nellebelle

For the first time ever in our 14 years (on Oct 13) of marriage and nearly 13 years of parenting, both of our children went away for the weekend. We've had both gone for one night, and one or the other gone for a few days, but never both for more than one night.

They went to WSU Cougar homecoming with neighbors we have known for 9 years. The group took two motor homes and a camper and between the 3 families took 5 extra children. They stayed for 3 nights and went to a football game. The home team lost, but they were ahead until almost the end. They went with people who love football and love the Cougars. They had a blast!

They took scooters and lots of food and movies and video games. They scootered around for hours everyday. They went out for ice cream. Jackie told me that she was going to have a favorite flavor but decided to have something new and really enjoyed blackberry ripple. They visited a cheese factory and a sorority. One of the neighbor's relatives cooks at the sorority, so they got a tour. Lisa said everyone was really nice. They went to a bonfire and got free WSU tshirts. They went to the bookstore. Lisa bought a hoody sweatshirt and Jackie bought a tshirt. Jackie bought me a small windchime. She knows I love windchimes and this is the second time she has bought one for me with her own money, as a surprise. (That is the sweet thing that prompted me to write about this.)

I'm so glad to have them home, but happy that their adventure was exciting and fun.

It does have elements of schooliness, going to a college weekend, and one of the neighbors joked (?) that her goal is to have all the neighborhood kids go to WSU. So we had a conversation at dinner tonight about the point of going to college, if you go, is to go to the school that is right for you, which may not be the one your parent went to.

Mary Ellen

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]