The kids didn’t have school last Friday so Curtis planned a boys’ weekend fishing trip with his dad and Dominic. They were supposed to come home on Sunday but Curtis had to be back in Plano on Monday and it didn’t make sense for him to come home just to drive right back up there. So we came up with a great plan.
The boys left Friday afternoon to meet Curt at a lake near the Texas/Oklahoma border. They stayed in a tiny cabin then got up at the crack of dawn to go out on the lake with a fishing guide. (Fishing photos courtesy of Curtis and his Samsung phone.)
Heading Out
Windy Drive
Caught One
The Haul
Six hours later (and a bit sunburned), they came in with quite a haul then headed to Dallas to crash for a couple of hours.
Anna and I left Saturday around lunch time, swung through Hutto to pick up Jenny, and arrived at the Dallas hotel around 5:30 Saturday evening.
The Thompson Clan
Don’t you love Curtis’s sunburn? Jenny jokes that she’s a vampire and allergic to the sun since she works night shift. The last time all five of us were together was Jenny’s wedding nearly three years ago.
Nikon D750 | 20mm | f/4.5 | 1/320 | ISO 400
We had a lovely family dinner and stayed up late in the suite drinking wine and chit-chatting after Anna and Dominic fell asleep.
Easter morning, Dominic woke up with a terrible crick in his neck. He had a pinched nerve and couldn’t move without crying. So our planned family brunch at a restaurant ended up being takeout eaten in the hotel, but it was still very nice. The kids and I said goodbye to Grandpa and Daddy, then headed back to Hutto and New Braunfels.
Not Sure About This
Monday morning Anna started at her new school, Canyon Lake High School. She was soooo nervous. Ms. April met us at the car and it took her about five full minutes to get out of the car but she did it without crying.
Nikon D750 | 20mm | f/3.5 | 1/250 | ISO 400
Reluctant Beginning
After doing some funny words and getting her giggling (and lots of pep talks!), Anna reluctantly went into school.
Nikon D750 | 20mm | f/3.5 | 1/250 | ISO 400
The first two days went better than expected. Of course, Anna perseverated on going to the nurse and she got angry a few times but the staff is amazing. They stuck with the planned ignoring for the escalations. They also had Anna help create a reward system of earning checks for completing work, turning checks in for something from the prize chest. Anna had input into that entire plan. Some earned rewards include listening to music for 10 minutes, time on her DS, and even Reese’s mini cups (her fave!).
Wednesday was the worst day. When she figured out that she wouldn’t get attention for her negative behavior, she decided to amp it up and actually leave the building several times. Can’t ignore that! She’s a smart cookie… she quickly figured out how to manipulate the system which I think is ultimately a good thing. If she is ramping up so quickly, then she realizes that she’s not going to get away with the behavior she had before. I expressed some concern about her safety to the admin team and everyone is really on top of things. We got a full report and reassurance that she was supervised well the entire time.
Well the negative consequences were pretty big at home for leaving the building (we still haven’t given her phone back since calling 911 and we threatened to take away her DS too) and we gave her lots of incentives for Thursday. We are so happy to report that Thursday was a great day! She went to Track and Field practice, came in first place for her event, and got so much work done while at school that earned all of her checks for the day. She so got to have some time on her phone last night watching Fall Out Boy. Hopefully that success will help her make good choices today too so that we can build on that momentum for next week. Her new teacher and the paras in the room are all amazing. We could not be happier about this new placement.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and is enjoying our beautiful spring weather. Don’t take your blessings for granted. Thanks for reading.
