<p>Jmmom, LOL! Yes, DH and I are remembering that we really do like the empty nest. Not that we don’t love our kids, but it is time for them to move on, and to learn on their own, like if he doesn’t have money for books next semester, he better figure out what to do about it!</p>
<p>Love it choff, my S led an Outdoor adventure backpack trip over his break, he was just trained as a leader and I was relieved to hear he survived and brought his group home safely, whew! He has a job in his field for the summer back home but coming together last summer was a challenge for us both with the college hours and friends here til 3 AM and my husband and I having work in the morning. We will have to do better at setting up groundrules on both sides. My D has family weekend next weekend so my S will join us for a day in San Diego with his girlfriend. I am extremely excited to see both kids and San Diego! My D is a little homesick so the timing is perfect. my S does not seem to get homesick ever but that is Pomona spoiling them.</p>
<p>My D has already told us that her best friend will be coming to the airport with us and that that night she plans to go to parties at Stanford…The Kodak moments we have is the one where I look at her asleep:).</p>
<p>I have never heard of Fall Break before. Is it more of an east coast or LAC thing? What is the purpose and what schools offer this?</p>
<p>I guess I never realized some schools didn’t have it. The one thing it seems to do is even out the semester for them. For both of my S’s, different colleges, their break was a Monday and Tuesday, which paired off nice with being off Wed-Friday for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>jmmom–just scrolled back through to try find what “parade of Kodak moments” I was missing. Read a lot of posts about kids barely being home, or not coming home, or wisdom teeth being pulled, etc etc. Maybe I thread the wrong thread? ;)</p>
<p>My daughter was home for 10 days for Fall Break and went back to school Sunday. One of those days was Yom Kippur so we spent that day joined at the hip. I thought she did a great job of fitting in visits to high school friends, meetings with college friends who happened to be in this area during break, and being with family. What I particularly enjoyed was the two of us going through her college’s first-year face book so she could show me the faces of all the kids she was friends with, on her hall, in her classes, in her ecs, etc.</p>
<p>choff and jmmom – Thank you for helping me realize I am not the worst mother in the world! I love my daughter, but I love her a heck of a lot more at college. Life is quieter and has less “drama” now. Besides, I’m using her bedroom for storage . . .</p>
<p>Peg</p>
<p>garland - you are so right. Having just scrolled through myself, I see that I was hallucinating. If I had a psychiatrist, I would bring this one up on the couch. ;)</p>
<p>No fall break in our house (school is on the quarter system). She’ll be home for thanksgiving, then winter break at the end of the term in december. I miss her, but her room is soooo clean</p>
<p>No fall break and no Kodak moment here. 
I suspect the next time we see S is when we are all trooping to our HMO for flu shots.</p>
<p>Fall break here is for parents, and we just came back from ours! Other than that, we’ll just wait for our Thanksgiving visit.</p>
<p>Fall break at Princeton I believe is just to make the schedule work out so that finals don’t fall on December 25th.</p>
<p>GSP, at Smith, “Fall Break” is a four-day long-weekend substitute for Indigenous Peoples Day aka Columbus Day that happens, oddly enough, the weekend nearest to Columbus Day.</p>
<p>One of the reasons for fall break was to establish ‘reading days’ prior to mid-terms - LOL - that said…</p>
<p>My kiddo is on fall break now - too far from home to take that journey so… took off with the schools Adventure Program for white water kayaking - and then left from there to go to Rock Town, GA - for some camping and climbing - sooo much for reading days I guess - LOL - except for maybe reading a rock wall!!!</p>
<p>But - we do get to see kiddo for TURKEY!!! - we coughed up the funds - last year we all flew to Florida - from 3 different places - to meet at gramma’s house - was a great time.</p>
<p>Ahhhh…he has returned to school! I ran into a mom in the supermaket a few weeks ago - the mom of a friend of my son’s. Her D is a year older. Her words of wisdom were “it is hard when they leave for school, but it is harder when they return”. At first, I thought she meant it is harder when they leave for school the second time - after break. When she clarified, I realized she meant it is harder having them at home after you are used to having them gone. And I agree.</p>
<p>He was “online” (IMing) deciding what to do for the evening - at 10pm. He was coming in at 2,3,4am. He was then watching TV (at a volume that makes me want to get his ears checked), talking on the phone and IMing til dawn and sleeping all morning. He checked his Facebook page as though it was his PDA calendar. I’m not sure what happens so often on Facebook; but whatever happens, the kids must monitor carefully for whatever reason…lol. </p>
<p>He did say he misses his room at home (the size of it) and his Bally’s gym near home (because of the peolpe he knows there and the fun they have). But, by this afternoon, he was bugging me to hurry to take him back to school - because he misses his new friends so much (and on the way to school his cell phone was buzzing with excited news of who was already back, whose flight was late, who was on layover, etc). And as I dropped him off in front of his dorm, he was greeted by a pretty girl with a big hug, a big smile and an offer to take what I was holding and carry it upstairs for him. </p>
<p>I was happy to have him home for the break - and I’m even more happy to see how happy he is to return to school. You parents know what I mean. You just really want them to be happy with their choice and the experience.</p>
<p>well, we are stll counting. 11 days to go for nirvana.</p>
<p>jmmom, choff, and peg–LOL!!! I love talking with both kids over the phone, but I also love the quiet of the house.</p>
<p>Today was the last day of my Fall “Study” Break at Michigan. I had a four day weekend. I spent the first half of it here on campus (basically hanging out with friends) and the second half of it at home with family (and studying).</p>
<p>There was another “Fall Break” thread started about two weeks ago by Beruruh, and heavily posted by those of us whose kids had earlier breaks . My D’s, for instance, fell from Oct 10 to the17th. It was great having her home for a while, and I think she really needed the rest. She caught up on sleep, met with local friends, and filled up on her favorite and oft dreamt about home cooked meals. She had taken most of her mid-terms before the break, and was quite exhausted from prepping for them. However, after a few days at home, she was bored stiff and ready to go back to school.</p>
<p>What is it about Face Book? D checked in on that site quite often during break as well. Though there were quite a number of birthday well-wishes from school friends posted to her on Face Book (it appears that her b-day will probably always fall during Fall Break). </p>
<p>Thanksgiving break will start in less than a month—though that’s only a four day break, counting the weekend. And again, the month long Christmas/New Year’s break a mere month later. So we’ll be seeing D quite a lot in a relatively short period of time. I’m not complaining.</p>