Early

These are my children, riding off on their first day of school (I'm on my bike right behind them--my husband snapped this shot).

And that red glow? That would be the sun, not yet risen.

School starts sooooo early here--7:30. Some of the bus riders board their bus at 6:55am. When I learned that, I felt a tiny bit better about how early we have to start here at the Hall household.

I wake both of them from a dead sleep at 6:30am, when it is still perfectly dark outside. Before the birds sing. Before the dog wakes up. Before civilization as I know it wakes up. That gives them 50 minutes to be on their bikes and riding away, which is really not quite enough, but I can't bear to wake them any earlier. So, we've learned to lay out clothes the night before, locate shoes and pack backpacks the night before. I get up at 6am, which is earlier than my husband--you know, the guy in the military. Sheesh, that makes it feel early. And I have to hit the floor running, breakfast and packed lunches and all that. But I am getting the hang of it. And I try not to think of the old days in Virginia, when they could wander out of bed somewhere between 7:45 and 8am, and still have plenty of time to get to school. Sigh.

A side note--they get out of school at 2pm, but really 1:54pm. Which is so early that I often realize I haven't had lunch yet when it's time to pick them up. But I love the big gap between after school and dinner. They unwind, play, read a little, Jacob gets his homework done--it's all the luxury of time that we lack in the morning. Which is nice. We might even get to the point where we prefer it to the old schedule.