College Visits

This fall has been flying by! We've been busy with college applications, school, work, and life in general. I'm glad that for the most part the application stuff is finished. Now it's time to hit up a few colleges so informed decisions can be made once the acceptance letters come in.

First up on the schedule is the open house at the University of Maine, Farmington. From what we've seen online, the town is small and the school is very small. Sounds like almost the perfect place for Sweet Pea. The open house includes lunch on campus, campus tours, meetings with faculty, and I'm not sure what else. It should give her a good feel for the campus and the goings on there.

Next up will be another visit to Plymouth State University. We were there in February and took a tour then, which included lunch in the dining hall. Since we're going to be up there way again we wanted to stop here again to refresh memories and make sure it was still #1 on the list. We won't be meeting with anyone but walking around campus and getting a better look at the town will be nice. We've been there twice in the winter, once over Christmas break when it was brutally cold and windy then again in February which wasn't so bad. It'll be nice to check it out in the fall when we can walk around town, see where some of the other buildings are that we didn't get to before, and get a better look at the local area.

The last two schools are in Vermont, Green Mountain College and Johnson State College. Both offer the major she's looking for, both are near ski areas and in small towns. They seem to be what she's looking for, I guess we'll find out when we get there.

I'm excited about the trip, it's a great time of year to be heading to New England. We'll have some free time to spend in the mountains and driving around will be amazing with the leaves at their peak or just past. Hopefully when we get back she'll be able to say these colleges are still on the list, but this one dropped off. If nothing else, she'll have a better idea of what they all look like and offer so she can make a better decision. Now we just wait on the acceptance letters.

Food Fun!

Probably one of the best classes going on this year is Food Science. Both girls are working on it and we've been eating pretty well while they're learning about cooking and baking. Sweet Pea is working through Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food and Rosie Jane is doing his I'm Just Here for More Food. We loved "Good Eats" when it was on the air and these books are like an extension of the show. They describe the how's of cooking/baking and the why's of doing certain things. When the girls finish the book they are working on, they'll switch which means cooking and baking all year!

Here's a few samples of what they've been cooking.

These kabobs weren't from the cookbook, but the resting method's in there.

ricotta clouds

my chef, hard at work

Dutch baby bunnies (oh, so good!)

saltines

roasted tomatoes

the roasted tomatoes made into soup with the saltine stars

More good things will be coming!

October Already?

It's been a crazy start to the school year. We started later than I wanted because Sweet Pea was busy working extra time at camp, then we got a few weeks of school in before Bob and I went on a cruise to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We had a wonderful time in Maine and Canada and enjoyed being off by ourselves. The girls were at home busy with school and the rest of their stuff while we were gone. They mostly were able to keep moving forward while I was gone, but math was an issue for Rosie Jane and science was a problem for both of them, especially since I forgot to leave assignments for RJ. Oops. 

Now that I'm back it's time to finish college applications, get caught up on grading and reviewing work, updating records, and planning what's next. The year is moving by rapidly and we have things to accomplish before the snow starts to fall and we get immersed in snowboarding and winter fun.