Austin, the college student.

It's official, my parents are empty nesters. Austin packed up his belongings and headed to Fargo, ND Friday to prepare for his freshman year at North Dakota State University. I couldn't go up Friday afternoon, but I wanted to be there to support Austin (and my parents) during this exciting life milestone. So, I opted to wake my booty up extra early Saturday morning and make the solo trip to Fargo for move-in day.  

My alarm started buzzing entirely too early, 4am to be exact. I mentally set a plan to get on the road between 5-6am. That way, my three hour trip would get me onto the NDSU campus no later than 9am. After resetting my alarm several times, I finally crawled out of bed, showered and mentally prepared for my mini road trip. For me, early road trips mean one thing - McDonald's breakfast. After a quick drive thru run to get my Egg McMuffin and Diet Coke I hit the open road around 6am. 

Mitch is an NDSU alum, so driving to Fargo isn't a new adventure. I've driven that stretch of 94 more times than I can count, and there's not too much to look at along the way. My parents and Austin had spent the night in Fargo Friday so they could get a head start moving in right away at 8am Saturday. They called a few times to check in with me and see where whereabouts, unfortunately I was a little behind my original schedule due to pure laziness and a much needed McDonald's run. I finally made it onto campus a little after 9am, and parked in the same visitor parking lot I had 10 years ago. 

After roaming around campus for a few minutes, getting verbal directions from Mitch on the phone I finally found the Churchill residence hall. I made my way to room 122 where Austin and my parents were hard at work organizing the small dorm room and unpacking his prized possessions. It only took us a couple hours to get everything situated, just in time for his room-mate Ben and his family to arrive. Ben and Austin have been friends for a while, and are both 2013 grads of Osseo Senior. 

Once the room was all-set, we went to the Memorial Union with Ben and his family. First we did a little shopping for new NDSU swag at the bookstore, then headed upstairs to the welcome luncheon the school was hosting. It was fun to see all the incoming freshman so excited to start their college experience. 

I remember exactly how I felt freshman move-in day 9 years ago. I have a distinct memory driving to St. Cloud in my 1998 Chrysler Concord with Paige and how excited we were. The weeks leading up to Austin leaving, Mitch and I were sharing some of our college experiences, the items we took with us when we left for college and the ways we communicated with our friends at other schools. For instance, I have an email from Mitch his freshman year (circa 2002) where he typed, "my parents gave me a calling card, so I'll try calling you later from my dorm line." Yep, we're old. First of all, we used a calling card (how old does that make us sound?). Second of all, they had a landline in their dorm room. We don't even have a landline in our house! Each of us had a cell phone, but our plan didn't include unlimited minutes and certainly not unlimited texting. I also explained to Austin that we did a lot of chatting on AOL Instant Messanger (AIM). There was no such thing as Skype, Facetime or even Facebook. Mitch even threw in, "I brought a VCR to school." and I followed up with, "oh my VCR was built into my TV." That's where the sharing stopped, because we immediately felt ancient. 

We headed back to his dorm, made a few minor adjustments and said our goodbyes. I had been fine all day and the weeks before the big move, until I hugged him - then the tears started to flow. I'm not even sure why, I keep saying it's because I saw my Mom crying - but deep down I think it was a mixture of emotions. I was proud, excited, nervous, sad and worried all at the same time and that translated into tears and choking out, "Have so much fun, and be safe!" I couldn't be more excited for him to experience the next 4+ years. I know it's cliché, but they really are some of the best times of your life - or they were for me. So Austin - remember to call Mom & Dad every once in a while, make new friends, party hardy, and study study study! :)

Before moving Austin to school, Mitch and I took Friday off to take Harper to the Minnesota State Fair. This is by far one of my favorite yearly events. Every year, we go and look at the same stuff and eat the same food - yet I can't wait to go back.

We decided to head down early to try to make the most of the day, before Harper hit nap time. Our mantra for the day was, "We'll stay as late as Harper will let us." She's officially transitioned from 2 naps to 1, but the timing isn't consistent yet. Our expectations were set low. We assumed she'd hit "that wall" between 1:30-3pm, but the girl proved us all wrong - she was a State Fair champ! After eating our fair staples (Sweet Martha's cookies, fried pickles, cheese curds, Summit beer-on-a-stick, mini donuts), visiting almost every animal barn, going down the infamous Giant Slide (which she hated) and walking around visiting random booths and vendors it was nearly 4:30pm when left the fairgrounds. We could tell she was exhausted, but she kept powering through. The fair was too fun to miss out on, and she knew it!

Within minutes of walking out of the front gate, lil' miss was passed out in her stroller. I think her 2nd year at the fair was a little more fun, and certainly more memorable than the 1st. Can't wait for the years to come!

We're looking forward to the upcoming holiday weekend, and the additional free day! No set plans, but I think we'll try to sneak something fun in. Hope everyone had a safe & relaxing Labor Day weekend!

Until next time,

The Helleen's