Day 2 Fuji and Gavin meets his teacher

Today was Evie's 2nd day at her school. We picked up her little friend, Hailey, and dropped Gavin off at her house to play with her big brother while we were gone. This time, I just needed to drop her off and walk away. It was a little emotional - except for the fact that I had Hailey too and needed to find her classroom as well - so I couldn't dawdle around too much. I gave Evie a hug and kiss (and told her no fighting, no headlocks, and be a good friend and listener) and I was gone. I got a little teary eyed driving out of the parking lot, but then realized I was free to go to Starbucks, the post office and grocery shopping KID-FREE! It was pretty awesome.

I got back just in time for Evie's class to be letting out. She was following in line and sat down with the other kids to get her shoes on (it is customary to take your shoes off before entering every house and school in Japan). She said she was a good listener and did not get in trouble. Her teacher doesn't speak English (she pulls in the secretary if there needs to be translation) so I didn't get a progress check up. I am sure she was fine - or I would've heard...but I am very anxious for Evie to transfer into the class that has a teacher that can speak English. Anyway, Evie said she sang, danced, read a book about turtles, colored a picture for me and played with toys. Sounds like a typical preschool day to me!

Once I picked her up we came home, got Gavin, and ate lunch. Then it was off to Gavin's school. His school is literally across the street from our house...so it was easy!!! Patrick even joined us on his lunch break! We saw his name and teacher's name and location and went to meet her. Gavin was very worried that he would get a man (although I heard the male teacher is awesome) but his teacher is Mrs. Fitzgerald. She is new to the school and seemed super excited to teach! He loved the items in the room (a globe, legos, blocks, etc) and said he was sooooooooo happy! He doesn't start until the 7th - but we have been doing school work to get him in learning mode.

On a side note...it always makes me crack up to see people saluting Patrick. We were in line to find out Gavin's teacher assignment and people were saluting him. When we were done and he was walking back to work, he had to stop 4 times in ONE block to salute. It is just odd to me!!!

PS - I just realized I was at my quota for storage with Google (gmail and picasa). I just upgraded so I should be able to add more pics and video soon. This was the reasoning behind my failed attempts at uploads.




Here are some pics of Evie's school





The kids rushing to see their dad (he has been working so much that they hardly see him right now) and a pic of Patrick being saluted (it's kind of hard to see - but you get the point).