Parents of Class of 2018 thread

[mrsv98]

Well, it looks like Bed Bath and Beyond exploded in our living room Since DD is in a single we had to get everything ourselves which is fine but oy! We take her up Thursday morning early, check in is between 9 and Noon and they have a "brigade" that meets each car and unloads, a nice welcome that I am sure won't be repeated in following years!

We are all excited, nervous and a little sad. DD has been spending a lot of time with her "squad" before they all scatter. Sigh, where did the time go!

 

[HillPete]

My dining room is full!! Six big, amazing bags from Ikea, a bunch of boxes and tubs and a huge pile of food and decoration for DS' going away party this Sunday. We take him up (over? the school is west of us..) on Thursday. DS 15 starts school on Monday, so there is a ton happening right now. The idea of a going away party instead of a grad party seemed good a few months ago, today I'm questioning my sanity!!

 

[NAB]

We all seem to be in the same boat ....I feel like I will never be done buying things. One more week home , I will take it even if it is collecting more stuff and her going out with her friends.

This is the second time doing this and the last , empty nesters time for us soon.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

A friend shared this today. Don't watch it if you don't want to cry. I'm so not a crier, but this got to me. Really got to me.

Wow! Now I'm crying! Lol. Not too bad. I had a couple all out crying sessions in July when my husband and kids were all gone on a scout trip. I started looking through old pictures, and lost it. I don't normally cry a lot, but this experience has been hard for me!

My son just got home from his first camping trip with friends. No parents or chaperones. Of course they are perfectly capable, but I still worried the entire time! They went to Pictured Rocks in Munising for waterfalls, hiking, kayaking and mountain biking. They had a great time! They are already talking about doing it again.

We haven't bought anything yet for his dorm. I'm glad his school is starting late. We still have over 4 weeks until we fly him out there. I feel like we get a little extra time, but it is going fast!

 

[Kellydelly]

I am already horrified that all the dorm stuff that is taking up space in my front room will be back to mess up my house again in just nine months. I really wish it could all just stay somewhere else for the next four years!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Sitting in the hotel room after taking our daughter to college today. Dorm check-in was smooth even though it was extremely crowded.
And she forgot her computer power cord even after I asked her if she had all of her cords. Luckily we found it at Wal-Mart so we don't have to mail it to her.
None of us cried although my husband said he got choked up.

Tomorrow we will do some fun stuff in this area before heading home. Now it's just my husband and I at home since the oldest is already at college. I'm sure i will cry once i see her room when we get home. I'm not sure who will miss her more- us or the cats.

 

[clori]

We just got back from a family vacation in Budapest. It was an amazing trip in which other than dh, we met some family members for the first time. DD leaves a week from Friday. Tonight she will have her last official group figure skating lesson with the program she started in back in kindergarten. Considering shortly after she started skating she managed to fall off monkey bars and break her arm so I had to take her out of the lessons, it is amazing that she is still part of the program today. She is primarily an instructor in the program but due to the number of kids signed up this summer she is teaching for 1/2 of the time and able to take the lesson the other half. She is so excited about being a member of the skating team at college that it makes the skating part an easy transition other than I can't imagine her getting up to be at skating ay 6am 4 days a week.

We have most everything but need to find out if we should get a microwave. We have move in from 9:30 to 11:30. The school has people (football players?) who bring everything to the room. DD is assigned to a 3rd floor walk up so I appreciate the help. The basic plan was to help set up her bed and anything she says she wants help with or is in anything we need to take home then take dd out to lunch and last minute shopping if needed then leave. We recently found out that there is a family orientation session at 4pm which includes some sort of goodbye kickoff for the students. I don't want dd being the only one without someone staying so for now we plan on attending it. There is also a family reception after the students leave but we will probably skip that and just go home and have dinner with dd14. I know that night dd's honors program is meeting and going to dinner together and there are orientation activities planned until Monday night then classes start Tuesday.

