It's the end of the week and I feel fine

Here it is, the end of another week that has somehow blown by without me knowing it. I haven't even had time to long for the weekend that much. And here it is, just over an hour from now.

It's been a huge week at the Hankins house, with Clare starting kindergarten Wednesday at Stone Creek. The process of the first day didn't quite take it's toll like I thought it would, probably because I was armed with cameras and it ended up feeling more like a news assignment that just happened to feature my wife and kids.

The video posted Thursday isn't my finest hour in terms of quality of work, but that's partially because of my haste to crank it out in the video editing program. If I had more time, I could have polished it up more, but oh well. The pictures speak for themselves I suppose. 

Clare, despite some reservations she admitted to earlier in the week, blended into the chaos pretty well. She didn't cling to us, didn't shed a tear, didn't look back to see just where we where. She just started playing, talking with classmates and doing her thing.

According to her teacher last night at parents orientation, she has already made herself known as quite a talker... striking up a conversation with another teacher in the hallway who happens to be our neighbor. I'm glad that she's going to be guided into what's appropriate when, and how to focus on the task at hand. Even more so since she's in half-day kindergarten, and the learning is a bit more concentrated and intense because of the timeframe.

I'm so anxious to see how she learns all of the things that were laid out during the presentation last night, and I'm also surprised how many things are on the "to learn" list that she already has down pat. But hey, I'm just an average parent who thinks that his daughter is smarter, faster, taller and generally much cuter than the average student.

Addie, I think, is taking the adjustment in stride. Although it's just dawning on me as I type, that maybe her acting out at night recently is a side effect of not getting the lion's share of attention this week. How the hell did I not see THAT one? 

Ann would be a better judge of how she's doing on those car rides to and from Beloit without Clare, maybe something about that will surface in her blog.

For me, it's been a very busy week with school starting (football practices and first day of school assignments tend to clog up photo schedules these days), paying attention to Clare's new adventure and trying to stay on track with my workout schedule. I'm still hoping to get a swim workout in on the way home tonight - at this point it looks possible but things have a tendency to unravel late in the day on Friday.

We said goodbye to the Lentzes this week, who as I type are probably somewhere between Chicago and New York en route to their new home in New Jersey. Their new rural spot sounds really nice, I know we're hoping to visit in the coming year. Apparently they're about 30 minutes from NYC. 

We're also looking forward to a brief visit from mom and dad this weekend as they head up to Canada for a week of relaxation just the 2 of them. I have to admit, I'm very jealous. It would be a great time to go.... warm days, very cool evenings, and plenty of relaxing to be had.

As it turns out, we'll see my parents the next 3 weekends... they're also meeting us in Door County over Labor Day weekend, when they'll spend a day or two with us at Karen and Jock's place. Ann and I are looking forward to a few more good rides before the triathlon, which is the following weekend when we'll again be with my parents at their place in Grand Rapids, mainly for the Reeds Lake Triathlon. It will be great to have Ann with me on race day, and this time as a fellow racer! I know the beer/wine/whatever will taste extra fantastic that afternoon for sure!

Ann is also helping herself out a bit with training by running a 5k race up in B

eloit tomorrow morning, so that will get her a bit revved for race mode.

Well, if I'm going to make that swim workout a reality today, I better close up the laptop and get out of the office. Have a great weekend. 

I'll leave you with this gem... it smacks of a set-up.. but still cracks me up.