First Day of School!

Well, we've got two out of four back into school here in Belgrade. Wes and Virginia started school on Monday; Graham and Mikayla (Lori's daughter) will start next Monday. As usual, I have mixed feelings about school starting, but all in all, this year I feel like we had a nice long, leisurely summer, and I think that everyone was ready to start again. Usually, I feel like the summer has just begun when it is time for school to start again, but I didn't feel that way this summer. I think that's a reflection of how laid back our summer was, and of the fact that we weren't scurrying around all summer fulfilling various and sundry obligations. As I've written before, it was a wonderful summer.

Wes and Virginia attend the International School of Belgrade (ISB) -- a K-12 IB school with three campuses. Virginia is in the Lower School, with 18 kids in her 1st grade class (I absolutely can't believe that she's in 1st grade -- that's a hard pill to swallow!) Wes is in 6th grade this year (another stunner - how did they grow up so fast?), and is attending the Middle School, where he has just 15 kids in his class! Having three kids on three campuses will make drop off and pick up a little dicey, but all three campuses are close to our house, which helps a lot. Graham and Mikayla will attend Chartwell International, which is a British international school that follows the British National curriculum. It's a wonderful place -- small, warm, friendly (Mikayla will have 7 kids in her class, and Graham will have 6). I think that all four kids will have a great year in school.

In other parts of the world, our godson, Patrick Park, started kindergarten on Monday in Dallas, TX. Patrick is the son of our dear friends, Billy and Carrie Park, and is one of the world's greatest kids. His Mom, Carrie, made this montage in honor of his first day in kindergarten -- http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=119759303863&h=6Bb0y&u=_ZQv7&ref=nf

Watch this, if you have a few minutes, but as my friend Kelly admonished after I sent it to her to watch, make sure you have a box of Kleenex with you. As you will see, Patrick is a very special little boy!!

Hope that school is going well for all of your children, and looking forward to hopefully hearing from some of you soon.

Erin