HOFSTRA!!!

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Tessa

We had an exciting weekend in Long Island recently. Eve and I drove down late Thursday night, met up with Rosy, then spent Friday at Hofstra University for an Admitted Students Day. We talked to a bunch of people at the resource fair, met Kate (one of the mascots), had lunch in the dining hall, and got a personal tour of the dorms. The dorms are awesome! We’ve visited a lot of dorms over the past few years and these are by far the best!

We had a fun moment while we waited for our dorm tour guide to arrive. We were standing at the welcome table with several “Pride Guides” (student tour guides) around. One of them asked Eve if we’ve been there before because she recognized King Gerald! She was excited to hear that it was the same shark! She told us she actually has the King Gerald pin on her bulletin board! She brought a bunch of her friends and they all oohed and aahed over sharks, Gerald, and E’s artwork.

After we got done on campus we drove down to Jones Beach to dip our toes in the Atlantic. It was super windy and cold though, so it was a very brief visit, but fun nonetheless.

Then we did a little shopping and headed back to the hotel. Rosy and Eve were going to go swimming in the hotel pool, but everyone was tired so we rested for a bit first. Eve was restless and grumpy a bit, until she finally said “Would it be wild and crazy of me to just make a decision now?” I laughed and reminded her that deposits are due in two weeks so she’s going to have to make a decision soon! She said “I’m just going to go to Hofstra.” We snuggled up in her bed and used her phone to accept the offer and put down our deposit. Afterwards she was full of energy and happily went swimming with Rosy.

The next day we took the LIRR into the city to visit the NYC Aquarium. It took us three trains and lots of time to get there because it’s on Coney Island, and the weather was wet and drizzly the whole time, but it was well worth the trip! We saw a sea lion performance, otters, fish, and sharks! Eve was thrilled!

When then went back to Times Square and braved the elements to get some dinner and make it to our show. Rosy wanted a diner and we ended up at the Westway Diner, which apparently is where Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld first came up with the idea for Seinfeld. Who knew?! It was pretty tasty diner food. :)

We rounded out our adventure with tickets to Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern, an interactive Dungeons & Dragons production at Studio 42. It was a ton of fun and absolutely hysterical. You use your phone for the interactivity part and they said photography is welcome, so we took some pictures! On the LIRR on the way back to the hotel, E posted a picture from the show and tagged the guy. Much to her surprise, he reposted it on his account! They ended up having a friendly back and forth for a little while. She loved it.

Sunday we said goodbye to Rosy over waffles then headed home. Eve wanted to take the ferry so we did a little exploration in Port Jeff while we waited for the ferry. Eve and I are very slow travelers, in a most whimsical way, so we got home late on Sunday, but it was a great weekend. Alan babysat Huxley for us and provided excellent pick-up and delivery service.

Now that Eve has made this big decision, we move on to the next thing….

Happy (late) birthday to Miss E

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Tessa

I’m a little behind on the postings, but I can’t miss this big one! The last of my babies turned 18. We’re all grown-ups around here now! Kinda. LOL.

We celebrated with robotics, painting, muppets, and sushi. I took the birthday squad out for pottery painting and dinner. I thought we could go to a restaurant, but after much discussion they decided to get sushi take out and watch the Muppet Movie at home. They were all wound up after painting, so I drove to the local park and kicked them out to run around for a bit while we waited for our sushi order to be ready. They maybe be growing up, but they are still the goofy kids I know and love. <3

A bonus year with Team 95!

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Tessa

I felt like this year I got a bonus year of FIRST Robotics! Lex joined in 9th grade, R joined a year later, and E joined this year! She was a little up and down all season, but she stuck with it, had some new experiences, discovered some new skills, and formed some new friendships.

The team went to three events, as usual, but two of them were new events, one in Maine and the other in Vermont. Vermont’s first FRC event! Grasshoppers had to represent!

The UVM event had a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream robot! Alan and I went up to spend the day with E on the last day. Our ice cream robot picture was photo bombed by the guy who took Eve’s senior pictures. He takes a lot of sports photography for the school and other events. He was there photographing a sporting event at UVM and stopped by to get a few pics of robotics too. :)

It was really cool to see how important she is on this team. The coaches were frequently asking for her input and advice on alliance selection and other teams. She helped with organization and was the brave one who led the alliance selection team at each event.

