Bus, bus... oh glorious bus

Now truly, THE DAY has arrived.  BUS DAY.  Forget the first day of kindergarten.  That is so last week.  This week's excitement lies solely in the hands of a friendly bus driver.

Luke was not nervous to ride the bus.  Quite the opposite in fact.  He couldn't wait.  He woke up in the morning... early (typical)... and shocked me again by walking into the bathroom and announcing that he was riding the bus today.  You'd think I'd learn to lock the door.  But its too early to remember those things, and Luke was probably too excited to be deterred by a locked door, anyway.

10 minutes before the bus's scheduled arrival, we loaded Luke and Matt into the van and drove to the corner.  The coveted bus stop.  Will had gotten on his bus about 45 minutes prior.  We sat in the van, singing 'Rise and Shine' for a few minutes.  Luke was all smiles.

As some of our neighborhood kids started to arrive, Luke looked anxious to stop singing the pre-K songs and join his elementary brethren at the bus stop.  Of course we obliged. 

At the bus stop, Luke's eyes were wide open.  He didn't say much.  He seemed a little nervous.  He just watched the older kids for a while.  Then two of the girls who live across the street arrived, and Luke's demeanor changed.  Their presence seemed to calm his new nerves a little bit.  Suddenly he couldn't talk enough, and not just to the girls he knew... to everyone.  You wouldn't know it, but he met this little boy for the first time about 3 seconds before I took this picture.

Luke and his friend waited with baited breath as two other big yellow school buses drove by.  Not ours.  They were about to lose all hope when all of a sudden, a big yellow bus approached the bus stop.  It slowed.  The lights came on.  The crosswalk guard deployed.  It came to a full stop.  And then, as angels sang and harps played, the door opened.

We had practiced with Luke.  Say goodbye.  Walk to the bus.  Turn around and wave at Mommy (photo).  Get on the bus.  Walk up the steps.  Turn around and wave to Mommy (photo).  Sit down in the first seat on the side closest to our house.  Wave to Mommy (photo).

Umm... none of those things happened.  As that bus approached and Luke's excitement and endorphines kicked in, it was all he could do to give Nate a high-five, run to the bus while waving to me over his head, and then climb on the bus and find a seat with all the big kids.  There would be no posing :)

I'm honestly just glad I got a couple of non-blurry shots.  I was not sad as Luke climbed onto the bus.  I was laughing so hard and appreciating his excitement.  The story is way better than the photos, anyway.