tour-de-force

so the first 'official' college tour is under his belt. looked at northwestern on friday....gorgeous summer day, campus looked great, very impressive academics, seriously annoying tour guide. he said amazing approximately 74 times, repeatedly told us he 'wasn't being paid by the school to say this', 'i promise, i'm not lying', and my personal favorite 'you can fact-check this'. this kid must have had some hard-core cynics on his tours so far. on the upside, the guide was very enthusiastic about his experience at the school, and had some pretty impressive accomplishments racked up in just one year - including a patent! no doubt that the academics are 'amazing', and it's definitely still on brady's list. next up for this particular school, an overnight there with a student sometime this fall. need to start making a plan for other school tours....which will have a hard time holding up to the tour we took on saturday, SEGWAYs on the lakefront:) really fun, would have been more fun if they just let you go on your own but i guess there's that annoying liability to think about.....great way to see the city though!

Brady's turn

i'm baaa-aack! this time to follow brady through his senior year. definitely having very mixed feelings about this. i've made it through almost two years now of jake being 'gone', but still wouldn't say i've adjusted completely to it. and now in another year, brady will be gone too. my time with my kids living primarily at home will be over. done. finis. kaput. and since in my head i'm still about 25, i'm clearly much too young to have two adult children. but i'm very excited to see where brady's path will lead him. in the words of ole dr. seuss - oh, the places you'll go brady!