Today was Chloê's first day on the public school bus. She was so excited! She has two friends that ride with her and are both in kindergarten. The bus staff and the teachers don't quite have everything running so smoothly yet but the bugs should be worked out soon after the routine is repeated a bit. Chloê's friend's mom, Mrs. Trimble, was at the school and saw Chloê and another girl get left behind by the mob of kindergarteners when they followed a teacher inside the building. Luckily Mrs. Trimble was there to help them find their class. I'll be going out to meet her in two hours. When I learn more about how the first day went I'll blog it for you.
Today was Chloe's first day of school. It was an parent/student orientation so there wasn't much oportunity for pictures. Pretty general orientation. We'll have check your backpacks when they get home and when they get to school... the teacher talked about where students line up when they get to school and taught them the hall rules. They learned where their coats and backpacks go.
Parents filled out emergency cards. We learned about how homework will go and how there is no mandatory due dates at this grade level. The kids need to be dressed appropriately for the weather and activities and need to wear sneakers and socks usually.
Mrs. Hart, Chloe's teacher is quite nice. I'm sure Chloe will have a good experience in her class.
We get to see her catch the bus for the first time tomorrow... hopefully that means more pictures for you.
My God what a great road trip!MORE PICTURES THAN ON THIS BLOG Ken and Joan car pooled with us and we set up camp at a beautiful campground, Lazy Bend. It is just gorgeous there, our campsite was right on the Clakamas river. If you ever stay in the Estacada area of Oregon definitely look into getting a spot at that campground.
We were an hour away from Salem but with the beautiful scenery and fun company the trip went pretty quick. I have to tell you, the Oregon State Fair Managers really have a great fair set up. It took us less than 5 minutes to park and just a few more to get in the gate. On a huge concert night with Pet Aid going on in the coliseum and some large outdoor concerts going on as well. It was unbelievable how quick we got in and found where we needed to be. And the parking was free! Those Oregon hippies can run a fair.
We had dinner in the fair food pavilion and quickly made our way to the coliseum entrance. Now, I didn't have a clue how the concert was going to be set up. TicketsNorthwest didn't give me a choice for different tickets. I just went online and purchased tickets for Kenny and I. It turns out that it was in a coliseum and there was a difference in tickets between general seating and general floor. I had luckily got floor tickets. Unfortunately Ken and Joan were told that the floor tickets were sold out (he bought his tickets like two weeks before me) but they had general seating. Kenny and I sat in the seats with ken and Joan for a bit and then decided to go down to try and get some better pictures of The Decemberists. The gate people stamped our hands. What the!?!?! So before Violent Femmes went on we gave Ken and Joan our tickets and then we used our stamped hands to all get on the floor. With Joan in the lead we got through most of the crowd for a nice spot about 3 rows of people back from the crowd control fence.
It was absolutely fantastic. All the bands were awesome, The Decemberists, Violent Femmes and Cake just sounded phenomenal. The opening group The Decemberists were super I highly recommend them. Of course you can't go wrong with a band that has a punk accordion player in it. Probably the biggest treat, for me, was the rocking bass player in the Violent Femmes. Man that guy can play bass. He flicked a pick out to Joan who was so excited that it hit her ear. We all thought she was wishful feeling the pick hitting ear experience but then Ken found the pick beneath us. Ecstatic she's planning on framing that pick with the ticket and CD cover.
The crowd was, of course, VERY aggressive to get close to the bands and very loud and into the music and audience participation BUT also very mellow. One gal in front of me turned to me and said, "I so want to crowd surf!" I kinda looked around a bit and said, "I don't think it's going to happen here, with this crowd". Cake totally had us wrapped around their little finger. They were laid back, didn't play from a rehearsed list of songs. They played what ever they wanted to play. Unruly crowd members would shout out desired songs and they always responded with, "we're going to play what we want, you want us to be true to ourselves don't you?" It was pretty awesome. And again the sound, it was so good. It was definitely CD quality, nothing disappointed me.
After they were "finished" the wild crowd roared a huge encore, screaming, clapping the works... Ken said, "what do you think they'll play for the encore? I think Italian leather sofa!" I said, "I hope it's Short Skirt Long Jacket!" They came back out and thanked us... And proceeded to play both songs. It was great! So, if you're jealous, you should be! It was awesome! You definitely needed to be there!
Cake announced they have broken from their label. Good for them! But we'll need to sign up on the cake mailing list http://www.cakemusic.com/ so we can find out about new albums and concerts.
I think the 40,000 or so people in the coliseum emptied the building in about 15 minutes after the concert was over... Again awesome management.
We drove back to the campsite and crashed. The river noise was great to sleep to. The next morning was pretty laid back, had a great breakfast of french toast, eggs and bacon. Did the whole campfire thing with smores. Cleaned up pretty quick. Greg gave us an awesome tent that worked perfectly for us.
The drive home was started a bit late and of course we stopped at the Troutdale outlet mall and Spooky's on the way home. But what a fun road trip. Can't wait for the next one.
I am a 29 year old wife and mother of 3. I'm back at school on track to becoming a software designer. Between that and gymnastics for the girls 3 nights a week there's not much time for activities to unwind like playing games with my family or going out with my husband.
