Thomas's First Day of School

Emmett talking to Thomas while waiting for the kids to file into the classroom

Thomas and his friend Jackson

Thomas on his first day of school - August 27, 2007


I made it through today sending my little boy off to elementary school! Whew, it was toughhhhhh!! I cried a couple of times, but all in all I did okay.

I have to admit I was a little sluggish, though, still grieving for Blake, had dreams about him yesterday and last night...grief is such a difficult, long process, especially when it's someone you are close to and love so dearly. Still so hard to believe he is gone. I wanted to be able to write about Thomas's first day of school without mentioning it, but it's having a pretty big effect on my state of mind right now...

So far, I am happy with the principal and the teacher, they both seem like strong, high energy women and I think Thomas will do well. I was SO thankful that his friend from preschool, Jackson, is in his class. I hope that will make the transition a bit smoother for him. He seemed pretty nervous when we were walking up and Emmett and I had to virtually push him through the gate at the schoolyard. There were so many kids, parents, and staff there...the cacophony was very intimidating, even for me, so I'm sure Thomas was a bit taken aback. Not like the quiet and smooth transition of taking him to preschool in the morning. We waited outside with him until all the kids went into the classroom and then there was a meeting in the cafeteria for the parents, which was light on content, but took a VERY long time, mostly because every statement has to be translated into Spanish and Cantonese. Emmett was commenting that he will not be attending very many school meetings if this is the case because he lacks the patience for it. Can't say that I blame him entirely, it does get maddening after a while, but we'll see how it goes. It is necessary to translate - many of the parents are newer immigrants whose English is limited. I was wondering if it doesn't make more sense, though, to have separate meetings in three languages to expedite things. Just a thought.

Thomas is going to be in Florida on picture day. :-( Oh well. I'm bummed, but hopefully they will have "make up day" like we did when I was in school.

Can't wait to pick him up at 2 and see how his day went. I hope he's doing well. I love that little boy so very very much.

More phone pictures from the zoo

I just figured out how to actually upload the pictures from my phone. They are not the greatest (my new blackberry pearl will make better photos), but here they are:

Thomas and I

Thomas and I have been having some adventures. Unfortunately, I broke my camera and so am limited in the number of photos I have been able to take. The camera will be fixed in a couple of weeks, but it sure slows us down. We went to Merlin, Oregon for a couple of days a week ago and I didn't take a single photo because I forgot to bring the old camera with me. We had a good time, though. We rented a little yurt (so no putting up a tent when we arrived at 1:30am - yay!) and stayed there for a couple of nights. The first day we hung out - the campground was on the Rogue River - so beautiful - and swam in the river, ate our meals at this cute little restaurant in town, and played at a playground. Mellow and fun and such beautiful sights and smells...we will definitely be going back there very soon. The second day we checked out of our yurt and headed to Grant's Pass where we signed up for a jetboat tour - wow, that was totally fun! We had such a good time with it. Thomas was pretty unhappy at first about all the getting wet, but it was such a hot and sunny day that it really felt good and eventually he was okay with it.

After the jetboat ride, we went to the Oregon Vortex, or mystery spot, or whatever it's called. It was pretty interesting but a lot of talking. I was surprised that Thomas sat through it as well as he did...even I thought it was a bit long. Could have seen all there was to see in about half the time, honestly.

After that, we went to this family fun center where Thomas got to ride the bumper boats and the kiddie go carts. After that he went into the arcade and I let him play some games for a while.

It was a fun day and a full day. After the family fun center we were supposed to drive to Redding and stay in a hotel for the night, but it was so late that I decided to bomb home instead so we could sleep in our own beds.

The next day was Thomas's cousins Leo and Leilani's birthday party. He seemed to have a good time and got to see his cousins and second cousins and played a lot. When we got home from the party, his nana was waiting for him at our house and he went to Monterey for the county fair. Thomas has definitely had an extremely busy and fun-filled summer, that's for sure.

On Tuesday we went to the zoo. When we were there, he asked me to take a picture of him. I explained about the broken camera and he looked at me and said, "but you have your phone". UGH!! I didn't take a single pic in Oregon because of no camera and after we are home my five year old reminds me that I had a camera on my phone the whole time! Ugh, ugh and double ugh.

The pic up top is from the zoo...

On Friday, we were supposed to go to Fairyland with T's cousins, but my sis in law was having foot problems so T and I went to Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo by ourselves. Enjoyed the dolphin and sea lion show, even it if it isn't very P.C. Also got to ride some good rides, I finally got Thomas to enjoy the log ride - yay!

And now Thomas and Emmett are on a father and son camping trip at Union Lake - I think that's what it's called - and then kindergarten starts on Monday. No rest for the wicked or the weary. Hahaha

Love,

Melissa

My Beloved Blake aka "Bro"

It breaks my heart to even write these words, but last Sunday, August 12th, my beloved "Bro" died. Even as I start to accept this unbelievable loss, part of it doesn't seem real. It's so hard to explain how I felt about him...it was not so much like the brother I never had, but like a cousin and best friend rolled into one. I just cannot explain...Blake and I were like two peas in a pod, the two of us together were something entirely different than each of us separate...we could instigate each other into the craziest things and we would just bounce off the walls when we were together...even as kids (just ask my Grandma, we used to drive her NUTS!). As adults, we just went crazy in different ways, but he could make me feel so free when I was with him...and he could make me laugh like no one ever has or probably ever will again. When I moved to California and I was feeling down, I would call him and he would make me laugh so hard that somehow by the time I hung up, it wasn't so bad anymore. He was always there for me when I needed him. I just loved him so much. This post just doesn't do justice to the way I felt about him...I think that any eulogy barely does...they all end up sounding so trite and the same as every other one...but it's hard to put all the memories and emotions of a lifetime of love and friendship into a paragraph or a page...a full length book would maybe begin to give the picture of the integral part of me that is Blake. I will forever treasure our years of living together at the lake house and getting to know Finn as well, since Blake and John Finn were inseparable...we were like a terrible trio at times and I loved them both...so unbelievable that they are both gone now. Driving all night and talking, waverunning, partying, paintball guns, rollerblading, shopping, eating, dancing, teasing, swimming, and, above all else, laughing. Memory after memory of all the conversations we had, all the things we did...a lifetime of memories swimming around in my head. After I moved to California and became a Mom, our times together were milder and fewer...but there was just this unspoken love and acceptance and understanding that never went away. There are probably only 2 or 3 people in the world that understand me the way that Blake did and I can only hope that time will ease the bitter ache that I feel without him here anymore. Hey Bro...I love you and I miss you so much.

Thomas and his girls

I can't believe I forgot to write about this when it happened back in May...

Thomas was having two girls at his preschool fighting over his attention...his dear friend Xochitl and another girl, Alyssa. They would fight over sitting with him at circle time and Xochitl got upset because Alyssa was touching Thomas at circle time and she didn't like that. Alyssa got in trouble with Teacher Edith because she was kissing Thomas while he was sleeping at nap time. So...there was quite a little drama going on with this rivalry over Thomas.

After Teacher Edith had told me about this, I was driving with Thomas and I asked him which one he liked better. Thomas said, "Xochitl".
"Why?" I asked.
"Alyssa always wants to be with me. Xochitl knows how to control herself."

Ah, he's such a little man. :-)