We dropped Espen off at her new apartment yesterday. We had a really nice trip down. Alan drove his packed car, and Espen and I took my packed car. Her car was going to make the trip, but it has some backup camera issues, so it will continue to live here for a few more weeks until we get that fixed. Then I’ll get to go to LI again to drop off her car!
Espen and a bunch of her friends have a very cute house in a cute neighborhood a few blocks from campus. Back when Alan and I were in college our friend group used to joke about getting a big house and all living together. I feel like she’s living our dream! We were going to be KKF2A, they are Stegos. LOL
She has a cute room that is already quite whimsical, of course. You know what else is in her room? Huxley! He lives with her now. They have seven people, one dog, and one cat. It’s a full house!
Huxley meets the cat.Oh, and sharks! So many sharks (and other stuffy friends)
We helped her move in, did some shopping (hello Ikea!), had dinner at a diner, had bagels for breakfast, had lots of laughs, then headed home.
Roomies (missing two)<3
So now begins a new configuration in my house – me, R, and Jasmine. It will be good, but at the moment it’s weird. Right now I miss my girl (my buddy, my bestie, my shadow) and my doggo.
Also, I know it’s been a few years since I was a teacher, and I’m up to my eyeballs in website work for the district, but I’m kinda missing school too. DBS has a new principal this year who seems pretty amazing. The high school also has an amazing new principal. There is a new cell phone ban and schools are starting to pull back on technology. My predecessor in the library just got Teacher of the Year for our her school (which I got back in 2020) and UVM Teacher of the Year (which I never got). School starts tomorrow and I won’t be there and none of my kids will be there either. It’s weird. I will be at my good library job though, which is good and what I want.
Anyway, life is good, everyone is good, I’m just going to be feeling some feels for a few days, then I’ll adjust to this new configuration. :)
This Saturday Espen and I had one last hurrah before she goes back to school. (our hurrahs are generally small, but fun)
You may remember that last summer we tried to visit the Haskell Free Library in Derby Line, VT, an adorable little library right on the US/Canada border. Or timing wasn’t great last summer, but we did a planning this year and had a much more successful trip!
You always need a good lay-down on a warm rock after a long car trip. That rock line is the country border.They put bigger “rocks” in the road so you can’t drive across the border. You can, however, cross the board a few streets up at a little border crossing station.UsSilly usA very fun dragon puppet!This well worn black line is the border. It runs right through the children’s section!In the entry area they have the line and little flags marking the border.
The library was built in 1901 (opened in 1904). It was intentionally built on the border as a symbol of binational friendship. It’s a small library, but an active one. While we were there we saw people doing their normal library stuff, plus visitors from both sides of the border. They had a little gift shelf, so we bought a few little things as a way to support the library. :) We also had a nice chat with the librarian who was bubbly and smiley. I was thinking about asking if she was American or Canadian, but by the end of the conversation it was obvious. She was so nice she MUST have been Canadian!
When we were done at the library we headed towards our next stop on the trip, but ended up with two detours along the way! One, lunch at the Vermont Pie & Pasta Company, and two, a random stop along the road when we saw giant straw sculptures at Chantel’s Creative Creations.
Hugs for the wooly mammoth.Her album coverTaming the dragon — “How to Train Your Dragon”-style.Who’s a good boy?
We assume that Chantel updates them and does repairs in the fall. There were probably a dozen of these creations. A bunch of them had dried up corn stalks, old pumpkins, etc. as part of the sculpture. We were guessing they probably update them each fall. There was a cute cart there for pumpkins as well, which was empty because it’s not quite pumpkin season yet.
We hopped back in the car and headed to our next scheduled stop – Cold Hollow Sculpture Park. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a pretty cool place. It’s acres and acres of open fields filled with huge sculptures made of metal. They give you a map and a booklet that gives a brief peek into the artist’s thoughts for each one. We initially thought the place was too big, and it was hot and sunny, so we were just going to do a short walk, but as we went we found ourselves wanting to see more and more of them. We definitely didn’t see them all, but we spent over an hour walking around these fields, checking out the colorful pieces. Here are a few of them:
Standing WaveWe Should TalkOop-pop-pa-daCheek to CheekLook Homeward We live here nowHi De Ho ManMoments in PlayArpeggio in 9/8There Is Always Another QuestionIf Not for YouJitterbug
A few weeks ago, while visiting VINS (a post that’s still on my tbw (to-be-written) list), I got a delicious sparkling cider drink from a food truck. It was soo good! The food truck was from Cold Hollow Cider Mill, so when we realized they were on our way home from the sculpture park, we decided to stop. Cold Hollow Cider Mill is a cute little store, cafe, and active cider mill. Unfortunately for me, they are sold out of the cider I was hoping to buy. :( Apparently it’s a seasonal thing. I’ll have to stock up next season! We bought some other random stuff though, because, why not! The only picture I took was:
My caption was “The wedding is next fall.” Her caption was, “Me when I want to go home and my mom is still talking.” LOL
We had a perfect day. I’m going to miss my buddy when she’s back at college.
