No more photos for the time being, sorry. Barry is in New York currently with my camera, along with all the photos we have taken in the last couple of weeks. Therefore, this will have to be a photo-free entry until Barry's return when he will no doubt have some shots of NYC to add to the portfolio.

So, we returned from holiday and Barry started his IHI Fellowship with a seven-day course on patient safety (ie working through the weekend - no rest for the wicked!). The girls and I had an appointment to visit their new school (more on that shortly) and we went to our second Red Sox game. They beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 in a tight, tense game which was just as exciting as our first experience, despite finding our feet buried in peanut shells thanks to the rather large young man who was spreading into Rachel's seat. Throwing your peanut shells on the floor instead of keeping them to put into the bin is apparently traditional. I can testify that this is one of the rather less savoury traditions.

Anyway, to school. We had an appointment to visit Pierce School before the girls were due to start the following week. We met with a pleasant lady who is the guidance teacher for grades 5-8 who showed us around and had a chat with the girls and me. She then left us with the school nurse who dropped the bombshell that despite our best efforts the girls' immunisations fell short of requirements. Having spent more than £200 on a course of three Hep B vaccinations each for the girls whilst still in the UK it seems there was not enough of a gap between dose 2 and dose 3 to satisfy the Massachusetts Dept of Education. Also, we were told Rachel would need a DTap booster as her previous vaccination had been before her 4th birthday. Bracing myself for a hefty financial hit we were sent to the public health nurse in the building next to the school. Thankfully, lovely Nurse Barbara said that the DTap booster wasn't a requirement until grade 7 so as Rachel was only going into grade 5 it was recommended but not obligatory. However, she was insistent that the girls needed another Hep B jab, much to their discomfort, but delivered the good news that there would be no charge as the vaccination was a school requirement. To cut a long story short the girls (very reluctantly) had the jabs later in the week.

We had made arrangements the following day for the girls to meet up with the 7th grade daughter of a fellow border terrier owner we had met whilst walking Dougal. That morning we had a phone call from the guidance teacher at the school suggesting that it may be appropriate to place Isabel in the year above her age ie to go into grade 7 instead of grade 6. Grade 7 equates to year 8 in the UK and grade 6 equates to year 7 ie first year of secondary school. Her reasoning was based on Isabel's impending birthday, her physical stature, her maturity and my assessment of her academic ability. She left the decision up to Isabel and us, which rather put the cat amongst the pigeons as Isabel didn't know what to do for the best and Rachel was upset as grades 5 and 6 had classrooms close to each other and had lunch at the same time so she had been anticipating Isabel being close by for support. Sensibly, Isabel decided to delay any decision until she met the border terrier 7th grader, who's name was Esther, in the afternoon.

Well, the girls had a great time with Esther and Isabel was adamant that she wanted to go into grade 7. In the meantime, I had e-mailed the school's PTO who boasted an outreach committee amongst its many branches asking if we could be put in touch with any girls who were due to start in grade 5 so Rachel could meet someone before starting school the following Monday. The response was rapid and within half an hour of leaving Esther's house we were in one of the many local parks meeting Aine and her friends Zoe and Anna and Aine's mum. They hit it off straight away and spent a couple of hours together which culminated in Rachel being invited for a sleepover. It was only as I was walking back from Aine's house after dropping off Rachel and her sleepover kit that it occurred to me I had just left my younger daughter in a complete stranger's house! I shouldn't have worried as Rachel had a great time but I told Aine's mum Stacey the following morning that I felt like a terrible mum. She said we needn't worry - they didn't smoke, they didn't do drugs and they didn't have a gun in the house. I gulped - the gun issue hadn't even crossed my mind!!

Over the next few days Rachel met up with Aine and a variety of her friends several times. In between Rachel's social engagements we made a couple of trips to Staples to buy everything on the substantial list of stationery requirements for each grade, spending a total of around $250; to the bookshop to buy the required reading book for each grade and to a clothes/shoe shop to buy trainers and sports shorts for PE although it seems we needn't have bothered with the latter as the school seems quite happy for the kids to wear Converses and denim shorts for PE if they want.

