Fall Foliage Family Fun Extravaganza

Every Columbus day weekend me and the hubby try to journey to the wilds of Western MA. to visit my college friend steve. And the Eric Carle Museum, and the leaves and the general good warm fuzzy feelings that being in the country gives us.
We missed the trip two years in a row- the first. But this year we went. And here are some pictures to prove it.
The apple orchard we went to was the Kielbasa Orchards...We are still eating apples from the trip.
Happy in the woods were I went to college. Walking through the woods you would never know this boy was a city kid!We also went pumpkin picking at McCray's farm.And to a local Maize Maze This is the end result of our trip- giant pumpkin and lots of apples in the shiny new car.

Tribute

A friend of mine left me a message this weekend. The message was that another friend's dad had died in a car accident. Of all the dad's to go first I would have never pictured it to be Kate's dad...

The accident involved a bridge and bad brakes on a remote Maine woodsy road- a friend was with him, tried to save him after the truck went into the water, but Mr. Frederick wasn't moving when the truck hit the water. He drowned and his friend had to run 3 miles to find someone to tell. I can't even imagine what the friend is feeling, nor can I imagine what kate and her mother are feeling right now.
This is the second freak accidental death from drowning that has happened even remotely in my life this year (the first being a 3 year old girl who would have been in my classroom). I don't like it. I like my deaths to be expected, after long lives or illnesses. What do you say to ease someone's sorrow when there are no words to explain why the suffering is occurring?

The Red Sox lost last night, they were Mr. Frederick's team. I have never seen a grown man as happy as I saw him last year when the Sox won the series and his daughter got married on the same day. Maybe they lost because he is gone, I like to think they did out of respect for the man who would call the cable company to complain when the games weren't televised. Humor is my defense so I will end by saying at least Mr. Frederick didn't have to see the Sox blow it again.

Go and hug your fathers and tell them you love them (even if it weirds them out) because you never know when they'll be gone.

Actual Child

My sister is in the process of waiting...she is waiting for a child. No she is not pregnant, she is adopting, but she is waiting for all the people who have to look her over to do so. I think this waiting process is interesting; is it supposed to mimic the anticipation and anxiety of a pregnancy? Give you more time to prepare yourself , your home, your family? I hope the wait isn't too long as my sister is looking to get a child between 2 and 3, and I think it would be awesome to have a child the same age as hers. I also hope the wait isn't too long because waiting sucks. Waiting to see what your child will look like, what their favorite foods will be, how their laugh will sound is hard enough when you know the baby is hanging out in your womb and it will take a few years to really get to know them; I can't even imagine waiting for a long time to be introduced to a fully formed human that will be my own

mind boggles

So the "nursing" issue was never talked about in our classroom, and the parents weren't really notified in any conclusive way- keep this in mind as i tell the next story....

Yesterday a boy in our class bit me and another child- no skin was broken but there was definite biting with intent to harm going on. This boy is one of the younger kids in the class, super physically active and has some speech issues wherein he gets very frustrated when his needs can not be articulated in an understandable way... He bit another boy because they were climbing on the slide together and the biter got pushed and shoved by the bitee.. and the end of the day the biter's communication breaks down even more due to tiredness and over excitement over the playground.
I spent an hour on the phone to his parents at the insistence of my head teacher- remember her the one who insisted i need not say anything about a boy's mouth being on a girl's nipple in a bout of very realistic pretend nursing? So i have to ask again where is the line with her? what is she considering appropriate and not appropriate? Why is a mouth on one body part different than on another?
my mind boggles