1st Day of School 2012/2013

First day of school 2012:
Jacob: 67.5” – 111 lbs
Bella: 51” – 61 lbs
Mindy: 63” – 105 lbs

I was up and downstairs by 545am, just in time to hear the coffee machine’s last gurgle before pronouncing the day’s batch done. I quickly whipped out sit-ups and curls then headed to the PC with a cup of fresh coffee in hand. I checked the weather first thing. It was 58 degrees under clear skies. We were expecting a high around 80. Supposed to hit the low 90s this coming weekend.

Checked the Reds results from Monday. They lost big. However, they’re still in first place by several games. Read a few Vikings headlines as well. Nothing big going on. Left the PC near 620am and headed to the family room for meditation and stretching. That went well. I could hear Jacob up and in the shower. Mindy, too. I took Mindy a cup of coffee just before heading out for my run. She was half way through her ready. She planned on sticking around the house long enough to see both kids onto their school buses. Got special permission from her new principal to do so.

I headed out for my run around 640am and ran the full 4.1 miles. It was a lovely morning for a run. My hamstrings were feeling much better, though still a little achy and taught, especially the left. The sun didn’t make its way over the eastern rooftops until about the 3rd mile marker. As I neared home I spotted Mindy and Eiknarf out on a morning walk. To be funny, I ran by as if I didn’t see them. Mindy thought it was funny. I stopped after passing and turned around to finish the walk with them. They were only two houses from home.

Mindy shared Jacob’s early bus experience. She walked out with him to take pictures of him and the others. Said all the other kids smiled but Jacob didn’t. She said she did head back to the house before the bus pulled up. She managed to snap a picture of them loading on the bus from across the street.

My eggs were waiting. Second day in a row that Mindy had them ready once I was back in the door. All I had to do was eat and pack my lunch. Had all of that out of the way by 740am and was then off to the shower. Didn’t take me too long. I was back downstairs by 757am. Bella was eager to head out to the bus stop, our first such trip this season. And while the bus wasn’t scheduled to be there until 817am, she asked to head out and scooter near 805am. Mindy and I headed out around 810am taking Eiknarf along too.

We snapped a handful of photos of both Bella and Makayla. The bus arrived about 5 minutes late. No biggie! Same driver, Mrs. Vanorder. We forgot to snap a picture of her boarding. As we walked back to the house I suggested we hang out front until they passed on their way out of the subdivision. Mindy concurred. Snap! Almost on queue, the sun ducked in behind some fairly thick cloud cover seconds after Bella boarded the bus. Our once sunny morning was now completely cloudy. It wasn’t supposed to rain and was expected to clear again soon.

Mindy left for school a couple minutes later after reminding me that she would be at school until 830pm doing open house. She would, however, come home right after school but needed to be back before 6pm. I wasn’t too far behind Mindy, heading out around 835am.
Arrived at the office near 850am. The halls were largely empty again. I took my time getting set-up and situated. It was another day chalked full of escalations. I got more than a little stressed out throughout the day. I didn’t take a lunch. Instead, I plowed straight through my day. I ate my packed food near 1pm. Lindsey sent me a text sharing that someone snapped the antenna off of her car in her complex. Too bad.

As is often the case, I was busiest at the very end of the business day. I did my best to wrap things up and head out a little early, and managed to do so around 450pm. But I was all but certain that I’d have to log in again once home. As it was, I’d be the only one there. Mindy was at open house and the kids with their dad for dinner until 8pm. Sure enough. My boss called me at 520pm asking me to take care of an escalation. Actually, I was happy to talk with him. He had been out of pocket all day at a customer visit. We talked for about 10 minutes. I ended up working until almost 7pm. By then I was feeling really stressed. I still managed to eat some dinner, leftover taco meat in the form of cheese and meat nachos.

At 7pm I headed out on a bike ride. If nothing else, it would help calm me down and take my mind off work. It worked fairly well, and it was a gorgeous evening for such a thing – about 75 and sunny. The kids got home a little earlier than I expected. I was writing in my blog when they got home at 745pm.

I asked about their school days. Said school was good. They both asked to go out and play. Wisely, I established a curfew of 830pm before they headed out. Both were back ahead of the curfew. And Mindy was home just after 830pm. She seemed to be in a good mood and headed up for a shower. When she came back down she asked if I would sit with her on the deck. I almost declined but then stopped myself and joined her. We chatted briefly about the work day, me sharing my most negative experience.

We didn’t hang outside too long, maybe 10 minutes. It was only 9pm but I was feeling bed-ready tired. We stayed up until 920pm or there abouts. Both kids were off to bed at the same time, too. I turned on the bedroom TV to a sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. From what I gather it's one of the most popular shows on TV these days. It was funny, and there were back to back episodes. As enjoyable as it was, I still dosed off about half way through the 2nd episode. Good night moon!