November 6

We had such a nice day in Wheaton. Adam picked up Abby from her friend Meredith's house first thing, and they returned to the hotel with my coffee --and Abby's first caramel brulee latte-- in-hand. 

With caffeine on board, we loaded into the minivan and drove over to campus, where we briefly saw Isaac before heading into chapel. He took his assigned chapel seat while the rest of us filed into the balcony, as we've done in past years. (It was Abby's first time doing this, and when I asked her if it felt weird, she didn't hesitate to say yes.) Then we went to Saga for lunch, where we enjoyed the usual college dining hall favorites and a few new offerings, like house-made pita chips.

Then Isaac had class for a little over an hour, so Abby met up with her friend Kam for some girl time, Adam and Brady found a pair of vacant adirondack chairs and watched the clouds go by, and I escaped the chilly 40something temp by going inside the parents' reception area for a cup of tea (and a few minutes of Monopoly Go).

After Isaac's class ended, we ventured to Costco to seek out more cold weather clothes. Isaac looked to Abby's Chicagoland wisdom for guidance, and came away with a few pairs of fleece lined pants and a coat that will hopefully end up keeping him toasty during the winter months. Then we went back to his dorm to drop off his items, and since there were open hours and us female folk were allowed on the boys' side, we all got to see his room. While there, he handed over his prized pal Slime Dog and so I could perform surgery on his neck seams while I'm here. Then it was on to Culver's for dinner (per Isaac's reluctant request; he actually would've been happiest going to Saga, as crazy as that sounds) and back to campus for the Talent Show. We'd never gone to the latter before since Abby wasn't interested, but I have to say it was quite entertaining. Isaac's brother floor wound up winning the event with their traditional "Mantastic" dance number, but there were quite a few very talented and very amusing acts that performed (including a surprising amount of what I'd call metal). I hadn't laughed really hard in quite a while, but a puppet (of all things) named Ivan had me rolling.

It was late by the time the show got out so we said our see you tomorrows and Isaac headed off to his dorm to move his laundry while the rest of us returned to the hotel for the night. I successfully completed Slime's surgery and he's resting comfortably on the couch across the room. And I feel a great sense of gratitude to God for the family day that we were blessed to have.