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Harris
Happenings
September
1998
Back
to School
Whew! August was a busy month for us,
but now September has brought us back into the school year routine.
Mike
is now in 2nd grade, in Ms. Gardner's class. He likes it a lot!
He moves to Mrs. Osborn's class for math time, and has one or two "specials"
each day - like Physical Education (P.E.), Music, Art, or Media (what we
used to call "library" when I was a kid). He has spent a lot of his
time reading lately. He is keeping track of his books that he's reading
again. Maybe soon we'll get that list on line, with a quick review
from Mike for each one.
Kim
has moved to the Pre-Kindergarten class at CDC. Her teachers are
Miss Felicia, Miss Dawn and Miss Judy. She really likes it there.
The class will spend a lot of time getting ready to be good listeners and
good learners for kindergarten next year. Kim has the opportunity
to choose which "center" she wants to be in during the morning. There
are lots to choose from - table toys, blocks, art, books, housekeeping,
and transportation, just to name a few. Kim also has "specials" during
her week, and these include Spanish lessons, computer time, and P.E. time
too. Kim has also made many new friends as she settled into the new
routine in her class. She's even going to a birthday party for one
of her new classmates. It doesn't take long for the kids to become
friends!
Gymnastics
On Saturday mornings this fall, Kim is taking
Gymnastics lessons at a local gym. So far, she's been to two sessions,
and loves it. Her best friend from CDC is in her gymnastics class,
and one time Kim even got to go home with her friend after gymnastics class.
We'll try to get some pictures online soon.
Swimming Lessons
Starting toward the end of September, Mike
and Kim will both be taking swimming lessons on Thursday nights at the
indoor swim center. Hopefully they'll have fun while learning some
water safety at the same time. We're looking forward to using the indoor
pools on weekend mornings as a way to relax and have some fun together.
Gardening
Season - Come and Gone!
Well, we had high hopes for the flower gardens
this year. Most of the perennials did bloom nicely, but we got so
far behind in the watering that the gardens were not as green and lush
as we had hoped. The grass in the lawn dried up and turned brown
too. Even David's valiant attempts at watering the back yard grass
didn't do it very much good. But, ever the optimist, we bought some
spring bulbs that we'll plant later this month, and we have got some grass
seed going in some bare patches. It's a good thing that gardening
is a stress-reliever to us, because otherwise we'd be pulling out our hair
in frustration!
Titanic!
OK, so we broke down and bought the video
"Titanic!". When we saw it in the theaters in January, we loved it,
though there are some things that bother Jenny - like the fact that the
protagonists were completely unlikely to ever have met, much less fallen
in love quickly enough to risk their lives for each other, and the fact
that Leonardo DiCaprio is just way too 1998 surfer-dude throughout the
whole movie. But it was a good portrayal of human nature in times
of panic and imminent death. There are many poignant moments, and
it seemed to be an excellent portrayal of the spectacular ship itself.
As a tip for anyone thinking of buying their own copy - get the wide-screen
version. The black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are not
very distracting (especially ou turn off all the other lights in the room),
and you get the full effect of the cinematography with the full width.
Heading
for the Bay
Later in this month, we'll be heading down
to the Chesapeake Bay for a day to a friend's beach house near Calvert
Cliffs. This is an annual office party that we go to, even though
David doesn't work in the hosting office any more! Hopefully the
weather will stay warm enough to swim a little bit. There have been
fewer jelly-fish this year than in other years, so if the water's warm
it should be a fun time. Sometimes you can find sharks' teeth washed up
on the beach. We'll let you know if we find any!
PTA
is Gearing Up
Jenny is getting into the full swing of the
PTA thing. On October 16th, the Stevens Forest PTA will be hosting a Fall
Festival at the school, and guess who is in charge of organizing it?
You guessed it, Jenny. She's never one to do things halfway!
She's the Special Events Coordinator this year, which means she's in charge
of th Fall Festival and the Spring Fling. She's been working on gathering
ideas for activities, getting sponsors,and most of all, getting volunteers
to help out. Things are coming along nicely, and if all goes as planned,
Jenny will have a feature web page dedicated to hosting events like this.
Harris Front Door Harris
Happenings
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