Last First Day

Yesterday was Noah's last first day of school. With everything else going on, it snuck up on me. The night before, though, I realized that fact and told him I'd appreciate a picture if he'd consider taking one. Wonder of wonders, the boy came through!

It only took until his senior year of college for him to voluntarily take a picture of himself for me, but I'll take it. :) Yay!

And now he's off on his final year of college (there's been no discussion of graduate school, but don't hold me to this if he changes his mind, lol). We picked up his new suit yesterday (after seeing Asher, he realized a suit wasn't a bad idea...plus I think the reality of life after college is setting in) and helped prep his resumes. He's got a senior design project thing today. We're not completely clear on this but apparently projects will be on display and leaders for each project will be there to talk to students. Students then submit their resumes and preferences and somehow in the end everyone winds up with a senior project. Obviously, that experience will shape this final year, so fingers crossed for a good fit. 

Whew. So far, classes seem good. Here's to a full and healthy year!

(PS Asher's classes started yesterday, too, as did Micah's FRCC classes. All good. Will update more later after all three boys have been to all of their classes.)

Omaha

After last Friday's black belt promotion, we came home and Asher finished packing. The next morning, Asher, Nathan and I headed out for Omaha! (Noah stayed here with Micah for some brother bonding time. Micah had work and school.) It was an uneventful 8-ish hour drive, pretty straight and straight-forward. (We took two vehicles so rotated driving between the three of us.) We arrived and checked into our AirBNB (just a couple blocks from campus) then walked nearby to get some dinner (more on that later). 

Sunday, we moved Asher into his on campus apartment! We picked up his ID card and checked in...unloaded everything and started getting things set up...back and forth for some various errands...checking out more stuff on campus...etc. 

Above: the pile of stuff Asher took with him, standing in line to check in, and putting his room together.

UNO has two campuses, primarily. Dodge campus has the main buildings and some living areas. Less than a mile to the south, Scott campus has the engineering building and a lot of additional housing. Asher's in a living learning community on Scott campus. The building is four person apartments, so Asher has three roommates. They each have their own room, there are two shared bathrooms (two boys to each), and they all share the kitchen, living area and patio. 

It's a pretty nice set up. :) Asher's room is fairly spacious, too...

It could have something to do with the minimalist nature of my boy, lol. He refused any discussion of a decorating theme or anything like that and will add things as he sees fit. Already, we've ordered a large beanbag for that open area where the extra chair is. It should get there today. :)

So, back to that initial dinner we walked to. Just south of Scott campus is this fabulous Aksarban area...

It's just a couple blocks from Asher's apartment. There's a fabulous food court area, a theater, plenty of restaurants and shops, and a large field and stage for events and live music. He's already played glow in the dark ultimate frisbee there with building-mates.

Beyond that area, which is all walking distance, we ventured out to see other areas of Omaha while we were together... 

We enjoyed food and ice cream in the Blackstone district, walked the Bob Bridge, and wandered the Old Market area. 

Over our time there, we took some pictures together...

And then, on Tuesday, Nathan and I left our boy in Omaha and drove home. We're so excited for Asher and all the experiences he's going to have. 

I'd be lying, though, if I said it wasn't hard. I found this drop off worse than any of the times we dropped Noah off. Noah's only 10 minutes away. :) And. When I came home after dropping off Noah each time, I came home to two boys. (With Noah's first drop off...the hardest...I came home to a 13 and a 16 year old, neither of which could drive yet on his own.) This time, I came home to a newly licensed Micah who's very much enjoying his independence. It's different. I suppose we'll adjust.

Sigh. I miss him, but I'm so proud of my Asher and know that he's ready. 

Last Friday night

Okay. I'm behind here and working on catching up. I'll start with last Friday night. We went to Karate West for a black belt and 2nd degree black belt promotion. It was the first promotion they've been able to have in a year due to the pandemic and the first time the demo team has been able to perform in as long. It was great being able to watch Asher perform with his teammates:

They did quite a few forms, some of which were new. Throughout the past year, they've been practicing in three smaller groups at different times, so putting it all together was tricky and fun to see.

