<p>my younger son went to see some friends for a few days, I thought: Fine, super. When I asked him when he’d be coming back (so that I’d have groceries, food prepared, etc), he told me “this weekend.” When did he arrive? Monday morning. </p>
<p>I have NO PROBLEM with him doing his own thing, but I think he should be more upfront with his schedule. If he had said, I’ll be home Monday morning, then fine. But I was expecting him Saturday around noon.</p>
<p>Well, I saw a lot of his motionless form sleeping under the covers. . . </p>
<p>When he came home, we went over the few “must do” things, like Christmas dinner and a visit with grandparents. He has become even more nocturnal, so he is usually up late and sleeps tip 1 or so. Many nights he went out with HS friends, but we had a couple of snowy nights and were able to have a family movie night here at home.</p>
<p>I saw a lot of his laundry, which I actually didn’t mind doing for him. I think he can’t wait to get back to the cafeteria, as my fridge cannot compete with pizza on demand or a full salad bar. (Boy has that changed since I was in college. Back then we all could not wait for a full pantry and mom’s cooking, but these days the kids have a 14 hour open cafe with 7 food stations. I can’t compete!)</p>
<p>I am so happy that he is happy at school - while I wish we spent more time together, I know that is unrealistic esp with a son, so I am happy to watch him head out with his friends. He will be home for spring break and then pretty soon freshmen year will be over!</p>
<p>D is still on break, classes start on Monday. She had a month off. But, I only saw her for 10 days or so of the break. She spent a week at her aunt’s in Chicagoland and has spent the past week in Honduras on a public health trip. She <em>just</em> texted (since I started this post) to say she has landed in Miami, on her way back to her aunt’s house in Chicago.</p>
<p>I saw plenty of him over the 3 weeks he was home, even though he worked at the store where he’s had a part time job since high school, and did a few overnight trips to see friends from school. They all met in Boston for NYE, too. He only sees on old girlfriend from his high school days when he is home. We had lots of family dinners, went to the movies, out to dinner, etc. All in all it was a good 3 weeks but he was ready to go back last Sunday and we were ready to see him go.</p>
<p>Wow, this is not a problem we seem to have.</p>
<p>Our daughter was home for nearly 6 weeks. We saw a lot of her, took a trip with her, and remain very close. She was glad to go back to school, but also very glad to return to be with us, after her first term. We will not host her until the summer, but will visit her 2x over the next 6 months. She didn’t seem to need distance and was happy to be home.</p>
<p>For us, it worked for several reasons. We did lots of domestic things together, like cooking projects, decorating, etc., but also hiked and skied. She played games with her younger brother. The trip bonded us, too, 8 hours in the car talking. We also asked her lots of questions about her studies in both subject matter and method, as she is in an interesting and intense program in a new country for her. She also had a lot of school work to do over the vacation, part of the style of her university, which occupied her mind, but she is never bored.</p>
<p>After our boarding school senior’s 2pm breakfast, we got time with him by running errands together – doing things that he wanted/needed to do.
