Family Weekend

Karen and I went up to visit Gavin and Sierra for Family Weekend. Some of the rest of the extended family was there to visit their own student as well as Gavin and Sierra.



Gavin and Tim in front of Gavin's dorm



Visiting with family outside the dorm



The bunks



After standing around outside, we went inside to see how Gavin had personalized his room.


Gavin sleeps on the bottom bunk


























This is where all of the studying happens




We completed the inside tour and took a stroll around campus.
This is the view across the street from Gavin's dorm.


The Gym



There is a Green between Gavin's dorm and the academic buildings.

   

 Pioneer Hall was built in 1882 and is the oldest building on campus.

It is also the tallest building in Yamhill County.

 Gavin sitting at the fountain between Walker Hall and Riley Center.

Gavin's Turn

At the end of August, Gavin was off to college!

All loaded up and ready to go

After a long drive (north of course) we arrived at Linfield.


Gavin's Dorm

We, along with the other 555 incoming freshman and their parents, attended opening activities.

The Linfield Taiko Drummers started the proceedings. The members include both faculty and students.









Dr. Hellie, president of Linfield College, gave a welcome speech.

The guy in the white shirt on the left side of the platform is the president of the ASLC (Student Government).  Later in the evening Gavin beat him in a Linfield Trivia contest and, after winning against three other contestants, won a $100 gift card to the bookstore. Way to go, Gavin!

After attending all of the activities and helping Gavin get his room set up, Kevin and I headed home. We took a detour to see some beautiful falls.



Salt Creek Falls

Salt Creek Falls is located in the Willamette Forest just east of Oakridge. It is the second largest waterfall in Oregon. What a nice pause in our long trip back home.

A Guest Poster

This is a guest post from Patty. Sierra said that I could come on and share our visit with all of you.

Gavin and I left in the late morning on Friday, and after a long drive arrived at our destination around 5 p.m. We went into Sierra's dorm and met her friends. It's nice to have faces to go with names. It was also nice to see her room arranged and all decorated.

As you can see from the pictures, the room has a much more settled-in look. (Yes, that is Gavin's back in the top picture.) Sierra no longer sleeps in the doorway AND her dresser is accessible without moving the bed AND she can pull her chair out as far as she wants! She even has pictures and posters up on the walls. Wow!

We had a pretty busy couple of days. We stayed with Uncle Rick, Aunt Linda, (THANKS!) and of course, the cousins. On Saturday, we had lunch in the CattyShack where Sierra works twice a week. On our way to IKEA in Portland, we stopped by to see Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Wendy, and Dawn. At IKEA, Sierra picked out some new bedding, and some other needed stuff.

After restocking Sierra's food supply, on Sunday, Gavin and I headed south. It was fun to see Sierra in her new environment enjoying the college life.

Time's fun when you're having flies

Or something like that... Maybe that only applies to frogs.

Wow, I can't believe it's been a week already. My professors finally gave me work. All at the same time, of course.

Two tests on top of everything else this week. So it's been a little stressful. My second one starts in... 45 minutes from now. I'm not too worried about it, it's mostly review.

And, to catch you all up on my week, Saturday I went to the pirate festival, which was pretty fun. There were things like performances, demonstrations, food booths, and souvenir booths. I bought some long stripey pirate socks there.

Normally, adult tickets are $18, but because I went with Linfield it only cost me $3! I thought that was a pretty good deal. Just the cannon demonstration alone would probably have been worth that. People don't realize how loud those things are. Imagine lightning striking two feet away from you, and you'll have a pretty good idea.

Besides the pirate festival, I finally got my work schedule settled. I'm now working every Monday and Wednesday from 5-9:30. So I'm pretty close to my 10 hours. That'll be nice. Plus, I never have to work in Dillin!!

Oh, and about my "infection". Turns out I was one of the infected ones. But no free food... There were numbers on the wristbands and mine was one digit off of the winning number. Bummer.

That's about it. I have a video of my new room set up that I need to upload so that I can post it here. It's on the to do list, but that's a fairly long list right now.

I've Been Infected!

Not really.

This week, the Disease Prevention class is doing a project to show how diseases spread. So, from what I've gathered, people from that class wear wristbands (the colored ones that stick on, like for carnivals) and each day they distribute a certain number to people they come in contact with. I have a yellow one. The wristbands have different colors that I've been told mean different things, but I haven't quite figured out what. I think certain colors will let you "infect" other people.

It seems like the project could use some improvement... But it doesn't really matter to me since it's kinda fun to wear the wristband and see how many other people have been "infected" too. Plus if I keep it on til Friday, I get a chance to win free food. Who can say no to free food?

Soo.. that's about all that's new and exciting here. Oh, and I have two exams next week.

But other than that, nothing new.

Yay! I'm Not Bored!

This weekend I finally had things to keep me occupied. First I had a paper due Friday, and then that evening I played night flight Ultimate Frisbee. Which, by the way, is really fun. We wore glow sticks and used a light up Frisbee. I want to join the team now.

Then on Saturday, I had to get up at 8:00 am because I had finally gotten a job at the cafeteria. It's kinda gross, but at least it's money... and on Thursday I'm getting training for a place called The Catty Shack so hopefully I won't have to work at Dillon too much.

And then Sunday was homework day. Oh. and I went on a walk on "The Wellness Trail". It's a one mile trail around the campus. Don't we look athletic?

(Kelly, Radha, and me. Hilary's taking the picture.)

And now it's Monday and I should have gotten a lot more done, but I didn't. Oh well.

OH! I almost forgot! Guess what else happened this weekend?

...

WE GOT BUNK BEDS!!!

So I don't have to move my bed all the time to get in my dresser any more. And yesterday I got fed up and turned my desk so that I can actually get in my chair!

The room is actually livable now. As soon as I get some time, I'll post another video.

Life's Never Unfair In My Favor

Last night me and my friend Hilary decided to visit the upper floors, since we don't really know anyone there (except a guy named Miles and his roommate Danny). So we went up to the third floor and Miles took it upon himself to introduce us to everyone on his floor. So we got to meet all the guys and see their rooms.

Man, I'm so jealous. The triples up there are HUGE. You could easily fit two more beds in there and it would STILL be less crowded than mine. Arg.

And in case you were wondering: no, the beds haven't been bunked yet.

On another note, I've decided I want a scooter. A few people have them here and it'd be really handy for getting around campus.