I have almost made it through the first week of school! Why is it tougher on Mom than it is on the kids? Here's my almost grown up kid - sporting a new hat.



AJ made it home just fine on Sunday - though at a different time than originally planned (at least it was still Sunday morning!) He called me Saturday night to tell me they would be in at 11:00 instead of 10:00 Sunday. I didn't tell him that I had already made the trip once, but evidently word made it's way over to him. The boys all decided Saturday night (after Trevor's Dad told them about my dry run) that they didn't want to ride home with me on Sunday, because I would be 'really mad' at them. They almost didn't even make the 11:00 flight - two boys got caught up in a video game, and almost missed the flight. The counselor with them kept thinking....leave the boys, or tell Deni that they wouldn't be there on Sunday either. Leave the boys...tell Deni....Leaving the boys was winning! They did manage to catch the flight, so he didn't have to face the angry mom having to make a third trip to Sacramento.





The trip turned out to be a 'real learning experience' for the boys. Among other things, the company they used to provide their provisions shorted them two full meals, and gave them skimpy rations for the meals they did provide. The counselor told me one breakfast had a total of 230 calories - for teen-age boys that were canoeing all day! They survived the trip, but they were hungry through most of it. The first question AJ had was whether we were going to stop for lunch on the way home (he had three huge burritos and an order of nachos at Taco Bell on the way home.) The boys totaled over 50 miles on their trip - 40 canoeing and 10+ portaging their canoes. I think it turned out well - every boy there made at least one error in their assigned job (AJ didn't have maps in and out of the airports, so they got lost getting back to the airport on Sunday) The kid responsible for communications actually started to laugh at me for showing up one day early - until I pointed out that his e-mail said that the trip would end on Saturday - and most people would assume that he meant the whole trip would end on Saturday - not the canoeing part! He got real quiet after that. Since everyone made mistakes, it was hard to point fingers! They are already planning their next two trips - one winter trip for skiing and snowboarding, and next fall they want to go to Florida and scuba dive.





After this weekend, I was hoping that school would slow things down, but noooo! AJ has soccer practise at 6:15 each morning (except for Monday - but the coach forgot to tell us, so we showed up bright and earlier Monday morning, and no one else was there. I was not a happy camper!) Every night after work - so far - I have had running around to do. Either he needs more school supplies or new clothes (the shorts we just bought in July just 'won't do' - they are too short - we had to get new shorts.) Tonight, we had to go get a sports physical. He did make the soccer team (not a lot of choice - they were short on boys that tried out) and they have a tournament this weekend in Quincy. AJ called me at 4:00 tonight and told me he had to have a physical by 7:00 tomorrow, or he couldn't go on the trip. (He had an appointment next week with our regular doctor.) We spent an hour waiting at the walk-in clinic to get a sport physical. He has to be at the school tomorrow by 6:30. He is a little vague about the details - like where he is sleeping in Quincy - but I guess it will work out somehow!

I did get a new doily done - midst all this turmoil!