Eva graduation, off to college, summer vacation

 

So we continued the college tours at Creighton in Omaha.  (Eva in the tow truck)  And we got to stay in Omaha an extra night because we hit a huge hole on a bridge over a rode on the interstate.  Ugh. 

Travis got a 16th birthday gift of the covid vaccine! (May 2021)

The vaccine was approved for 12-16 year olds about two weeks after Travis' 16th birthday.  Luke and I were there on the first day it was available!

I had grown out my hair to a despicable length.  I also really wanted to get back to my natural hair color.  And that was going to be easiest to do by cutting off the colored hair.  May 2021. 

The only time we had really gotten together over covid was for Carter Schinkle's funeral (he passed in July 2020). We had a great girls' weekend together in Stillwater MN at the beginning of May, 2021. 

Eva's graduation. 

And what to do when the nest starts to feel empty? Load up the car and make the nest small!  

I took the kids for a week myself before meeting up with Tree and Gerry and Chris.  First stop was Coure De Lean Idaho. 

Then Portland.

Then Haystack Rock in Oregon.

The Olympic National Park in Washington state. 

We walked <100' to get to this waterfall.  It's the kids favorite hike ever. 

Seattle. 

Then finished the family vacay with a week in Glacier. 

Want to make sure your child has a horrible start to their freshman year at college?  Have them attempt to register for their first-ever classes while online with the worst-wifi ever at a campground in the rain!!!!!

Heading Home. 

We had Eva's grad party in July to have as many of us vaccinated as possible.  

The lifeguard crew.

This was so fun to see and put together!

Eva and Josh. 

Eva and Rylee Fitzgerald. 

Eva was so chill about leaving for college.  She didn't prepare really at all.  This was her goodbye with Marie. 

And Trav. Luke didn't get up. 

But she was mostly gonna miss Louise. 

We fit everything in the car freshman year. 

Her view from JST. 

I do not have pictures of what happened next. But it was not good. Half of Eva's classes were online freshman year of Fall 2021 due to covid. Her roomate lived <5 minutes from the dorm and never stayed there (or spoke.) Her suitemates were very nice and a great connection for Eva. But I think all the change at once just sent her system into fight or flight or freeze for about 45 days.  She couldn't leave her bed, couldn't eat, couldn't accomplish anything.  Everything was new. She sat in her classes from her dorm room.  It was a ROUGH 45 days for both Eva and myself.  Like one of the worst. 

And then our basement flooded. Which made life with Eva losing her mind even easier to handle. Fauci took it upon himself to make sure that everything moved from downstairs to upstairs could also be covered in dirt from him excavating in the houseplants. 

You know me!  Nothing more I love than disorganization!  Makes me feel so at peace.  

I believe we got the carpet tacked down just before her 12th birthday so she could have the loudest sleepover that every occurred. 

And of course a covid vaccine for her birthday as well!

How do you know when you have the best friend ever? They go see your kid while in Chicago. Just to make sure she looks okay. Just to check-in, live and in-person, when we couldn't.  I remember Sue saying "she looks okay. She's gonna be okay." 

And she started bouncing back.  Eva loves the UIC daily fashion show.  I would not have fit-in in my daily grey sweatpants. 

Travis went to Homecoming. 

And then it was time for the kids and I to go visit Eva over the October break.  The boys bought tickets to a 100 Geks concert while we were driving to Chicago.  I guess I said yes. I also said yet to recreating this album cover by the exact tree the 100 Geks themselves used. 

So I dropped off my 13 year old somewhere in downtown Chicago. 

Along with his oh-so-mature 17 year old brother.  They had a great time. And the concert place was actually 1 minute from Abbie Althoff Swaney's house and we were able to visit while the boys were at the concert. 

Eva's dorm, pointed out by Marie, while in Willis tower. 

Never too old to trick-or-treat.

Eva came home for Thanksgiving 2021.  But she had just started getting her groove going at college.  If she came back to college with covid, she'd have to go stay somewhere off campus and finish the semester online, as well as try to take her first-ever finals online.  So Chris, Travis and Eva and I all stayed home alone for Thanksgiving.  Marie and Luke with grandma's with the crew.  

But we all did Christmas!  Except Chris.  He had covid. Had symptoms for about 2 hours of losing taste and smell only; No other symptoms. 

Eva rode the train home and back to Chicago. 

Jan/Feb 2022.  Chris ice fished and took naps with cats. 

Marie fell in love with basketball. 

Chris called me from Vegas in January. 

Marie got covid mid-January 2022. Thought I'd take pictures to document her boredom during isolation.  Hahahahahahahahahaha that's not boredom.  Wait until next month... She aslo had very mild symptoms, mostly fever for 2-3 days. 

And Travis and Marie did some skiing in the winter 2022.  I think Marie skid 3x in Jan/ Feb 2022. 

And Luke had the accessory navicular bone removed from his left foot by a surgeon in the cities.  

And then Marie got cancer. And everything that happened from Feb 25th, 2022 until..... can be found here. 

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marieehanson