As has been the case for the last thirteen years, August brought the beginning of the school year and, with it, back to school pictures. This year, however, there’s one major difference: Julia isn’t featured. Although Joe’s year at UPA started on August 9, and William started at Booksin on August 17, Julia is off to college at Santa Clara University this fall, and her term doesn’t start until September 18. Nevertheless, the show must go on, so we have the traditional photos in front of the van, along with a few contemporaneous snapshots.

Joe and his friend Caitlin are walking to school together this year, so we asked her very nicely if she wanted her picture taken, and she graciously consented. In lieu of his school uniform polo, Joe is wearing a t-shirt that identifies him as a member of the Link Crew, a group of upper-level students who help eighth graders transition to high school. He and a partner were assigned a cohort of freshmen to reach out to over the summer, and they organized a day of activities the week before school started to help them acclimate and understand what to expect. They will keep in touch with their group throughout the year to help ensure they’re on the path to success in high school.

William dressed up for his first day; he’s working hard to define his “signature look,” as he calls it. He was a little disappointed that more of his friends from last year aren’t in his class, but we pointed out that most of the kids he’s missing now were strangers to him at the beginning of second grade. Considering his track record, he’ll almost certainly have no trouble making new friends in class.

Toward the end of the summer, William took several weeks of swim lessons, motivated in large part by a desire to catch up with his friends so he can join a swim team with them. The last couple weeks, he took lessons from Mrs. Whittell, who was Julia’s fourth grade teacher and has given swim lessons to all three kids. He’s made a lot of progress with his crawl and backstroke, and he’s starting to learn the breaststroke. On the final day, the lessons culminated with an exercise in swimming and keeping yourself afloat in the event that you find yourself in the water with your clothes on. Unfortunately, I don‘t have any pictures from that day, but it’s always fun for the kids in additional to being an excellent survival lesson.

Finally, last weekend, William was very excited to attend a birthday sleepover for his friend Bentley, including a trip to a San José Giants baseball game. He had a great time, but he was a little worried that Julie and I would get lonely without him in bed. To assuage his concerns, he set up a placeholder to keep us company. We all made it through the night, though he was a little worn out when he got home—I suspect sugar and frivolity conspired to keep the kids up later than usual, and they were all up early the next day.

Gallery: Back to School 2022