The shine of school is wearing off. Avery was sad and told Diana today was “Even worser.” He has come to the conclusion that teachers want the kids to do what they say, and not to play all day. He finds this a disappointing revelation.
The kids had their first day of school. Avery was just a half day, but Claire not only had a full day, but some homework too. Fortunately it’s mostly review to ease her back into the schoolwork.
Back to work for me. The kids had a morning of adventure, and then visited their classrooms in teh afternoon. Avery was excited, and Diana was happy his aide was the same one Luke had. She’s feeling a bit more positive about that.
Yesterday we went to the pool for the last time this year. It closed for the winter, but Claire and Avery had fun and Luke came with us. Sadly, Luke forgot his bag and Diana went back to the house, spending an hour looking for it. As it turned out, it was in the car.
I also spent some time in the morning trying to fix the oven knob.  It looks like the rheostat is completely frozen. Very odd. I think I’m going to have to unplug teh entire assembly and take it apart to track this down. A replacement runs about $100. Blech.
We went to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City yesterday with Melissa and Luke. The kids loved it. We saw the energy exhibit (which glossed over the issues of alternate energy production — like the places that generate wind power don’t have the ability to direct it to the places it is needed, so they run at lower power than they could so as not to destroy the national electric grid). Then Claire and Luke went to see a special exhibit on fear while we took Avery (who really wanted to go, but we don’t need more nightmare fodder right now) to see the harbor exhibit. Victoria enjoyed the fish too.
Afterward we went to see the communications exhibit (where you could learn Manderin, Spanish, or Cockney) and Claire and Luke took off again to see the Monsters of the Deep movie. Avery and Victoria went to the kids zone where Victoria saw some little pika looking creatures and just stood, looked and laughed. Avery played with an enormous ball ramp toy (as in two stories tall).
The giant Hoberman Sphere in the lobby (largest in teh world) entertained the older kids, but scared Victoria. It’s interesting that she already understands enough to realize that the way it expands and contracts is unusual.