First day of school stings a little

Our family had an eventful first day of school this year, though it really had nothing to do with the kids. Or the school.

We had already taken our ceremonial "first day of school picture" — we take it in front of the same bush every year — and were just waiting for the school bus to arrive. I decided to sit while I waited on our front porch swing.

Unfortunately, I failed to remember that for several weeks, we had been seeing some wasp activity in that area, specifically, around the bird house that hangs just above the swing. Well, apparently the gentle rocking of the swing was enough to disturb the wasps who were living nearby, and within a few seconds, I was ripping my shirt off, grimacing at the sharp stinging pain in the middle of my back.

By the time I escaped the porch, a looked back to see a swarm of at least 30 wasps, madly flying about the area.

Thankfully, I was the only one stung, and there was no other harm done, save for the image of of me ripping my shirt off in my front lawn, which is no doubt burnt indelibly into the eyes of my neighbors.

Other than that, the first day of school went off without a hitch.

With Katie now in sixth grade, and Drew in third, the first day of school is a ritual we've gone through seven times. It's probably a bigger deal to the parents than it is to the kids. Katie and Drew insist on riding the bus — I guess they think they're too big to be taken to school in the car. Having heard the horror stories about first-day traffic jams, I'm more than willing to not have to mess with it.

Truth be told, even in the early years, the first day of school never offered us the dramatics that other families experience. On Katie's first day of kindergarten, the most interesting thing was that we were almost late, having been blocked by a train while en route. On Drew's first day of kindergarten, he went marching down the hall toward his room, barely even noticing his parents hurrying behind him.

But it is good to be back in school. The freedom of summer is nice, but it's good to get back to the sense of structure and direction that the school year provides.

For Drew, that direction has come in the way of reading. He's required to read at least 15 minutes every day, with special recognition coming to those students who log greater numbers of minutes read. The crown jewel, apparently, is to read a total of 10,000 minutes, and Drew arrived home on the first day of school determined to hit that mark — and hit it before anyone else. By the end of the weekend, he had already logged more than 400 minutes of reading. It was actually nice to see the video games take a back seat for a while.

For Katie, the first week of school was punctuated by her belated birthday party. With an Aug. 9 birthday, we delayed the festivities in hopes of having a few more kids available to attend. In total, 16 of her classmates joined us at her grandparents rural home for hot dogs, s'mores and a hayride. It was good to see Katie and so many of her classmates having a good time. It was a fun way to start the school year.

In short, we've hit the ground running. Even now, less than a week into the school year, the routine is getting to be old hat.

If we can just keep the wasp nets away from our house, we should have smooth sailing for the next few months.