It was Grandparents' Day today at Lake Country School in south Minneapolis. That's where Maxwell Harrison Hien Ho Tong, age 13, attends, so Stan and Kathleen were there right on time at 2 p.m. for coffee, cookies, blue cheese and other fancies.Pretty soon we were in the big gym with what looked like about 300 other grandparents, along with the entire K-8 student body of the well-run Montessori school on Pleasant Ave. We heard a crackerjack orchestra, a choir, a little history of "The Movement" and then a pitch for the endowment fund.
Later we went upstairs where Maxwell, the only child of our middle daughter Marcelline Harrisonfields, was our tour guide for the next hour.
We met Doug, sort of a Mr. Wizard in the science department. Possibly Maxwell's favorite teacher.Then there was his English teacher, Jenny, a sparkling personality, she likes working with Max.
Here's another teacher, Kris, who teaches social studies. Everyone seems to like Maxwell a lot, but then, so do we. 
Naturally, woodshop is always a big draw for Max's grandpa so Max was sure to bring him to that section. Lots of tools. Miter box, drill press, hand saws, hand planes, hammers, work benches. Max is in the middle of a wooden airplane.
Over on the corner sofa, Grandpa Fritz and Grandma Joan went over some social studies papers. Maybe some history too. Pam and Ted's kids attend Lake Country.There's a special research unit on the 1900s going on. Ancient history, don't you know. We learned about John Lennon, The Roaring 20s, John Kennedy and other stuff. Max had a report on the Apollo program -- really ancient history -- but didn't have time to give it. Grandparents were asked to chip in with memories about long times ago. Stan wanted to tell about a party line, imagine, only one telephone line for the entire neighborhood and our number was "long short long," but he didn't get a chance. Kathleen wanted to tell about her mother's memories of white horses pulling fire engines. Alas, it was time to go.
Maxwell loaded up what felt like a 50 lb back pack, we said our goodbyes and then we were at Marcy's home on Knox near Hennepin where Papa Hoi was waiting to hear the tales. We're all very proud of Maxwell, of course. He is definitely above average in every way.
