High School

Freshman year finally arrived!  It was a big first week.  On Monday, William got his braces.  Well, Invisalign, which I hope he likes.  But to be honest are a bit of a pain because the kid that needs to eat 5 meals a day can't really snack.   They're actually so hard to see that I don't even notice them.  I hope that means he is still wearing them!  But mostly when I see William is around mealtime, so probably not.  He did do a first round of Invisalign in 5th grade and he did great.  So hopefully this year is a success, too!

First week activities included registration on Wednesday to get ID card, locker practice, etc.    And then Thursday was Froshfest - effectively an all day orientation - which did include his first early bus ride.  Regardless of the school schedule (regular start, late start, early dismissal), the bus always runs at the same time, because it is our local school district's bussing system that runs 4 busses for Benet.   Kids at Benet come from dozens of different school districts, but ours is immediately next to Benet.   Our town has two public school districts - the dividing line which is a street west of us - and the other district does not offer bussing.  So we feel really lucky to have the option.  But it does mean that he has long days because he is the first kid picked up / last kid dropped off since our neighborhood is the cutoff line.

      

Friday was the first day of classes for the full school, so it was uniform day.   Since the first week, William has started storing his tie in his backpack and it gets put on/taken off on the bus or at school.  We know he has to wear it because it's uniform, but we haven't seen it!

It didn't take long for fall to arrive with its super dark mornings.  Lucy and I walk with him to the bus in the morning, because the the walk up and down the street is her morning exercise, and I get back home at the time I would have woken up for work anyway.  Having to use my phone flashlight for the doggy bag is now essential!   

Getting up at 5 a.m for a 6 a.m. bus has definitely been a transition for the three of us. Two pretty quick edits we made were to ditch the sack lunch (no time to make it) and to have ready made breakfast in the fridge (banana bread; sheetpan pancakes, etc) for a quick reheat.   

William has been to a few home football games.  John and I went to the homecoming game, since I was excited for the pomp and pageantry.  I was sorely disappointed!   I forgot how small (and academic focused) his school is.  While there was a dance team and cheer squad, the band was tiny (less than 50 kids) and no flags.   The homecoming court was dressed in beach attire just like the rest of the student section.  And then we got murdered on the field by the opposing team.  So a very strange experience compared to expectations!  

A few more photos from our early morning walks.   It's owl season and one morning we saw two together and heard several more up the street at the same time.   Usually I just assume it's two calling back and forth with one another.

School photos arrived already and I got to do my annual frame update.