day seven - unc

so, last school. unc. great basketball. that's all. seriously, that's all i remember. the whole school had a very energetic vibe, lots of students out and about and hustling and bustling. felt a lot like iowa city. brady volunteered to take part in a quiz during the presentation (kinda shocking actually), a fun way to kick off the session. but that sort of set the tone for the whole thing, lots of fluff and fun. not even a mention of the schools academic reputation. she talked a lot about her experience there, and her major, and how she switched her major, (turns out music wasn't her 'jam' - an often used phrase of hers) but no focus on what the school offers academically. oh well, not every school is a fit. ate lunch in downtown chapel hill, LOTS of carolina blue was worn by the diners. later that night, we ate at a nice restaurant in downtown durham, had the best pasta i think i've ever had. black ink squid noodles, with rock shrimp and carbonara. it's been a busy busy week, full of all kinds of information. i think brady's, and we, are a little overwhelmed. so time to drive home and process.

day six - duke

i truly have no idea why, but duke was my dream school. my college 'search' was practically non-existent, no tour around the country, just a trip to iowa with a friend who had a brother there. but for some reason, i remember dreaming about duke. woulda, coulda, shoulda....this is a cool campus! north carolina's a really pretty state, and the grounds are gorgeous. so are the buildings. so are the kids. well, not gorgeous maybe, but clean-cut, polite and pleasant. they look like they're having a good time there...impressive academics of course, and really up-to-date facilities. AND, the only campus we've visited that has its very own lemur research facility. with lemurs. not sure how you top that. ran into another family from des moines, i went to drake with her, she and her son were looking at schools in the area. what are the odds? anyway....good day, think brady liked it. oh yeah, founded by methodists. maybe it's a sign? our tour guide was very cute, not terribly polished - which was actually refreshing - she struggled to think of things to say at several spots along the tour, but you could tell she was very enthusiastic about her school.
unc next.

day five - rainy days

our luck ran out. we've had great weather all the way, and today it decided to rain. a lot. a whole lot. like a monsoon. so virginia's not making a great impression. we had to run out to get some raingear, and i'm glad i scored my 10 dollar wellies at old navy or i would have been really miserable. did NOT bring proper footwear for rain. anyway....the campus is dripping with history. great stories about jefferson and his intent for a public university. between the sheets of rain, you can see that the school is very attractive, architecture was jefferson's gig after all:) tour guide had the prettiest little accent, with a cute story to tell about coming from a small town to the big city, yadda yadda yadda. brady is spending the night with a student, Nyan, to get a better feel for the university....so andy and i headed to Monticello. would have been spectacular on a sunny day, but still very cool. turns out jefferson and i have the same taste in dining room colors - golden yellow! now if we could just get some of that sunshiney color in the sky.....
since we were on our own, andy and i had dinner at the Virginian, oldest restaurant/bar on the 'corner' (name of the strip near campus) and had some KILLER mac 'n cheese. perfect end to a rainy day. tomorrow, duke.

day four - tiger tour

so... think of the 'ideal' college setting. what comes to mind? the ivy league maybe? walking on to princeton's campus is like stepping onto a movie set. gorgeous old buildings accented with deep green runners of ivy, of course crawling up in exactly the right spots...expansive lawns, mature trees turning gold and red, students in deep discussions as they walk to class. it was almost surreal, brady's exact quote? "this, is college". and it is. for sure. very impressive academics, and a very interesting culture. they 'sort' you into houses (yup, just like harry potter) where you live for your first two years. after that, you can choose to stay, or move into upper classmen housing. as an upper classman, you have the option of joining eating clubs. sounds very much like a co-ed fraternity, but you eat all your meals there, and do a lot of socializing too. 5 of the 10 clubs are sign-in, meaning anyone can go. the other 5 are called bickers, because the membership 'bickers' or debates over new members. it actually sounded a little snotty and competitive, but i guess no worse than the greek system. lovely little town, with a typical street of stores and restaurants and the bookstore, where brady snagged his second sweatshirt of the trip. our first brush with ivy league has been a memorable one....interesting note from the tour guide - apparently each class used to plant ivy when they graduated, but they found out it screws up the foundations of the buildings....so they stopped...but don't worry, the ivies will still stand strong:) back in the car...to UVA.