Big smiles! Lex was happy to be back for an event.

For the district championship Alan, Lex, and I all went down to spend the final day with Eve. Districts is a bigger, longer event and Eve rocked it the whole time. She made it her goal to collect swag from every single team (she made a spreadsheet!) and wore the swag the whole time. There was a Star Wars group there (not sure if they were a team or something else), so there were R2s and Storm Troopers and other Star Wars characters wandering around the event.

Despite the fact that she complained about practices, dreaded going to events, and fussed a lot, she ended each event on a total high and made lots of friends. The coaches and freshman boys love her. She spent the whole drive home from the final event sad that the season was over and thinking of ways she (we) could continue to be involved in the future. :)

One way may be to continue making buttons for the team and maintaining the teams website. I’ve been doing it for the past few years and Eve took over this year. In the past the team had a tradition of giving away Keebler Grasshopper cookies to the other teams, judged, volunteers, etc after each event. Sadly Keebler stopped making those cookies (or changed something, I forget) and one coach decided to make cookies instead. She asked for volunteers to help, so of course I volunteered!

The season is now over. They had their “unpack the truck” meeting tonight. There will be a few other “off-season” and recruiting events over the summer. Eve is excited for all of them. I’m excited that she found something she enjoys, people who respect here, and, I got an extra year of robotics fun! Yay!

A Sunday of ups and downs

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Tessa

Last Sunday I took R down to MA to catch his bus back to college. He had a very busy spring break, so it was nice to have some time to catch up with him before he left for school again. We had a good trip down, despite the on again, off again rain.

After dropping him off, I made a spur of the moment decision to zip over to Worcester to watch Lex march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was a total spontaneous trip and I loved it! The weather was perfect, the crowds were varied in all ways, and suitably drunk for noon on a Sunday. LOL. The WPI marching band was early in the parade, but I parked near the end, so I walked along with the band as they finished up the route. There was another band mom there too (probably more than one), and she was following the band the whole way. We joked that we are “with the band” and therefore must be cool. 😂

This is a playlist with five videos. Not the best quality, but fun anyway. Dad — watch until the end! I took a video just for you! :)

I met up with Lex at the end and we got bagels for lunch. He said several band members didn’t make it to the parade, the bus never came, and he had to play two drum parts, but otherwise he had fun. Alan had just brought him back to WPI on Saturday, so it hadn’t been that long, but it was still nice to see him. 💗 I also enjoyed the walk back along the parade route. The energy was high and it was fun to be part of it.

On the drive home, things took a turn for the worse. I was routing to a charging station, cruising along, then suddenly started getting an error message saying “Vehicle may not restart. Service is required.” Umm… ok. I kept on to the charging station. When I got there, I plugged in, the car said “charging” for a second, then “stopped charging.” Threw a few more random error codes. I unplugged/replugged a few times, but no change. So I decided to move to a different plug, but when I tried to put the car in drive, it didn’t work. Just threw a bunch of more errors. So now it won’t charge, won’t drive, and is spewing error messages across the screen. I then spent the next few hours researching error codes, calling Tesla, calling my insurance company, calling Eve, calling Alan, and calling a tow company. Not necessarily in that order. In this time the battery died completely, with the window down, and the wind whipped ahead of an impending storm.

Eventually, about four hours later, the tow truck came and towed the car to the nearest Tesla service station. Alan picked up Eve and they came down to pick me up. Alan thought maybe we could replace the 12V battery and get the car going again, so we went to the service station. He and Eve braved the winds to do some diagnostics, then we went to WalMart (the only place open at that hour) to buy a battery and some tools. Back at the dealership we got the old battery out, the new battery in, and the car started. Yay! Lights on, screen on, windows up… but still no drive. Each time we tried to put it in drive, we got all the same slew of error messages. So we gave up and Alan brought us home, after a quick stop to recharge our bellies and his car. We drove home in heavy wind and think fog. It was a late night for us, especially him!

The Tesla service center was able to diagnosis it today. I was hoping it was a big battery issue, because I have another year left on that warranty. But, alas, it was not. It’s a “PTC heater failure.” Apparently that’s an important thing and part of the “high voltage” circuit thing and no longer under warranty. 😭

Tomorrow, E and I are taking the day off from work/school and going back to MA to pick up the car. Maybe we’ll swing by and see Lex again. LOL.

