K2 went off to Purdue yesterday for his sophomore year. It really doesn’t get any easier saying good-bye than that first time they skipped off to kindergarten. <sigh> It will be very quiet around the house this year, with just one child (well, aged 16!) left at home.
As I’m mid-life crisis-ing, I also think back nostalgically to my own college years and yearn for those care-free days. Oh sure, I thought I had problems then, and commented about how stressful life was….but oh, how naive I was, not knowing the REAL pressures of life that we know now. How I wish I could be back in those days of great social life, no financial worries, 40 girls to borrow clothes from, etc.!
Back to Purdue, though…pair an engineering major with a computer science/graphic design guy and you get two persnickety guys nesting and competing for the best “cool factor” in a dorm room. Flat-screen TV, oversized double-monitors on their computers, surround sound, TIVO, oil paintings…does this sound like a typical dorm room to you? Ha! They even want to start a website for uploading cool dorm pictures…
Here’s a start….this is not the finished product, mind you…but merely the “in progress” shot with a lousy camera-phone. (K2, forgive me)
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Friend naps on couch…oil painting not hung yet
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Electronics in view; mess still in-process
97,819 people visited the Indiana State Fair on Saturday. I was not counted as one of them, as I got in free with my badge….but I arrived at 8 a.m. to walk 3 miles with Gov.Daniels’ wife, Cheri in the Heartland Walk for Health, then manned the Indiana State Museum booth in the DNR building all day.
Daughter met me at dinnertime for yet another walk around the perimeter of the fair, taking in the baby cows, piggies, and yes, the food! That day I sampled or ate a pulled pork sandwich, an ear of roasted corn, a cookie, a funnel cake, and a lemon-shake-up. Yum! Here are some pics:
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Night falls over the Indiana State Fair
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Henry, the 4-hour old calf
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Daughter Alison has a long arm into a goat baby
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Look how the goats snuggle!
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Mama smiles contentedly while 12 babies feed
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Cool sand sculpture
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More of cool sand sculpture
Summer’s over, school’s back! Well, for youngest son, that is; middle kid has one more week before Purdue starts. 2 sophomores in the family this year; one h.s. and one college. H.S. started today, bright and early with 7 a.m. marching band practice, right up to 5:30 p.m. end of tennis practice, for a very full day. I’d imagine he’ll drop like a tired puppy when he gets home tonight!
Here’s a pic of he and his grandma on Tuesday in Chicago, for a quickie day-trip just before school started. Yup, we drove 4 hours, paid $29 to park on North Michigan Avenue (well, Rush Street) for the day, and 4 hours back; (and car overheated and we had to open the windows and blow heat full-blast)….and all he has to show for it is 3 new pairs of socks! No, really, we had a wonderful day with my mom, including a fabulous lunch at Bistro 110. The weather was perfect and we had a great bonding time together! Sadly, no Garrett’s popcorn, as they closed the Michigan Ave. store 