day three - the cathedral of learning

that's right. the CATHEDRAL of learning. it's the iconic symbol of pitt's campus, and it's beautiful. the campus is very urban, right in the city. walked around a little before the program started (diet pepsi run) and saw some of the really gorgeous buildings on campus. the school is next door to carnegie mellon, turns out they have reciprocity with classes there. the presentation about their honors program - the reason we were there- was deadly boring...the professor in charge of the program may be a neuroscience genius, but he's no public speaker. unfortunately.
lunch was average, the tour was good, super ugly dorms in circular towers that would make me crazy to live in, but i don't have to! interesting spin on a public university and what they can offer academically to 'gifted' students. gotta start with some swag which turned into a painfully long sweatshirt selection, but overall a good day. back in the car, headed to princeton.

day two - pitt stop

thought i'd continue the ever popular nascar theme...get it? pitt stop? day two took us from porter, indiana to pittsburgh, pennsylvania. after a full day of driving, with beautiful fall foliage along the way and a rest area where the boys fueled up on popeyes chicken, pulling into pittsburgh was a pleasant surprise. i guess i was expecting something sort of grim and industrial, but instead, found a city with a charming kind of old-world feel to it. really beautiful buildings, certainly some tired-looking areas too, but overall very cool. speaking of cool, andy took us to a brew pub housed in a big old catholic church. gotta admit, it felt sort of sacriligeous to see big shiny brew vats on what used to be the altar, but an interesting vibe after you got over the church-ness. wasn't so hungry so i had chicken spaetzle soup, brady had a bison burger, and andy had, beer. he ordered dinner too, just don't remember what it was:) LOTS of steeler fans there, it was a gameday, they won. tomorrow, scholars' day.

the tour - day one - start your engines

so the great college-palooza is under way. hitting the road to 5 schools in 5 days (plus drivetime) a great mix of public and private, and most importantly - hours and hours with brady in the car- great way to finally get some face time with the boy:) i like car trips (contrary to popular belief - Andy) and am really excited about heading out 'east' to check out these schools.
on the hitlist:
Scholars Day at Pitt, then Princeton, then UVA, then Duke, then UNC. can't wait to see what he responds to and to see Duke - my dream school that i never applied to:) our first dinner nearly ended the trip....apparently, brady is no fan of nascar, and the restaurant we ate it was the Quaker Steak & Lube - literally littered with Nascar memorabilia. AND they had the added bonus of the World Ultimate Fighting Championships on EVERY tv in the place. the waitress even asked if we "were there for the fights? cause you've got great seats."
brady's assessment - ok wings....the rest was less than memorable. off to a fantastic start!

senior pics

oh yeah, that was the other thing i needed to add. finally got around to his senior pictures...did some out at Gray's Lake, then at Wakonda's pool, then on the course...but just as we got out there a huge storm rolled in - lots of thunder and lightning, then came the rain. we wrapped 'before the really heavy stuff came down'. got some great pics thanks to erich ernst:) here's a sneak peek.

catching up....

haven't been a very responsible 'post'er...so here's my attempt to catch up. Swimming, ACT, SAT, football games, tailgating, swimming. and then homecoming spirit week.
Toga day= animal house. Dress-up day: handsome.
'-er' day = gangster.
Nerd day = nerdy.
game was a big blowout, students stormed the field...then did some 'secret senior stuff'. then he took the SAT in the morning, so hopefully his brain was firing on all pistons after all that adrenaline.
good luck!

last first day

i would love to see an aggregate of all the facebook 'first day' pictures. from k-12, saw SO many kids standing on the front steps, all spiffed up and ready to go. so, here's brady's last first day pic. i've got to stop thinking of everything as the 'last', although it really is this time. BUT, trying to stay sunny and optimistic about all the excitement ahead for him. and us, i guess....???