Primary elections were this week and Espen cast her first vote! Welcome to democracy baby girl!
We then got ice cream to celebrate. :)
I dropped Espen off at the library for a “Plantasaurus” event, that she loved.
I brought Huxley along when I picked her up and we did some whimsical exploring along the way home. We stopped at a neat little park in Hanover called Nathan’s Garden. Other than the bugs, it was a very cool place.
Then we explored along the river and under the bridge, but there were too many bugs and too many people, so we went home.
Have I mentioned lately that I love my youngest? She makes my heart happy. <3
Just a few short days after we brought home our new (to us) kid car, Espen was driving back from Long Island and blew out a tire! Fortunately her and Alan were caravanning, and they were only about an hour away. She called me from the side of the road, shaken but ok, with the doggo whining in the seat beside her. Alan circled back to pick her up while I called a tow truck. We got lucky on this one, but it made me realize I really need to get emergency kits in all of the cars and sign up for AAA!
Several days and a thousand dollars later, we’re back on the road again!
Number three! That’s crazy. Even crazier, we’re on the lookout for number four! I guess that’s what comes when you’re financially comfortable with three young adults.
It took us awhile to find a good car, and awhile longer to get all the paperwork finalized, but we picked it up just in time! We got the car last night, and today Espen took the other kid car to Long Island for the weekend! I’m happy that the remaining three of us won’t have to share my car. :)
She left today, with Alan and Huxley, to move her stuff into her new college apartment. Her and her roomies used a storage unit to hold their stuff after moving out of their dorms, but their apartment lease started June 1st, so they are all meeting at the apartment to empty out the storage unit and set up the apartment. She’ll be back home for most of the summer afterwards. I’m glad she’s not moving for the whole summer! I like having her around. :)
My darling college daughter invited me to see a Broadway show with her! How could I turn that down?! This week I took the bus to NYC, got a hotel across the street from the theater, and had an awesome time!
I got there a few hours before she did, so I took myself on an walk to the New York Public Library. Once again, I didn’t see any books not behind glass, but I enjoyed the Treasures exhibit and the general vibe of the place. I also saw three different couples in wedding attire, posing for photos! What a place to get married!
Here are a few neat things I saw:
Then I went to check in at the hotel, which was literally across the street from the theater! I got a tiny room (aren’t they all in NYC?!), but it had a nice view of the street below and I’m pretty sure it was on top of a fire station.
Espen and two of her friends took the train into the city and got there shortly before the show started. We hung out in the tiny hotel room for a bit, then headed to the show! It was phenomenal!! Such a good show!
(she has a little pimple patch under her nose, not a booger!)The stage was pretty amazing.The theater was beautiful!
After the show we “staged doored” for awhile and Espen’s tallest friend got them all several autographs on their programs. :) We got pizza afterwards, then hung out in the hotel for awhile until the friends left to get the late train home. E and I passed out in the hotel!
The next morning we wandered through Central Park on our way to visit the American Museum of Natural History, particularly the sharks and the dinos! My teenage daughter is actually a 5yr old boy. LOL. The museum is awesome and she rattled off facts to me the entire time.
Needed .5 to get those whole boi in the picture!Elephants look weird without trunks. Espen said that skeletons like this are the basis for the cyclops stories.WhaleThis lobby fieels like you’re inside of …. something.Big sad sequoia slice
It was such a nice two days. I’m soooooo happy that Espen is thriving in college, making friends, and having big experiences! She’s so confident walking around the city, taking the train, making decisions, and existing in her world. It makes my heart so happy.
I spent a few days with Miss E at Hofstra’s Family Weekend. We had lots of fun. Hofstra has such a beautiful campus, and fun mascots.
Shark pumpkins at the carnival, of course.ABH – always be homeworkingJust a girl in a treeHere’s her office. Basement librarians unite! I always love a jazz band!Silly
Hofstra has an Arboretum on campus with fun, unique trees and plants. They also have tons of statues on campus! I enjoyed exploring and seeing E’s favorite trees and statutes. <3
I love this child. <3
For all the lovely trees and greenery, Hofstra is actually in the suburbs, which also makes for some interesting photos.
