Busy Busy Week or Two

Got back from a trip to east Tennessee to do some college tours for my 18 year old, and to visit my sister in Maryville.  Last fall we did a tour of Maryville College and this past week we went back up that way to tour University of Tennessee at Knoxville and drove across the mountains to look at Warren Wilson College.  This week we will attend a joint presentation here in town of Emory, Notre Dame, and University of Virginia, and in October do a tour of University of Memphis (to give the local folks a fair shot).  Christian Brothers University here in Memphis, where Hannah did some dual enrollment last year, is also under consideration.  And, although we haven't done a physical tour, Oglethorpe in Atlanta may be  getting an application also.  So we've been knee deep in emails from various universities and colleges, setting up application accounts, and wading through all of this.  Application deadlines range from November 1 to November 15 -- so this is the priority over the next couple of weeks!

It didn't help that all four of us came back from our trip with colds.  Hopefully next week will see Hannah completing her "personal statement" to submit with the applications and we can get them all in.
(note: my camera batteries died during these pics, so the quality is worse than usual)

soon to be college girl, with my b-i-l

daughter #4

dad takes a turn

It wasn't all work up in the mountains, though.  We drove up with my brother in law to a piece of land up on a mountain that some friends of theirs own and the girls spent time swinging on a rope swing, looking at bear marks on a storage bin, and exploring around a bit.  The drive was steep, with some hairpin turns.  The drive over the mountains to near Asheville, NC was beautiful, too.  The weather was perfect the entire time and we had picnic dinners outside at the picnic table at my sister's house.  There is so much to do in that part of Tennessee!  I'm kind of looking forward to driving Hannah up and back for school and seeing all the sights if she ends up that way for college.