International Walk to School Week

Well, today was the kickoff of International Walk to School Week. It's not particularly practical to walk to school out here in the boonies, so our elementary school had a half-hour walk around the school building planned for today instead. Families welcome (and encouraged). As soon as I heard about it, I put it right on my calendar. Told the kids I was going. (Mark said fine, but he wasn't walking with me. Apparently walking with your mom in front of the whole school is not high on the 'cool factor' for sixth graders. S'ok, I have an eager first grader as well. She was thrilled I was going.)

So I woke up this morning, excited and eager to go, and it was raining.

It stopped though, and was just overcast and a little drizzly. Called the school, and all systems were still 'go' on the walk unless it was actually pouring. Got to the school right on time, and they were still all in assembly. So we started the walk a little late. Still okay. Looking for my kids, and lo and behold, they were walking together! (Sixth grade and first grade are school "buddies" and apparently buddies were walking together. HA! Take THAT, Mark!) So around and around the school we walked. I was a little surprised to see how few parents actually showed up, considering what an awesome idea it is. (yes, I KNOW a lot of parents work. I also happen to know a lot of parents who stay home, and they weren't there.)

What *also* surprised me was that the walk didn't actually last a half-hour. It was more like fifteen minutes. That was a little disappointing for me. But hey, I did it, and I got a (very) little exercise, and I got to spend a little time with my kids, and I get whatever bonus points are out there for parents who show up at these things, AND I progressed a tiny little bit in my endeavor to be more social. So I count it a success.

Check out the web page for the International Walk to School. mk