There’s definitely not a lot of lonely time around here, despite the empty house. Last weekend Alan and I went down to WPI to watch Lex’s band performance. Joyce met us there. The game was awful, the sun was HOT, but the band was great! We had fun. Then we took Lex out to dinner at the Olive Garden, where he ate new food! LOL.
The next day Mema and G’Tom came to visit for a few days. We saw an AMAZING musical at Northern Stage, had brunch in a tasty diner, checked out the (very dry) gorge, and have a lovely time together.
A few days later, E came home for the weekend!! She flew into Burlington and Alan picked her up. She wanted a fall-fun weekend, so we’ve been watching Halloween movies, apple picking, pumpkin carving, and baking tasty goods.
Eve’s taking a photography course at school and she brought home a DSLR camera for the weekend. Her assignment is “lighting” so she’s been grabbing the camera for random shots. Of course, I had to take pictures of her taking pictures. I couldn’t resist. :) She’s heading back to school on Tuesday, and the boys are coming home on Friday! Whew! Who knew it would be so busy in my empty nest. LOL.
Dropped Lex off a few weeks ago. Dropped River off last weekend. Dropped Espen off yesterday! One, two, three!
River and I had a nice drive out to RIT last weekend. He’s living in the same dorm again this year, with the same roommate. Move-in was smooth and way less chaotic than his freshman year move in. We went out to dinner, then I left him at his dorm. He had some mixed feelings for the year, but was making plans with friends for the weekend and feeling ok.
I spent the night at Rosy’s house, then had a lovely lunch the next day with the family before heading back home.
This week we brought Espen to Hofstra for her freshman year. Alan came down Wednesday morning and we packed up three cars — two to go all the way to Hofstra and one to go midway, just to WPI.
We met up with Lex and had an early dinner. It was nice to connect with him after a few weeks of school. Things are going pretty well and he seems happy. E, on the other hand, was quiet and withdrawn. Clearly the nerves were creeping in.
We said our goodbyes to Lex, then kept heading south. E slept for a bit in the car, but when she woke up we had a really nice chat about college. Same stuff we’ve talked about before, but she seemed receptive to it this time. We got in to the hotel pretty late, but ordered some food and snuggled (as best we could) on the hotel couch to watch some tv.
She didn’t end up sleeping well that night and wasn’t able to wake up early to draw, as she had been hoping to do. We met Alan at a diner for breakfast and E was once again quiet and withdrawn, barely touching her amazing waffle! (Don’t worry, Alan and I took care of it. LOL) On the short drive from there to campus she expressed frustration at not having had a chance to draw in the morning and worried that it would be “forever” until she had a chance to draw again. I told her she had to let it go and move on if she had any hope of having a good day. Meanwhile, I mentally braced myself for a “crash out” or anxiety attack. I was dreading how we would get her moved into her new dorm in that condition.
However, when we turned the corner and drove onto campus we were met with upper grade students in yellow t-shirts jumping up and down, holding signs saying “Welcome Home!”, cheering, shouting, celebrating the incoming students. A smile appeared on her face. We saw Kate and Willie (the mascots) in the group. She laughed. By the time we parked the car, she was grinning and chatty again. When we got out and crossed the street, I asked if we could take a picture with the mascots and she said, “Sure!” So we did.
She was chatty with all the people at the check-in tables. One lady who works there was excited to see her, even said she had been waiting to see King Gerald back on campus! Eve wasn’t even carrying KG at that point, so the lady just recognized E without the shark. :)
When her move- in time came, we drove over to the dorm. Everyone was so nice and so organized. The athletes (all those kids in yellow shirts) were tasked with helping kids unload and move in, so the process went quickly. Espen met her RAs, got her room key, and we got her moved in. She has a suite with two 2-person rooms, a common area, and a shared bath. Her roommate is artsy and quirky. The roommate’s mom actually works at Hofstra! We didn’t chat much with the two girls in the other room, but E had been chatting with them on social media beforehand and was comfortable with them.
After she was mostly unpacked, we took a walk over to the student center to get a car magnet for Alan. We had a little extra time before E’s first “required activity”, so we stopped by the library. She had been hoping to get a job there, but nothing was posted. She emailed the dean a few weeks ago, but (I think) got only a fairly generic response. This time the person at the desk sent us up to the dean’s office to sign up for a work-study position. Apparently they maintain a list of interested people, then once all the kids are back on campus they give first dibs to kids who worked there last year, and then anything left goes to new kids. E filled out the interest form, then the dean actually came out of her office and started talking with us. She brought out the assistant dean too. They were talking about an new AI archiving project they are starting and looking for students with a little tech confidence. Espen apparently knocked their socks off! The dean made a little note by her name, and today E got an email asking if she wanted to stop by on Tuesday to complete new-hire paperwork and get started working! She’s thrilled!
