First Day of School

For the first time since school year 1997-1998, I am not welcoming a group of students to the first day of school. Which means that I had the time to drive the boys to school, walk them to their classrooms, and help them organize their school supplies like all of the other stay-at-home moms. But they would not have it. 

The big yellow school bus was much more enticing to them. 

After countless reminders to Evan to make sure that Keagan arrived safely to his classroom on B hall with Mrs. Banks who has the blue door next to the boys bathroom, the big bus driver gave the kids assigned seats and separated the boys.

For a split second I contemplated the idea of jumping on the bus and riding with the boys so that I could make sure Keagan arrived safely, but in my mind's eye I caught a grainy image of an Evan expression showing pure horror, and I knew it would never happen. Keagan was embarrassed enough to have to carry his nap mat in front of the big kids. He would have never survived a stunt from his crazed mama.

And that big bus driver was kinda scary. I shudder to think what he might have done.

So I bid farewell from afar and shed a tear or two while walking back to an empty house. The same house I have wanted empty and quiet for the past seven weeks.

Now whatever will I do until 2:45 when that yellow bus returns with my babies? 

Last Day of Summer

Today is our last day of summer vacation. Maybe I should clarify that this is the last day for the boys. Since I never found a job, I am on somewhat of a permanent vacation, and I haven't quite figured out how I feel about that. Thankfully Wes will deploy and bring in extra money. Otherwise, I think we would be in the WIC line with all of the other families of soldiers.

To make the most of our last day of freedom, we went to the pool with friends. These four act like they have been friends for years instead of weeks.

Open House

We attended Open House at Taylors' Creek tonight, and the boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their new school. With SMART boards, FLIP cameras, digital cameras, LCD projectors and computers in every room, there is definitely an emphasis on learning with technology. Evan said the library was "magical"; he is such my boy! Keagan took a lap around the awesome gym and felt right at home. 

Keagan met his teacher Mrs. Banks, and he is more than ready for the first day of school. 

He even completed his first homework assignment, "Kindergardeners, Come Out of Your Shells". He decorated his paper plate turtle like a soldier and used the Spanish moss to camouflage good ole Rick the Turtle.

Evan met his new teacher, Mrs. Aspinwall, or Mrs. Asprinwall if you ask Evan to try to pronounce it. Evan is so excited about the first day, and since he has begged to be home-schooled for two years, this is saying a lot for my boy!

This evening Evan asked, "Am I talking like I am from Georgia yet? I think Mrs. Asprinwall might teach me how to do that this year." Because she lives in the town promoting year around tractor pulls, I think that might be a real possibility.

Tybee Beach

Today was our unit's family day, an annual event that is supposed to build cohesion within the unit while allowing soldiers to spend quality time with their families. This is the first one we have attended in almost five years because there is rarely cohesion or quality time with the family at these events. This was the exception to the rule.

With the family day at the beach on the calendar for several weeks, I knew that I had to get the boys boogey boards. My plan was to suprise them with the boards. And with a design depicting a shark crashing into a pier and taking a bite out of a wooden plank, I knew I had found a true piece of art - something that only little boys would appreciate because most adults would consider it tacky.

I had to order them on-line because you might remember my statements about the lack of shopping in our new town, and this time Lowes couldn't help us. When they arrived on our door step, the boxes were huge, but I took them and placed them in my closet on the top shelve thinking that it was so obvious the boys would never really see them. I was sure they would find them if I took the time to actually find a hiding place for them so I opted to place them in plain view so they would never see them.

Within half a hour, Evan spotted the boards. Within 32 minutes, Evan was practicing his moves on the boards while sliding across the hard wood floors. Keagan was quick to join in, and today he finally got to give it a try.

 He was so caught up with jumping waves on his shark board that he is convinced the broken black shell that fell from his shorts during his shower is an actual shark tooth. We have done nothing to deny the validity of his story. 

One day he will be seven and fail to imagine that he would be lucky enough to find a shark's tooth at the beach.

Advanced Swimmers

According to the local rec department, both boys are now advanced swimmers. I am certain that Swim Kids would differ, but both boys can do all four strokes now and both boys can definitely swim better than I can. That should count for something.

The biggest accomplishment, in my mind anyway, is Keagan's ability to do the backstroke the distance of the pool. After the rant about boys not being about to float, Keagan was determined to prove to the teacher that he could float and swim on his back. Unfortunately, he proved this the day the "boys can't float teacher" was absent from lessons, but I loved his tenacity. 

