Jeff and I both were able to attend Bryn's concert at UWM last Sunday night. With my parents visiting, my Dad happily volunteered to stay home with Paige. And so my Mom also got to finally attend a UWAY concert of Bryn's. The music is so beautiful and this being their first concert of the year, the brass section opened with a special piece.

Paige graduated to rubber bands at the orthodontist Monday morning. She was not excited when we got back in the car and she realized chewing gum would no longer be an option. I was not excited remembering finding those tiny rubber bands everywhere when Bryn went through this.

We said goodbye to Bryn Friday morning as she left for school. A friend's family was kind enough to offer to host her for the weekend while we went to La Crosse for Friends & Family Weekend. So sad that I was going to miss one of her Cross Country meets. And the conference meet at that! On the other hand, Theo had an excellent dogsitter for the weekend.

The rest of the day was all about prepping for the weekend: Friends & Family Weekend at UW La Crosse! Abby emailed me the night before with her grocery list, so I dropped about $100 at WalMart. I also did my weekend grocery shopping so I didn't have to come home to that on Sunday when we returned. Jeff's sister, Terry, was able to come along so she drove here Friday afternoon, then shortly after Paige got off the schoolbus, we left for La Crosse! We arrived at Abby's dorm about 8:00pm. Basically got to bring in her grocery shopping order and say "hi!". Paige stayed with Abby for the night. Abby had an exciting evening planned for her that included doing laundry (what???)!

Back in the Falls, we (me and Paige) recruited many friends to cheer for Bryn at her meet Saturday morning. Our recruiting paid off as Bryn brought home a medal finishing 21st and just about doing her personal best this year! We texted her thoughout the morning with words of encouragement, then congratulations.

Saturday morning Abby walked us through campus, we shopped at the bookstore and then took Abby to her first UWL football game. UWL's field is under construction this fall, so all their home games are played in Winona, MN; about 1/2 hour away. The field was beautiful: nestled in the bluffs along the Mississippi River. We left after the third quarter to stroll along the other side of the river back in La Crosse. Terry persuaded one of the riverboat owners to let us take a look on board. We all promised to take a cruise on future visit. We took Abby out to dinner, then met some of her new friends back at the dorm. Paige was really happy to be able to stay with Abby again. This time Abby took her to the Prayer Garage at 2am... This is not what I did in college on the weekends, but Abby's probably better off.

Sunday we picked Abby and Paige up for church. Abby's become very involved in CRU at UWL and goes with many of its members to church every Sunday now. The new church is very different from our Catholic church. Kind of like a concert with a band on stage and screens all over. Paige said it was much better than our church. After church, we got to eat brunch in the main UWL cafeteria. Then we drove Abby up to Grandad Bluff where the view was spectacular! The weather was so perfect for our visit. And it was so nice to see Abby well-adjusted and happy in her new college life. Life is good. I can only hope our visit is this perfect next time when Bryn gets to come along.