Ben starts high school on Wednesday. Ben took one course at the high school last year (math), so he already has some familiarity with it. I won’t say he’d rather be at school than on vacation, but apart from that he seems to be looking forward to it.
West goes back a little later; she will begin 7th grade (same school as last year) the following Tuesday.
There’s a violin recital on Saturday in which Ben is playing some of Shostakovich’s 1st violin concerto (cadenza & 4th movement) and West is playing some of the 1st movement of Barber’s Violin Concerto. They are both going to play these for competitions later this year or early next year.