Before the girls started school on the Monday the girls and I went to Cambridge on Sunday afternoon to meet up with one of Barry's IHI colleagues. Jo Ann is on the communications team and had been very helpful during our six-month run-up to moving giving us advice on where to live. She has a daughter just a couple of months younger than Rachel called Justine and we had all been keen to meet up face to face after our e-mail communications. Cambridge is where Harvard University and the IHI are based. Politically, it's a separate city and geographically it lies across the Charles River from Boston. We had a picnic lunch and a wander around the Harvard Square area before heading to the river embankment where the Charles River Conservancy set up a load of equipment every Sunday afternoon in the summer and early autumn for families to play a variety of ball games, all for free. It was all very informal and we had a great time.

So, Monday was the big day - first day of school. We were all up bright and early (if a little bleary eyed) ready for the 8am start. Both girls were excited, particularly Rachel who by this stage had met at least seven or eight girls who were due to be in her grade. Thankfully they had a great day, making friends and thoroughly enjoying their classes and this has continued. Rachel's teacher is called Ms Woogmaster and Rachel already adores her. Isabel's homeroom teacher is Ms Galolo, who is also the maths teacher. As she would have done back in the UK, Isabel and the rest of her grade move around to different teachers for different lessons. Isabel is having to get used to an hour or two of homework each night which so far she is knuckling down to without complaint. Rachel is getting some homework most nights and is also working hard.

Isabel's best friend so far is Maisie whilst Rachel seems to have several gangs on the go already, resulting in a tug of war last Friday between the different gangs all demanding Rachel's presence. Rachel said a teacher had to break it up! It turns out that one of Rachel's favourite new friends is Maisie's younger sister Eve which is convenient!

It was Isabel's birthday last week (Sept 11th) and it was an unusually low key affair. Understandably, she didn't feel that she could invite any friends out yet so we've decided to leave it for a couple of weeks and have a belated birthday party. For her birthday treat she decided she wanted to go out to eat at a lovely little Italian restaurant up the road. It's cheap cheerful Italian fast food in what looks like someone's front room but the food is delicious and the atmosphere is very informal so we all enjoyed ourselves. Then she wanted to stay up to watch the series finale (the big wedding) of a truly dreadful reality TV show called Honey Boo Boo which is massively popular in the US. The girls are addicted to it. She made Barry and I watch it too. It's a good job we love her. Speaking of Isabel's birthday, the girls and I went to visit our very first Boston friends (the South African couple Peggy and Dion who moved to Boston from the UK via Hong Kong and have an 11-year-old daughter Megan along with elder daughter and toddler Jacob) on Monday en route to music lessons and Peggy, bless her, had gone to a local cupcake shop and bought six enormous cupcakes, put candles in them, and she and Megan serenaded Isabel with Happy Birthday!

So the girls survived their first week at school and still seemed to be smiling. I think that's the biggest hurdle out of the way. Barry is enjoying his fellowship, the girls are happy at school and I'm making some friends and starting to get into a routine so I think we're in a good place.

We're almost up to date. Last Saturday we headed south down the coast to Quincy where IHI Fellow Pete and his family live. They had an open house afternoon for the Fellows and their families which was most enjoyable. Their house backs onto a small shingle beach so Barry and the girls went kayaking around one of the nearby small islands and Dougal was able to run around to his heart's content. The girls then entertained Pete's small daughter and son who are now the girls' biggest fans (after Megan's little brother Jacob). It was very relaxing to be out of the constant buzz of the city. Sunday afternoon was our first PTO event - the Pierce Fitfest - where there were a whole host of sporting and fitness activities which the kids could have a go at plus the entertainment of a teacher's dunk tank. Rachel threw herself into the spirit of the event and tried lots of things but Isabel and Maisie were too cool to join in as 7th graders!

So back to school on Monday and all still going well. Barry is in New York until tomorrow night then it's his birthday on Thursday and we're going to see Potted Potter. Happy days!