Passport, Schlonger and Sandbox

Enticing title, for once, eh?
Those subjects pretty much sum up the day, though.
Of course, the day started with me taking the 2 and 5/12 year-old to camp. And, of course, she was really excited all morning and in the car ride over. And, of course, she ran ahead of me to get to the front door quickly. And, of course, she cried when it was time for me to go.
At least we have a routine.
The next move was home to prepare for our trip to the post office to get the baby's passport. The last time we had gone through this process was in Palo Alto, when we had a less-than-memorable experience... Although we remember it quite clearly: The long line, even longer wait and the bureaucratic organized chaos that seemed imported from somewhere in Asia. So I wasn't looking too forward to this date. And I guess that sometimes you fear your fear into happening, because we went to the Post Office with what I thought were all of the documents necessary and, Lo and behold, the birth certificate was not there. I had to race home while my wife stayed to hold our place. It all worked out in the end, but I wasn't much of a happy camper at the time. I know it was totally my fault, but I still blame my wife for giving me the tremendous and overwhelming (obviously) task of getting all the paper work together. Sorry babe.
After the passports it was off to camp to get Elana. We came home and hung out for an hour before she took a nap. Then it was off to my last day of work at Schlonger's.
I have been working at Schlonger's since just before Purim this year (Note: The "black-hat" high school is officially called the Beis Hamedrash/Mesivta of Baltimore. Because it is "black-hat" it has a Rosh Yeshiva. Rabbi Schlonger is the name of the Rosh'eshiva. Hence, Schlonger's). This was quite an experience for a number of reasons, but I won't go into it here. Leave it at: I was a sub for the 12th grade English class there. Essentially, I was a glorified sub, and we all knew it. But I couldn't let go of the need to teach, so we had a few lessons on a few things and I think they learned something. I'm even giving them a final exam. I took a picture with them today and posted it to my alumni (it's mistakenly spelled aliumni) page on Facebook. Here it is for you.

The last major event of the day was when my father-in-law and his wife brought over a sandbox for the 2 and 5/12 year-old. She had played with sand down by her cousins' in Silver Spring, and Zaidy and NR had noted her enjoyment. So they came by and gifted her a small plastic turtle of a sandbox, two boxes of sand, a bucket and shovel, a small pickup truck and measuring cups. She really enjoyed playing in the sand and managed to keep herself pretty clean. Now she has another "outside" activity for the summer time (although the humidity here is not the best for that).

Anyway, the weekend is upon us and next week is just around the corner. That means my big trip to Berlin and the return of my sister's family. My wife will be on her own for the next 12 days as I attend conferences in Berlin and NYC. I feel bad that I'm leaving her alone with two kids, but she agreed to it. Sorry babe.