Ode to Summer, and Boy It's Long....

The pace has been blistering the last few months, but most moments sweet. 

The parents MOVED in the last month.

I'm here to tell you: WE SURVIVED.

Now, let's catch up on those long lost pictures...

before I never make it out from under the photo files.

Apres spring break we celebrated 14. 

We celebrated with:

Chinese food

Charming

Children

 and a very cute green frog.

Who put a ton of late winter evenings into that play.

 At Easter, we enjoyed lamby cake and soon after...

 we met Darby.

 Grandma looks WAY too good for her age, if I do say so!

The cake was lemon raspberry made by moi, 

and gluten free to boot!

 Comet? 

He's always a charmer and has grown quite large. 

We need him to advance to moles, but he catches shrews, lizards, and mice. 

 Spring saw soccer, soccer, and more soccer. 

Have  I mentioned we "do" a lot of soccer?

He began reffing as well - in his "free" soccer time. 

A real job!

 Our local club has been so good for him. 

It's hard to believe we are now at high school ball.

 And possibly a more "elite" club program spring of his freshman year and beyond. 

Time shall tell.

Thank you, DUSC for investing in his character.

 There's been much joy...

 and the reward of hard work within community.

There's also been amazing coaches who care. 

I'm not ready to leave the local fields,

 and the season and advance to HS, 

but he seems ready. 

SIGH.

Silver Falls with DEAR friends who finally got their bums back in state from PA!

Very wet + very hot = very nice!

Mostly.

 At an auntie's farm with goat love + aunt love.

 Love.

Love.

 NASA's John Herrington in town for the NASA Apollo 11 Challenge...

 and another rock star teacher and coach who has let him run with robotics,

and laser cutters, and 3D printers, and drills, and saws. 

Love the STEM program at the middle school + the mentors.

 Land drone, position robot, robot plants flag, and collects rock sample, and they rock it.

 Sweet 16 arrived.

I wish she would just quit growing already!

 There was an interesting break out box challenge that's not yet finished!

Soon. Heaven help us.

 Sixteen: morning + cat skirt + Star Wars scarf + the peanut brutter.

 Dress for dinner, dude.

 Happy Birthday!

Thank you to all who sent emails, cards, and lovely wishes.

She felt the gift of your presence. 

Thank you.

We love em' bunches and bunches. 

Can't wait to see what the year brings.

Wish we could slow it all down.

Just a a bit.

Jet Propulsion Labratory

    Our entire college trip was centered around our visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. We were very blessed that family of family offered to give us a tour! Sis wasn't feeling so hot, but still the day was amazing, detailed, and fascinating. Thank you, John, for taking soooo much time with us. We may be guilty of longest tour ever & thoughts along the lines of, those darn tourists with their question list a mile long. We appreciate Curiosity and you!

 Museum

 Spacecraft Assembly Facility

 NASA/JPL Machine Shop

 Mars Yard

 The Rover Control Room

Cal (Berkeley) + Cal Tech

   We skipped the admissions tour at Cal. We could not get there in time from our lodgings without making our teens grumpy from the get-up-and-go. We took a tour with a senior nearing the finish line on his triple major of European History, French, and Russian.He was good at discussing the history of the campus and the history of the university, now a 151 years old. We wished for more engineering discussions.

   Our guide noted the competitive nature of Berkeley, but also noted that students choose and create whatever environment they want at Cal. There are 27 libraries on campus, but you must be a student or staff in order to access. Shucks! The bell tower on campus is the 3rd largest/tallest in the world.

   The Cal system of schools has their own application process + FAFSA. They do not use the Common App or CSS. Freshman are guaranteed housing, but after freshman year it's not guaranteed, a turn off for our students. Acceptance rate for instate students is about 15-17%. We did not get access to dorms or the engineering school.

   The chemical engineering and chemistry programs are the smallest at the school with about 900 students and faculty total. We have now seen MIT, Standford, and Berkeley. Of the three, we liked engineering at Stanford best. We clearly appreciate a low key vibe. There does seem to be a lot of opportunities at Cal, but professor relationships seem to be pivotal. They are on a semester system with 13 credits per semester required as a minimum. 40k students on campus.

    The next day we wandered onto the Cal Tech campus albeit rather intentionally since we were in the area to see the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and had down time. The funky campus has its own vibe. I sat in the coffee shop for awhile, while some wandered around hoping to check out their ham radio tower. Watching social interactions was really interesting. We also ate lunch in their cafeteria and curiously eavesdropped on a variety of wide ranging discussions from Star Wars to space podcasts.

   The incoming class each year is small. Cal Tech clearly accepts a special kind of student and students must embrace 3-4 all nighters each week. The labs are amazing. The vibe warm. The food delicious. The smiles genuine. It felt less intense than Berkeley. No one seemed to be scurrying to and fro, but rather soaking in long discussions or lingering over lab tables. Little known fact: Cal Tech is the NASA contract employer for roughly 6,000 Jet Propulsion Lab employees. Their reach truly touches the stars.

The Spring Break College Trip: Santa Clara University & Stanford

   I'll post a few pictures & thoughts. What a blistering trip. I won't pretend it was easy. We flew the longest legs. Good choice. We should have asked those in the know about LA to help us do a bit more planning. Poor choice on our part. The Venice Beach rental was lovely, but the area SO not us. However, we really liked the Venice Beach Canals, and catching up with my nephew who gave us a tour of Phase Four where he is working on space propulsion.

   We went to see some of these schools because they are on our consider list and others we were just curious about. It was all worthwhile. Seeing schools and regions in person really does change and form perceptions and awareness and take some of the mystique away. It's all about FIT for your student. What a haul though. Her gut melted down after an intense Mock Trial season and some other travel plus other strains on her system. She is such a trooper and so resilient, but her story is not mine to tell. That said, finding a college where she can fly (i.e., eat well) will be critical. I'll post a few thoughts about the schools from my notes.

   First stop Santa Clara University which has been voted #1 most innovative university in the west. We enjoyed our visit, but since school was out, we did not get a real sense of the place. The area did not really appeal to her, but her brother enjoyed the visit. Campus was mostly populated by international students and the soccer teams. Nice compact campus. Dean of Engineering is across the street from main campus. People drive fast in the area, and food selection was okay. Airport very close by.

 Stanford

One of the best admissions discussions we attended.

97% of students will live on campus all four years.

Barns were to die for. 

7k undergrads & 10k graduate students.

Decent size campus, really pretty large.

There was a sense of cooperative teamwork, not an eat you alive attitude like some Ivies.

Internationally known design school.

50% study abroad paid for by school.

Can't find your club? Propose it and the school will pay for it. 

EE maker space labs are open 12 hours a day/6 days a week.

Palo Alto felt very expensive and not very appealing.

We did have some very good hummus in town.

The college itself felt like a safe welcoming space. That said, crime is becoming an issue in visitor parking lots specifically during break times when they know many visitors are on campus.
Keep your valuables locked up and out of sight in your trunk. 

Some families found they had stolen suitcases, lap tops, etc....

Bill Gates on campus for an AI symposium while were visiting.

Food was good. She could eat here, but the lines were long at lunch.

Many housing options available.

Out of all the schools we visited, she could see herself here.

Likely to apply for kicks and giggles with no expectations.

 There's more than one way to explore a campus.

More schools coming soon....