Lunchtime

Jeff & I took a lunch break with the kids at Jefferson Elementary School this afternoon. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture--the old camera refuses to flash).
We thought it'd be fun to swing by Culver's and buy them kids meals with--oh my goodness--a Cherry Coke and fries! Anyway, this was a little trickier than I originally thought. The kids have different lunch breaks. Laney's lunch is at 11:45 while Max has lunch at 12:15. I called the school ahead of time to ask if we could pull Max out ten minutes early so we could have lunch altogether but was denied that privilege. We ended up having lunch with Max independently. Poor Jeff had to block off an hour and a half for lunch since everything took so long!
Once we picked up lunch and arrived at Jefferson, we checked in at the office and met Laney in the cafeteria. We finished eating by noon and asked Laney to show us her classroom. But the teacher's aide refused to let us go up to the classroom, saying it was recess time and she had to go outside. I was not a happy camper. Then the principal took charge of the cafeteria, directed the aides to turn off their walkie talkies, and in her hostile manner ordered the kids out and about.
I was beyond turned off.
At that moment I regretted letting the kids enroll in Morton Schools. We never had a problem with Whittier or Valeska Hinton Schools in Peoria. They promoted a family-friendly environment and encouraged parents to pop in and have free reign with their kids. I am now intent on saving up money aggressively so that when Jeff and I have our own kids, they can enroll in a loving, private school!