Vivanco Family Blog

Well we had our first parent teacher conference for the year.  As usual, I quizzed Mark Jr. about not having me getting surprise news from the teacher.  So I ask him, “Is there anything you need to confess now BEFORE we go in?  Don’t make me get bad news that I am not expecting!”  We’ll his response was, “No nothing I can think of.”  This was a 1st since usually there was something he would confess.  So off we go to meet with Mark Jr.’s and Johnathan’s teachers.  I get there 10 minutes late because Mark Jr. had a flag football scrimage game.

So I meet Millie in the cafeteria and she has bought me a school t-shirt.  Now I am all for supporting the school and kids but this t-shirt has a baby lion on it and its a bright blue.  Lets just say its not the most masculine t-shirt I own.  They should have just made them in pink!

We have a quick meeting in the gym where the principal goes a few things. While this is happening the teachers are making their way back to their classrooms.  Millie and I decide to split up since we have to meet with 2 teachers.  Millie meets with Johnathan’s teacher and I meet with Mark Jr.’s teacher.  Since I am the disciplinarian mostly it made more sense for me to go to Mark Jr.’s classroom as we usually expect him to get punished after this.  Even though its only the 2nd week

Turns out there was nothing at all to worry about.  The school year is young so lets see what happens.  Anyhow I meet Millie in Johnathan’s classroom.  She says the teacher, Ms. Horvath, said she would need to speak with us to explain about Johnathan.  Another session was going on so we had to wait for it to finish before we would have a minute or two to speak with Ms. Horvath.

The moment has come.  Ms. Horvath is alone and we can speak with her.  Apparently Johnathan has been whining and not listening.  This week Ms. Horvath said the kids where in the computer lab and there is something called a “smart screen”.  The kids were told very specifically not to touch the screen.  So what does Johnathan do?  Of course he didn’t just touch it, he PALMED it with both hands.  Needless to say that didn’t go over well.  So it turns out the little boy has been a little devil.

My aunt Maria always said she hoped I had a kid that was as bad as me.  Originally we thought that would be Mark Jr.  Well its turning out Johnathan is becoming a little devil in disguise :)  So Titi I got one!!!  She is looking down on me and laughing I am sure.  I can hear her say, “REVENGE!!!”  Needless to say I put her though the wringers when I was young.

I went to pickup the boys today from daycare.  Miss Aleta, Johnathan’s daycare teacher, said he was excited when he got off the bus today.  I said, “Yeah he enjoys school right now.”  She said, “That isn’t what I mean.  He was giving us a problem coming off the bus each day.  He doesn’t like getting off the bus!”  Maybe the thrill is wearing off?

This afternoon was going to be very busy.  I was going to pickup the boys and take them to Karate.  I had to pick them up around 3:45pm so I could get them home, cleaned and dressed for Karate.  Mark’s class is at 4:30pm and Johnathan’s is at 5:30pm.  So I have to get them both there by 4:30pm.  I pickup Johnathan and go looking for Mark Jr.  They say he hasn’t come off the bus yet.  So I take Johnathan, put him in the MDX and we wait for the school bus along with the teacher that is waiting for other kids as well.  So the 1st bus comes and he isn’t on it.  He isn’t supposed to be I find out so that is OK.  The 2nd bus shows up and he isn’t on that bus.  Problem is he is SUPPOSED TO BE ON THAT BUS!!!  The driver gets on the CB and says, “does anyone have a Mark Vivanco on their bus?”  There is silence.  She said they were all probably driving and trying to yell to the back for someone to respond to the name.  No one came back saying anything so she said she will keep on them and call the daycare back when they find out where he is.  I figure its a good thing Millie isn’t here because she would be going ballistic.  I am trying to remain as calm as I can be and I am not calling her at home to tell her he is currently missing.  Its been about 20 minutes I have been waiting for someone to come out of the daycare to tell me they got the call and they know where he is.  My phone rings and its Millie calling me from home (she stayed home that day)  asking me if I was waiting for Mark Jr.?  I said, “YEAH!” She replied, “He is here.  They took him home.”  Apparently Mark Jr. thought he was taking the same bus number he took in the morning.  So he got off when it came to his stop.  Well at least he knew were we live :)  These kids will give me a heart attack one day!

He was not quite as excited as Johnathan to start school. Mark Jr. understands that means homework is just around the corner. Johnathan hasn’t quite got the concept of homework yet. He wants to do it because his brother is doing it. Soon I’m sure he will “enjoy” it as much as Mark Jr.

Mark Jr. has a few kids in his class from last year. Luckily they are the kids he either liked or got along with. None of the annoying kids that we didn’t care for too much.

Its also Mark Jr.’s 1st time wearing glasses regularly. We got him glasses during the summer but he only put them on once in a while to get used to them. He is to wear them to read the blackboard mostly. He said nobody has even noticed he has them.

Johnathan started his 1st day of Kindergarten today. He was extremely excited. Mostly it was all about getting on the bus. He really didn’t care much about the school, he just wanted to get on the bus. Just like we did for Mark Jr. we took pictures of them getting on the bus. Then we RACED to the school so we can get pictures of them coming off the bus. Since both Mark Jr. and Johnathan are riding the same bus in the morning, they got off and proceeded to walk into the school. I started taking some pics. Well Mark Jr. saw some friends from last year and completely left his brother in the hallway. Johnathan had no idea what to do. He had only been in the school quickly while I dropped Mark Jr. off (sometimes) the previous year. Now he was on his own. There was SUPPOSED to be teachers there watching for the kids that didn’t know where to go. Well they were all with other kids. So my little Johnathan was wandering around. After we realized no one was coming, we went in and got someone to take him to his classroom. We didn’t want to interfere since we weren’t going to be there the next day to help him. We wanted him to do it the way they wanted it done.

My buddy David convinced me to buy extension tubes to try out macro photography since its much cheaper than getting dedicated macro lenses. So here is my 1st attempt at macro photography.

Mark Jr. wanted to ride his scooter. I was outside with my camera already so I took some shots of him.

I took my camera to the game to take photos.  We were 0-6 at this point so I didn’t see the point in not shooting some photos.  We ended the season losing every single game.  We went 0-8!  I am not coaching anymore.  I don’t know if it was me or them, but just to be sure I’m gonna asst-coach next time!

Here are some old fireworks photos I took at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, NJ on July 4, 2003.

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