First Day of School 2022

The kids have returned to school! It is nice to be back into the school routine, although I am not a fan of the high school start times. As I complained about previously, Jack and Anna's bus arrives at 6:15! We have been driving them to the bus stop to give them an extra 10ish minutes in the morning, but I feel guilty about not driving them to school. However, on principle I don't want to do it (and, it would impact our work schedules). The school board is encouraging parents to drive, but I want them to fulfill their transportation obligation. I feel like we need to put pressure on them and they need to put pressure on Tallahassee to get the funding necessary to have the proper number of bus drivers. We got a message on Friday that they will be reevaluating bus routes over the next two weeks, so I am REALLY hoping that they will get a later time. Although, it has been the afternoons that are the biggest problem. School gets out at 2:20 and they are on a second bus run. They are supposed to get home at 3:19, which isn't terrible, it is only about 30 minutes after last year's time. However, it has been 3:45 and they have to sit outside at the school and wait for the bus to return for 80 minutes! It is really hot out and unpleasant. At least for Anna, Jack hasn't really complained yet. Update: because I have taken so long to finish this blog, small update is that they are now allowed to wait inside the cafeteria. They can also get a free snack. 

Meanwhile, Kara's bus time has been better than expected. School gets out at 4 and she has been getting home around 4:35, which is only about 15 minutes later than last year. She also gets to wait inside for the bus to get there. Fortunately, Luke doesn't have to deal with any of the bus mess, as we are within easy walking distance of his school.

No one is complaining about school. Luke likes his teacher a lot. He says she is funny and nice and that he can hear another third grade teacher yelling at her class all the time, so he is glad he is not in that class. 

Band has been very time consuming for Jack. He doesn't mind, but it is is a lot. Practices are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00-6:30. He doesn't have time to come home and then go back to school. Even if the buses were running on last year's schedule, it probably wouldn't be worth it. So, he waits at school. That means he is at school for over 12 hours! Anna is patting herself on the back for not getting suckered into band! Kara has just started doing a theater club. They also meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But, they get out at 5:30. With where the schools are located and traffic at that time of day, it doesn't make sense to drive home after picking her up and then going back for Jack. We are back in the thick of the multiple kids/multiple activities shuffle.

In non-school news, we tried out a new baseball park last Friday night. It was in Daytona Beach, really close to the water. It took us about an 1:10 minutes to get there, which is much closer than Lakeland when traffic is at issue (but when games get out, we can usually be home from Lakeland in 53 minutes, so it evens out). The stadium was really cool. It has been operating since 1904 and has a lot of history--at our game, there was a man in attendance who was a bat boy when a young Hank Aaron played there! The food was reasonably priced, they had a guitarist performing before the game, and did lots of funny activities between innings. They also had a much bigger crowd than the Flying Tigers. We got rained out after 4 innings, but were glad we gave it a try and will definitely go back. 

This edition's sole picture is courtesy of Anna. Taken right outside the stadium.

Saturday, Luke had baseball practice and a birthday party, Anna went ice skating, and Jack had his last full day of band camp, which included a family preview (which had to be moved indoors for weather, so we didn't get to see any marching). I also did early voting. We were all running in different directions, but met up for dinner at Culver's after Jack's band. I know I started by saying I am happy to be back in the school routine, but I may be rethinking that a bit!