I'm back

Well I'm back to posting. I hadn't been feeling well the past few days, which culminated in me spending yesterday morning in bed. I'll spare everyone the details.

Alex arrived on Saturday. Rene picked him up in Atlanta. Alex is so grown up! 18! Erin was very excited to have Alex here. She wanted to show him to her friends, bring him to school, and of course, have him push her on the swings. Alex has been a good sport with all of this. Lauren has not warmed up as much. I think she's a little jealous of Daddy spending time with someone else.

Alex and Rene tried out the kayak, and found out how hard it is to go upstream on the canal! We went to Columbia on Sunday and had lunch. The plan was I'd take the girls to Edventure and Rene and Alex would go to the history museum next door. Unfortunately, the history museum was closed that day. Also, the big lake fishing trip was cancelled due to rain. But we did make a trip to the lake and had a nice little walk along the shore. Beautiful! Rene and Alex also took in a movie.

On Wednesday, when the girls were in school, we checked out the brand new library that opened this week. We're so happy to have a wonderful library near us! Brand new huge facility, with 60 computers with flat screen moniters, a coffee shop/ cafe, a playground outside, and an outdoor ampitheater for concerts and performances. They did a great job! I think we'll resume our weekly library nights that we did in California. Oh, and we got to see our the artwork of our neighbor Frances displayed in the library as well.

Since I was not feeling well yesterday, Rene had to make Erin's lunch, take her to school, and watch Lauren. Luckily, Alex researched on his own that he could go to the YMCA using his card from Calgary. He played basketball there for 3 hours. Alex also has ridden Rene's bike to downtown Augusta following the trail between the Savannah River and the Augusta Canal. Rene got Alex a small digital camera, and Alex has taken lots of pictures of his trip here.

In Erin news, I attended a kindergarten meeting for parents. I got to tour the classrooms and the principal gave a talk. The school looks wonderful, but it is so big! There will likely be 7 kindergarten classes. Each class has 18-20 kids with 1 teacher and 1 para professional. I got to read some of the children's journals. They're journalling in kindergarten! Very cute, and impressive too. I'm glad the school is so close. I also know a few other kids who will be attending. I saw 3 other moms I know from Mom's club, one from dance class, and one from Erin's preschool. Also, Erin's big ballet performances are today! We had a short spacing rehearsal on Monday evening, and then a full dress rehearsal on Wednesday. I had to volunteer as a dressing room mom. Quite chaotic! Erin did fine. They had lots of toys and activities for the cherubs, fireflies and ponies. That kept Erin quite occupied. I was trying to put the costume on the littlest cherub, who decided she did not want to be a cherub. She wanted to be a pony. There was no way she was going to put her cherub costume on. Finally I called her mom. Her mom got the costume on, and left, and later, the littlest cherub was hiding under a table, costume off again. Finally we got Miss Kathleen, the teacher who would be performing with them to come and talk her into it. They did well, but boy those cherubs were tired! We got home at 8:15. Tonight we'll probably get home after 9. Erin has a performance today in the morning for area school kids. Then a public performance tonight. Daddy gets to go in the morning, and mommy gets to go tonight.

And tomorrow, the Georgia Aquarium and Alex and Rene see the Atlanta Thrashers hockey game. We'll meet my friends Kara, Walt and their children Samantha and Sean for lunch and then all go to the aquarium. Then early Sunday morning, we take Alex to the airport in Atlanta. It's been good to see him.

OK, off to start our busy day!