Rocks

A few days ago, the fall weather arrived here in Middle Tennessee. Not certain that the cooler temperatures are here to stay, but we are enjoying every minute that it is here. Since it's not so hot outside, it was the perfect time to take JT outside for some playtime. It was a little cool, so I put on his little Notre Dame jacket- I knew John wold be so happy to see it in the pictures :)

A little ball time before going to the bridge

 Come on Mom, what are you waiting for?

We worked our way down the driveway to our bridge. JT is now tall enough to see a bit over the lowest part and into the creek. There were some little rocks left there from the girls, so JT picked up the rocks and started throwing them into the creek. So I grabbed a few more hand fulls for JT and put them on the bricks for him to throw. He did manage to taste a few before they went into the creek though, ha ha. Babies and toddlers put everything in their mouths!

Big boy looking over the bridge

 MMMM... rocks taste good!

 Picking out the perfect one to throw

 Still tasting...

Before long, it was beginning to warm up a bit, so off the jacket came. Then a few minutes later, JT was able to see the garbage truck stop by across the street. He really got a kick out of seeing the big truck so close. He was "vrooming" for several minutes afterward.

 Wow, look! A big garbage truck!

 There goes the truck....

Then it was time to come inside and make my little guy quite unhappy. He loves being outside so much that he now throws little tantrums when he's not ready to come inside. Ah, the joys of toddlerhood....

The Unversity of the South

This past weekend, the whole Apedaile clan woke up very early to head to campus visit #3- to Sewanee- "The University of the South". The campus is about 1 1/2 hours south of us, so we we up at about 5am to hit the road by 6. Even JT rose early, despite our best efforts to remain quiet while we got ready.

All we have heard since mentioning our visit to Sewanee is how gorgeous the campus is. Now that we have been, I totally agree!!! The campus is so beautiful! It has almost an older UK/castle type feel, though I have never been there. Most of the buildings are built from stone and look like they have been there for centuries. The large trees and green campus just enhance the feeling. Sarah immediately fell in love with how the campus looked.

English Department Building

 Library

 History Building

 Front Part of the Food Court, Sarah liked the "step" effect.

This private university is very serious about its studies and I'm sure there are some talented students  there. Not that other universities are not serious about their studies, but when you see hand written notes on the entrance of dorms that Quiet Time begins at 7:30 Sun-Thur and Fri-Sat at10pm, you know these students take their courses seriously. Another focus they have is a comprehensive test you take your senior year in the major you are studying. I couldn't imagine the stress level that accompanies that test.

Sewanee is a small university, a student population of about 1,600. With the campus being as large as it is, it feels bigger though. During the sessions, we heard about their English and History departments. Sarah left those thinking she thought their English program sounded good as she is considering being an English major.

Inside of the Food Court

 Everything is Buffet Style with many options

 Bell Tower

Bringing JT along probably wasn't the best of ideas, but not awful. He ended up not really napping on the way down and was a bit restless once the sessions begun. John was the best Daddy and took time to walk with JT around campus or drive him depending on if it was raining at the moment. I did get praise from him saying he couldn't be with JT all day like I do since he is so active and can be a handful from time to time. It made me smile to get props for the job I love doing :)

Inside the chapel- very traditional and beautiful

 Lots of stained glass

Someone was even getting married that day at the chapel on campus!

Besides the price tag for this university, the only other negative I would say is most of their dorms do not have air conditioning! I was pretty shocked to hear that. I guess with the buildings being older, they were not equipped, but it's not like they live in an area where it's cool most of the time, they get just as hot as we do. The student who gave us a tour said they were working on having all the dorms getting A/C.

Once again, we are just turning it over to God to direct both Sarah and us (John and I) where she should complete her college degree. We have about 5 more schools we would like to visit. We have 3 schools scheduled to visit within the next 2 months and 2 that we need to confirm. We are going to try to hit the schools that speak to Sarah's interests of English, History, & Secondary Education as well as try to visit the universities with different student populations to give Sarah a taste of how those schools "feel" different by the size.

Bench in front of the chapel

 Door to the chapel

 More Chapel Shots

 Front Doors to Chapel

 A wandering dog came up real quick for a photo with Sarah!

Got Milk?

I think JT needs a shirt with this slogan on it. Milk is hands down his favorite. We actually have to limit how much he drinks because he simple doesn't eat enough of his food if we give him his milk first. He's the type to drink most/all of his sippy cup and then begin eating.

A few nights ago, we gave JT his last sippy cup of milk for the evening. He really enjoyed his nightcap that evening, simply climbing up on the couch, laying back, and sipping his wonderful beverage.

Milk mustache

 Lovin' life- comfy couch and milk

 This is the face JT made after I was "flashing" him too much with the camera

 Goofy face

 The "flash face" again

Future Hilltopper???

Who or what is a hilltopper and why is it in someone's future you may ask? For those of you not in the Nashville area, a Hilltopper is someone who is associated with Western Kentucky University-WKU. A little over a week ago, Sarah and I went to WKU's fall preview day.

WKU is in Bowling Green, Kentucky which is about a 45 minute drive north of where we live. We have several close friends who are alum of the university as well as Sarah's boyfriend's dad teaches there. The university has been given many high remarks from all of these people.

WKU's mascot, Big Red

This was official tour #2 of probably about 7. Campbellsville was a small campus and WKU is a large one, with about 20,000 in attendance. However, Bowling Green isn't a huge community considering the attendance with about 60,000 to it's population. Bowling Green does offer something unique to the area. It boasts the 2nd highest number of restaurant's per capita of the entire nation!!! I think they said Bowling Green has about 300 restaurants in the city!!! So if Sarah attends WKU in the fall, we shall never have to eat at the same place twice or have to ask, "Where should we go out to eat?"

Sarah and I had a great time at the fall preview. We attended a couple of discussion meetings about college life, abroad studies- something that greatly interests Sarah, and the all important financial aid :) We also had a personal tour of the campus, the dorms, and went to an open house of all of the different departments of WKU.

 Sarah on top of a hill on campus- She declared she had become a hilltopper :p

 Took this pic for my Mom, knew she would love the huge hanging planter in the trees

 Sarah like the architecture of this building

The campus was beautiful and they appear to be focused on getting modern technology in all of the buildings, with several brand new school buildings and an education building slated to open in the spring. Their building that houses the recreational facilities, like exercise equipment is wonderful. 9 basketball courts, tons of cardio machines with individual TV's with cable, indoor pool,etc.

 New Education building opening in  Spring '11

 Some of the basketball courts available to the students

 Indoor pool

 Cardio and weight equipment

 Dorm room- pretty typical

The only downside of the tour was the unseasonably HOT day!!! It was about 94 degrees for the high, so that made for an unpleasant day in some parts. We decided to hit up Sonic on the way home, since it was happy hour and enjoy an ice cold smoothie.

Cooling off in the shade

 The walking woman statue Sarah had fun imitating

Also found relief inside the chapel. Simple but beautiful.

Yum-Sonic!

While these tour days make little time for a relaxing weekend for the family, we are enjoying this special time with Sarah as this is probably her last full year with us at home. We continue to pray that God will open the gates wide to make it apparent which university is best for Sarah's future.