 

[NAB]

Well back she went yesterday to stay. We thought we had everything we forgot last week , even had a list .....Got there and forgot her Laptop which was not on the list. For some reason didn't even cross my mind. I moved it when I was cleaning the family room so she thought I had it. So now we have to trek back on the weekend to bring it to her. It is only 2 hours but still how many times can we say goodbye. I think that is why it hasn't really hit me yet that she isn't here and will see her in a few days again.

Last night would have been her first night away and by herself. She has been to camp and trips but other people were there . It is taking me everything I got not to text her and see how she is....cell phones are a blessing and a curse.

Orientation is on Saturday and they have a week of events so she will be busy at least. I'm sure this time next week I will be a mess and miss her she is my tv , shopping , everything buddy. We watch America's Got Talent and I always save it for her to watch if she is out...now I have 2 of them on my PVR that I should delete because she isn't coming home to watch them but there they sit...lol

 

[NAB]

First day of school tomorrow and my poor daughter trips crossing the road on campus .

Campus first aid was called, she skinned her knee pretty bad. She said she didn’t notice her knee because her hands hurt because they broke her fall. At least she didn’t break anything.

She was coming off a good orientation week too. I was surprised she did as much as she did , pretty quiet girl and did the bed races...lol

Now down to the school work, pretty hot here with high humidity so I told her to stay on campus in the air conditioning as long as she can. We bought her fans for apartment to late to find a small air conditioner here in Canada.

Hope all your kids are doing well.

I take a picture every first day , told her to send me a selfie tomorrow...lol

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I feel like I'm late to the party. My son's school just started Monday. We just got back from California yesterday. My son's move in day was last Thursday. We spent Wednesday buying stuff that we couldn't fit in the luggage like school supplies and toiletries. Then we spent the afternoon sightseeing in San Francisco. We spent all day Thursday on campus walking and touring. It was a beautiful campus! The people were so friendly there! We met my son's roommate and his parents. They are from San Jose, so just 10-20 minutes from Campus. They were so nice, and reassured me that my son can call them anytime he needs anything and they can come right over to campus. I would be extremely surprised if he takes them up on that, but its good to know anyway. Then there was a meet and greet in the lounge at 5:00 where they basically told us (gently) that the students were going to have dinner and start the orientation at 6:30. The families were expected to leave at that time. The orientation lasted through Sunday, and classes started Monday. We said our goodbyes Thursday, and I only cried a little bit.

Then Friday morning my husband and I flew to Los Angeles and went to a beach for the afternoon. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Disneyland, and flew home yesterday. It was my first time at Disneyland, and first time in California. My husband had been when he was little. Disneyland was nice, but I definitely prefer Disney World. We loved California. I just wish it wasn't so far from Michigan! Also the traffic was horrible! Taking almost 2 hours to go 30 miles! I joked with my son's roommates parents that in our town bad traffic is when you get stuck behind a tractor or farm equipment. I was joking, but it is the truth!

 

[NAB]

I feel like I'm late to the party. My son's school just started Monday. We just got back from California yesterday. My son's move in day was last Thursday. We spent Wednesday buying stuff that we couldn't fit in the luggage like school supplies and toiletries. Then we spent the afternoon sightseeing in San Francisco. We spent all day Thursday on campus walking and touring. It was a beautiful campus! The people were so friendly there! We met my son's roommate and his parents. They are from San Jose, so just 10-20 minutes from Campus. They were so nice, and reassured me that my son can call them anytime he needs anything and they can come right over to campus. I would be extremely surprised if he takes them up on that, but its good to know anyway. Then there was a meet and greet in the lounge at 5:00 where they basically told us (gently) that the students were going to have dinner and start the orientation at 6:30. The families were expected to leave at that time. The orientation lasted through Sunday, and classes started Monday. We said our goodbyes Thursday, and I only cried a little bit.

Then Friday morning my husband and I flew to Los Angeles and went to a beach for the afternoon. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Disneyland, and flew home yesterday. It was my first time at Disneyland, and first time in California. My husband had been when he was little. Disneyland was nice, but I definitely prefer Disney World. We loved California. I just wish it wasn't so far from Michigan! Also the traffic was horrible! Taking almost 2 hours to go 30 miles! I joked with my son's roommates parents that in our town bad traffic is when you get stuck behind a tractor or farm equipment. I was joking, but it is the truth!

