Sunday Aug 24th Paige left at 7am for Indiana with 3 friends for a few days. She was invited to a friend's lakehouse. I was surprised to find out the lakehouse was located in Indiana, but the family is originally from there, so I guess that's their "up north." I drove Bryn down to UWM to test for her chair position within UWAY. She won't find out the result til her first rehearsal. She had extra practices with her teacher to get ready for this, but felt she didn't do her best. I think Bryn underestimates herself.

Abby had a very traumatic Monday night. She and her boyfriend of 11 months broke up. Great timing. I guess it never is though. Her good friends Mac and Kendal came over very late to console her and I was able to have a bedside talk with her after that.

Paige returned on Tuesday and had a great time. They went boating, canoeing, tubing, waterskiing, to a flea market and just walking around. We developed her pictures from her disposable cameras and the pictures show how much fun they had.

Bryn had her first Cross Country meet right at Rotary Park here in the village Thursday Aug 28th. She was a little nervous all day before the meet. Again this year, Bryn leads as our school's top runner and placed 14th overall. Abby's last day of work was today and the Hallmark ladies made her a big send-off sign and gave her lots of little presents. Fortunately, Abby will be able to continue to work there whenever she lets them home she's home. After her shift, Abby and I went out last-minute dorm shopping for all those forgotten items that somehow slipped through our checklist. We hit JCPenney, then Kohls, too late for Target so we went to WalMart. We were out til 11:00pm!!! One bonus is that it's not busy at that time of night!

Kristin brought Bella and Lucy over to say good-bye and good luck to Abby as she heads off to UWL. Bella was silly and took a few bounces out on the "trampolina" with Bryn and Paige. Abby continued packing boxes and crates most of the day, but had to run out to pick up something else and deposit her paycheck. We all headed over to the high school booster club's corn roast for dinner. Really nice event that's totally free: hot dogs, soda/water and corn! Paige didn't feel like watching the first high school football game that followed, so Jeff and I went back home with her while Bryn and Abby stayed. Jeff and I kept packing and came to the realization that we did need two cars to carry all Abby's stuff plus our family.




Saturday morning we were all up and on the road at 7am. Abby's scheduled move-in time was between 11am and noon. We arrived in La Crosse about 10:45am and drove up to unload. Then student volunteers help carry boxes up to your room! Nice! Abby did admit she overpacked but didn't let us take much back with us. Thank goodness Paige and Bryn are such great helpers as they were indispensable picking up the loft and futon and then helping to assemble them within the room. They also came along to shop (again?!!!) for dormroom food and a few other forgotten items. We finally got to meet Abby's roommate, Ashley, who arrived just before us and her parents. Ashley is also the oldest of 3 children. I believe Abby set the record for taking the longest amount of time moving in. We left she and Ashley at 4:00pm. Abby is in an all-freshmen dorm which should be reassuring that everyone in there is in the same situation. We rented a hotel room (thank god!) and just chilled for a half hour before cleaning up to have dinner at 4:30. (We didn't eat lunch and were so exhausted from going up and down 4 flights of stairs in 90° weather!) Came back to swim for a bit and watched a movie.

Sunday morning we visited Abby one last time bringing her another shopping bag of needed items and helped her with her bike lock that didn't want to cooperate. Abby was planning to buy her books later that day. She told us she didn't like living there, but we assured her that these first few days are the toughest part of college because you have to redefine yourself in a totally unfamiliar setting. We treated Bryn and Paige to some not-for-Abby-going-to-college shopping at Johnson Creek and returned home by 6pm. Did I mention we are broke?