<p>Actually getting a little weepy here over the fact the 3rd kid, only D is finishing her 1st year…Cottonwood, our kids are at the same school. One more day of classes, then finals. Minor details that she spent all day Sunday in the ER dealing with a badly sprained ankle. Now this kid ran for weeks on a tibia with a stress fracture, so when she called in tears on Sunday about the pain our advice was to head to the ER, immediately. Since she couldn’t walk she and her friends called the Resident Head, who called a UCPD car to transport her, and the RH to the ER. He (the RH) stayed with her the whole time, and her best friends joined her and stayed with her in the examining room, x-ray etc. Finally, 4 hours later, splint and crutches obtained she returned to the dorm. I think she regretted telling me at all since I then called 47 times asking , “is it elevated, do you have enough ice, are you in much pain” etc., only to be told, “Mom, if I knew you’d be such a pain I never would have told you”. Gotta love 'em! Now she just needs to negotiate packing, finals and getting home. I can’t wait to see her.</p>
<p>As many of you know, my house is very quiet since S2 is still in Uzbekistan. He’s doing really well and enjoying the experience immensely. It’s hard to believe that he’s been there 3 weeks already and will only be there another 10 days before returning to Israel and continuing his trip. He called our time early this morning so he could talk to both me and his dad. His take on today was, “It’s like the 7th circle of hell it’s so hot here!”. And my sister called last night to tell me that Anthony Bourdain was in Uzbekistan on “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel. It was really interesting to actually see some of the places he has been. </p>
<p>So the weather here haas been just about perfect, but I’m really looking forward to a little chaos in the house when she returns on the 14th…the empty nest has been great, but I could use some little chickees around for awhile!</p>
<p>runnersmom - please feel better. You’ll be so happy when your D comes home in a few weeks! I’m so glad that your S is loving his time in Uzbekistan! What an experience for him. That’s so cool that you got to see the country on the Travel Channel! Where will he be going after Israel? What an adventure!!!</p>
<p>The weather here has been pretty awesome aw well - only now it’s getting windy, and it’s supposed to rain tonight/tomorrow. D is out bike riding (and she’s not a good bike rider), and she just called me and told me she has a flat. She’s not too far from home luckily, maybe 3/4 of a mile - so she can walk it home. Fixing the flat is something I’m going to let H handle!</p>
<p>runnersmom, I love the updates on your s’s travels-- and wish I’d read your post in time to tune in to the Travel Channel show.
My oldest S has been out looking for a summer job today-- a cold dose of reality for him!</p>
<p>Ah, summer jobs. S2 and D have been lifeguards the past 3 summers, but not this year. S2 is off digging and traveling until the end of July. He mentioned looking for part-time/day work for the 3 1/2 weeks he’ll be home, but personally I’d like him to get a head start on studying for the GRE. I know it’ll be hard once he gets back to school, so if he can put a plan in place I think it would be best.
D is taking a non-credit Spanish immersion class at a college in NYC for 4 weeks to get a leg up for classes next year (languages are really hard for her and her college has a competency requirement). She spent much of this quarter looking for a job/internship without success, due in part I think to the fact that she is just finishing her first year and is not a science/tech/computer kid. A friend of her brother’s did offer her an unpaid internship that she will be taking. My feeling is that as long as she’s productive we’ll find a way to deal with her making no money. To her credit she worked a lot at the pool last summer and didn’t make a dent in her savings with her personal spending this year. I think she’ll be fine. And the class and internship get her into NYC on a daily basis which fits her perfectly!</p>
<p>LIMOM, he’ll be in Israel for 9 days, then off to Greece. The tentative plan is to go from Greece to Croatia, then to Budapest, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Anken (Germany, spelling?), Brugge and Amsterdam. We’ll see how much they actually accomplish. He’s meeting his best buddy from HS in Israel and they will do the rest of the trip together. It’s a great thing. And to just add to the anxious days, S1 is studying for and will be taking the LSAT in June. And I thought we were through with standardized tests and admissions…at least for him! It never ends…</p>
<p>Runnersmom - that sounds like some itinerary your S2 has for his travels. I’m sure he’ll have an amazing time.</p>
<p>I’ve heard it’s been a little harder to get summer jobs this year. Your D is lucky she still has her savings from last year’s summer job. It sounds like she has a fun, productive summer planned for herself, at any rate.</p>
<p>Acme - sending good luck vibes to your S - hope he finds his summer job soon!</p>
<p>love all the vigil updates. the travel posts are helping me prepare for whenever D1 is ready for her first trip abroad. I know she plans on spending junior year away, but something tells me she will come up with some options long before then. she has been plotting travel plans for a long, long time.</p>
<p>enjoy all the end-of-year activities. our next three weeks are full of them, and then we are off to the farm to recover from all the excitement.</p>
<p>Our house sounds like Acme’s house–lots of extra bonding going on among friends who have truly enjoyed each other’s company these four years. They’re ready to make the leap and itching to get out of high school, but they wish they could take their friends with them. All this gives me confidence that he’ll make good friends in college, too. Prom is over here, as is everything else but going to school just to hang out (I don’t get this schedule). Graduation parties are this weekend, then graduation next week. </p>
<p>I have been mostly a lurker here but enjoy reading. Are we now into the waiting-for-the-dorm-dropoff vigil?</p>
<p>Geezermom, I’ve mostly lurked here, too. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I started on CC–right after S applied to college! That means 5 years since we had to do the pre-college shop-a-thon–although with a son, it was MUCH easier than it will be for our D. Another difference was that we flew with him to school and we are driving D, even though it’s farther away. DH & I are planning a lovely driving trip home to distract ourselves from the fact that we’ll be empty nesters, and also because we’ll be passing through a part of the country which we have never explored. </p>
<p>We are the last of our friends to send their youngest off to school, so I am the only one still driving a minivan–even though D drives and has had her own car for the last 2 years. All of my friends who have moved up to “grown up” cars are making fun of me, but I’ve been saving it for this very trip.</p>
<p>We expect to leave home with a packed car and a good supply of Kleenex on August 19 --so time to start the countdown.</p>
<p>dg5052-- I can relate to your minivan story! We had to buy a second car last year and really wished we could graduate to a grownup car but we still have one in elementary school so we felt we had one last minivan purchase! But when minivan #1 dies, we will replace that with some fuel-efficient hybrid, I hope!</p>
<p>Tomorrow is graduation. #2 son is a bit nervous. Top 10 speak - and he is one of them - huge venue, probably close to 3k people…I need me to make sure I have my tissues handy!</p>
<p>NMinn - My D’s chem teacher is doing the same thing! Last week, they had three practice Chem SAT IIs because most of the class was planning to take the exam - one of the exams counted as a real test for the class - luckily, it was D’s best (and it was a good score). This week the teacher is giving them practice Regents exams! I’m sure at least one of those will count too. The real Regents exam is sometime next week.</p>
<p>Cottonwood, I have no idea where this year went…U of C graduation was one year ago last weekend exactly. My D returns Saturday as well and I can’t wait to see her!</p>