Bailey Time...

After we left our "China Sisters" in Florida, we brought Mia back up to visit with Bryan's Parents (Camden was already there) and spent some quality time with Bailey looking at colleges and (yikes!) getting her learners permit!  I have said it a thousand times and I am sure I will say it a thousand more - there is something that doesn't feel quite right about putting a 15 1/2 year old (that is the age in S. Carolina to actually drive by themselves) on the road without drivers ed and without a driving test that is actually taken on the road (opposed to an empty parking lot with a few cones). Just to clarify what that means to me...if we lived in the U.S., my middle child would be free to drive on his own in February - No offense Camden, but I'm not sure if the world is quite ready for that :-) A little scary for sure!!! Anyway, Bailey was super excited and got lots of practice driving on the curvy and hilly Maine Roads. It is still against the law here in Germany though (until 18 years old) for her to drive, so she will have to wait -but it was fun for a while :-). Anyway, back to our "College Road Trip". We actually only went on a couple of formal tours - one at UGA and one at Clemson. She enjoyed both of them tremendously. It was sad in a way, but also so much fun thinking about everything that she has to look forward to. She loves the idea of a big school. I think her "perfect" would be UGA, but of course there is the question of getting in :-). We also got to meet with friends along the way - we met up with; our great friends the Hatcher family, my college roommate and her daughter (who just happened to be up at Clemson while we were there - such perfect timing), and Bryan's boss and his wife who just retired back to the U.S. after living in Germany 10 plus years. We had such a nice trip and it was so great spending some quality time with Bailey (especially after her being away for a month). Cherishing the time now for sure, but also so excited for her future at the same time!!!

Congratulations Bay!!!

UGA

The tour was especially good at UGA - She really enjoyed it!

We walked over to the Stadium and this nice man offered to take our photo. It turns out that he is a Chaplain there and has lived in Athens most of his life. He had nothing but great things to say about the school.

Bryan and Dale (Bryan's former boss). They took us out to Sobey's in Greenville for dinner. It was funny because their colleague in Germany is named Sobey :-)

We were really impressed with Greenville! 

Clemson

Clemson has a beautiful Campus!

We went to a yummy Barbecue place for lunch with my roomate and her daughter. It was so fun for Bailey to hear all about Clemson from a current students' perspective.

Had to throw this in here too - when we were in Maine, we wnt to check out the Bowdoin Campus. Definitely a prestigious feel to it. We saw students having there photo taken with sport coats and pants - Bailey decided right away that she could never see herself there...  We laughed when she said she would be afraid that she might use the wrong fork or something during meal time :-)