Whew, it’s been a busy day. It’s 10pm and Melinda and I just got home from school, the first day of actual school of the new school year.

Why such a late night?

Well, we were at the school itself for the 9-3:30pm regular school day. Today that was just with our new middle schoolers. Then we took a ferry to meet up with all the high schoolers who had connected earlier in the day with the high school teaching staff. Together, they had taken a morning ferry to Vashon Island (about 25 minutes from West Seattle), their ultimate destination being a retreat center where they are spending the night. I came out to give a little “first night of school” talk about the school.

Melinda snagged this picture of me on our ferry ride over to Vashon this afternoon. Yes, it really was that beautiful in Seattle today. And a beautiful first day of school, too!