The haircut? Are you wondering if I tried to save a whole $7 and do it myself? We made a trip to the post barbershop, and I said a two but I forgot to say two on the sides. I almost cried, but with Evan poking and laughing, I put on the biggest fake smile and said it looked great. When a soldier next to us smirked and laughed, I gave him a look to kill. I think he thought the battlefields of Afghanistan would be more pleasant than his current place in line at the PX barbershop. Keagan, full of five year old wisdom, told me today, "I like the haircut, but if you don't, Mom, you don't need to worry. It will all grow back."

Evan learned the butterfly stroke this week, and because he can now do all four strokes, he has been invited to join the local swim team. Evan is about as eager to do this as he is to have a cavity filled. I guess this could change, though, because this week he told me that if he was like Deion Sanders and played two sports professionally, he was certain that he would choose soccer over football.

And Evan's lack of haircut is a direct result of Keagan's present haircut. He refused to get in the chair, and I agreed to let him go with his dad at his next bimonthly haircut. I am hesitant because Wes gets his haircut at a place called Ranger Joe's, and because that title has nothing to do with hair, and is instead all about the equipment and clothing worn in a war zone, I am fearful of the end result.

I must remember that it will grow back.

Living in the Country, Visiting the BIg CIty

Oh, Target! How I have missed thee! Your bright flourescent lighting. Your red and white aisle markers. Your dollar aisle. I was happy today to swipe my card at your store. If you were just closer than a 47 minute drive, my life in Georgia would be complete - well, almost complete. Somewhere in the mix I need to add employment, church membership, and the eradication of pawn shops on every corner of my current home of record. Then my life would be complete.

We drove to Savannah today to meet with some friends of ours from Virginia. It has been on our calendar for three weeks, and I was giddy with anticipation awaiting the day we got to drive to the city. In case you are wondering, it met my every expectation. While there, we made our rounds to the book store, Target, a mall, and Home Depot. In other words, civilization. The boys had already forgotten that you can buy anything at Target. Thankfully, I did, too, and totally bypassed the carts upon entering the store. Otherwise, I would have purchased it all.

Despite the looks of sympathy I receive when I tell others where we live, Hinesville isn't all that bad; there are a few bright spots. For my own sanity let me make a quick list.
- We can drive to St Simon's Island in 56 minutes. I tried to persuade Wes that the commute from the island would be much like, maybe less, of a drive than what he had in DC, but he didn't go for it. Living on St Simons would be a total dream for me. TOTAL DREAM!
- We can swim every day because you never have to doubt that the temp might fall below 94 degrees. As a result, we have some awesome tans, and we can all swim a pretty mean breast stroke.
- Maria, Patrick, and Parker are willing to play with us when we are bored. We met them the first week we were here, and we all hit it off instantly. Friends like this are hard to find.
- National parks, state parks, and more parks. The heat and bugs don't keep us away -except for this week when the temp hovered at 110 and I felt certain the boys would melt into the cannons at Fort Jackson!
- Our house. I like it more and more every day. I will love it once our backyard doesn't resemble The Outer Banks.

Small town living isn't that bad, and when I am experiencing the withdrawls associated with the shortage of conveniences of city living, we can make the short drive to the wonderful city of Savannah. In just a few weeks soccer will have us there every weekend, and I will probably long for a weekend in our small lazy town.

Swim Boys!

We have had considerable trouble with getting the boys into swim lessons and/or enrolled with a swim team. However, we had another family recommend the local rec dept swim program, and we enrolled. Today was the first lesson, and this is what we experienced.

No blue square leg swim trunks required.

No goggles allowed.

Little to no instruction provided.

Sixteen year old "instructor" yells in frustration multiple times during lesson, "Float! Float! I don't know why boys can't float!"

Multiple jumps off the diving board into the deep end "just for fun."

I should have known I was in trouble when I approached the swim director with my Swim Kids cards from Virginia that showed my boys' current swim levels and skills. Because with a quick glance, the elderly director replied, "That's nice, Ma'm, but I am a certified swim instructor, and I will assess your boys prior to placement."

Then the assessment was this: "Swim Boys!"

I miss Swim Kids in Virginia where the ugly blue square leg trunks are required and goggles are encouraged. I don't know what I expected after only paying $25 per boy here in Georgia, but it was definitely more than what I am getting. Like swimming.

However, as the boys dried off at the end of their first lesson, both exclaimed, "THIS WAS AWESOME, MOM! THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN SWIM KIDS!!!"

Well of course it was, Guys. You just had a play date in water instead of swim lessons.