Last weekend was family weekend at FSU and we all went to Tallahassee to see our guy. We were happy to see that he has settled in well in his dorm room, and although he doesn't interact at all with his suite-mates, he's comfortable. The dorm is always super cold for whatever reason, but otherwise he's got a great setup and we love that he has his own room. We brought him food, school supplies, and some tape to try and get his decorations up on the walls. We used painter's tape when he moved in, but the blue tape didn't hold up at all. Hopefully the contractor's grade duct tape will work.
After walking around campus and visiting the bookstore, we went to the apartment complex where we already signed a lease for the next school year. For whatever reason, it's typical for the good apartments to get snatched up for the next school year already. Connor and five of his friends signed up for a six-person unit next year and we got to look at a similar unit.
For dinner, we waited forever for some pizza, which was delicious but perhaps not worth the wait.
Saturday morning, we slept in a bit, and then Andrea and I went to lunch at McAlister's Deli. Paige stayed in Connor's dorm with him, and Connor had to leave fairly early to help the Fraternity that he's pledging, to setup for their big Family Day event. In the afternoon, we texted him to meet up and he discouraged us from coming to his Frat's event. We ignored his text and sure enough they had an event that was set up specifically for families, although it was certainly adult entertainment. We enjoyed watching Connor handing out drinks to everyone and seeing everyone drinking from the pool noodle.
Connor eventually was excused to go to the game and he met with up outside the stadium and we all went in together.
Our seats were decent, and thankfully I'd checked to figure out which sections would possibly be in the shade. Even in the shade we were melting and all through the stadium you could see people fanning themselves and baking in the heat.
The game was extremely lopsided and we enjoyed watching FSU scoring multiple touchdowns in the first quarter. Towards the end of the second quarter we could see some dark storm clouds off to the north and shortly before the second quarter ended they made an announcement that lightning had been detected in the area. The game was stopped and everyone went inside to wait for the storm to pass. Andrea and Connor rode a pedicab back to the dorm room, while Paige and I stuck around. Paige went to watch the game with some friends, and I watched the game for a bit after it resumed, before eventually heading back to the dorm with Paige.
We had intended to stay the night, however Connor had more work to do with his fraternity on Sunday, and we didn't have any other plans for the weekend. So, after Connor dropped us off at the hotel, we gave him hugs and kisses and then we drove home.
It was a memorable weekend with our boy, and we are so proud of Connor for doing well at school. He's made good grades, gone out with friends from high school, made new friends, went through the rushing process, and started the pledge process with a fraternity. He's already done a lot and we love to see him experiencing so many new things, just like we always hoped he would. We love you Connor!
September 10th, 2025, was my six week anniversary of my surgery for my skull and nose repair. The pain has mostly subsided, although I'll get a painful twinge from time to time. The bridge of my nose feels a little off at times, hard to describe, but almost like the feeling you get before you need to sneeze. Uncomfortable, but not a big deal. The skin on my forehead is still a bit numb and my right eyebrow is a bit droopy. Hoping it "wakes up" or something eventually.
I took a series of pictures each week. The first was just after my injury, then before my surgery when I buzzed my hair. Next is the day I got home from the hospital after surgery. The following pics in the second and third rows are all one week apart, so weeks 1 through 6. I still get a little surprised when I see myself in a mirror with my buzzed hair. The scar is mostly covered now and isn't nearly so noticeable.
I worked out, did the elliptical, and went on some long walks with Millie Mae. I have an appointment with the plastic surgery department in the morning, hopefully they agree that I'm healed enough to resume all the normal things I like to do.
Looking forwards to playing tennis this weekend for the first time in a couple of months.
Paige is a pretty independent woman, and too often we hardly see her when she's up in her room. We jokingly refer to it as her apartment since it's huge and she has pretty much everything she could want or need upstairs. With school in session, she has been doing well in her classes, although she did need a little help the other day with Chemistry homework. We went through significant figures and some other concepts together. Andrea caught Paige "resting" her eyes and "visualizing" the concepts while I was reading it to her. Millie was very helpful too and also studied with her eyes closed.
Andrea and Paige went to Orlando with some of Paige's high school friends. Andrea rented a Honda van to haul everyone and they left on Saturday morning. The resort was awesome for a big group and even though they had four bedrooms in their villa, all the girls ended up sleeping in the fun bunk room that slept five which was perfect.
At the resort, the girls played volleyball, pickleball, swam, and did stand-up paddleboarding. They made friends with a couple of high school age boys and played soccer and manhunt throughout the resort.
For Labor Day this year, Shawn flew to Chicago to visit with his brother and family.
We'd been planning to travel there a few weeks ago, however after falling and fracturing my skull, those plans had to be canceled. I was determined to make the trip out this year and Alex didn't have any plans for Labor Day, although Laura was on call and had to work for most of the weekend.
We didn't have any complex plans for the visit, my goal was just to experience their life in Chicago and hang out with my good friend Charlie. He has such an active imagination and the most energy of any little boy I've ever met. So, it was always and adventure, whatever we did.
Saturday morning, we had a quick breakfast at a nearby bakery and then drove over to the Field Museum. I hadn't been since I was young, and there were all kinds of new exhibits. Charlie is familiar with all the museums and they're like his own playground.
In the kid's area, Charlie and I put on matching skunk outfits while we played with blocks and dinosaur bones.
My favorite exhibit was the gigantic flying dinosaur Quetzalcoatlus statue, and I got a pic with Charlie between its huge wings. We looked at all the dino bones as well, including the famous T-Rex Sue.
In the evening, we played some Minecraft together and then watched K-Pop Demon Hunters while we had pizza.
Sunday morning, we ate breakfast at a nearby restaurant and then decided to go to the beach. There were quite a few things going on during the weekend, so we weren't sure if parking would be possible or easy. We decided that Alex and Charlie would ride their E-Bike and I rented an E-Bike through Lyft. I was a little nervous to ride a bike with my healing surgical issues, but I wore a helmet, and the route to the beach was through some quiet residential areas so it was fairly safe.
The beach was quite a bit different than our ocean beaches we're used to in Florida. Charlie jumped right into the cool water, and we swam for a while and he "surfed" on the waves.
We spent most of our time building sand castles, sand villages, and battling our communities. Charlie liked for his town to win and take the property of the others, and we worked a long time moving sand and then crushing it all. There was also a huge shark sculpture on the beach that we admired.
After the beach, we cleaned up and went to a local Mexican restaurant, before playing some minecraft and watching Aladdin. One of the most memorable moments for me, was after the movie finished I asked Charlie if he enjoyed the movie. He agreed that it was great, and then wanted to play pretend where he was the evil sorcerer from the movie, and pretended to transform into a giant snake so he could bite me. He is certainly one of a kind, that was not the reaction or game I was expecting, but it was classic Charlie.
I had a wonderful time in Chicago and thankful that I was finally able to visit them in their community and their environment.