Life update

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Tessa

Hey all, it’s been awhile. I’m debating if I should keep the blog going, now that everyone is almost off and away. Maybe through E’s graduation, then stop. I’m not sure. Anyway, for now, life has been busy. Somehow I got a calmer job and feel just as busy — though I am getting more sleep than before, so that’s good!

Here’s a photo gallery of updates. E is at an FRC event (she’s loving FRC this year!) and I’m on my own for the weekend. I’m celebrating that by doing practically nothing at all! LOL. I turned down a few plans and have been enjoying the day at home.

We’ve had a very wintery winter this winter! Los and lots of snow!

I got a new job in the summer of 2023, then I got a new job at my job at the beginning of this month. I’m now the head of the tech services department with two people reporting to me. It’s actually a pretty high up position at the library. It’s keeping me way busier than my previous job at this library, though not as busy as teaching! Not many professions keep you as busy as teaching! I had a few programs left to finish up as part of my old job though. A puzzle competition that went super well and a spelling bee that was a blast. Now it’s all tech services from here out. I’m learning, on the job, that tech services really involves a lot of accounting!

We’ve been busy visiting colleges for accepted student days and to watch awesome music. We watched the WPI pep band support their basketball team to a win, then watched Lex perform with his Video Game Orchestra at a WPI talent show. It was a busy day for music and we loved it. I always love watching him perform!

Eve has been accepted to all four of the colleges she applied to. One she changed her mind on, but the other three are still contenders. We are doing the “Accepted Student Day” for all three, then she’ll make up her mind.

I’m driving a giant rental SUV again. This time is a brandy new Chevy Blazer EV. The Bolt that I bought for the kids last February died. Apparently Chevy is having a problem with the 2020 Bolt batteries giving out. The dealer didn’t have an rentals available and their reimbursement rental program was a total joke. It would have cost me over $5K up front and only about 70% of that reimbursed. It was super annoying and frustrating, but I channeled my inner “Um actually, I need to talk to your manager” and got things sorted out. However, because the teens are teens, they can’t drive the rental, so I’ll be driving it for the next few months while Eve drives my car. I kinda want to swap out the Tesla for something else anyway, but that will have to be another day, and after another raise.

Eve is off at an FRC event this weekend. She tried to join the team a few times off and on over the years, but didn’t feel welcome. There are a few new coaches now that made a difference to the team dynamic and she’s really liking it this year. She’s been doing some social media, some hands on fabrication and mechanics, and some logistical organization. She has come home from each practice in a pretty good mood and her texts from this weekends events have been positive.

Hmmm…. what else? I think that’s going to be it for tonight. Let me know if I should keep blogging. Maybe June is a good time to wrap it up? Maybe not? Thoughts?

A most whimsical day

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Tessa

A quick look at the blog shows that I’m a wee bit behind on blog postings. I’ll catch up eventually, but for now, here’s a little post about a truly whimsical day Eve and I shared today. We drove R down to MA to catch the RIT bus back to college, then we went adventuring!

We started at the Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, MA, one of the five Springfield Museums. We went to the science museum too, since we were there anyway. The first thing we saw was a super cool and active wood turtle. We watched it work very hard to get over the (fake) rocks to reach it’s food. It was probably the most active turtle I’ve ever seen.

I made several short videos instead of one long one. That decision resulted in me missing an exciting moment that caused everyone watching to gasp! See if you can figure out where it was. LOL.

The rest of the science museum was pretty cool too. The gift show, however, was just meh.

Then we ventured out into the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden. There were several fun sculptures, including a Horton Hears a Who sculpture that double as a play structure for little kids.

The Dr. Seuss building had various themed rooms, lots of characters and play places, and the whole upstairs was historical documents and stuff from him. Theodor Geisel doodled on everything and the museum had lots of random things collected with his doodles. He also had a lot of correspondence, all on Cat in the Hat stationary he drew. They also had his baby book on a video display. That was neat to see. The whole place is pretty interesting.

I’m having trouble getting the photos uploaded here properly. If you want to see lots more photos, here’s a Google album.

When were done at the Springfield Museums (or at least the two we were most interested in!) we headed a few towns over to visit the The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. The whimsey started right in the parking lot with a Hungry Caterpillar bug.