Well I’m sure you will want to visit again when the snow starts to flew... lol How great is it that he can have help from his roommates family. That would be a peace of mind for me. Hope he has a great year.

I can’t wait for our Thanksgiving in 2 weeks to see my daughter, they have reading week right after that so I’m counting the days. I picked up her high school yearbook this morning she wanted me to send her pictures from it.

Her fall the day before school is almost healed thank goodness. That is the only picture I have seen from her is her leg. No selfies for me.

 

[NAB]

Well how many of the kids are home for the holidays?

My daughter came home on Tuesday and can’t be happier, even though she has been out catching up with friends.

We are trying to get her in for an MRI on her knee, still giving her problem since her fall the first day of school.

She passed all her first semester classes and her exams. Harder than she thought it would be. Marks are way different than high school, but they were told to expect that.

Much needed break now to recoup .

Happy Holidays!

 

[Mickeypooh99]

DS is home now for Christmas. He stayed at school over thanksgiving break. We decided against spending $400 on a thanksgiving flight when he would be home 3 weeks later for Christmas anyway. I regretted that decision. Especially since his school ended up cancelling classes and sports due to smoke and poor air quality from the fire in Paradise. It was up over $600 by the time I decided I really wanted him home. So I told him stay inside, and the school passed out masks for the students if they needed to venture outdoors. I'm thankful he wasn't closer where he'd be in danger from the fires. I watched the news daily, and was horrified for the people who lost so much including many lives.

I'm loving having him home! I started a new part time job in September, and they have been nice enough to give me an extra day off last week and next week while he's home. I'm just really enjoying having my entire family home. I realize these times are going to be less and less as time goes on. He's talking about taking a spring break trip with friends. So it may be June before he's home again.

 

[mnrose]

Both kids home. DD has been home for a week. DS came home on Wednesday. Both are doing great in classwork. DD got 3 A's and 1 B, which is wonderful I think and well enough to keep her scholarship so far. DS got all A's except a 1 credit lab class where he's not sure what he's getting yet. Not too concerned. That lab class (some sort of circuit design thing) was wicked hard and he said he spent more time on that than the lecture portion (4 credits). And, the lecture portion was an "easy" (according to him) A for him. Weird. At one point, he considered dropping the lab and taking a "W"....I convinced him to tough it out and take a "C" if necessary since it was a one credit class. No big deal. Anyway, that leaves his GPA at well over 3.75 after 1.5 years of college classes (he attended college full time last year as a senior in high school for dual credit). Since we were told the "average" after the first year for kids in science and engineering was 3.01, I'm guessing he's doing ok. LOL. Since he's now 1.5 years in, he's got to choose his major. He's conflicted between electrical engineering and computer hardware engineering. I think they both sound fine.

DD loves the dorm. DS does not. Hates it. He's high-functioning autistic, and finds the noise level to be unbearable and chaotic. So, we moved him out of the dorm, and have purchased a condo for him that is literally CLOSER to his main classrooms than his dorm (the U of Minnesota is a vast, huge campus). It should be perfect. It's an all concrete/spankrete building so it is insanely quiet inside (really....we've tested it at various different times and heard nothing). And, minus the purchase cost (which we should be able to reoup when we are done with it), WAY less expensive on a monthly basis than dorm costs (insanely high....over $6000 room and board PER semester).

DD is applying to be an RA next year. I hope she makes it. She has the personality for it, instinctively gets along with all kinds of people, and it would be a BIG savings. I also think it would aid her in her ultimate job search. She's majoring in history education, and this would show she knows how to deal with teens.

 

[mommy2mrb]

My girl got home on the 15th and we left for our trip to Haiti on the 21st, got home early this morning. Will take a couple of days to rest up and get things put away. Hope to have a few days of fun sprinkled in between my work schedule before she heads back on the 21st.

She did great her first semester and is looking forward to her second semester classes.