Gearing Up With 8th Graders Today

Today I accompanied over 100 8th graders from Kellogg Middle School to North Idaho College for a campus visit. We arrived at the college, had a welcome session, went to a class, had an outdoor activity and campus tour.

I had a group of girls interested in Nursing. The girls had fun with all the mannequins in the Nursing Lab, especially the newest mannequin, a state of the art mannequin called G3.

Traveling to the U.S. all the way from Norway, this state of the art mannequin is the only one of its kind in the country. Costing a mere $80,000, it is about as human is it can be, with the ability to blink, pupils dilate, listens, talks, it has all bodily functions, has seizures, throws up.....pretty amazing.

Here are some of the 8th grade girls with G3.

After lunch we went out for an outdoor activity. Looks pretty nice at the moment. Within 10 minutes, the rain started pouring, then we were pelted with hail. Gotta love North Idaho weather.

The Princess Begins College

Yesterday the family moved The Princess into her dorm room at North Idaho College, about 40 miles away in Coeur d'Alene. With the anticipation of this event, I posed this sibling assignment:

Here she is, opening the door to her dorm room.

"Since The Princess will be moving into her dorm room at NIC on Sunday, August 24th, let's post some advice, memories, information that could help her as she begins her first semester of college."

You will find Inland Empire Girl's top ten list here and Raymond Pert's advice on flipping things around here.

Princess, here are some random thoughts and advice from your mother. I hope they help!!

Mom is feeling mixed emotions...is she sad...excited....oh, I think a bit of both!!

Don’t wait for the action to come to you…you need to plan fun things and invite people to come with you.

Balance things. Meet people, have fun. But remember why you are there…to study and learn.

Try new experiences. Here is The Princess eating her first meal in her room.

Don’t ever not ask a question because you think it will make you look stupid. So what? There are probably other people who want to know the same answer.

There is more to life than watching “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on your computer.Her sisters are going to miss her....goodbye Princess!!!

Be organized and plan ahead a bit. Then you won’t be frantic because you can’t find something, and you will be on time for things.

Figure out ways to do things for others…everyone is a little nervous…how can you help encourage others to make their time a little easier?

Take advantage of tutoring. It really can help you.

Don’t do assignments the night before or the last minute. Take your time to do it right.

Don’t sell yourself short. You know what your strengths are, and you’ll probably discover even more. You can do more than you can imagine or think.Okay, I'm moved in...now what do I do?

Attend classes. You can always nap later.

Read your Bible every day. God’s word will strengthen you. And it will give you the wisdom you need to help others.

Open and up and let people get to know you. You are a beautiful person, and you have a lot to share and a lot of ways to help others.

It is okay to make mistakes. It doesn’t make you a failure. It is how you handle the mistakes that shows your true character.

Yikes, am I really ready to start classes tomorrow?

Take advantage of being at a college, and a town with a beautiful beach, good restaurants, and shopping.

Don’t stay in your room. Go to the SUB. Go to the beach. Get out and experience life!!

Start a journal. Write about your triumphs and tragedies. It is fun to look back on your experiences during college and see how you have grown.

Take risks.

Eat three meals a day!!

Goodbye Daddy....your Princess is going to be all right....I THINK!!!

Know that, no matter what happens, we love you.

First Friday at NIC

The Princess and I attended First Friday at North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene today. She is planning on enrolling there next fall, so we went and visited the campus today.

It was fun being on a college campus, and learning about all the opportunities students have available to them as a student at North Idaho College. I told The Princess it almost made me want to go back to college!!

Right now she is planning on majoring in Theater. We filled out a short career survey during the session today, and Molly and I were both in the artistic category. And, as I looked at the list of careers in that category, I had already participated in about 6 or 7 of them. I guess I have made the right choices.

I'm excited for The Princess to move on to this next phase of her life (is she really a senior? Sometimes it seems impossible. Where have the last 17 years gone?), and experience college life.

After the NIC visit, we went and got the rest of our personal effects from the totaled van. (sniff, sniff)

I took The Princess to Moontime in downtown Coeur d'Alene for lunch. It is such a cool place to eat, and such wonderful food. I had a potato encrusted Ahi with corn cakes covered in a crawfish cream sauce, and The Princess had Roasted Tomato Ravioli. Yum! Yum!

It was a wonderful, beautifully sunny day in Coeur d'Alene today, and it was a bit scary driving over the Fourth of July pass a little less than one week after my accident, but I survived, and will travel that road again tomorrow as PKR takes Kiki Aru and I to the airport to fly to Boise for yet another adventure.