A Fast Farewell For Our Second Son

Somehow this summer flew by and we reached the point where it was time for Andrew to head off to his freshman year at Franciscan University.  The night before we brought him to college, we had a family dinner (with whomever wasn't working) and ate this delicious Thai Coconut Curry Ramen which he picked because he likes it, but mostly because his sweet girlfriend loves it :)  Then we went down to The Cottage so he could have his last ice cream, and posed for this photo.  I just love how all of the workers are getting in on the action, peeking through the windows.

Andrew got an Ice Cream Flight to share with Darian, who wore the perfect shirt to send him off:

These two are going to miss each other while he's in Ohio and she's in MA.

Very early the next morning we left for the long drive to say farewell.  I may or may not have cried behind my sunglasses to Rascal Flatt's My Wish on the radio.  But that song can make me cry on a good day when I'm not even about to send my baby bird out of the nest.  We brought along the three little boys and left JP, Eamon and Maggie to run the shop in our absence.  They handled it like the champs they are!!  This sign was a welcome sight for weary travelers:

That big building on the right is a newly acquired hotel that Franciscan is turning into dorms.

Ahhhh his home sweet home for the next four years:

We arrived during the move-in time they had given, but quickly realized that Andrew would be very busy following the soccer team's schedule that we didn't know about.  He was getting texts on the team's group chat about where to be and when, and we were kind of clueless on what we were supposed to be doing.  Dropping him off early for fall athletics was so very different than dropping off JP two years ago for normal freshman orientation weekend, which was an amazing planned production with lots of informational and fun events.  This time around, there was nothing for parents to do, so we kind of followed our kids around to get physicals, ID cards, etc.  We were able to connect with two of our old classmates who each had a child playing soccer as well, so chatting with them was very nice.  The freshmen will all be able to attend Orientation weekend this coming weekend, but I feel really bad for the parents who weren't able to attend and had to do drop off their children this way.  I'm going to write an email to the Athletic Director suggesting a better communicated schedule so parents knew what to expect and some kind of mini orientation session for freshman parents whose kids play fall sports.

The basketball court is dedicated to a former Coach who happens to be Phil's sister's husband's grandfather.  Did you follow that?  So we had to get a photo to send to the Kuzma's.  Going to Franciscan runs in the family.  Andrew has a mom, dad, brother, two cousins, and eight aunts and uncles who all attended with likely many more kin to come.  It's a pretty cool legacy to share.

Outside the gym

Keeping the kids busy

We were hoping to take Andrew out to dinner but he got a text saying there was a Team Dinner and soccer pickup game after.  So we took the littles back to the hotel to swim and then out for dinner.

We always seem to pick up bonus kids wherever we go :)

The meal at Bennigan's was very tasty but the waitress was new and forgot to put our order in, then tried to pass it off as the kitchen's mistake.  We waited over an hour to get our appetizer while the table next to us came after us, ordered, and ate before we got it.  When she finally brought it over, Phil said it took so long and he would like to speak to a manager.  She was visibly upset and said "Fine.  I'll get you the manager" then brought our food over a couple minutes later and all but threw the plates at us.  We ate and the manager never came.  I took the littles back to the hotel while Phil had to track down the manager, explain what happened, and got a $20 gift card for our troubles.  It should have been a free meal, but now Andrew has a free dinner some day.  

While we were waiting for him to be finished with his pickup game, we went to Walmart and bought everything from his list plus some other items for his room.  Then we came back and set up his room until 10pm when he got back all wet (it rained) and sweaty from the fun game.  Let me just say, the room was UGLY and DIRTY but it's a large room in a hotel-turned-dorm so each room has their own bathroom and they have air conditioning, which is very nice.  His other roommates won't arrive until freshman orientation, so he has his own room this week, and got to pick his spot.  We cleaned and moved furniture and made it as cozy as we could.

These guys were troopers, helping us clean and shop and unpack.

Andrew loved the finished room :)

We all went to sleep and the next morning, Andrew came over to our hotel to eat breakfast with us, then had to go to Impact Testing at 9am with a full day's schedule after that.  We walked him over to his meeting, said a quick goodbye and drove away.

Can you tell who  likes to pick his own outfits?

We drove about 5.5 hours to Camelback Resort in the Poconos to stay for a night on the way home.  It was a surprise for the boys and they loved it!

We played in the waterpark for a few hours, then went to a cool restaurant for dinner where my fancy boys ordered steak tips off the kids menu.  When we were back in Steubenville, waiting an hour for our appetizer, I had dared the kids to do things as a way to pass the time.  Well now they want to play "Double Dog Dare" at every restaurant.  So here was Brendan daring Declan to let him sit on his lap for 20 seconds.

Other dares included trying the hot sauce, taking a loop around the dining room, and going to the bathroom for no reason.  Pretty G-rated stuff but they thought it was hysterical.  Then it was back to the waterpark for a couple hours, watching the last of The Lorax and bedtime!  

Of course, our mini-vacation was not all fun and giggles.  While we were there, Andrew called to say that he was put on the Do Not Play list for the soccer team.  Ugh!  Before leaving home, he had gone to the doctor complaining of chest pain.  We wanted him to get it checked out before he went to college, and the doctor thought it was just something to do with his chest muscles (he was training a lot to prep for the season) but ordered an EKG just to make sure.  Well we didn't have time to get the EKG done (he went to doc on Monday and we left on Wed) and didn't even think much of it honestly.  But apparently playing college sports is a big deal and they are very thorough and his physical was flagged with needing an EKG.  He was so disappointed but we called the doctor, who still wanted him to have it, and she called the trainer at Franciscan, and they are going to do the EKG on campus today.  Praying it will be clear and he can play.

Anyway, when we woke up the next day at the resort, it was a certain someone's 7th birthday!

But that's a post for another day!