Kindergarten Girl

First day of kindergarten!  Gotta eat a good breakfast.  I guess chocolate chip crescent rolls are not the healthiest, but I had to make breakfast a little special for the first day, right?

Ran out of time before school so Daddy took the obligatory "sign" picture while I scrambled to get everything ready to go.  Shoes would have been a good idea since it was in the low 50s outside.

Outfit shot!  Thank you for the awesome outfit, Grandma JoJo!!

Waiting to be let inside school.

The parents had to stay for the first morning.  It made the classroom a little crowded and hectic while we completed a scavenger hunt.  There's Charlotte in the middle, working at her table.  Her teacher is in the bright pink sweater on the right side of the picture.  She's fresh out of college, working at her first full-time gig.

More chaos!

Working hard on her little Charlotte paper doll that she was instructed to decorate.

At one point, the parents left to go to a meeting with the principal.  When the half day of school ended, we call filed back into the crowded hallways to snag our kids.  When I found Charlotte, she was wailing because a teacher's aide had told her not to color everything on the page purple.  She was supposed to use other colors, I guess.  It's going to be tough to teach Charlotte not to melt down any time someone tells her she's not doing something perfectly.  How on earth do you teach that?  So far, lecturing doesn't seem to work.

Today was Charlotte's first day riding the bus.  Peter insisted on putting on his backpack and coming along to the bus stop too.

Luckily, Charlotte recovered after the previous day's disastrous finish and was excited to ride the bus.

More waiting . . .  (we got there kind of early -- last time ever, I bet!)

Daddy even came to watch the spectacle!

The best part of riding the bus is getting to be with her buddy, Mia.  Mia is starting second grade, so she is keeping an eye out for little Charlotte.

Peter's bestie, Ben, came along to watch his big sister, Mia, board the super cool bus.  Busses are always super cool to preschoolers.

Here it comes!  That poor big kid just ignored the rest of us at the bus stop.

I didn't get any more pictures because Charlotte suddenly froze and got an attack of shyness.  I sort of shoved her up the bus stairs and into Mia's seat, and then all was well again.  There haven't been any calls home to report a disaster, so I think Charlotte made it to school okay!  Can't wait to meet the bus at 3:30 to see how the day went.

Rock 'n' Rods

We are desperately behind in the blog - we're having too much fun this summer.  That's okay.  We'll catch up this winter when the wind is howling, the snow is flying, and the temperatures are freezing . . .

The weekend before the Dream Cruise, Dad, Peter, and I headed to Downtown Rochester for Rock 'n' Rods, a nice little car show that has been growing in recent years.  The fun thing about Rock 'n' Rods is the selection - you get to see a little bit of everything . . .

Hot rodded Studebaker.

Great-lookin' screamin' chicken on this Trans Am.

Taillights on pods.

Extremely rare and fast Ford Thunderbolt.

Detail on a 60's Dodge.  Classic muscle car style.

These are classics now?

Neat lookin' Rat Rod.

Great lookin' Coke-bottle Vette tucked in behind an Oldsmobile Toronado.

Poor little Peter fell asleep as we arrived at the car show.  I pulled him around in my wagon as he slept through the entire thing.  He woke up as we dropped Dad off on Cobb Creek and asked when we were going to be at the car show.

Willys Station Wagon in ROUGH shape.

I like the somber dignity of the nose of this Pontiac.

Old stripper Plymouth.

Great dashboard in this Thunderbird.

I've always liked this mid-sixties Chevrolet taillight design.

Dad and a Chrysler 300.

Ahhh  - the wretched, gaudy excess of the 70's.

The Jaguar E-Types are timelessly elegant.

Detail on a good lookin' 409.

Detail on a Ford Fairlane Skyliner.

Dad and a classic Deuce Coupe.

Dad found a '62 Vette.

Interesting subtle flame job on this Firebird.

Nice looking Mustang.

There were a number of nice MG TDs.

Great old Chevy.

 

Love the detail on the wheels!

A teal Vega drag-racer.  Oh my.

Detail on another Hot Rod, showing some Detroit pride.

Sunday Adventure Part II

After lunch, we drove out to the Pine Grove Park, where the old Huron lightship is permanently moored.  The Coast Guard and the old U.S. Lightsaving Service kept a number of floating lighthouses around the country, including in the Great Lakes.  The Huron lightship was stationed six miles north of the mouth of the St. Clair River and three miles west of the US shore, and was decommissioned in the 1970's.

Before boarding the lightship, we watched a freighter head north into Lake Huron.  Will she fit under the Bluewater Bridge?

Yup.   Looks like she'll fit!

Charlotte found the Huron's bell.

This is what happens when I ask the Stringers to pose.

There's the light.

On deck.

We were instructed to go down the ship's very steep stairs backwards.  Peter dutifully complied.

Down stairs, Charlotte VERY BRAVELY stood on a grate over the engine room.

The Huron was crewed by 8-9 men, but each crewmember had 1 week off a month, so there were typically only 7-6 men on board on any given time.

Here is an officer's stateroom. 

Before we left, our intrepid DG gave the DG salute with the Huron's anchor.