September
The second yard sale of the year came around, but we didn't feel the urge to get out our picnic table and box of assorted old toys. Maybe Linda peaked with all those car boot sales (including the indoor one) before we left.
Instead, the big event of September was Thomas' first day at school. Looking far more mature than we know him to be, he waited patiently for the school bus to take him the 200 yards to Hopewell Elementary School. He even let Linda take numerous pictures of him, (almost) all of them with a saintly smile. Here at the right, Mrs Smith organises operations in typical fashion.
At the end of the week, the school threw a "Back to School" Carnival in the playground, with stalls, sideshows, bouncy castles and slides. We're starting to recognise more and more people at these kind of events. It's almost like we're becoming members of the community - lordy !
In the early weeks, Linda volunteers to be one of the Home Room Mothers. This is a team of mums who basically act as an organising team to support the Kindergarten teachers. Several people have ensured Linda has no illusions about the size of this particular task...By the end of the month the rather suspect leader of the group had been supplanted in a coup d'etat (actually her son moved to a different school) and Linda assumed her natural role of Organisor-in-Chief. Like ET returning to the mother ship...
October
After only two weeks back at school, Linda now understands the enormity of her task. She has two volunteer assistants, and together they have to marshall the class parents for Back to School Night, Medieaval Day, a Firehouse Visit, the annual fundraising auction, the scarecrow project, a Halloween Party, Thanksgiving Day, a trip to the Theatre, a Pyjama Party, a Christmas Party and one day a week doing work centres at school. And all this is before the end of the year!
Unfortunately, this coincided with the beginning of a phase of ill health which forced Linda to miss this year's Tayback Chilifest at the Toll's house in Doylestown. This year, Chris determined to make his mark on this event, and practiced assiduously to produce a "Cor Blimey Pukka Proper Cockernee Chilli", including secret English ingredients - Heinz Baked Beans, Colman's Mustard and Marmite - and was rewarded with a runners-up place.
And Chris' boss Kathleen finally made it to Sunday lunch with hubby John, LJ and Will.
Halloween marks the end of October, and is the first of the three major end-of-year productions in the U.S. First is the town parade, where all the children (and some grown-ups, but not this year, Chris) dress up and parade from the Railroad Station to the Firehouse where they are rewarded with candy.
Next is the school Halloween Party. The whole school (and I mean the whole school - every child, teacher and the principal) dress up in costume, and then do a circuit of the school. Many parents turn up for the parade, which takes about 50 minutes to complete, and this year finished with a mass rendition of "Monster Mash" in the playground by the older children.
Back in the classroom, the amazing Mrs Smith had organised loads of activities - Chris (in his EZ-Halloween costume of 'has-been soccer player') read scary stories, while Linda helped the other Mum's do numerous activities like making bats, popcorn filled claws and pumpkin cookies.
For Halloween night itself, we hit the streets with Artemis and Paris Basile, with Thomas dressed as Harry Potter. We have a little way to go with Tom's manners - "I don't like those sweets !"
November
November brought a raft of parties. First up was Louis Capon's 6th birthday party, which was a sports party and brought Thomas his first taste of playing basketball. Michael Gies had his 6th party at an activity centre in nearby Pennington, whilst Mrs Smith was responsible for a pyjama party and a Thanksgiving Party at school.
We learned a lot about the traditions and history of Thanksgiving through school, and it brought home to us that we will soon have to do a crash course in American history just to be able to help Thomas with his homework!
For Thanksgiving itself, we decided to add to our American experiences by going to New York for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Using the points we had accumulated during our California trip, we booked a night at the Holiday Inn on 57th and 10th, just two blocks from the Parade route. Winter weather had already swept in, and the temperatures were around zero for most of the preceeding day. Wind whipping round the New York high-risers made it seem even colder. We had a terrific meal the night before at Trattoria Dell'Arte, then set out early to find a place on the route.
The parade starts at 9am, but by 8 o'clock the pavements are full, and we were very lucky to find a spot opposite Central Park, sheltered by apartments to our back and the curbside crowds in front.
With Thomas on Chris' shoulders we were able to get a great view of the whole parade, and the three hours of standing seemed only like, well, three hours. We stoked up with hot chocolate and lunch in a New York diner before heading home.
Back in Hopewell, we had sort of half promised to visit some neighbours, Georgie and David Anderson for Thanksgiving tea, but when we arrived we found they had saved dinner for us and the whole family sat around and quizzed us about England and our life in America. Georgie's sister had married an Englishman and settled in Harpenden of all places, so she we had lots of mutual experiences to discuss. Thomas was ably entertained by Georgie's daughters, and we ended up having a very pleasant and welcoming Thanksgiving experience.
