<p>If I didn’t know better I would conclude from reading this post that college visits are a new form of entertainment.</p>
<p>Entertainment, no. Information, yes. There are many good colleges out there and some offer very good merit aid but college is still a huge investment of parent money and student time. In an effort to help our children make the best choices, we will take them to visit any school that they want to consider that is within our travel budget. Yes, this may use up any vacation time we have, but we figure that it is a good investment and something that we need to prioritize until 2011 son, 2012 daughter and 2014 son have applied to colleges.</p>
<p>Maybe I missed something, but one thing you could do is go early with the two older kids and do the college visits while your 14 year old is at camp. Then you only have 2 youngsters to entertain 
Then pick up the 14 year old and head for home (or Beloit). We happen to live in the Twin Cities (and my kids are veteran Concordia Language Village campers, too!).</p>
<p>If camp is not on the way, how about having your 14 year old take the camp bus back to the Twin Cities to meet your family (save yourself the drive to Bemidji or Hackensack, not sure which site your youngest will be at…). You would miss the last day’s program, but really… I have been to it 10 times (literally), and your kid would probably be okay if you missed it.</p>
<p>Stuff to do in the cities if you do end up with the littler kids in tow during your Macalester stop and want some non-campus entertainment: we have a GREAT science museum (Science Museum of Minnesota) in downtown St. Paul, easily good for a few hours entertainment. Mall of America isn’t too far away. You can go walk along the Mississippi River not far from Macalaster (drive west on Summit Ave, you will hit the river in a couple of miles). I don’t have so many suggestions for the Carleton/St. Olaf swing - - but if the older kids are doing both in the same day, maybe an adult could take the car and come up to the Twin Cities with them. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is on the southwest side of the Twin Cities, it is fabulous and would provide several hours of fun for them. I don’t know about getting between campuses for the other adult and older kids, but they are awful close together in Northfield.</p>
<p>Don’t feel guilty! Just be massively appreciative (which it sounds like you are). The younger kids may have a great week, the grandparents may enjoy them and you can travel with a lot less stress. Sounds like winning solutions all around!</p>
<p>Apollo6 - That’s great that the grandparents can help. I agree it’s a win-win situation. Perhaps you can also put some friends on call to visit/play too. </p>
<p>Beware that you may need to put the kids on “grandparent detox” when you get back. We laugh a lot about our kids say, “What do you mean you can’t have ice cream twice in the same day? Sometimes Granny let us have it 3x”.</p>
<p>Intparent - Actually S3 will be at Marine St Croix, one of the adjunct sites so he won’t be far from Minneapolis St Paul. I regretted that he wouldn’t get to see the “real” camp but I was relieved to cut out another 4 or 5 hours of driving. These were the dates that fit his schedule. Colorado_mom - I know what you mean. My kids come home saying, “we always have dessert after breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa’s house”.</p>