Drowning

Anybody have any gopher barky barky?
I'm feeling the need to build an ark.

It's been raining.
And raining.

And raining.

And then raining some more.
It's supposed to taper off tomorrow, which will be very welcome indeed.

Today the schools were on a 2-hour delay due to all the rain.
I was super excited about it, but apparently I didn't push the last button required to change the wake-up time on Alex's butterfly nightlight.

It was sad when she woke up at 6:45.
Very sad.

It just so happens that Alex has had a substitute bus driver during this rainy week.
And that driver has been quite sporadic in her arrival time.
So we've done lots of waiting in the rain in the mornings.

Today took the cake as we waited over 20 minutes past her normal bus time. Derek insists on "helping Alex get on the bus," which basically translates into 3 year old boy-ness jumping in puddles and mud.
I finally decided that the bus just wasn't coming at all, so we went inside. I had Alex stand in the door to keep a lookout just in case.
Sure enough, a bus approaches.
As we run outside, it sails past our house in a hurry.

Boo bus.

So we pack up and head to the school. But before we got out of the neighborhood, I saw the bus coming back around the loop.
I pulled my kindergartner out of the car and waved her in the air as an indication that we would like to utilize the bus services.

Apparently today was a new substitute who was not very familiar with the stops.

But I was super glad that I didn't have to take her to school.
Why, you ask?

Well let me tell you a little bit about how drop off and pick up work at Alex's school.
Today at 3:10pm, I dutifully pulled into the parent pick-up parking lot.
Which is not actually a parking lot.
It's a field.
A field that is a fair distance from the school doors.

For the first several weeks of school, it was mildly annoying. You couldn't walk to pick up your kid without breaking out in a sweat.
Such is life in September in North Carolina, I suppose.

But now that the field is more like a swamp, I've realized that a little sweat would be preferable.
Every wet afternoon, I have to drag that little puddle jumper through the muddy swamp, and pick up the princess, who cries when she gets her shoes wet.

Today I tried to keep the peace by carrying her piggyback.
She almost killed me.
She held onto my neck as if I had no need for air, while I had one hand pulling Derek along and the other holding up a green polka-dot child's umbrella.

If it weren't so stinkin' muddy and messy, it might have been comical.

Then I drove straight to her dance school, where I was hoping to be early enough to get a good spot in their lot.
But some moron was parked in the middle of the only 2 prime spots remaining.

Grrr.
More puddles and wetness.

It's been a very dreary day indeed.

But good news!
As I was typing this, I got a message from the school system.

2-hour delay, take 2!


The other good news?
This little guy is all mine.

Even if he does get lost in his sleep from time to time.