families who made the effort to acclimate their rising kindergarteners. Those families who waited until the last minute to register their children most likely did not attend any previous S*H* events. Perhaps it would have been more sensible to place those children in the "new" kindergarten class as they would have had no previously-set expectations.

The lack of communication from the school in the run-up to the first day, especially when so many things that we had been told to expect have changed drastically, is appalling. How hard would it have been to include room location information for members of the "new" class, particularly as it was on the opposite side of the school from the rest of the kindergarteners (and other similarly-aged children)?

Now that we cannot even calm our daughter's anxiousness with discussion of the classroom she visited and how to get there on the first day -- since that, too has changed again -- I am going to put her on the bus and head over to the school myself Tuesday morning. I have no confidence that things will not have changed AGAIN over the weekend and want to make sure she gets to wherever her classroom is now, safely.

We want to be involved in the school and really looked forward to enjoying the memorable 'first day of school' for our daughter. We hope that this inauspicious start is just a hiccup and that the rest of the school year goes more smoothly for all of us.

Sincerely,
Jennifer N