<p>VAMom- I am not a big fan of admitted student day anyway, but how about scheduling a visit where your S could follow a student in his intended major for a day? perhaps do an overnight? I know from the facebook page of S’s choosen school that their admitted student day is also filled. I think the admitted student day is more a dog and pony show and won’t give a real feel for the school.</p>
<p>Hi all! My computer died and I’ve been away trying to get set back up - WOW - it has taken me hours and hours - but I’ve read EVERY post - CONGRATULATIONS to so many for so much!! Carnegie Hall, more scholarships, proms, moves, and money - money - money. What a great group - I missed you!
S is still on the ship Indecision as well. Now pretty much between two options, mostly due to affordability - which they really aren’t, but as close as we can get. One more big scholarship interview weekend coming up, and then it will be time to toss the coin or at least grab for land.
One of his two schools is across the country and he has not visited - thinking he would visit if he got admitted. Now however the big scholarship weekend is very close to decision date, and if it came through, he would definitely choose the scholarship school (not the far away one). Should he wait to visit? And visit only if the $$ doesn’t come through at the first place?
He is struggling with the decision because it would entail missing quite a bit of school just before IB exams start - difficult!</p>
<p>Amanda - when DD1 left for school, we repainted and swapped her room with DD2’s. Our floorplan is kind of strange - other than master, we have 3 BRs and one of them is almost twice the size of the other two. DD1 wasn’t thrilled but understood. Oh, and Wow - Carnegie Hall!</p>
<p>Prom here isn’t until the middle of May. Good thing, too since my 5’/nothing DD’s dress had to have significant alteration work. That whole “good things come in small packages” is small comfort when looking for things like a prom dress. Oh, and shoes? Very few stores around here stock size 5 shoes so that’s been another little bit of drama.</p>
<p>So question about grad party invitations… we are aving DD’s with one of her close friends and they have set up a Facebook event and invited all of their friends (including some adults that they are FB friends with). I was going to order some cute invitations with a couple of her senior pics (think postcard size) for my friends and family but am now wondering if I even need to do so. DD thinks I should just add them to the FB invitation. Has anyone else gone entirely electronic with invitations? It goes against the grain but would seriously take 2 minutes and I’d be done.</p>
<p>We are going on a cruise from Seattle in early June. Flying up the night before on Alaska Air (who knew they’d have a nonstop from Austin to Seattle?!) On Sat. June 11, our ship docks at 7:00 a.m. There is a nonstop Alaska Air flight at 11:10 back to Austin. The cruiseline “strongly recommends” that your flight not leave earlier than 11:30. </p>
<p>Because we do not normally fly (last time was in 2007 to go to DisneyWorld; before that, it was 10 years!), airport stuff makes me nervous, so I decided we would take a later flight, at 12:30 (or something like that) connecting in San Jose with about an hour and a half to change planes. </p>
<p>Last night, I get an email that says the flights back have changed: the flight leaving Seattle is now at 2:40 going to LAX :eek:, changing not just gates, but airlines, and not arriving back in Austin until 11:25 that night.</p>
<p>I am now thinking that 11:10 nonstop looks a lot better! I asked this question awhile back (before I made my reservations) on a cruise message board and nearly everybody said we would have no problem making the 11:10 flight. </p>
<p>Can any Seattle folks help me with this decision? I am thinking that we would be able to get off the ship at about 8:00 a.m. which should give us plenty of time to get to the airport and avoid LAX.</p>
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<p>Passing the red wine, and counting our blessings :)</p>
<p>2ed, thanks for setting me up pn Shutterfly. I just put up pics of boychild. Can’t wait to go through and see everyone’s pics but will have to wait until tomorrow when I have more time.</p>
<p>Cgpm59 – usually cruise lines let people with earlier flights disembark ahead of everyone else. So you should be fine with the 11:10 flight. Believe me there are people who are in no hurry to leave the ship on the last day.</p>
<p>Amandakayak – Carnegie Hall! That’s awesome. And as usual you make me laugh. Parking lot?! I doubt it. Even if it would be true, you don’t have to tell that to anyone. Carnegie Hall is enough.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone whose children made their decision. For everyone still sailing on the
SS Indecision – thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing this voyage with us.</p>
<p>proudmom of 2- my d is 5’1 and has size 5 1/2 shoes (same as her mom!) so boy can we sympathize with the alterations and shoe shopping. Personally for special occasions with enough advance notice we order shoes from Zappos or Shoes. com. they both have free returns/shipping so there really is nothing to lose. D just received one of the pairs she is contemplating for prom today. It has been a lifesaver as there are never shoes in our size in the stores!</p>
<p>There are several students closed out of Admitted Students Days per my son’s admitted students’ FB pages. I noticed many of these students asked current students if they could crash with them. All seemed very open to that option.</p>
<p>Good to hear that many of your kiddos have made their decisions! We have been enjoying Ds last spring break as a high schooler. It’s kinda sad. We sent in enrollment deposit last week and declined one schools scholarship offer. So it’s official now.</p>
<p>Holliesue - thanks for the advice; I’ve never ordered shoes online but maybe we’ll look check those sites out.</p>
