Like I mentioned in the last post, Joey went to Philadelphia for Fall break. He got a ride with his friend who lives in the suburbs of Philly, really close to where Andy used to live. They stopped at McDonald's on their way. That night they got in late, and Joey spent the night at his friend's house.

The next morning, his friend drove him to the train station. Joey asked for the address of Andy's childhood home so that they could stop by since it was right on their way. Andy and his brother made a movie in that house and neighborhood the summer after Andy's junior year in college, so although Joey had never been there, it all looked familiar.

Then he took the train to downtown Philadelphia and walked to Andy's parents' high rise apartment building.

His grandparents spoiled him rotten for the four day weekend. He had amazing food, 

and Grandma took him on a birthday shopping spree for some warm winter clothes.

He also got to see Timmy, Sarah, Hank and Jane.

He had a great break.

Back on campus, Joey continued grabbing meals with upperclassmen that he wanted to get to know better. One of those guys was Zeke, who is a friend of our friend at church.

Joey got a fun snack pack from Nana and Bubba in the mail. He's actually gotten a few care packages his first semester.

For Halloween he dressed up as Drake Maye, the quarterback for the New England Patriots.

Speaking of doing random things on campus, one night Joey and his friends explored some maintenance tunnels underneath a dorm.

Somehow Joey ended up volunteering to be a judge at a high school Robotics Competition. Having never done robotics himself, I'm not sure he was qualified, but maybe they were desperate!? Ha!

For his birthday, a big group of his friends stole his bed, hid it somewhere on campus, and led him on an elaborate, Monty Python-styled scavenger hunt to find it.

There were lots of pictures and videos documenting it all.

It seemed quite epic.

And two hours later, he finally found his bed.

Also for his birthday, the girls sent Joey this flag to add to his room's growing decor...

They are thrilled that he actually hung it up! 

Joey just got home from his first semester at Grove City College. He's been living his absolute best life! He decided that the best way to enjoy college was just to do everything, and so he has! 

Here's a list of things Joey did at college his first semester:

-went rock climbing

-went cliff jumping

-joined the Swing Dancing club

-operated the score board for a girls' water polo game

-signed up for a blind double date

-became friends with a guy who grew up as a missionary kid in Afghanistan

-played IM basketball, pickle ball, and spike ball

-went thrifting

-went to Philadelphia for Fall Break

-went to a BBQ at a Computer Science professor's house

-went to a church BBQ

-went on a two hour scavenger hunt to find his bed that this friends had hidden for his birthday.

-invited a professor to lunch

-invited his pastor out for coffee

-invited countless upperclassmen to have a meal with him at the cafeteria

-volunteered to be a judge at a high school robotics competition

-saw the comedian, Jaron Myers, perform on campus

-saw the musician, Jervis Campbell, perform on campus

-got third place in a trivia competition with some friends

-joined the Scripture Memory club

-joined New Life, which ministers to boys at George Junior, a non-profit residential treatment facility for troubled boys

-flew by himself for the first time and met us in Texas for Thanksgiving

-went sledding

-got a girlfriend

-went to the Winter Ball

-drove to Ohio to go to Waffle House for the first time

Now for some pictures that I stole from Google photos: 

Grove City always gives freshmen new laptop computers. He picked his up the day after he moved in.

He and his friends figured out how to hook up a laptop to a classroom projector to watch movies.

3rd place in "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" Trivia night.

He hasn't worked out as much as he's wanted to at Grove City, but that's because he's been busy doing everything else.

It was "Tie Day" at Swing Dance Club so they took this picture to show their friends that they hadn't forgotten their ties.

A group of them went cliff jumping.

When I asked Joey why they were climbing trees on campus he said, "We do a lot of random things on campus." 

When we moved Joey into his room in August, it was VERY bare bones. He has slowly added some decor. "Decor" feels like a generous word to use here.

Studying.

I gave Joey a haircut right before he left for college thinking he wouldn't get one until he was home for Christmas. Turns out he found out about an upperclassman who cuts hair on campus for $5. Not too shabby!

Enjoying a hammock on campus.

 

After a year off to go to Indiana last year, this year we went back to Texas for Thanksgiving. It feels pretty normal not to have Joey around the house now, but it did feel weird traveling without him!

Joey flew to Houston the night before. He landed at midnight and Papa J picked him up, God bless him!

We arrived Saturday evening, and it was a sweet reunion. The kids did not waste time getting to some games.

It was sweet seeing them together again.

The next morning, we were all right back to our favorite activities. 

On Monday, we were driving to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant and saw this sign. I had to take a picture. When Hannah had her ATV accident during our first trip to Texas, she was really upset and shut down even after the trip to Urgent Care. We were driving to pick up her prescription at Walmart, and she saw this sign. She thought it was so funny because in her words, "If you're pregnant, of course you're not alone! You have a baby!" She laughed and was back to our regular Hannah. It's funny that the exact billboard is there six years later.

We made it to the Mexican restaurant that we had heard a lot about!

They don't have a liquor license, so they just give you free margaritas with your meal. They tasted like limeade, but it was fun! And the food was surprisingly good!

My parents just happened to be driving from Atlanta (they were there for a wedding) to San Diego. I texted my mom to see where they were and how out of the way it would be for them to stop by so they navigated to the cabin. Google Maps said to take the next exit, and they headed right down to us.

They made it before dark so Joey quickly took them on a Polaris ride around the whole property.

Random photo op of cuteness.

We all had dinner that night at John and Judy's house, and then my parents took off the next morning to continue their trek back to San Diego. Their visit worked out so perfectly!

Andy was on a fishing kick this trip. One time he actually caught two fish at once. It was pretty crazy!

Mr. College Student did have some work to do over break.

Timmy, Sarah, Hank and Jane all arrived on Wednesday. Jane was raring to to on the ATV.

Papa J really loves his riding mower.

Jane was also excited about the kayaks. She took a few rides with other people, and then jumped in one by herself. She did great! 

Silliness.

Watercolor time!

And some Thanksgiving corn hole.

Kelsey, Trent and Steven were there as usual. We always love getting to hang out with them.

This was an epic battle of spoons (actually forks) with many plastic forks destroyed in the process.

Friday night we had a huge bonfire!

These two guys stoked the flames with leaf blowers. It was pretty intense!

Great times in Texas as usual!