New York

I am back in the office after my whirlwind trip to New Jersey/New York to visit two of my college roommates and their families. It was a great trip because I got to spend some quality time with them and their children, ranging in ages from 9 weeks old to 7 years old. All of us (even the husbands) went to school at Davidson College, and we have been friends ever since. My first stop was Newark, New Jersey, not really on the tip of a lot of people's tongue as a vacation destination! I actually stayed in Chatham, New Jersey and that town truly represents the meaning of the Garden State. I got to meet the youngest addition to the family, John born on March 16. (Yes, John 3:16 for all of you sports savvy fans out there). You don't realize how small that really is until you hold him. I spent a lot of quality time with him and told him every story that I knew about his parents from college! (Some may call it embarrassing but I consider that a necessary educational tool for the youngster) Since Mom had just given birth via c-section, I was given a to do list that she could not do because of the baby. The first thing on the list was plant the garden. Yes, I said it, I was in charge of planting the garden on my vacation! As it turned out, it was no easy task considering the garden had weeds as tall as her 4 year old and had several large cinder blocks in it, which were buried by the weeds. It took about 3 hours, but we (Kathleen-her 4 year old was my assistant) planted 8 tomato plants and 13 basil plants. Kathleen's role was to keep me hydrated, but I had to quickly reassign her after she brought me 2 cups of hot water to drink. I must admit that she has got a good sense of humor already! After the to do list was complete, I was able to see 2 end of the school year choral concerts for her other children and those were quite entertaining as you could imagine.

Then I was off to Scarsdale, New York to visit my other college roommate and her family. She and her husband have 4 kids and are in the middle of a family move to Rye, New York so things were a little hectic to say the least. I was immediately immersed in responsibilities such as watching lacrosse practice, after-school pickups and helping out at the new house. (I removed 9 strands of Christmas lights from the front yard!) I immediately went into coach mode at the lacrosse practice, even yelling out instructions at one point. I honestly couldn't help myself, and we even stayed afterwards to practice! (Gotta start good practice habits even at age 7) One of my favorite things was getting to read to them at night before they went to bed. By the end of the week, they all knew how to cheer for BGSU and do the Falcon handshake. Even though all of them will be going to Davidson when they grow up, they were properly brainwashed with BGSU cheers!

It wasn't your typical vacation, but it was a fun trip that I would do again in a heartbeat! My friends have become great parents!
Now off to get ready for July recruiting.
Roll Along,
Jennifer Roos