As a 2nd degree black belt, Micah joined the line up to bow in and out and welcome the new black belts. He hasn't been with the demo team in about a year, though he was back at private karate lessons for a few months with Asher this spring and is considering going back to demo now that jumping doesn't hurt.

All in all, it was a great promotion. Six candidates promoted to 1st degree black belt, and one of the boys' good friends (that Asher's been on demo team with for nine years) promoted to 2nd degree black belt.

The demo team has grown a bit and is fairly large right now. They let Micah join the picture since he was there and since he helped even out the colors, lol. I have more "official" looking group pictures but liked this one best, actually. It felt more natural and representative of the good time they have.

So that was all happy. The bittersweet part was that this was Asher's last performance with demo for a good while, possibly ever. Karate has been such a part of his life for eleven years. His best friends are karate friends...

(The picture on the bottom left is the two taller guys acting shorter so the two shorter guys could act taller, lol.)

And he's had such fabulous instructors/mentors...

He's going to miss Karate West while he's in Omaha. And I was already missing Karate West. Ever since Asher started driving, I haven't been there as often. I used to be there three or four times a week and talked to all the kids and watched all the practices. Seeing all the kids in person again and catching up with them just reminded me of all that. So incredibly appreciative of Karate West and the support, memories, skills and relationships they've provided...but simultaneously sad about kids growing up. Sigh.

Back to School pictures

Okay. Today isn't actually any of the boys' first days of this school year, so we're calling these Back to School pictures. I happen to have them all in one place for the last time in a bit, so figured today works. :)

They were happily more cooperative than normal. This is maybe the best of the group shots, though...

That was amidst plenty of goofing around, like this...

In any case, here's to the 2021 school year:

NOAH will be a senior at CSU this year and will graduate in May with his degree in mechanical engineering! He has mostly in-person (some hybrid?) classes this fall, as CSU has mandated both vaccines and masks (indoors). He's still in the same apartment with the same roommate and will still bike to campus. He'll have a grader position this year, and classes start August 23rd.

ASHER will be leaving shortly for his first year at UNO (Omaha). He'll be studying architectural engineering and living in a four person apartment on campus. Most of his classes will be in person (though UNO doesn't have vaccine or mask mandates like CSU), and he has one class that's online. He'll have a car with him for getting to classes, though at least some are within walking distance. Classes start August 23rd.

MICAH is a junior at CEC this year. Classes at CEC actually started this past Tuesday. Micah only has one class actually on the CEC campus and it's in person (no mask or vaccine mandates). He'll also have two community college classes, one on the Front Range Community College Larimer campus (with mask mandate) and one strictly online through FRCC-Boulder. The FRCC classes start August 23rd. He's loving being an upper-classman and driving himself to and from everything and still has his part time warehouse type job on days he doesn't have class.

So, that's what I know right now. :) Happy back to school, everyone!

Last one

Guess who got his license today?! Yup, all three of my guys are now fully licensed drivers. 

Micah took his drive test yesterday (exactly one year from when we were able to get his drivers permit)...

...and we were able to get an appointment at the DMV today (thankfully in Fort Collins this time, lol)...

Whew. Congrats to the boy! He's pretty happy about the whole thing and definitely more excited about driving than his brothers were. :) 

Personally, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I feel a large sense of relief at being done with teaching boys to drive. (I've been getting these boys through drivers ed, drive camps, official on street driving, logging permit hours, making appointments at the DMV, dealing with auto insurance, etc for just over six years.) It'll also be nice to be able to have Micah run errands for me and get himself to things. And I know that this is a good thing overall...a step in the right direction for sure.

On the other hand, having teenaged drivers is scary (and expensive, lol). ;) Also, sincerely, I'll miss our car conversations. The years of logging permit driving hours (and the years before that) were truly a gift of time. Boys are much more talkative when trapped in a car with you. :) Sigh. 

So. Today was a transition. We're having a number of those lately. Yay?