Crosswalk Drama

I had no idea the job of school crossing guard could be so filled with drama. A couple of weeks ago as I was driving Clara to school, I saw the principal and a school district policewoman talking with the crossing guard at the corner house next to the school.

Of course, I had to get the scoop next time we walked. You can't tell from the picture I posted the other day, but there is no sidewalk in front of his house, so the kids have to walk through his yard. He has a sidewalk that runs from his front door to the street and it's lined with hedges on either side all the way to the street and there is a big brick mailbox at the curb also. Well, there is a path through his bushes so people don't have to step into the busy street to get past his house, as well as a well worn path through his grass.

This particular morning, he decided to put up stakes and netting so that the kids couldn't walk across his sidewalk. Instead, the school had to put a second crossing guard at this sidewalk so that traffic could be stopped as the kids stepped into the street and around his mailbox. I saw the policewoman talking with the homeowner as I passed by on my way home. That afternoon the netting was gone.

The school cleared some brush behind this guys house and constructed a small fence and will be putting in a path. Starting today, the kids will walk along the side of his house and behind it to get to school. Clara was a little wary of the changes, so I walked with her the whole way today. Her shoes were soaked from the long trek through the grass beside the school.  The crossing guard made sure to tell Clara not to step in his yard. Apparently, starting Monday he will be calling the police and pressing charges for trespassing if a kid walks through his yard. Can't you just feel the love? Oh, and he told the crossing guard he doesn't like them going behind his house either because his dog barks. Oy. Maybe the school should invest in a helicopter to transport the kids over his kingdom. Or a teleporter maybe. That would solve everything.

I get his frustration and I'm glad the school is working with him and came up with a pretty easy solution, but these kids aren't the only people walking through his yard. I see high school track runners running this route all the time. It's frustrating and I do understand his frustration. That neighborhood has been there a long time and the school is only a few years old. We just don't live in a pedestrian friendly area. At all. I really wish we lived somewhere where walking is encouraged. This has become very important to me as Clara is getting older, but it just seems like an uphill battle here. I want her to have some independence in a few years. I want her to be able to safely walk to school or the store or a friends' house, so that is definitely something we will be considering before we buy our next house.

The crossing guard also told me that the other day a truck was tailgating another parent who had just dropped their kid off at this corner to walk the rest of the way to school. Apparently a block down the road, on our walking route, the two men got out of their respective vehicles and got into a fist fight. I believe the other one was also a parent of kids at the school. Nice. She said she's also been cursed at by a driver while walking kids across. Because that 30 second wait for grade school children to cross the street safely just messes up one's entire day. What is wrong with people???

Beauty and the Beast

Clara and I enjoyed a night out at the theater last night. We saw Beauty and the Beast down at the Hobby Center. It was cute, but couldn't compete with The Lion King in my opinion. Clara said she liked Beauty and the Beast better though. I'm sure it had nothing to do with dressing like a princess for the occasion.

I surprised her with her dress right before we left. As you can imagine, it was a hit. I considered getting her a Belle costume, but liked the idea of this dress since it's Belle-ish and can be worn again. Plus, I found it at an amazing price that I couldn't pass up :)

We went to Zio's for dinner and Clara drew pictures of all of the characters on the tablecloth. At the top, it says "Belle (me)".

It was raining, so I wanted to be sure and get there early. Clara was pretty antsy as we waited for them to open the doors. She really enjoyed the show. It dragged in parts so she got a little squirmy at times, but she hung in there and almost made it to the end. She ended up falling asleep about 10 minutes before it ended, so I woke her up at the end when the Beast turns back into a human. I couldn't let her miss the climax.

After the show came the brutal half hour or so of slowly moving along with the crowd to the parking garage, walking up the stairs to the 5th floor and then sitting in the car until we could drive out of the garage. Throw in a very sleepy (and whiney) little beauty and another half hour driving home and I was glad to crawl into my bed. (After putting Robert back to bed three times and completing Sunday school preparations, that is.)

Walking to School

I started walking Clara to school a few weeks ago. We're all loving it (most of the time). We have to leave the house by 7:00 which is a feat sometimes, but we're pretty good about getting out the door in time. She sometimes rides her scooter and I've ridden my bike with Robert in the bike trailer too. It's a bit of a pain because there are no sidewalks once you're out of our subdivision and no shoulder, as you can see. We take a short detour to stay off the main road in the bottom picture since it's a rough ride for Robert through people's yards and over curbs and driveways.

