<p>We thought we made the right decision. Son was in agreement (probably still is) that it was silly for us to go to parent weekend since it was so close to drop off. </p>
<p>But I am so sad tonight that we did not make the plan to attend. Five weeks is a really long time to not see your only child. </p>
<p>I am jealous of all of you that are going!</p>
<p>Ditto, vlines! I am sad…Just knowing that all these parents will get to see their children makes me sad that I won’t get to see mine. HOWEVER…I did send a package to him via a friend who is attending PW and… I will be there two weeks from today for fall break. 
Whew! That is what keeps me going right now. Even though I am jealous of those attending PW, I am also happy for them. Have fun everyone!
Vlines - Since many CCer’s will be too busy to visit over the weekend, we can keep each other company.</p>
<p>Me too! I sympathize, but am SO exited to see the M-State game in late October and experience game day when Fall is fully in effect! Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Went to Parents weekend last year sorely disappointed that S could barely visit with us due to pledge commitments. I think we had pancakes with him @ 10 Sun night. We booked Sat-Mon figuring he would have more time. We are going down at the end of Oct as its close to his birthday and a bigger game(priorities!). He isn’t coming home at all this semester with the Iron Bowl, so that’s about in the middle.</p>
<p>Dad, didn’t see your post. We are going to Miss State too! Hopefully a nice fall weekend. S should have more time this year & might actually miss us by the end of Oct!</p>
<p>I agree. I too wish we hadn’t been so logical in thinking that if our son was coming home for fall break, travelling for parents weekend was a luxury we could skip. Would like to see my son with my own eyes for just an hour to make sure he’s ok like he says he is.</p>
<p>We won’t see son for fall break this year, so I’m really glad we are going to PW. Decision was made for me when I saw it was FAU, a sort of alma mater for me. </p>
<p>But, none of the locals are going, and we have the car full of care packages to deliver to our friends’ kids. Going to be a busy weekend!</p>
<p>Vlines: I wasn’t a huge fan of PW. Lousy football opponent & the vibe isn’t the same as on a “big game” weekend. We decided we’d rather go on a non-football weekend when D isn’t pulled between commitments, & restaurants & hotels are easier to come by.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^
Agree. Parents week just seemed to close to drop off, and too busy to actually spend time with our son. We decided to head down for Fall break. On the Thursday younger hs junior son is going to take a tour of the campus with mom (me), while my UA student and his dad are going to run and get things that he needs (and snacks that he doesn’t.) Then we are going to give our UA son a little break and take him away from for a mini-vacation (we’re going to Atlanta to Six Flag’s scarefest and to check out the city attractions.) I know I would love to stay in Tuscaloosa more than a day to explore, but my experience with my older son at another university is that by this time the student needs a little time away from the school atmosphere. For those going this weekend, Roll Tide!</p>
<p>My younger son and I went to Parents Weekend for my son’s freshman year. At dinner the second night, he said that I should not spend the money to go to any of the future PW. It is quite costly, and now with my younger son having such a demanding academic/athletic HS schedule, we really cannot take the time off. We’ll see the older son at Christmas, as he, too, is very busy at Bama.</p>
<p>We also are not going…while I am sooo much better (Stitches in front of face now out but still no solid food for two weeks) we knew that DD’s sorority would have initiation (and she’s on Exec) so this weekend is out. We have tix thanks to a great CCer to the Ole Miss game next weekend. We are taking DD’s bid brother and will spend time with DD’s boyfriend’s family in Muscle Shoals on the way home. Traveling is our mantra for the next couple of months. We have tix to every single baseball playoff game (both American and National League…will not use them all so if you want to go???) and we are traveling with Mizzou to both Florida and Tennessee. Spending Turkey Day in NYC with DD #1.<br>
DD is not going to come home for fall break. She turns 21 on October 2nd and her boyfriend is treating her to that time in a cabin in Gatlinburg (DH is a little worried ther might be a ring involved here…stay tuned!). She and her sorority sisters and boyfriends fraternity brothers will all be arriving for the MU game the next week so we will see them then :).
The next time we will see her is Christmas…she has elected not to go to NYC and instead stay in Muscle Shoals and go to the Iron Bowl. I miss her lots but we talk every day and since the other 3 spread out all across the US we are kind of used to it.</p>
<p>I think we will need to find a time to go visit. We would really like to go to a football game. This summer, it seemed silly to spend money on travel. But I am obviously not as tough as I thought I was, and for us not to see him until Christmas may not be possible. </p>
<p>Thanks for the support, and all of you that are going, have a great weekend! The weather looks wonderful!</p>
<p>I know, I know, it is costly, but this is my only child, and there will only be four Parents Weekends. It’s also our way of giving back to this great university that was generous enough to give a nice regular kid a chance to go to college debt free. </p>
<p>As we look at our car packed with care packages for friends not attending, we have decided to charge for package delivery to fund next year’s trip. Just kidding! </p>
<p>Seriously, though, we enjoy it, and I know that without this event, we would probably only see campus briefly during drop off/pick up times, so this is a great “excuse” to take the time to enjoy the beautiful Quad and the great hospitality.</p>
<p>Hope all of you enjoy the Weekend!</p>
<p>We did not go to PW last year (D’s freshman year) and had no intention of going this year. We can’t take advantage of the Friday events since D2 is in the HS marching band and has to be at the Friday night games.</p>
<p>I happened to win tickets to this game and we are only a little over 2 hours away, so we are coming down for the game and then heading for home after. So while we are going to be there on PW, we won’t actually be participating in any of the PW events :(</p>
<p>We went last year as my son was a freshman and we wanted to see him in the band. He was very busy that weekend but we enjoyed ourselves. As Montegut stated, its nice to give back to the school and it just fit into our schedule. The activities we attended we good and just being on the quad was unbelievable. We did not plan to travel down this fall for PW but now I wish we were. I miss my son and I’m not sure when we will see him. He still isn’t sure if he will be home for fall break. We do have tickets to the LSU game so will get to see the football team and band in LA but its not the same as T-Town.</p>
<p>To those who are going this weekend, enjoy. And to those of us at home, welcome to the pity party.</p>
<p>I was tlaking to my son yesterday about how when we visit over fall break we would take him shopping for food and lothes and he said,“Well, I am going to be pretty busy…” UGH! I get the feeling he isn’t as excited about our trip to him as as we are. I gues that is a good sign… :)</p>
<p>I feel SO much better after reading this thread! I was also feeling blue today because we aren’t attending PW and I miss my youngest son! His birthday is next week and it will be the first time in 19 years that we haven’t been together to celebrate:( Such an odd feeling to be “done” with the major part of parenting and moving onto things that revolve mostly around my husband and me! It’s fun but things around here are much slower. The calendar looks so forlorn and empty on the wall!</p>
<p>Ahpimommy, let me know if you’re thanksgiving nyc plans will take you to Long Island. Would love to meet you. As for playoffs, if you have extra I could join you at one of the Yankee Stadium games. I’ll even bring a mitt to protect you.</p>
<p>Bummer that we’re not going. This is the last one for us; son is graduating next May. :(</p>
<p>We are not going either. Trip from NY is a big deal, and fortunately DS doesn’t seem to miss us too much.</p>