Letter to Megan's School in Tucson

I know, I know, another post without pictures! I'll try and take some more interesting pictures and post them this weekend. I'm not sure this tells you anything you don't already know but I thought I'd copy this here...

Hi Michelle, Jennifer, Susan, Nancy, Raffaela, and everyone at Valley View,

I've finally found a minute to send you an email. Things are going well for us here in Redmond. We had 26 days of measurable rain in a row. I must say I'm getting used to it; I've used my sunglasses only once since being here; We leave the moonroof in the car open all the time; It has to be pouring down rain to make me put on a hat or hood. Strange things for this AZ native!

Megan has finished her first week at Best Beginnings preschool. It was hard to find an opening in the middle of the year anywhere but then someone Jeff works with recommended this school. Megan is in a Pre-K class which runs from 11:45 - 2:45 M-Th (for $180 a month!) All the kids in her class are now 5 years old - being born before Dec 2000. They have a new letter and new topic each week. Last week they had a field trip to a marrionette show. Tomorrow is "Opposites Day" and they are supposed to come dressed as things that show opposites. Sometime before the end of the school year they will have a field trip to the beach. There are 16 kids in the class - pretty even between boys and girls. The parents are responsible for bringing the snack for the entire class about once a month. The parents pretty much leave the kids at the door and don't pick the kids up until the teacher brings them to the door. Partially because of the rain there hasn't been much of a chance to hang around outside before or after school. Erin is very sad about this. Its a lot to adjust to but I think both Megan and I are doing well with it. Megan's teacher warned me that the first week is always easier than the second or the third because the novelty of the new kid wears off. We will have to see how it goes. Megan misses her friends there but hasn't been too blue about it and is excited by all the new things she is involved in.

Our house in Tucson hasn't sold. We reduced the price this week to see if that helps. We can't buy a place here until that one sells. There isn't a lot available here so we will have to hope that everything falls into place. Our apartment is kind of small (1100 sq feet) but has 3 bedrooms and comes complete with everything we could pretty much need (including maid service!) Microsoft pays for the apartment through Feb. 8 then we will have to take over the payments. We are minutes from Microsoft and since the commute here can be a big deal its nice to have Jeff home early.

Megan and Erin are loving living close to their cousins. We manage to see them at least once a week usually. The Bally's here let me transfer my membership and has a nice indoor pool. I took the girls swimming on the weekend (Sat and Sun have 'family hours' in the pool) and they loved being back in the water. Megan has also started soccer classes at a really nice indoor field. She has only had one lesson so far but can't wait to get back.

I guess that is about the news. I'll have Megan tack on a note for her class. She tried to send notes through the mail to a couple of the kids but the envelope was apparently the wrong size and now I don't have the extra postage for the new rates.

I hope all is well back there. Thanks so much for Megan's scrapbook! It is truely something she will treasure for a long time. We might be back the last week in Feb. they get something called midwinter break Feb 20-25. We will stop by to say hi if thats okay.

Thanks again,
Jill Dalton

Hi Class!
It's me Megan! I have a new fun school and I'm having fun up here in Washington. It always rains here all day. There are lots of big trees. I started soccer class and its so much fun playing. I miss all you guys. I miss being able to play on the playground. We get to play outside at my school too but its not as nice.

If you want to send me a message you can email me at lanyslirah@yahoo.com or Megan Dalton, 3701 167th Place NE, #L3037, Redmond, WA, 98052.

Love,
Megan