We are back to the new normal here in KC.  After spending four days in the St. Louis area getting JD moved into his dorm and settled in, Jodi and I will be adjusting to a new lifestyle.  We will be devoting much of our new found free time to growing our business.

We drove to SIUE on Thursday morning, the car loaded down with all of the things JD will need to live in the dorm while there.  After purchasing his parking permit, he had to register to get his line number to move in to the residence hall.  Once there, the college had "Move In Teams" that came to our vehicle and carried all of his items up to his room. That made it quick and easy.  While Jodi unpacked things, we went and picked up his text books and got his bike secured to the bike rack outside.  In a matter of an hour or so, he was unpacked and ready to begin life on campus.

Since he had meetings and other activities to go to, Jodi and I left to get dinner and then we did some additional shopping for a few items he still needed and we took those to him the next day.  From there, we went and visited my brother Dennis, who lives 10 minutes or so from campus.  We don't get to see him much due to his work schedule primarily, but since he's retiring in the next couple weeks, hopefully that will change. Later in the evening, we went to dinner with his daughter, Tara, who was in from Chicago and her husband and children.  We went to Ruby Tuesday, which I had never been to, and it was good.  We went to Oberweis afterward for ice cream before heading back to my mom's for the evening.

On Saturday, Jodi spent much of the day hanging out with her mom and sister while I visited with my mom and relaxed a bit.  Later that evening, Jodi and I met up with a couple friends for dinner at Stefanina's and we enjoyed their company.  Both of them also had children go to college for the first time this year so much of our conversation was about that.

Sunday morning came and we met JD for brunch.  We all had Grand Slam's at Denny's in Glen Carbon and enjoyed hearing what he had been up to over the three days he had been at SIUE.  He had a baseball meeting with his team scheduled for 1:30 so after stopping and picking up a couple items for him, we said our goodbyes at the campus.  We'll see him again in 5 weeks or so when we go back to St. Louis for the fireworks shoot I attend every September.