So we were back home, but not for long! I switched my work day to Monday since we got back earlier than expected. We had thought the flight was supposed to get in early Monday morning and I had taken the day off. I really needed to get on the road with Scott for his orientation trip to Western Michigan.

We had planned on making it another family vacation leaving on Weds. Turns out Tom had an inservice rescheduled during that week in which he was running a program for Northrop's HR department and couldn't get out of it. So we were on our own. And I am not a long distance driver, so I had to break up the trip into 2 days of driving. The kids and I jumped in Allison's car and headed out Tuesday morning. Turns out Allison did all of the driving for me. My  right hip was killing me from all of the stair climbing and  walking in London and I did not think it would manage a 10 hr car trip. So we drove up to Ohio on Tuesday and stopped for the night. Scott was scheduled for a 2 day orientation at Western on Thursday and Friday.  They had a family program along with his, so I dragged Allison to the presentations with me. We arrived a day early at Western on Weds and did a drive by of the campus. Although we had a stop over for a Minute Clinic visit in Ohio in the morning for Scott who was still fighting a cold and an eye infection from our trip to London. We got some medicated eye drops and were on our way. We had to check Scott into the dorms for an overnight by 8am on Thursday.  I noticed all the other parents and kids bringing in linen and pillows, blankets and fans. However, we did not get an email ahead of time and was not sure what to bring. I did call to make sure Scott was still signed up for orientation, as well as to find out about a parking pass. But the girl never mentioned needing to bring your own linen for the sleepover. Scott dropped off his backpack with a change of clothes to his dorm room. I offered to run back to the hotel to pick up a few supplies, like a pillow and blanket, but he figured he would survive overnight with the dorm sheets and an open window. He also took some measurements of the room since it is the same layout as the room he signed up for in the engineering dorm to help him plan what to pack. Then we headed over to a group wide, morning orientation session with a light breakfast. At lunch, Allison and I stayed in the meeting room with hundreds of parents and had a wonderful lunch followed by even more parental orientation on life in college while the students went off for their own lunch and orientation. The kids participated in group programs, campus tours and were treated to a play by the theater students giving them a taste of life in college. Scott could have skipped the team building sessions, but enjoyed the meals in the new dining hall and even the play. Looks like he had a dorm room all to himself that night, but he worried that someone would show up late. That did not seem to be the case however, and he was up very early the next day for breakfast and a bus trip over to the Engineering campus. He had the opportunity to speak to a counselor and sign up for his fall classes all before we parents were done with our morning orientation program. Looks like Scott will be taking pre calc., chemistry and lab and a few engineering graphics classes. He did not have to take any pre placement testing to determine class schedules-the school goes by the ACT/SAT scores. The following day we were also treated to the same play that the kids had seen the day before. An hour and a half production on Life in College with question and answer period following for parents. It was actually very good and very funny and they even threw in music and dance. The night before Allison and I were treated to hors d'oevres while we strolled through multiple booths set up for us to learn about the different services provided on campus for the students, everything from educational programs to tutoring, job opportunities and medical care, scholarships and sporting events.  Afterwards, Allison and I were too pooped to go out to dinner, but we did take a quick run over to Meijers for some local shopping and then picked up dinner to take back to the hotel. In the morning we did not have to arrive quite so early, but we met up with Scott after the play. We were all supposed to have lunch and a reception at the Engineering building, but those engineers were so efficient, they finished their program way before our play ended.  So we drove back to the Engineering building to enjoy our free hot dog lunch in their dining hall, took a quick tour of the engineering building, rescued a baby bird at the front entrance,  and chatted with a Chemical Engineering student about classes and life on campus then headed out to South Haven.

I wanted to spend the day on the Lake Michigan beach at South Haven, but the kids weren't exactly prepared for swimming and it was very hot. They did not feel like dragging out their suits and changing in the bathroom, I did not bring enough beach chairs or the umbrella, so they opted for walking along the shore with their feet in Lake Michigan and stopping into Kilwins for ice cream in town. There was also a Dragon Boat festival setting up for races on Saturday morning  so we checked out their Arts and Crafts booths before heading back to the hotel and carry out dinner.

On Saturday we hit the road and stopped near Pittsburgh. My brother Dan had recently relocated to the Pittsburgh area for work, so we had a chance to stop in and visit. His wife Sheila was back in Houston for now watching both their dog and son Clayton's dog for the summer. Dan had the cat. It was nice to catch up in person and he took us out to a great restaurant for dinner. Thanks Dan!
We also thought it was ironic that our hotel was right next to the Pittsburgh Penguins Ice Arena. They have their Stanley Cup Banners hanging outside the facility. We just enjoyed our local Washington Capitals Stanley Cup win for the first time. Unfortunately we were in London during the end of the series and missed the winning game. We enjoyed catching up on the games when we returned home and watched the recordings as well as the celebration parade in DC that took place the week we were gone to Michigan.

On Sunday we were back in Baltimore. Tom's inservice turned out to be a great success and we filled him in on all the info he missed at parent orientation.