While we left Truckee later than we hoped (as per usual), we did manage to get on the highway before noon, so our re-entry for the first day of school was less traumatic this year.
So here they are, ready for 1st and 4th grade!
Brennan is now in a combined 4/5 classroom, looking a little too happy to be back in the same class with his pal Django. I've been pleasantly surprised by how supportive and inclusive the 5th graders seem to be with the younger crew joining the classroom. Which we certainly need, because 4th grade is a lot more work. It's not so much the volume of the homework, but the expectations (which I am 100% in agreement with) to copy down the assignment list & understand it, to put your name on everything, to find it in the giant binder to turn in, to advocate for yourself rather than have a parent intervene - that are the struggle.
Little siblings tend to get assigned to the same teacher as the older one - so Lucie is in Room 213 with Ms. Schultz for 1st grade, just like Brennan. She was a little nervous the first morning, but has settled right in and seems to like her class and teacher. After 3 years of watching her brother do homework, she finally has some of her own and attacks it in typical Lucie fashion. It's due on Fridays, but generally by Wednesday, when I ask how her homework is going, she replies, "Already turned it in!"
Just two weeks into the school year, a record setting heat wave arrived. The first day, through strategic window/blind/fan management, we were able to keep the apartment temperature from climbing over 80°. But San Francisco isn't really equipped to handle a 104° day, much less 2 consecutive ones. There was nothing for it but to set up camp at Ocean Beach and stay there all day with our neighbors. We even had pizza delivered to the parking lot.
Heatwave Day 3 was spent at the Coppola Pool, which ironically enough, we generally plan so we can get a break from grey skies and chilly fog.
It was also pretty hot there, but at least we could just stay submerged.
Ice cream breaks excepted, of course.
And we stopped in Marin for burgers on the way home, since they actually have air-conditioning in the suburbs. And, thank goodness, we got a little break when overnight temperatures finally dropped below 70° and I stopped threatening to move us to an airport hotel.
Heatwave Day 4 was not a record setter, but still pretty warm by San Francisco standards. I don't spend a lot of evenings relaxing outdoors, but this was one of them. Even better, there was cold drink delivery -
Look out this amazing service! And I only had to wait 6.5 years for it.
We had an al fresco dinner to celebrate Labor Day and the last day of the heatwave. Enzo joined us so his parents could celebrate their anniversary.
Now that our bedrooms were no longer stifling, airless cells, it's time to get a decent night's rest - we need to be ready for soccer season!
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