My Head In The Clouds

My boys

I always forget how time consuming it is to get David the services he needs in school. There have been 12 days of school and I have been at the school 14 times. Now this doesn’t even include enrolling him and the back-to-school night, just the school getting to know David’s issues. Even though each school system is supposed to take the IEP from the previous district and implement it until they can evaluate and write a new one, I have found that the new district tends to throw out all services and then works them back into place. Which has been the reason for my many visits. I found it very interesting that the director of special education for the county came to our first meeting. He is a pleasant man and I feel he does have a heart for kids that are in danger of slipping through the cracks. He has started a new program and David will be one of 20 students that are intelligent but, due to circumstances, are likely to not graduate.

I am still working on boxes in between my school visits, but have a long way to go. I still have not found the sheets for our bed. We are using the sheets we used before our last redecorating of the room. So we have green and rose sheets in a blue and burgundy room. Not pretty, but it works.

I am also having to replace our window treatments since our old windows were wide and squat. Our new home has tall and thin windows so none of our curtains work.

We took Labor Day off and spent the day visiting a few of the vineyards that lie minutes from our home. But, yesterday was truly a family fun day. The local airport held its 2nd annual Balloon and Air Show Extravangana.

Our home

We were up and out early in order so we wouldn’t miss any of the day. When we got there we headed to check out the airplane rides. We quickly walked away when we saw the price—$95.00 per person for a 15-minute ride. But, as we were leaving the area a couple of airplane pilots drove over and asked the reason for not taking the ride. We explained that it was way out of our price range. So we were offered a ride in their Piper Cub for $30.00 for 25 minutes. That sounded much better and since David hadn’t ridden in a plane since he was small we jumped at the chance. That is until David chickened out, so I took the ride myself.

I got some great pictures of our home, David’s school, the local little league park and the town from the air. As soon as the plane took off David had a change of heart. So when we got back it was back in the air for me again. The pilot was great and very in-tune with what we wanted. He flew us over our home and on my first ride we did some G-force producing turns and flew sideways. However, when David was on board it was a few dips and that was good enough for David. The pilot even offered for David to take the controls, but David was a bit too nervous for that. Later in the day David realized what a chance he had missed. But now the flying bug has hit him and he wants flying lessons with the pilot (who is also an instructor).

Wing walker hanging from the wing

A bit later in the day we saw the Flying Circus and were amazed by their skill and daring. They could catch balloons that had been let go below as they flew past them. The formations were done with such ease and skill that you could be fooled into thinking it would be easy to do. But, the most amazing part of their show was the wing walker. We watched as he got out of the plane and walked on the wing, sat on the wing, dangled upside down from the wing and then climbed to the top wing and after getting strapped into place the plane flew upside down and loops. David turned to us and said “You would never let me do that.” Rich responded with “I bet his mother never gave him permission to do it either.”

We had a wonderful day, but were all exhausted by the time we dragged ourselves home. We were one of the first ones there and stayed most of the day. The only other activity left was another balloon launch, but the skies looked like it could rain so we called it a day.

We have several other great events that take place in town within the next month. I love that we live within 10 minutes of some great events and places. I will have to schedule carefully so we don’t miss any.