Family Day

On Saturday, Zach's college hosted family day.  I remember from my own college days that family day is a big deal and hard for students whose families cannot be there.  Andy was scheduled to run a 10K that morning, so we decided that just the girls and I would attend.  

We knew we could not fully participate because of the distance.  On top of that, our plans were up in the air even as we left town because we were still awaiting surgery news for my dad.  Zach told us to stay for Grandpa, but I am glad we went.  We got there too late to participate in any of the scheduled events, but I think it was important to just spend some time hanging out with Zach. He would have been pretty lonely on campus without family there, and I think that even when we left, there was not much for him to do.

They won the game, and it was fun, but I have to agree with Zach's high school coach.  High school football is where it's at.  There is just something special about Friday Night Lights that gets lost in college.

The uniforms are new this year, and they are very sharp looking, but I do have concerns when the boys play in heat at 86 degrees like it was yesterday.  Most of the season should be cooler, however.

After the game, I got to meet Zach's adoptive mom and some of his adoptive brothers - all very nice people.  The team had the opportunity to introduce their family members.  One kid got big laughs when he said, "my girlfriend would be here too, if I had one."  Zach clearly already has some popularity with his teammates as was evident after he introduced us.

After he cleaned up, we took Zach out for pizza and found that the local pizza place adjacent to campus is really good and very reasonably priced which of course means it s also quite popular.  Zach shared a paper he had written with me where his teacher wrote some comments about how she was surprised by the quality of his writing.  Zach always downplays his abilities.  He did not take the highest level classes in high school, but even the lowest classes at his school prepare students very well for college.  The school is a college prep program, period.

Savannah had some homework for her PSAT prep course that had to be completed.  The library was already closed, so we let Zach take Julia to a nearby store while Savannah sat on an outdoor bench working her way through practice tests.  This really stinks for her weekends.  She gets no rest and really no opportunity to just take one day off.  While Savannah worked, I played with my camera.

Savannah needed fifty minutes to complete her work.  She started with plenty of sunlight, but the sun rapidly disappeared leaving her to seek out a light to finish up.  This is my favorite picture taken while just playing around with the camera, and I don't think I distracted her too much.

We left too late last night and arrived home just after 1:00a.m.  Wyatt had been at a sleepover, so everyone is tired today.  Savannah added 8 hours of drive time to her log yesterday and did very well with unfamiliar roads, detours, and construction.

Zach says he is meeting people and having fun. It is still not clear whether this will be an amazing college experience or whether we will have to reroute, but he's okay for now.