new year....

new school...

Today was Sofia's first day back to school following holiday recess.  The building behind her is the -- long awaited -- finally completed -- new school!  It is HUGE!  It was supposed to be completed by September 2010 -- but there were some construction delays -- and then there was a fire on the 3rd floor (in the part of the building where Sofia's official classroom is located).  Because of the damage from the fire, Sofia's current classroom is in a different part of the building -- until the fire damage is fixed.  Since this school is "around the corner and down the street" from our house, Sofia doesn't have to take the bus anymore.  She is VERY happy about that.  While the weather is cold, I will probably drive her there -- but when it warms up, I think this would be a nice excuse for us to put on our walking shoes. :-)

This is another little piece of our community history that we are happy to be a part of.  As I stood outside of the school this afternoon at pick up time, one of my neighbors commented on how many children were within walking distance of the school -- we are talking about hundreds of children...

And to think, when we moved here, we felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere!

The view was a bit different when these photos were taken in Aug. 2008!