Emma

Hoorah! Another incredible show in the records of Meeker High...
This year, the spring musical was Emma: A Pop Musical!

This show could not have been more appropriate for this group of performers, and more fun for the audience! The music was all familiar and the kids were so great to watch. I was particularly proud of Sam as he took on the role of Mr. Knightley and absolutely gave 100% on stage - an amazing solo with Things I'll Never Say and some great dance scenes - and it was just so wonderful to watch him perform and truly enjoy being a part of the show! Doesn't hurt that he had this gang of prep school guys to hang out with:

A special thanks to a good friend for getting some beautiful action shots during the show:

meanwhile...

 ... as Sam and I went east for spring break, Hamp went west to make good use of his ski pass in Palisades Tahoe!

in the city

Campus tours aside - I just have to say 2 things:

1) I love exploring a great city

2) I especially love exploring a great city with Hamp & Sam

So, I feel pretty grateful that Sam wanted to spend his Spring Break this year wandering through the cool buildings, museums, parks, and neighborhoods with me in a couple of really great cities. We had good food, saw some amazing artwork, learned a lot, enjoyed the train and subway and trolley systems, and walked over 40 miles in 5 days! And yet, perhaps the highlight of Sam's spring break this year was the last night when he was invited to play open gym volleyball at Boston University's Rec Center!

These are a few of his photos from the trip - clearly he loves exploring the city as well!

The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia

Boston University Center for Data Science

Engineering Research Complex at Northeastern

images from the WNDR Museum in Boston:

Boston

And for the last 2 days on the Spring Break tour - Boston!

No doubt there are plenty of secondary education opportunities in this city... but Sam picked Northeastern University, Boston University, and MIT as ones that he wanted to check out.

The tours were all amazing and for being urban campuses, each one had a feeling of inclusion that surprised me. Sam loved them all... which might make it difficult to narrow down his applications next fall, but certainly gave us a great reason to go exploring!

NJ

Next stop on the Spring Break tour - New Brunswick, New Jersey!

Not your typical tourist destination, New Brunswick is the home of Rutgers University and this campus tour did not disappoint. 

Again, we did not have much time in the city as we had a train to catch!

We found the best way to get from city to city is the regional Amtrak, which took us from Philadelphia's Gray Station all the way up to Boston - with stops in New Brunswick, and NYC's Penn Station.

Philly

First stop on our Spring Break tour of the Northeast - Philadelphia!

Sam & I enjoyed our scheduled campus tours at University of Pennsylvania and Temple University...

... but more importantly we enjoyed exploring the city.

There is so much public art and incredible architecture that you can see just by walking, but we did go into the Ben Franklin Institute for a special exhibit by Nathan Sawaya, lego brick artist - which was so cool! We were only in town for a day and a half, most of which was taken up with campus touring, but some city highlights include walking along the river trail, the Rodin museum, dinner at Ralph's (the oldest Italian restaurant in the US!), a little Putt Shack mini-golf for fun, and dim sum in Chinatown.

Boulder

Spring Break this year is dedicated to Sam's future... it all started last month with a quick trip to Atlanta, and now we continue our adventures with a full week of travel.

Of course, we started with the obvious first stop - CU Boulder!

Not Sam's first trip to campus, and likely not the last... but we couldn't pass up a chance to check in on Hamp, walk around campus in all it's late winter glory, and splurge on a little Top Golf for dinnertime fun with the boys!