<p>@cgpm59: I have no experience with cruises, but it is about 30 minutes to the airport from downtown Seattle (where the cruise terminal is)… in the middle of the night. On a Saturday morning, 60 minutes should more than cover any traffic or unexpected slowdowns. That would get you there two hours before your flight leaves. I would feel safe with that if it were me.</p>
<p>cgpm59 – The issue will be how quickly the ship completes docking procedures and Coast Guard clearance. Make certain the pursers’ office knows what time your flight is well in advance of departure morning. Clear your bills at the desk the night before, rather than waiting until the morning. There’ll be cabs waiting dockside. </p>
<p>I would be jealous were we not going on a cruise ourselves in June! And thank goodness we got a non-stop. I hate all the up-and-down and hanging around airports. Some of the stops on a trip to Rome are overnight…in Newark! </p>
<p>Proudmomof2 – Ordering shoes on line is easy…too easy. Be sure to read the reviews (if any) as they’ll be quite clear on things like ‘true to size’ and ‘comfort’. If the consensus is ‘order up half a size’ or whatever, really consider doing it. It’s like shopping with 40 of your closest friends! And the free shipping both ways is great! I also like it for when I find a pair of shoes in the big stores that I want and they a) don’t have my size which is the most common size, or b) don’t have the color I need.</p>
<p>proudmomof2 - we have never done all electronic invitations because there are still many folks who aren’t “wired”. We do sometimes do the evite thing [Invitations</a>, Free eCards and Party Planning Ideas from Evite](<a href=“Evite: Online Invitations, Greeting Cards & Party Ideas”>Evite: Online Invitations, Greeting Cards & Party Ideas)
but suppliment with snail mail to those who don’t have computers, or never check email. And I know many my age who aren’t on facebook. I do a lot of volunteering and am amazed at the number of folks who have one email address for the husband and wife or never check their email ordon’t even have a computer at home. I am so dependent on email that it would be like not having a phone to me. </p>
<p>11yo D is dying for big brother to leave to take over his room. Oh, she is not swapping or giving up her room, she wants it in addition to her current bedroom and playroom. He will come back and the walls will be postered with Twilight characaters!</p>
<p>Is anyone else dealing with a kid who has mentally checked out of HS?</p>
<p>He is still doing his work but his heart is so not into it.</p>
<p>Nothing to look forward to-blah blah blah. A week from Friday he leaves on the Spanish Class trip to Spain-which he was fortunate enough to go on due to a very generous gift from my parents-do you think that could perk him up?</p>
<p>I am starting to think he is spoiled-which I never thought before.</p>
<p>I will tell you though by behavior is much improved! I didn’t bring up the C word once yesterday-how awesome is that??? For me truly remarkable. :)</p>
<p>I hope everyone on here waiting on FA packages gets what they need or have been led to believe they could expect to receive. </p>
<p>The new additions to Shutterfly are great-keep them coming.</p>
<p>Proudmom: We’re thinking about going with evites for our grad party and supplementing with snail mail as needed. Three years ago I bought invites, printed them on the computer, and mailed them, and it was time consuming. My daughter is having a party with her best friends, and we’re trying to find a date to schedule an open house for our family and friends, but of course the friend’s party is the day we would have liked to use. I have also used zappos.com and onlineshoes.com with great results.</p>
<p>Pepper: My daughter has had varying bouts of senioritis since January. At this point in the year, a lot of seniors are ready to just be done. I think that the trip to Spain will give your son a lift, and once he returns the end will be in sight. Remember the roller coaster - he’s at the bottom right now.</p>
<p>seattle_mom – Thanks. I guess we’ll see what he can find out from his guidance counselor today. It seems odd that we didn’t receive anything at home.</p>
<p>Pepper – Hoping the trip to Spain will motivate your son to stick with it just a while longer. It’s so nice that he has that to look forward to! When he gets back, he should be heading into the homestretch!</p>
<p>Yeah Pepper- my D is so over h.s. She is doing ok (or so she tells me) in her classes- haven’t got a “your student is behind in online classes” email from the GC in a couple of weeks so that is good. As long as they are not making really poor decisions, I say let them start picking their head up from the every day school slog and look ahead/get invested or interested in the future. I think it will ward off the potential depression of having “the best days of their life” over with- and replace it with, “What’s next?” (tm The West Wing)</p>
<p>I would like to think so. But I wonder how he’s going to do in the “real world” where you have to suck it up everyday and just do your job.</p>
<p>I guess it’s part of growing up. I don’t remember going though this in HS. I remember senior year being a lot of fun. What I remember of it that is. 
I was so not a good teenager.</p>
<p>Our Sr is so over hs. Kiddo is in classes with the top students, and from what I see/hear I think they are all ready to check out and are doing their best to keep up the pace these last few weeks.
Grades are fine, yet kiddo is ready to be at “the U”…
Tired of a couple of the classes, still loves the others
Its all review for the 6 AP tests looming in May…so between those exams and finals, school is not “over”
Has put a few personal goals in for the spring sports season so thats great
Looking forward to prom so planning for that has been nice.
Already has plans for the whole summer.
We have airline tickets and hotel confirmed for freshman move in.
I haven’t gotten started on grad plans/gifts/invites etc…I need to get a jump on all of that. Seems we will be seeing all the grandparents for graduation which will be nice and means planning…hmmm</p>
<p>I think all of the Srs are realizing the big build up to April 1 has passed, and decisions are being made for May 1…and they are looking ahead…and there are mixed feelings with that…</p>