Back to School

A few weeks back at a church function, a family friend bent down to Judah level and asked, “So, is your mom excited that you’ll be starting Kindergarten soon?”

Judah looked up very solemnly and replied, “Nooooo…she’s gonna miss me when I’m at school!”

And he was right! The house feels pretty hollow and empty with all my guys off to school today after several weeks of togetherness that was our summer break.

Our day began bright and early at 5:45 this morning. We got the whole family up and ready because we wanted to take pictures of the big first-day-of-school event. Jericho began his Freshman year of high school this morning, Jeff returned to teaching at middle school and Judah just got dropped off at his afternoon Kindergarten class.

I knew it was coming, but I still felt a bit surprised when I found myself back in the kitchen last evening preparing school lunches.

Here we were first thing this morning.

For the record, Jericho is actually taller than me now, but I was wearing heeled sandals.

A friend from church, Cassie, a senior at Jericho’s school, had offered to pick him up for his first day and show him around campus.

A senior with her own car? Are you even kidding? He was thrilled and immediately jumped on the opportunity.

It was a bright, bright sunshiny day.

Hmmmmph. I guess now that he’s a big kid he’s too ‘cool’ to have his mom trailing him around with her camera on the first day. Whatev.

Then they drove away…and that was that. My baby is now a Freshman. **sniff, sniff**

Jeff left moments later for his first day activities, and had a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

Literal tricks. With the help of some props and some things he recently learned from an illusionist, he intends to really wow his students on their first day.

Really, I think he’s just glad to have several more audiences to practice said tricks in front of before the wedding he learned them for this Saturday.

The wedding he will be officiating.

The tricks he will be performing in lieu of the traditional unity candle.

It seems that lately, every time I turned around, there was Jeff with props in hand, practicing those tricks again.

I think he’s got it down. It will impress his students for sure.

Anyway, once daddy and Jericho were gone, Judah had approximately four hours to kill.

But do you think I could talk him into going back to bed for even part of that time?

Negative.

First it was, “Take a pitcher (his pronunciation) of me with my lunch pack!”

Then it was, “Take a pitcher of me with my pack-pack.”

Then it was 3 blessed hours and 45 long minutes of him chomping at the bit to go.

“Is it time for Kindergarten yet?”

“WheeEen do we get to GO?”

“Mom, you better check the clock.”

Lying around on the floor whining, “When is it time?”

Finally, with about 20 minutes before grandma was to arrive to see him off on his first day, I sat down to take a couple of pictures of he and I.

Betcha can’t tell he’s excited, huh?

Well, this should seal the deal

Seriously, this was him after he'd been running around like a wild child calling out, “It’s almost tiiiiiime!”

You’d have thought it was Christmas or his birthday or something!

But then, he stopped and climbed up on my lap and asked very soberly, “Mama, are you gonna miss me when I’m gone to Kindergarten?”

“Of course! This house is going to be so quiet without you!” I replied, feeling a little melancholy tug on the heartstrings. **sniff, sniff**

He gave me a big old hug around the neck. “I’ll still be your baby even when I’m all growned up.”

Awwww…little stinker. Guess he knew this was harder for his mom than it was for him.

At long last, grandma arrived.

We piled into the truck and drove to school.

We took a couple of pictures and a little bit of video footage.

Here he sports his new shoes, which upon testing them out in our front yard he breathlessly reported to us, “They make me run so fast the dirt flies up!”

Which was kind of a strange deja vu moment, because Jericho came home from his first day of Kindergarten reporting that his shoes “made him run so fast the wood chips (on the playground) flew up.” **sniff, sniff, sniff.**

These shoes were the closest thing we could find to PF FLyers, which he’s coveted ever since seeing the movie Sandlot.

He looks so little. Like he still needs his mama all day long.

T minus one minute to starting time: Is that a little bit of uncertainty upon my big brave Kindergarteners face?

Nope. Just the sun in his eyes.

At last, he eagerly and confidently jumped in line, I told him to obey all the rules, he smiled and then his teacher walked the little procession into her classroom.

At the last minute, just when I thought it would go into his class without a backward glance, my baby turned around and called out, “See ya later, mom.”

The photo was a bit blurry, but that’s okay, because I think my eyes were, too.

And that was that. My baby is now a Kindergartener. **sniff, sniff**

The Frumps Visit The County Fair

We recently attended the County Fair.

This is a big deal in our family and an annual tradition.

First, there is the fair food.

Judah was in the mood for an ice cream cone.

Jericho walked away with some deep fried concoction.

Surprisingly, it was not the deep fried Twinkie he'd been thinking sounded so great on the way there.

Ahhh...mini doughnuts. The gold standard.

They always remind me of the time we were helping my dad move a family member from suburban civilization way out to the boondocks on a very rainy Saturday in Washington. Suddenly, my dad pulled off the country road into the parking area of a remote gas station and went inside for a snack. He emerged, his hands full with a two paper trays filled with great big globs of greasy grimy something-or-other and sticks one in through our car window under our noses, announcing excitedly, "Gizzards, anyone?"

I was scarred for life.

Mini-doughnuts, however, aside from smelling faaaar better than deep-fried gizzards, taste heavenly. Which I’m pretty sure mean they’re like manna, and therefore good for you. Ahem.

Judah in his chili pepper sunglasses cracks me up every time.

Of course no trip to the fair would be complete without stopping to see some farm animals.

A friend’s pig.

And you just haven’t lived until you’ve washed your hands at a porta-sink while tapping your toes to a country tune playing loudly at the nearby bandstand.

