I love this stuff!

I love that textured black fabric!

Even some that aren't even marketing themselves as travel or quick-dry!

That's gorgeous!

That stuff is so great and I really should eat more of it. Thank you for this reminder!

That is a lot!

I can definitely see how the house system could be a nice introduction to interacting with other grades (esp for kids without siblings/cousins for reference) but now I'm really curious about how exactly it works for different age groups and if it goes beyond name/sport.

In my own school experience we didn't really have any grouping beyond grade levels - but we also didn't have the competitions you mention. If I was teaming up with older/younger students we were competing against other schools.

I think it's pretty rare here in the States, but I would be very curious to hear others weigh in about here and other countries. My nephews' school (Chicago, specifically a "British" school fwiw) was the first time I'd heard of the house system, but I've since seen other examples.

It's SO GOOD!

Have a fantastic time!

Ooh, which one?

I was recently on hold for an Osco pharmacy, which was new for me, and they had the same hold music I'm used to from Walgreens! So I might be listening to even more of it, ugh.
(I definitely don't like it, but sometimes it's practically soothing compared to the robot voice interruptions.)

This is fascinating, thank you!

Those glasses are excellent.

This is great, thank you for sharing! I wonder if they'll add Moka Pots to the excluded list for next time (or expand the "pots and pans" category to something like kitchenware or cooking tools)?

I would have started crying!

That stretch doesn't smell as bad now, and they've done a lot of updates in and around the zoo that would probably make it a better fit for that kind of field trip than it used to be, so I don't know if classes still go to the Dunes these days but I'll have to ask around!

So we'd go through a stretch of industrial stuff (mills, a refinery, a rendering plant) which REEKED - and our buses didn't have AC so we caught the smell full blast through the windows just as we crossed the border. For an embarrassing while I thought that was just how the state of Indiana smelled.

In Chicago we did a lot of local stuff like museums, performances, the zoo, etc. but we also hauled out to the Indiana Dunes National Park every year - kind of a scavenger hunt for different flora and fauna. We generally enjoyed it! But to get there we had to pass Gary and Whiting.

That was SO GREAT! Thank you!

Very nice! I love a bathroom chandelier.

I watched more BB than I wanted to, but I've heard enough good about BCS that it's still on the list.

Cotton Eye Joe

Exactly. I'd probably be more likely to stop using the ziploc if they were more consistent about laptop and shoe removal, but my last year of flights seemed to feature every possible combo of which of those things needed to removed so I'm still erring on the side of caution.

I still put everything in a bag, but I only take it out if requested, like I do with my laptop and tablet.

I still do this when I travel - partly because the requirements/enforcement aren't consistent across locations so assuming worst case means I don't have to worry about it, partly because I traveled enough when/where it was rigorously enforced that it's just habit now.

I'm going to have to try that!

Same! Although I like to tell myself that second round would have been a lot more extensive and expensive if the first one hadn't happened.

I've done this with cars parked blocking the bus stop in front of my office, my assumption being that if they're not seeing the bus approaching or hearing the honking my waving probably wasn't going to do much (esp on the passenger side) but a window rap worked.