The Jasons Great Outdoors: 2024

Sunday, December 22, 2024

We Made It!!!! Half way through the school year...

Holy moly! This fall was full of new experiences. Fiona is absolutely loving college. She loves her classes, the people and most of all city life. I love that she is a strong, smart, independant woman who is wise enough to maintain her grades while navigating all the fun new opportunities college has to offer. Ethan is getting through his final few months of high school. He decided to give winter track a spin. We will see how that goes. He also got his OFFICIAL early acceptance letter to Wentworth. His good friend from Maine will be attending as well! Scott's job continues to be challenging. He is a master at managing people and maintaining calm in some pretty hairy situations. I could say the same about myself. Being a second grade teacher in an inner-city school is incredibly challenging. My kids come from a huge variety of backgrounds and have just as big a variety of needs. No day is the same. I never know what to expect hour to hour. Such is life with twenty 7 and 8 year olds. I got licked on Friday, clobbered with hugs, consoled a weeping child for 10 minutes leaving tear stains on my shirt, helped clean milk off my white board that had been thrown from across the room, held a door shut against a wild child that was struggling to get INTO my room, managed a popcorn/pizza party, taught some writing and math, froze my butt off at recess duty, saved a girl from loosing her front teeth in a fall on the pavement by catching her mid-air, stood at parent pick-up with 5 kids smooshed under my umbrella to keep from the cold rain...and inhaled their farts that were trapped under my umbrella. Just another day in the life... This week we celebrate Christmas with our family and their significant others. Ethan is bringing Emma to my parents and Ellie is taking Ryan. Fiona is home until the end of January. We will get to meet some of her new friends that will visit over break. Time is moving faster and faster. Pictures include...but are not limited to: My birthday party, my students, Gammy and Ellie's combined brithday party, Ethan's first day of school picture, shot from when scott and I rode our bikes in Boston and stopped into Fiona's dorm for a brief visit,Homecoming dance pictures of Ethan and Emma, sneak peek at my new tattoo, picture of me with my two co-teachers in second grade, image of classroom when combined (we often bring both second grade classes into the same room...40 kids...to teach with three adults...this helps with behaviors), Ethan's boys weekend where 6 of his best friends came down from Maine for the weekend, Fiona casting her first vote in a presidential election, a visit from Lil and her daughters all the way from New Zealand, Merrimac car parade day, tree selection, my class singing/screaming "Silent Night", the scarves I made for each of my students, a group shot with my kids in their new scarves...

Thursday, August 15, 2024

We Squeezed all the Juice out of this Summer!

As I write, Fiona is only a few weeks from moving into her Mass Art dorm. I don't think it will hit me that she is gone until I return home from work on that day and she is not there. I try not to think about it... So; moving on. The garden has far exceeded my expectations. Literally could fill a large garbage bag with all the tomatoes I have. Making tomato sauce with these babies. Strawberries, jalepenos, cucumbers, eggplant, basil, lettuce and banana peppers. We managed to survive our first and last travel ball season! What a lot of driving and sitting on the sidelines (in high 80's/90's temps). Mom and Dad managed to get to a game together, and Dad surprised me another time. It was nice to have company on the sidelines! We all enjoyed our family vacation care of Gammy and Gampy. Scott was even able to join us the entire time! First time in the six years we've been dong this. There was fishing, canoeing, smores, bananagrams, boogie boarding, hiking, delicious home cooked meals and a trip to Mystic, CT. Another collecting of memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you Mom and Dad. Soon after our return I was starting packing lists for our family camping trip. As usual Scott and I were in our happy place. Our kids go along...and maybe someday will actually go camping of their own free will, but once they acclimated they let loose and had some good clean fun. We had some good hot weather that allowed swimming in cold rivers to be refreshing. We looked at the river trout through goggles. We enjoyed cards games until close to midnight, smores, delicious camp food cooked by our camp chef(otherwise known as Scott), a trip to a matinee on our one rainy day, a steep and rewarding hike up "Imp Face", and ended the trip with a stop at "The Whales Tail" on our way home. Less than a week after returning from camping I was headed up to Maine to visit with Morton and his family along with a stop in to see Betty. He remains the same. Doesn't seem any more mature after turning 95! While I was there in Maine Ethan took the train/bus up north to visit his best buddies. The Five of them spent time in his friends cabin WAAAAY up north along Canadian border. There was electric, but no running water. He was pretty grimy when he got home. Only a few days after my return MA I was anxious to get into my classroom and begin setting up. After two 6 hour days, I feel like I am pretty well organized; but I am no fool. I know there is no amount of organizing that can make the nerves of welcoming 24 seven year olds into my classroom on day one go away. Scott's job remains exciting. He constantly has a new problem to solve each and everyday. Next time I write Fiona will have her new routine, and the rest of us will be settling into ours. I am going to miss having that girl under the same roof as me all the time...but this is the reason we raise them and teach them to be independent. To let them go.............