There was one exhibit not far from the animal barns that included a whole bunch of exotic animals we don’t often get to see up close.

Kookaburras. Australia’s laughing birds.

I really enjoyed getting them to laugh, but have to admit I would find them terribly obnoxious in a tree outside my bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning. Even if they are cute.

Also from down under, the kangaroo and wallaby exhibit. Here the giant rat wallaby bit Judah’s finger. There was a sign warning of the possibility, but Judah is just too quick. Thankfully it didn’t break skin.

**sigh** He’s a very hands-on kind of learner that way.

He then looked up an noticed that the animal handlers were allowing folks to touch a select few critters.

“Isn’t he so cute, mama? I want a bearded dragon. Please? I’ll keep it in my bedroom and feed it and everything.”

My answer was immediate. “No!” Oh, heavens no!

Imagine finding a colorful critter like that darting out from between the washer and dryer after it got lost in the house?

Because that is undoubtedly what would happen, and I just can’t live with that kind of stress in my life.

Now these guys were almost big enough for Judah to ride, and seeing the wheels turning in Judah’s head as he grasped the low-walled sides, their owner said, “No climbing into the exhibit. You may touch their shells with your hands.”

They did, however, allow him to hold this little reptile.

And, just to freak mom out, he had to go and hold an emperor scorpion.

And charm a snake.

“Aww…look, mama…he’s playing with me!”

The snake didn’t scare me so much. It was behind glass.

What really frightened me was that delighted look on my boys face while interacting with the deadly creature.

Because we live in rattlesnake country.

And people within walking distance of our house have had to call out animal control to rescue them from snakes on their property.

I quickly tried to distract him by dragging him over to the cage with the adorable little African hedgehog in it, which seemed a bit shy.

Unfortunately for me, there around the corner was this gator.

Which reminded Judah again of the bearded dragon, and because the owner was still holding it, he ran back over to see it once again.

The llama looked spitting mad (pardon the pun), so we kept a safe distance.

My sister was once spat upon by a llama (while she was pregnant and morning sick, mind you).

Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience, and we’ve all learned from it.

And this emu…well, frankly it looked a bit deranged.

It had orange eyes and turquoise skin.

And the way he kept leaning down and eyeing our boy let us know we should keep his curious fingers far from the enclosure.

I can’t recall the name of this fowl from the Amazon, but it had a body and legs like a turkey with a head and bill something like a black flamingo, topped with a curly feathered mohawk.

Perhaps the biggest attraction at the fair for our boys, however, was this:

Getting to stand inside a giant hamster ball bubble and roll around on the water in it.

The boys thought it was a huge thrill.

It was a lot trickier than it looked, standing up in a rolling bubble.

Ahhh...success. Pressing on the bottom and top at the same time, he did a complete turn around.

It was an unseasonably cool and windy day at the fair that day, but because our boys were laughing and having such a good time, they brought in some extra business for the attraction, and the operators let them stay in extra long.

They did not complain once.

Afterwards, the operator pushed their 'pods' over to the exit.

Jericho emerged headfirst.

Judah in breech position.

Jericho reported afterward that the inside of the bubble had a sour sponge smell. Eww.

Germaphobe that I am, I took one look at their now filthy socks and opted for another stop at the porta-sink to scrub down all their exposed skin.

Both boys talked about the attraction for days afterward, so it was a definite highlight for them.

And last, but not least, my favorite part of the fair:

The home and fine arts exhibits.

Though I love visiting these buildings anyway, this year was extra special for us because the boys and I had each entered items and wanted to find out if we’d won any ribbons.

Jericho entered this marvel. Captain America.

Jericho had been hoping for a first place blue ribbon, but he still got best of class.

Though as you can tell by his expression, he wasn’t too happy that his ribbon was pink.

This was Judah’s abstract work, painted last summer while his cousins were visiting.

And that is his blue ribbon for his division. He was thrilled beyond words. “I won? I won a ribbon?! Oh…I’m so proud!!”

I suppose it chafed a bit for Jericho to see his kid brother win a blue ribbon for what appeared to him to be more of a happy accident than a purposeful, time consuming rendering like his Captain America.

But when his attitude turned a little south about the whole issue, we had to stop and explain that we ‘can’t win them all’, and that he still needed to be happy and supportive in his brother’s success, just as Judah had been when we stopped first and found the pink ribbon hanging on Jericho’s work.

The photography exhibits were nearby, so we dropped in to see how my photo had done.

Nada. No ribbon in sight. Oh, well…cute kid/kitten photos aren’t for everyone.

We then meandered over to the textile arts building to see if my quilt and crocheted items had won.

I’d scrambled to get my pinwheel baby quilt done in time for the entry deadline, and knew it wasn’t my best work, but they were kind enough to still include it in a colorful display.

Wandering around to another portion of the large building, we happened upon my woolen granny square afghan, which apparently didn’t make the cut and was crowded together with other ‘losers’ on a rack up against a barren wall.

Hmmmph. They don’t know quality work when they see it, I thought indignantly upon seeing the 3rd of my 5 entries without a ribbon.

Then my earlier talk with Jericho came to mind and I felt the sting of guilt.

A winter scarf that I crocheted won a 2nd place red ribbon, but the item displayed in front of it blocked both my ribbon and my name and was in a glass case so I didn’t bother with the picture.

Finally, we located the display with my ripple afghan, and was delighted to see that it, too, had won a 2nd place red ribbon!

Afterwards, in keeping with our usual trip-to-the-fair tradition, we all went out for dinner at a diner near the fairgrounds.

All things considered, it was a winner of a day for our family at the fair!