A Day Off With Frederick

Frederick has this week off from school for Spring break. Ordinarily, that would be exciting but given that he has had only two uninterrupted weeks of school since January 6th, more days off just seems run of the mill. It couldn't be worse for Simon and me, given that our semester is nearing the end and on Mondays and Wednesdays we teach at the same time. We managed Monday with help but I had to cancel my class for today--so, more days off for THOSE kids which made life harder for THEIR parents. (Tough luck, say I.) I asked Frederick what he wanted to do today, since it was actually a really nice day--about 50 degrees F and sunny. Of course he said that he wanted to go to ForMar--and did we ever! First, we had to run at top speed the whole way, and he toured me about, taking me off the beaten track, round and around to see every single thing. (Mainly signs.) Then we had to go to Sloan Museum to see SPACE! (Which will be there only until May 4th, so he better get filled up on it.) I insisted we head home after that to tank up on pizza, which he agreed to. He ate his pizza while lying down on the couch watching a show. THEN we headed to East Lansing to go to Potter Park. Here is proof:

The place was packed with mothers each surrounded by 3 or 4 small, screeching children who spent the whole time shrieking at the animals, or darting about wildly, or laying on the ground having a fit about something or other. The animals (particularly the lions) looked very annoyed (and sleepy). They have a program that allows you to go to the zoo at night, after sundown, to see and hear the animals who are nocturnal. They said that feeding time is quite noisy and can be heard for quite a distance outside the park. Maybe that is what we will do next, when the 2 foot tall children are safely elsewhere.

Thomas Heading to Ireland

Another whirlwind tour in store for Thomas.  He, along with 54 other kids in his FIM orchestra (as well as 14 adults chaperones and instrument mules), boarded a bus headed for Chicago airport in the wee hours this morning.  They expect to arrive in Dublin (Ireland time) tomorrow at 5 am.  They will spend the entire day touring around the big city only checking into their hotel late afternoon, just in time to rehearse for two hours and then hold their first concert. Every day will feature sightseeing, rehearsing and performing at a concert. Besides Dublin, they will be seeing Cork, Killkenny featuring Blarney Castle, Cobh, Colaiste Choilm Ballincollig (can these really be names of places?), Wicklow Mountains and, once back at Dublin, a tour of the Houses of Parliament and a special concert for all the Irish Big Wigs that work there. Since they are in Ireland the week before Easter, the kids were each given the option of visiting/touring/attending churches or castles. (Keeping the separation of church and state intact.) Thomas opted for castles, not too surprisingly. He won't be arriving back at the FIM until next Sunday, the 13th, late in the evening.

Of course the battery for my camera was dead (and I didn't realize this until I was at the FIM with Thomas and he was getting on the bus) so I took this picture with my camera. He's in that mob of kids boarding the bus, near the door. (Thomas has a special talent for shamelessly shoving his way to the front of any line and taking the last of whatever is on offer.) His last words to me were, "Why are you still here?" We're going to miss him so much!

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The view out of the Library in Milford today.

Thomas gets mail

This is a small sampling of the letters Thomas has been getting since he took the ACT: (He says he's had innumerable emails too. It's made him quite cynical. And it wasn't even a "proper" version because you're not supposed to take them until your senior year in high school.)

First day of Spring

View from Highland Library. Yes, that is a lake, and yes, it is still completely iced over.

It's never going to stop...

Every three or four days we get a peep at spring: the nighttime temp hovers around freezing and the daytime temp rises up to the mid 40's or so. But the days in between slip back into weather we had in the bleakest January: daytime temps of around 10F and nighttime temps of -10F--which is what we are going through today. And tomorrow is expected to be the same. Rumor has it that Wednesday will be warm (though with rain) but then immediately after we are expected to be back where we are now, below freezing in the day and worse at night. Even Frederick has reached his limits. He still goes for walks most days (though not every day--there are days when he refuses to get dressed or leave the house). But some of the walks have become fairly perfunctory.

Long nights, gray days.

Even the snow is sub-par: it's crusty and dirty, can't make snow angels, snow men or have a snowball fight.

...or maybe not.

The Big Melt begins