This is a normal thing to pack for college, right?The awesome courtyard by her dorm.Her room (and her belly. LOL)She got right to work hanging artwork. A few of her favorite thingsI love this kid!Her roomie drew sharks for both of them. :)Looking from her bedroom into the common area.The hallways are so wide and shiny!The loungeThey have awesome furniture in her courtyard!E’s first friend at Hofstra.Alan can’t resist an evil villain chair. LOL. The library lobby.A view from the 2nd floor in the library.
E had a mandatory meeting at 3pm, so we said our goodbyes in the parking lot shortly before that. I was holding my breath all day, waiting for the emotional break down, but it never came! She gave us both big hugs and went off to meet her Welcome Week leader. No tears. No lingering delays. No doubts or hesitations. Just hugs and off she went! I held it together until she walked away, then I cried on Alan’s chest for a few minutes. Not because she was leaving, but because I spent the day emotionally ready to catch her, but she never needed it. She rocked her day!
It was a long drive home, and I peeked at my phone each time she texted me. Still waiting for the break down. Not sure if that says more about me or about her. LOL. However, all of her texts were cheery and positive. She meet her Welcome Week leader, went to the University President’s welcome thing, did some other stuff I don’t even know, They had a late night breakfast that she went to. She spent the afternoon with her roommate. She carried King Gerald around and handed out loads of pins. She even said, “Also gerald might have gotten me a dnd group.” She had fun. Life is good.
I got home late and went to bed even later, but my heart was happy! I posted a thank you message on the Hofstra FB page and by this morning had over 100 “likes” and a ton of comments, all agreeing with my comments about how welcoming and energetic the campus was on move in day. I think that positive energy made all the difference in her day!
I got texts from her today, throughout the day. She did some stuff, heard back from the library, went shopping with her suitemates (her roomie has a car!), and went to a late night trivia event at the library! The texts so far have all been positive. She even signed up for their “Explore Next Door” program and will be going to NYC tomorrow to visit the science museum!
A selfie from Marshall’s. The girl in the hat is her roomie, the other two are in the other room in the suite.
I know this honeymoon phase won’t last forever, and struggles will come eventually, but for now I am overjoyed and immensely relieved that her first few days in college have been positive. She has roommates that are artsy and quirky and accepting. She has a job she’s excited about. She has classes she’s excited about. She likes her room setup and says “the vibes are peak.”
As I adjust to my own new life in this empty nest, I am at peace knowing that all three kids are happy at their colleges, making friends, getting involved, and growing into amazing adults. Now if I could just train Huxley to not bark out the window! LOL.
We spent last week in lovely Long Island for Espen’s college orientation. Student orientation was Tuesday-Thursday, with a parent orientation on Tuesday morning. We drove down Monday night and met Alan at the hotel. The next morning we dropped E off at her dorm for the week. It was a rough start. They didn’t let parents into the building (which was known from the start) but she couldn’t carry all her stuff, so they sent her in to check in while I waited outside with her stuff. I stood there in the hot sun, watching people come and go, waiting for Espen to come back. Meanwhile some other mother walked right in and another asked about bathrooms and was sent inside. I was super annoyed. After like 15 minutes Alan got there and I had to explain it all to him. I asked one of the orientation leaders to go check on her. She came out a few minutes later, on the verge of a panic attack. Said she didn’t know where to go. Didn’t know how to carry everything. I gave her big hugs, piled her stuff on her, and sent her back in. Tears were shed. Alan and I headed to the parent orientation. Awhile later she texted and said she figured out where to go. A bit after that “Gerald” posted a pretty positive post on Instagram. I sighed a huge sigh of relief.
I spent the afternoon exploring a GIANT mall. Biggest one I’ve seen in a long time. It was expensive and exhausting. LOL. I spent the next day working at the hotel. I ended up with a two-room suite, which worked out well for the whole “work from home” thing. I had a desk and plenty of room in the fridge for snacks and beverages. Then I spent a few hours exploring IKEA :)
Thursday I picked up E around lunch time. We took a quick trip to the campus bookstore, then headed back to the IKEA! LOL. We got lunch there and bought some fun little things for the house and dorms. We had a long, whimsical drive home.
I love spending time with my girlie. She’s the best. <3 I’m gonna miss her next year.
Hofstra mascots – Kate and WillieKate and William Hofstra, founders of the university, trace their roots back to the Netherlands and that’s seen throughout the campus.Scenes from the mallHofstra is full of interesting plants. These mushrooms were huge. We were surprised to discover they’re real!This flower was bigger than my hand.I finally got the complete set!Dinner at a tavern with some IKEA otters.