The Eric Carle museum is smaller and a little more museum like, but no less interesting. The open center area had huge wall art done by Carle on his studio floor with paint brushes and rollers. There were several side galleries with different displays, a reading room with loads of picture books, a studio for creating art, and the best gift shop! I wanted to buy everything there! I restrained myself… but barely.

We had a great day full of whimsey and fun. <3

Happy Thanksgiving – 2024

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Tessa

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a quiet one this year, delayed a day due to snowy weather.

E and I picked up Lex from WPI on our way. R decided to take a ridiculously long bus ride home to visit his friends instead of joining us for Thanksgiving. We went to the movies, had yummy dinner, and enjoyed the family time.

Apparently I only took dog pictures this trip. LOL. You’re welcome, Joyce!

On the way home we met up with Alan in passing, stopping to charge the cars and swap some family updates. Then the kids and I did some holiday shopping at the very crowded mall before dropping Lex back at college and heading home.

I am thankful for this family I have. I am a lucky daughter, sister, mother, and friend. 💛

Leadership training

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Tessa

My bosses at work think I’m leadership material. Seems obvious to me. 😏

I spent the past few days at an intensive library leadership workshop held at a retreat center. It was a beautiful place with quaint accommodations. They fed us three squares a day and filled our brains with information.

Now we wait to see if I get a leadership job. Actually, as they clarified, we are all leaders, so now we wait to see if I get a management job. :)

The Page Turners go to Maine!

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Tessa

I have an awesome book group that I started two years ago, fully inspired and based on Rosy’s book club. (I’ll give her credit every time!) We have eight members now and really enjoy each other’s company. Also inspired by Rosy’s club, we decided to take a vacation together. I booked an ocean front house for the weekend. Seven of us spent the weekend reading, talking, laughing (so, so much laughing!), singing, and relaxing. It was great. We carpooled there and back in two minivans, which gave us even extra time to chat and laugh, and a chance to stop for donuts on the way home!

We are already planning next year’s trip(s)!

A few more colleges

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Tessa

I was wrong in my April post. That wasn’t our last college tour. We decided to do two more this month. Last week we visited Hofstra University and SUNY Stony Brook. Both have marine ecology programs that she’s interested in, plus significant art departments. Both are bigger than the other schools we’ve looked at. She was initially very excited for Stony Brook and Hofstra was just an extra while we were there. After touring both, her opinion has swapped!

We started with a morning tour at Hofstra. They had a whole recruiting event going on, so there were lots of people (students, staff, high schoolers, and families), plus balloons everywhere, snackies, and live music. It was a really fun event! The campus is located in a pretty urban area, but the campus itself is a pretty cozy place. Hofstra is a registered Arboretum, so the plant life was diverse and really interesting. Eve loved it. Their science department had pretty awesome fish tanks, and they offer scuba diving as PE credits!

There are these metal statues in interesting places all over campus, plus moss on building walls, and a labyrinth!

After we were done at Hofstra we decided to swing by Northport to revisit our old stomping grounds. A lot has changed, but plenty has stayed the same. We went out on the dock, ate at the Shipwreck Diner, explored all the cute stores, then went to look at the water some more. Petting dogs along the way. There were so many dogs out!! I don’t know if that’s a normal day in Northport, or if it was “bring your dog into town day,” or something. LOL.

The next day we hit up another diner for breakfast. Long Island is like diner-land. They were everywhere. I always thought it was a Grandma thing, but maybe she was just a product of her location! :)

Then we headed to SUNY Stony Brook. The campus had some nice parts, but overall it was HUGE and had large swaths of concrete and paving (roads, wide walkways, random paved areas, etc.) I might have been a little cranky because we were late and the directions didn’t work properly in the car (routing us to the wrong place on campus) and the tour guides were terrible! All of us were tired by the end. I had scheduled a follow-up tour with the art department and with the science department. We did the art department tour, but Eve wasn’t super impressed. We then had two hours to wait before the science tour, but we were too tired and cranky to wait, so we bailed on that appointment.

Eve actually applied at Stony Brook and at Plattsburg at the end of October when SUNY had a free application week. She applied to Hofstra in the car on the way home from Long Island! Now we wait for the acceptance letters to roll in so we can compare offers.

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