MIT

Elijah was old enough to attend MIT for both Saturday and Sunday's Spark program, for middle schoolers.  This was an amazing experience for him, and he can't wait for next year. Saturday, we left home at 6:45am to get to a friend's house, 45 minutes away, who graciously drove both Elijah and I and her kids, as well as another friend and her son.  We were Boston-bound by 7:30am.  Got a parking spot in a nearby garage (free!) and then walked over to wait in the rainy line for a bit, until registration opened at 9.  We were early enough that registration went very quickly, and once the liability forms were turned in and the student received their name tag and packet of information for the weekend, they were all set.

We took some time to step aside to look through the maps and itineraries for the students, trying to figure out where they were headed first, where they were going for lunch, and where we should find them at the end of the day, after their last class ended(5pm).  Us Moms walked them over to the main building and found a meeting place for the end of the day, walked the kids to the general area of their first class building, and said, "bye" (hoping they'd stay safe, not get lost and that they'd have a blast)!

The 3 of us then found a spot in the building on campus designated for parents to hang out, and we got comfy at a table for the day.  Chatted, got some work done, ate, popped into a parent workshop or 2, people-watched, and yawned a little, all the while hoping that things were going well with the kids.  Luckily, Elijah had wifi so he was able to text me every so often, to let me know that he was finding his way around campus ok.

At 5pm we gathered with tons of other parents, in one of the lobbies on campus, and watched the crowd for our kids to show up.  We were so relieved to see their happy faces as each of them came on the scene.  They were all chatty, and had enjoyed their day.  We ate together on campus for dinner and headed out of Boston.  Elijah and I didn't get back home until around 8pm.

Day 2, today, included needing to leave by 6:45am again.  The roads looked icy so Mark was gracious to drive E to our friend's house for me, and this time, my friend's hubby offered to be the driver for the day!  He took the four kids down to campus again and they all split up and went about their day, to all of their different classes that were spread out all over campus.  Again, Elijah came back home pretty late but was chattier and even happier than yesterday, saying his classes today were fantastic.  He loved the freedom of getting to walk around the campus without a chaperone. He also had brought his laptop to take notes on, so he felt pretty cool when he did so.  :)  He also had a free period this morning, where he did some sight-seeing on campus...he loved that.  He had texted me a few times today to let me know he was safe, but I tell ya what, I was ready for the giant hug when he walked in the door!