Wishing Well? Well, Kind Of

What do you do the night before the first day of school? How about two rolls of pennies, a huge body of water, a dam, and of course...ice cream, because that's just what we do!

Tonight after dinner I asked the boys if they wanted to go somewhere. Typically I don't like to ask questions that one already knows the answer to, but I wanted, "where?" To which I kindly responded, "it's a surprise!" Because it's the reaction that I get that comes next that I live for. 

After I parked the car off the gravel dirt road, the boys looked at me as if I was crazy. What are we doing here? Where are we? As we walked through a small trail, I wish I would have had the tape recorder going.  The phrases, "Oh my goooooosh, look at the waterfall!!!" And then the squeals came. 

I took the boys to a dam about two miles away from the house. For me when I first saw the dam and heard the water I thought how peaceful it was (minus the foreign smell downwind). However the more and more I thought about it, the more I couldn't help but think of what the dam meant in life. A wall holding something back. Of course the boys wanted to take off running and look over the concrete wall. But first I wanted to tell them why I had brought them to this place the night before the first day of school. 

I handed both of them a roll of pennies and told them that I wanted them to make fifty wishes a piece for the next year. Also, I wanted nothing at all to hold them back from having the best year yet at Agnor Hurt. "Yes, mam'" and off they went throwing their pennies into the largest wishing well they have ever seen!

They were so sweet to bring me some pennies of my own to make some wishes. 

Twelve hours later my little men were ready and waiting for Mr. Jones to pick them up for the bus for the first day of 1st and 3rd grade!!

I am so excited about the upcoming school year and all the things the boys are going to learn!