Giddy Like a Schoolgirl

It was an eventful morning: Hannah's first day of first grade at her third school in as many years. I got up early and got the girls in their morning boot camp mode (breakfast, brush teeth, get changed, then a little TV) before dropping Lily off downstairs (she doesn't start preschool until next week) and taking Hannah to her new school. Unlike last year when it was a two-minute trip, her new school is across town (10-15 minutes, depending on traffic). The school is located at the end of a street, so there was a total bottleneck heading in. We parked on a nearby sidestreet and walked over. I snapped a quick picture of her out front with my cellphone camera and walked her into the gym, where the classes were gathering. She handled it pretty well. I think there was so much going on, there was no time to get emotional. We'll see how she does in the weeks to come.

After dropping her off, I hightailed it to Ipswich for my dental checkup (look ma, no cavities), then booked over to Marblehead by 10. Got some work done and had a meeting and then had to leave at noon to take Lily off my mother-in-law's hands. Worked from home in the afternoon until Deb called and said she was stuck in traffic, so Lily and I headed over to pick up Hannah from school. She seemed pretty pleased about the day.

Tomorrow we start all over again.

Also tomorrow, I begin my soccer coaching career as an assistant on Hannah's U-8 girls team. Neither I nor the head coach have ever done this before, so it should be interesting. But we both have played for many years, so that should help. I hope. Tomorrow we have our first practice and Saturday is our first game, if Hurricane Hanna (the storm, not the girl) doesn't put a damper on things.

Talking points:

• So tonight is Sarah Palin's big speech at the RNC, where she is expected to slam Obama. I love the spin the Republicans are working, saying that she actually has more executive experience than Obama (or even McCain or Biden) because she's been a governor for 20 months. Wow. I'll give them credit. They're really talking a great game about what a great VP she'll make. Meanwhile, they're slamming the media over all the coverage about her daughter's pregnancy, possible corruption probe, etc., etc.


• The NFL season starts tomorrow night. And the NHL season is a month away, as are the baseball playoffs. Gotta love it.