Most family interactions involved food. We went out to a couple of movies – the time during which he was ‘trapped’ in the car provided good opportunity for conversation.</p>
<p>We had planned to visit my folks, but the ice storm intervened.</p>
<p>*Our daughter was home for nearly 6 weeks. We saw a lot of her, took a trip with her, and remain very close. *</p>
<p>Girls may be different. many will want to go on shopping trips with mom (hey, usually there’s a new top or shoes to be had…and maybe lunch!).</p>
<p>My sons typically will be up til 3 am and then sleep until noon or later. The last thing they want is to go shopping with mom…altho one of them doesn’t mind too much for a mini-vaca or if going shopping means he’s getting something he needs and a nice restaurant is involved. the younger one just says, “you know my size, I don’t need to be there.”</p>
<p>But, the younger one did tell me to include him in the big family reunion trip this summer in Calif. It does coincide with his very brief 2 weeks off this summer. But, will he actually be awake during any activities? lol…that remains to be seen. The relatives may just be given a view of a lump under a blanket.</p>
<p>I enjoyed reading everyone’s stories. I’ll be joining this group next year. Our oldest is a HS senior this year. We live in Florida and she’s most likely going to college in NYC or Philadelphia in the fall. She has a few academic acceptances so far, but she’s going to be a dance major. So she also has auditions for all these schools starting the end of this month. So we’re not quite sure exactly where she’ll end up. But it will be in the Northeast. We are from Philly, so we’re comfortable with her being up there, as there is family near all those schools. But it will be an adjustment. We have 3 other kids at home yet, 2 boys, 15 & 12; and the youngest, she’s 10. Our D will probably spend a lot of time home over breaks, she’s sort of a homebody, but time will tell. I guess I’ll take the advice of most here and schedule things ahead of time to be sure we see her.</p>
<p>Part of them growing up is their circle of friends becomes larger then just their parents and brothers/sisters. Especially once college starts they will most likely make new friends who are probably from all over the country.</p>
<p>My son was up here for 3 weeks. He slept at friends’ houses almost as much as he slept at home :(</p>
<p>Our kids slept in their own beds in our home the entire time they were in HI. Both would have at least one or meals with us each day. S (who works full-time and was only here for 2 weeks this visit) actually spent more time with us when he and we were awake than D has, though she has been here MUCH longer than he. Her schedule is way out of synch, but we are just happy to have the kids around. :)</p>
<p>I think soph. S has been off for 4 weeks. He was also home for Thanksgiving. He always hangs around the house with the family, plays games with sibs, so we spent a lot of time with him. (I wish he had friends around, but he doesn’t.) I think he is ready to start 2nd semester–going back tomorrow. We like having him around–he’s the only one who is willing to shovel snow!</p>
<p>D slept here the whole time too, which was a change!
One of her best friends whose house she would often be at was in Oxford for the holiday and her other local BFF has parents a little stricter than I, so she stayed here. 
( they are 23 & 22, and I don’t blink if they come home at midnight and go out again to return at 2am. I understand parents who want them home earlier so they can sleep, but our puppy wakes me up about 1:30am anyway)</p>
<p>I remember when her sister was in undergrad, especially senior year, she had so much homework that she spent her time either sleeping or working on her thesis.
:(</p>
<p>We have not seen a ton of our two college kids during the break. DD, a senior , has an off campus house and her college is only an hour away, so she and friends have spent many a night there. DS, a freshman, is in and out constantly, mostly with friends who are often here – doubling my food bill. We took a brief family get away right before XMAS in anticipation of them becoming fewer and farther between as the kids move on. Still have one in HS, poor thing, she gets all (meaning too much) of our attention!</p>
<p>I’m still a high school senior but we were talking about college recently and my dad’s decided that apparently I’m the type who’s going to move out for college and never be seen again. My sister’s already talking about moving my stuff into the storage room and installing herself in my bedroom. Conversations about the future tend to have me left out of them- “oh, she’s going to be in college.”
I’m not sure whether to feel wounded or wound up.</p>
<p>S1 and S2 have lost touch with most of their hs friends, so mostly spent the break at home. We enjoyed having them around (love seeing my 3 boys interact and have fun together) but I was a little put off by how late they slept each morning. I came home from work one day at 4:00 pm and S2 was still in bed! I am glad to hear that sleeping late is normal, especially as their earliest bedtime was normally after 2:00 pm. I’m worried though that S2 especially will have a hard time getting up for his 9:00 am classes.</p>
<p>That made me laugh :)</p>
<p>I wish I had a sister, 4 brothers :/</p>
<p>In order to have a true family vacation we decided when son #1 was in boarding high school that we would go away between xmas and new year every year. This December we went to Hawaii along with my BFF and her family with similar aged kids and had many outdoor adventures (and dinners together). Yes, the prices are extremely high that week but spending time together away from the local distractions is PRICELESS!</p>
<p>My brother came home from college. We woke up at midday usually. It was fun</p>