Fshew. We’re back. We’re tired. We’ve had about as much fun as we can stand. Our 6-day/7-night vacation at Disney World was a lot of fun. The hurricanes in the Atlantic gave us no problems — had to drive through a couple hours of rain on the way to DW, and had about 4 hours of rain on Thursday at the Magic Kingdom, but that was it.

Every day was packed morning to night with action and adventure, and I have a ton of stuff I’d love to blog about. Although I could probably fill a month’s worth of posts, I’ll try to ration them out instead of flood the site with my thoughts and observations on this one event. But here are a couple little funnies:

We had just, two minutes ago, stepped off a ride that Calfgrit7 exclaimed was was “great” and “cool” and “awesome.” Now he was saying, “This place is boring.” TWO MINUTES between scream-laughing fun and whining boredom. Is that a record?

We were actually still standing in front of the restaurant where we had just eaten a buffet meal, and Calfgrit3 announced, “I’m hungry.” Two minutes between all the food he could possibly eat and hunger. Sadly, that is not a record for him.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

The Grit family — Bullgrit, Cowgrit, Calfgrit7, Calfgrit3, and Momgrit — will be on vacation all of next week. We’ll be driving all day Saturday to Disney World in Florida. We’ll be staying the week in the Walt Disney World Port Orleans French Quarter resort. We plan to visit Animal Kingdom on Sunday, Epcot on Monday, Hollywood Studios on Tuesday, and Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are left open to go back to whatever we want to revisit, or to possibly go visit Sea World. Then we’ll drive back home all day next Saturday. Six full days in Disney World!

Unfortunately, with the active storms in the Atlantic headed this way, it may rain a lot during our stay. But, as they say, a rainy day in Disney World is better than a sunny day at home. Even if it does rain, the parks will be open, most of the attractions are indoors, and who the hell is going to care if we get wet? We’re on vacation!

I may post about our adventures in the Happiest Place on Earth when we get back, but I’m not going to bother with trying to keep blogging while on vacation.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Cowgrit and I went to the end-of-quarter parent-teacher meeting with Calfgrit7’s teacher. He’s doing well in school, and this, of course, makes us very proud. But trying to make sense of the grading system makes us [read: “me”] confused.

His teacher showed and explained to us the grading forms she uses (as set down by the state board):

On math, the grades are A, B, C, D — C and D are good; A is bad. It was hard for me to get excited for all his Cs and Ds.

Other subjects apparently have points and stars. At one point, she said, “He’s at a four points on these two, so I can give him three stars.” Huh? “He got three-plus on these two, and a three on this, so he’ll get a three overall.” Huh?

In kindergarten and 1st grade, the grade scale was 1, 2, 3, 3+, and 4. 1 = does not “get” the skill; 2 = below grade level for the skill; 3 = knows the skill (at grade level); 3+ = knows and is able to apply the skill (a little above grade expectations); 4 = able to apply skills to expanded situations (above grade level), or something like this. It was different than the old standard letter grades I was used to, but it made sense once explained.

After we understood the new grading system, we could easily follow it on his report cards. He was always getting 3s, 3+s, and 4s. His 2nd grade teacher says we’ll still be seeing the 1-4 scale on his report card, but she wanted us to see the workings behind the numbers. That’s great, and I appreciate her showing it.

But it’s like the people behind setting the grading system for one skill (say, math) don’t talk or organize with the people setting the system for another skill (say, reading). One is rated as a letter (with A being bad, and D being good — directly opposed to the traditional scale), another is rated with stars, and another is rated with numbers, etc. What the hell?

Think of the poor teachers who have to work with these varied systems. The education bureaucracy is insane — they must have gone to public schools.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Calfgrit3 was having an unusually difficult time going to bed, so I laid down with him in the lower bunk. He kept saying, “I’m not sleepy,” “I’m not tired,” etc., etc. Eventually we both fell asleep.

I woke up just enough to realize where I was. I got up, stumbled my way out of the room and into the den where Cowgrit was watching TV. I sat down in a chair and fell asleep again.

Some time later, Cowgrit woke me up saying it was time to go to bed. “I hafta write my post,” I slurred. I bumbled my way into my office and sat down at the keyboard. “i’m so sleepi.’

;i’m just sayin, i can . . . good nite, nite nite, somethin

Bullgzzzzzzz