2nd Official First Day of School

Mid-October marked the second official first day of school by starting in the hybrid model.  The school allowed families to choose between fully remote vs a hybrid model.  In the hybrid model, students were assigned to either cohort A or cohort B.  Cohort A attends school in person on Mondays and Tuesdays while cohort B works asynchronously.  They however join for morning meeting and closing.  They then flip on Thursdays and Fridays.  Wednesdays all students are at home but attending virtually together for all assignments.  This allows for cleaning of the school before the cohorts swap.  When the students work asynchronously, they are participating in specials such as music, art, Spanish, and gym which doesn't have to be done in person.  Drop off is also different.  Each class enters one door assigned to their class.  This is the 3rd grade door.  Students line up on red dots indicating 6 feet apart until allowed into the building.  It has been a relief that the kids are getting some in person time.  Izzy especially learns better in that environment.  However, I am keenly aware that this most likely is only for a short period of time and that we will be heading for another shutdown and return to fully remote learning.  Until then, this balance is most welcomed.

 

Leaf Peeping

Fall in New England means leaf peeping season.  With some most excellent weather, we decided to take advantage after advice from colleagues on where to go.  This summer we drove through the White Mountain National Forest which was beautiful then.  We however did not stop to hike the trails as we had a timed reservation for The Flume Gorge.  This time we took in the beauty of the forest in the fall. 

At some point the trail turns into a staircase of rocks.  I'm not quite sure how many steps there were but a few breaks were in order.  The trail we hikes was the Sugarloaf trail.  The main trail is 0.9 miles before splitting into two choices; North or Middle trail.  Because we didn't know which was the better route to take, we did both.  All in all we hiked 3.3 miles which was worth the time we were there.

The end of the North Sugarloaf trail provided us with an amazing view of the fall colors.  The kids enjoyed seeing the tree line where deciduous trees stopped but coniferes continued.  No picture could quite capture the beauty of seeing this in person.

The Middle Sugarloaf Trail ended with a similar view but was much rockier allowing for more independent exploration.  We waited our a short rain shower before heading back.

Amongst the fall colors Izzy spotted one lone white tree.  I still do not know why.  It stood out like a beacon and was quite unique.

A quick stop by the adjacent river was much needed for the kids.  No matter where or their age, kids and water always seem to fit together.

 

Liz's 43rd Birthday

I spent my 43rd birthday at Kerry and Eric's who made a very yummy chocolate salted caramel cake.  The night was equally enjoyable with lovely weather and great conversation.

The following day was a no school day due to Yom Kippur.  With ongoing beautiful weather, we headed on over to the Franklin Park Zoo for their lantern display.  We started off by finding our Chinese birth animals.

When we returned home, the kids worked together to create a very special birthday cake.  Izzy has made the cake earlier in the day.  They all worked to decorate it with sprinkles and a plethora of candles.

I had showed Izzy how to buy a birthday present using my Amazon account.  This is what they schemed together to purchase, a purple wallet.  I had mentioned needing a new wallet.  Purple was their choice which is my favorite color.

While Izzy made the cake earlier, Victoria went to town creating birthday party hats.  She even made a small one for her stuffed animal, Jerry Berry.

 

Apple Picking Time Again

Though the calendar says fall, the weather is showing the last remnants of summer.  For enjoyment, we headed out for apple picking at one of our favorite locations, Connors Farm.  COVID definitely changed how things were run.  Most of what we enjoy however was not affected.  Our favorite has always been the corn maze.  Ironically no apples were actually picked.  We were too distracted by all the other activities.

This year we did not get a map of the farmstand which helps us get an aerial view of the maze.  We were therefore left with doing it the old way.  Nevertheless we worked together and made it out in 29 minutes.  This wasn't our best time but worthy nonetheless.

The pedal tractors is always a hit.  This year the twins were big enough to reach the pedals and could go by themselves.  I might have had to jump off a few times to give them a push when they got stuck though. 

New for us was the apple guns.  We purchased one large basket of apples to split between the four of us.  Micah was all about this activity and took aiming seriously.  Victoria came at it with humor and ironically was the sharp shooter in this family.  Our favorite target was the beat up truck probably because everyone was able to hit it more than once.

After being on our feet for awhile, we headed to take a train ride (Victoria's choice) around the farm.

We could have played Who's Your Pumpkin longer.  This was a fun fall version of Guess Who.  It's funny how something so simple can be so interesting.

The end of the day was spent jumping their hearts out until hunger took over and it was time to go eat.

 

First Day of School

The first day of school looked a bit different than most years.  Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, school was pushed back by 10 days to allow for teachers to prepare for virtual learning.  Initially it was thought Brookline would offer a remote or hybrid option.  Shortly before school started, it was announced everyone except for special education and kindergarten would begin remotely with a plan to phase in each grade.  There has been no road map for how the grade phasing will occur however.  This lead to Izzy's comment of her grade not getting back into school at all as everyone will be fully remote with a second wave.  In the meantime we are embracing remote learning.  There is officially a middle schooler in our family!  Izzy is in 6th grade.  Micah and Victoria are back in the same class together to make remote learning easier - 3rd grade.