Thursday activities

Special Thursday activities.

Today we did something different.  It was very different indeed.  We all got up late and the waffles that I made for the children disappeared quickly – it had to be so because the boys needed to be at school before 8am and it was already too late to walk them to school.  We opened the bottle of Maple syrup from Maine – Jacob’s present and jealously guarded item on the menu – and then the fun began.  Jacob had an appointment with Novatis regarding a position at that company for research and development.  He is very interested in this job and he is also very interested in going to Germany for a post doc. experience.  Sometimes you have to make a choice between two very good things and it matters little what you choose because each choice is a good choice.  So Jacob left for his whole day of interviews with the powers that be at Novatis. Sara, Lyla and I took the boys to school.  They bounded out the car and ran as fast as they could to the school building.  They were not late – they just do this each time they are driven to school.

Lyla was insistent that we go to her school and meet her teachers and see what she does each day.  We did not think that we would get that opportunity because Jacob usually takes her to her pre school.  So Bill, Sara, Lyla and myself went off to the University pre School and nursery.  It is a babysitting service run by the school for the students in Child Development and Family Relations major to try out their skills and learn on the job.  When we walked in, we had to register.  I told the receptionist that I was a new student who had failed “building blocks 1” and needed a refresher.  As we walked through the building, and they have a whole building devoted to this major field of study, there was a room where they had tiny babies, then in the next room there were children who were a little older and so on.  Lyla goes to the pre-school section.  She was insistent that she show us everything in the room and she is quite proud of the whole situation.  She used to go to the pre-school at the Nature Center but the hours there do not coincide with the hours that Sara has to work.  The program at the University of Nebraska works well and keeps Lyla safe and happy while Jacob is in his program and Sara is at work.

After we left Lyla and her pre-school, we went to Target to shop.  Our goal was to get clothing and necessities for the upcoming birthdays.  It was fun shopping for clothes for the boys and for Lyla.  Of course we had to make a stop at the St. Louise thrift store.  It is one of the best organized thrift stores I have ever been to and it is where I purchase my stainless steel bowls for my kitchen.  I love stainless steel bowls.  I found two more this trip and I found three for the trip out to Maine when we visited the St. Louise store on our way to our mission.  If there is one thing in my kitchen that I think I cannot function without, it is the stainless steel bowls.  They clean up well and are pretty much indestructible.

We left St. Louise and headed for Lazlo’s.  This is an iconic restaurant in Lincoln.  They have two locations – one in the Haymarket and one just off route 2.  We had a nice relaxed lunch together and then brought all our Target purchases home and Sara got ready to go to work at 2pm.  She was able to get the morning off to spend with us.  We followed her in our car and we got a private tour of the high school where she works.  It is a very nice building and houses 2,000 students.  We saw the pool which is the pride and joy of the school, and 3 of the gyms that they have there.  In one hallway there are pictures of all the outstanding athletes that have been at the school and the retired jerseys of the students who were picked up by UNL for the football, basketball and baseball teams.  In one case there were a lot of trophies that the school has won and I kidded Sara that the school seems to be also very good at Quidditch.  She took us to the library where she introduced us to all the staff there.  One man has had the opportunity to live in Japan and at one time did speak Japanese but not now.  We left the school and found our way back to the house.  We walked over to Saratoga school and picked up the boys.  While we were at Sataroga, we were able to see Mrs. Shadek who was Ethan’s first teacher in this school.  We walked the boys home and then prepared for dinner.  Tonight we had Taco Salad.  I guess Lyla loves sour cream because she ate most of the contents of the sour cream container.

Ethan had two activities he could attend this evening.  One was a Pack meeting for scouts and the other was the skating party for the Saratoga School.  He chose to go to the skating party.  Lyla had skates on and was toddling all over the place and falling down and getting up as if nothing had happened.  Oliver had his skates on and off  a number of times and spent seemingly even times with running ‘skateless’ with his friends and also skating with his friends.  Ethan did well at skating with inline skates but he had a serious crash and may end up with a black eye as a result.  We put him to bed with some ibuprofen and he refused the ice pack.

Bill and I drove over to Russ’ market and bought some ice cream and root beer for root beer floats for the snack for the evening.  I also bought some powdered donut holes that the kids have loved in previous visits.  I love being here with the children and will really miss being with them if they go to Germany.