People amaze me. It's crazy how fast they'll drive past a woman with a stroller and a young child. The best one was yesterday. As a car barreled toward us, (not slowing down or moving over a bit of course), I see the driver using both hands to put her hair in a ponytail.

We walk Clara to the crossing guard where I take her scooter and helmet, and then she walks the rest of the way on her own. The house on the corner here is right next to the school, so she gets a little independence (even if it is just a small taste).

Conversation

I've spent the last half hour or so cleaning off my kitchen counter. Anyone who's been over to my house is probably familiar with this counter. I'm sure some of you just cringe when you see it but are too nice to point out to me that I have a huge pile of garbage just sitting on my counter.

Clearing off that counter always earns a spot on my to-do list but somehow never gets to-done. So I set my timer for 30 minutes this morning and went to work. What's on this counter, you ask? Well, there are a plethora of screws and other assorted hardware, batteries (old or new, I can't be sure), Clara's artwork, paid bill stubs, insurance EOBs, expense check stubs, expired coupons, thank you notes, random pictures, Clara school stuff, old to-do lists and junk mail, just to name a few.

I came across this gem of a conversation that I wrote down probably six months ago because I thought it was so cute at the time. Rather than throw it away or move it to some other pile, I am recording it here, hence the reason for this post.


Robert: "I go shopping."

Me: "For what?"

Robert: "Waka waka! Fozzy Bear say 'waka waka."

(Striking a superhero pose), "Take 2! Get started!"



I know, totally random, but I was laughing so hard at the time. You probably had to be there. Yay me; now I get to throw away a sticky note!

More Camping

We went camping at Huntsville State Park again this past weekend. JDog joined in on the fun this time. It was nice being able to pass off the job of Chris' helper monkey to him :) He got to help him hook up the camper, back it into the site, and set it up. Oh, and he made the mistake of asking Chris if he needed any help before we left on Friday. Chris handed him the manual and told him to figure out how to sanitize the water hook up paraphernalia. And then the kids took turns asking him to play and walk and ride bikes. We got good use out of him.

We got some kinks worked out and had water in the camper this time. The potty wasn't as stinky either. We managed to bring everything that we needed and the entire weekend went off without a hitch. Well, except for Robert on the second night. He was beyond tired and when it was time to put him down, he went ballistic. I was attempting to wipe him down with a baby wipe and he started clawing at his chest trying to "get the soap off". It was scary. He has scratches all over his chest from that little freak out. We left him in just a pull up and Chris finally got him calmed down and he fell asleep in his arms.

We got him into bed and he woke not long after, screaming. We figured out he was probably having a night terror because he was completely out of it and could not tell us what was wrong. Screaming fits of rage and night time at a state park do not mix, so Chris got him into the car to drive around. He got pulled over, Robert still screaming like mad. Of course, Chris didn't have his wallet on him, so no i.d. All he had was a screaming, half naked toddler strapped in his car. The officer found two of Robert's cars sitting on the back bumper, so it was obvious Chris had been driving veeeerrrry slowly through the park. Chris explained what was going on and he asked Chris to roll down Robert's window. He said something to Robert and Robert screamed in his face. The guy was like, "Alrighty then, carry on." Ha! He eventually came out of it and Chris brought him back, awake and calm. He went right back to sleep and slept the rest of the night. So, note to self, Robert needs naps when we're camping. If not a nap, then at least a normal bedtime.

He woke happy and ready to go the next morning. Here they are the first morning with their hot cocoa.

We went down one of the trails in search of a letterbox. Clara brought her walking stick and Chris found one for Robert. He was such a little toot that morning. He wanted to do the exact opposite of whatever we wanted. You want me to go down the trail? Nope, I want to get back in the car. What's that, it's time to go you say? Heck no, I'm staying and heading back down this trail. The stick helped convince him to walk with us for all of about 5 minutes. A game of hide and seek in which Clara ran ahead a ways and hid behind trees worked for a few minutes too.

Our first letterbox!

