<p>@ordinarylives - I just bought some shrubs to plant between the yard and the edge of our woods where grass used to be but now it’s just mud and moss and I can’t stand looking at it anymore! Asked for advice on what will grow in VERY moist area - the 3 inch pool of water from this morning is much smaller and down to about 1 inch deep now. If I plant enough and cover it with mulch, that part may look okay because it’s clear it’s never going to grow grass there anymore as the trees in the woods are much bigger than they were 17 years ago. Let’s hope it works there!</p>
<p>@classof2015 - pretty funny observation, my screen name was just a play on words. </p>
<p>I can’t believe this is the last month of having a child in k-12! I’m working on my hobby list, we’ll have to all go shuffle over to the empty nest thread come fall. </p>
<p>We are not empty nester yet. I’m probably one of the youngest parent here. LOL. We still have a 3rd grader HS Class of 2023. I’m pretty sure college admission will be completely different 9 years from now.</p>
<p>Hobbies! I am taking a knitting class now. Photography class is next. My nest will be empty to the extreme, but I am going to try to use my time wisely. </p>
<p>I’m with you 2018dad… I have a 2020 graduate but I read the empty nest thread from time to time cause I need all that time to prepare… boo hoo!!! :(( </p>
<p>DW and I are thinking about moving to a more urban area now that our one and only will be moving on and so we don’t need to worry about living in a decent school district or about the neighborhood so much. I am not so young anymore and the yard work is killing me! But our S tells us we can’t move yet because he needs the home he grew up in as a home base throughout his freshman year and probably that following Summer too. Sheesh.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone! It was great fun serving drinks on the SS indecision. Thanks to avondad for his fine navigation and administration of the trip. This was my second voyage w him and both were expertly handled. S2 and I attend tufts admitted day and it confirmed that the fit is perfect for him. It’s kinda of scary when the kid applies ED2 & hasn’t seen the school in a while.
As far as dorm shopping, I did it with first son during the summer. The container store had a college night that was fantastic, so I’ll probably do that again. And I won’t buy as much this time around as I did for S1.
We should get a list together for our thread closer to drop off of where kids are heading so that we could do CC meet ups during drop offs. It would be fun to meet. </p>
<p>Congratulations to all, and thank you, Captain, for a wonderful voyage. You have all been a wonderful support and probably saved what’s left of my sanity.</p>
<p>I certainly hope this thread will continue as we support each other in the next adventure starting this fall!</p>
<p>Anyone else slinking back up the gangway? I’m reembarking for a couple days while D mulls over a surprise wait list acceptance.</p>
<p>@Snowme That’s pretty cool 
</p>
<p>Too funny…I had literally never heard of Vineyard Vines here in CA before this discussion, and then got a catalog from them today! I will have to take a look for my summer wardrobe ;)) </p>
<p>@Snowme - Wow, that was fast! Didn’t expect anyone to get called back from a wait list that quickly! Congratulations!</p>
<p>@GoldenWest – the arrival of that catalog makes one wonder just how much of our identity is being sold by CC–or any other blog/website! </p>
<p>Congrats on the WL @Snowme. How long is the school allowing your D to decide? </p>
<p>No kidding…my FB feed and the banner here are all of a sudden full of Jack Rogers ads because I Googled to find out what the heck they were too!</p>
<p>As somebody else commented, Vanderbilt pulled ahead in the Google doc in the final days – six out of 90 or so decided to go there: <a href=“https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZxUwgbCqcCpq4L_2L4lAhqcKQAN0AyGHDAjf1rDX9rI/edit”>https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZxUwgbCqcCpq4L_2L4lAhqcKQAN0AyGHDAjf1rDX9rI/edit</a></p>
<p>@snowme How is that for drama!! Good luck . . .</p>
<p>We weren’t sure how to celebrate DS graduation. But first orientation session at his college is only a week after graduation so we’re going to stay over an extra day in Philly and do the town for his"to do"</p>
<p>@Quagmiro – what a fun idea! I am feeling that graduation will be a bit anticlimactic here…so I like your idea. </p>
<p>We stayed a night in Philly before our spring break PA college tour last year and I dragged the family to a couple of historical sites as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I only made them climb the stairs in order to live out the Rocky scene. Have fun!</p>
<p>@Quagmiro If you’re an art lover, get tickets to the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen - just an amazing collection, displayed in a unique way.</p>
<p>Speaking of travel, we are planning to stay in NYC for maybe about 3 nights before dropping my daughter to Cornell. I’ve never been in NYC so not really familiar with the area. We will have a rental car. Where can we stay outside NYC and then ride the subway to go to the city? Any input/recommendation is appreciated. Looking for in-expensive hotels.</p>
<p>@2018dad – are you flying to NYC and picking up car at airport? If so, you may want to think about not getting the car until you are finished playing tourist in NYC. I haven’t looked at car rental rates in NYC in many years, but Hertz and Avis used to have rental offices in Manhattan and you could just pick the car up on your way out of NYC or perhaps even close to your hotel. I assume you will be driving up Thursday, so you just want to make sure that you get yourself well clear of NYC (more than an hour north) before 3pm as the Thursday summer traffic can be almost as bad as the Fri summer traffic.</p>
<p>No suggestions for hotels outside of the city, but register at Travel Zoo, selecting NYC, and you will receive emails with hotel promos. Or, just go the Travel Zoo website and see if there are any offers for third week in August. Perhaps you will be able to find something affordable in NYC. The Affinia chain is not too expensive and offers spacious suite accommodations, but not luxe. San Carlos also offers suites, but more expensive, smaller, but nicer rooms. NYC hotels are tiny, so check the square footage before booking.</p>
<p>Trip Advisor probably has some threads on finding hotels in Queens, I guess, but I don’t really know hotels outside of Manhattan. Good luck, and have fun!</p>