Letterboxing is like geocaching. You follow directions to find a hidden box. Unlike geocaching though, there is a notepad and stamp in the treasure box. You have a family stamp that you stamp on the notepad and write a little note and then you add the stamp from the letterbox to your journal. We were a little disappointed to find that someone hadn't put it back in it's container. It was just in a ziploc bag next to it and the notepad was soaking wet, so we couldn't add our stamp.

Just a little further down the trail we found our second one. We'll definitely be finding more letterboxes.

That night the kids had fun running around in their headlamps and we enjoyed smores by the fire that JDog built.

This picture doesn't do Robert's dirty face justice.

Clara searched high and low for a friend and she was excited when Carly, who is also in 1st grade and had no other older kids with her, showed up at the campsite next to us on Saturday. Carly was a little, um, pushy, but they had lots of fun scootering around together all day. Sunday morning she started shouting down the road, begging me, "Can I pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze keep Zoe? Puleeeeeeeze? Why not? Puleeeeeeze?" After telling her nicely about five times why she couldn't have my dog, I resorted to ignoring the child.

A cold front came through and we woke to temperatures in the 60's on Sunday. We noticed that the leaves had started falling on Saturday afternoon. Seriously, we didn't see any leaves dropping that morning, but by afternoon, the sky was filled with them falling in the breeze. Autumn officially started on September 8th in Huntsville if you're wondering.

So we now have another successful camping trip under our belts. It's hard to venture back to reality when you enjoy such a relaxed, slow paced time out of doors. It's amazing how a mere two days feels like you've been gone a week. Next month we'll be venturing out of our comfort zone and to a new park.

Grade 1 Day 1

It was back to school time on Monday. Clara was ready for school to start, but when the moment arrived, she was a bit apprehensive. I was a little worried about how she would react because of how she reacted to promoting to the 1st grade class for Sunday school the day before. She held back, held on to me and didn't want to go into class, almost in tears. I don't know what was up with that.

Anyway, she did fine once we got inside on Monday. I was a bad mom and waited until the last minute to buy school supplies so I couldn't bring them up when we met her teacher last week. I had to go into school with her the first morning to help her carry it all in. Her school is not equipped to have that many cars up there at once. Traffic and parking were a nightmare! After school, I overheard other parents talking about all the idiot parents who went into the school that morning and didn't they get the memo about Meet the Teacher night? Oops. I guess some parents were parking in the drop off line and getting out of their cars to walk their kids to their classrooms. Ok, I agree; that wasn't cool.

Her teacher is Mr. B and he seems really nice. She was hoping to get him and so far she really likes him. Here's hoping for a great 1st grade experience!

'Twas the Week Before School Started

I get pretty lazy in the summer. It's hot outside. There's no routine. It's hard to get up and get going when we don't have to be anywhere. So I decided to step up my game last week before Clara headed back to school. We had donuts with friends on Tuesday morning, went to Splashtown with Becky and Leah on Wednesday and to Bouncin' Bears and lunch with friends on Thursday. I only took pictures at Splashtown though.

Clara has wanted to go to Splashtown for ever. She asks when we're going almost everytime we pass by it (which is a lot since it's so close to our house). I'm just not a waterpark kind of girl, Chris has zero interest in going and the thought of chasing Robert around all day is NOT appealing in the least. But, Clara and Leah had put it on their summer to-do lists they made at the beginning of the summer, so I decided  to finally make plans to go and I'm so glad I did. We went when Robert was in school and Becky had someone watch Kate so we could go on the bigger rides. We had so much fun and Clara loved it.

I thought she might be too afraid to go on the big slides since the only thing she's ever ridden is one small ride at the carnival and bumper cars with Chris. And that's it. She did great though. The only ride she didn't like was The Tornado. It's a four person ride and she started crying before it got scary. I think she had built up in her mind that it was going to be scary. She said it hurt her bottom and I will admit it was a little intense, especially when I knew how scared she was and there was nothing I could do for her. The poor girl was in tears as we got off. She does not like it when I tell people that it was her favorite ride.

We stopped for an ice cream break and they both got cotton candy flavored with Sour Patch Kids mixed in. Blech.

Here they are in front of Clara's favorite, the wave pool, which is NOT to be confused with The Tornado.