Cornell University...

We had a full day at Cornell University with a tour and several admin sessions. It was nice to be able to visit a dorm, which is separated from the main campus by this waterfall; we were disappointed that we couldn’t get into the environmental science department.

Cornell is famous for its agriculture department, which runs the school’s dairy. No idea why we though it was a good idea to buy each girl one of their own giant ice cream sandwiches, but they were yummy!

Ithaca, New York...

We had no idea that much of New York was so rural. With the large number of dilapidated barns, cars in front yards and gun stores, we could have easily have been in the South. Not sure how well Veronica would fit in this area after we heard a DJ say, "Sit back and watch your ass grow."

The Ithaca region is famous for its waterfalls. This is Buttermilk Falls, which was just off the main road. It was a bummer that we had no time to go hiking.

We enjoyed an evening in downtown Ithaca, which was full of funky shops. We especially loved our vegetarian dinner at Moosewood Restaurant.

There were several good thrift shops. Veronica had fun swirling this dress, but didn't end up buying it.

Jimmy soon grew tired of shopping, but managed to keep his sense of humor.

Two Nights in a Yurt...

Our next stop was Ithaca, New York to visit Cornell University. At first I was disappointed when I found out that the hotel on campus was fully booked but then I expanded my search and came across the Climbing Vine Cottage. It was a bit of a drive out of town, but we loved staying in a yurt for the first time.

It was surprisingly roomy. Jimmy and I had our own room and the girls shared the loft.

It was cold enough that we need to heat the place with the wood pellet stove.

There was a supply of kiddie books. How fun to read Goodnight Moon to my big girls.

It had a very nice kitchen where we cooked dinner one evening.

First College Tour...

Wellesley College, a small private women’s school, was our first college to visit. The campus was lovely, situated on a lake in Wellesley, Massachusetts, about 45 minutes outside of Boston. We took a campus tour and went to an admissions session. While Veronica went to her first college class, we walked around the town. It wasn’t the cute college town that we would have hoped; in fact, we had sticker shock when we went into a prom dress shop and many of the dresses were around $2,000.

After lunch, we met with two professors to learn about their research, which included a tour of the greenhouses. We were definitely impressed with the science center and its interdisciplinary labs.

We had read about The Sleepwalker statue before we arrived and were happy to find him. It was amazing how realistic he was, which made Veronica very reluctant to pose with him. Apparently, he’s been vandalized with yellow paint since our visit, but he’ll remain until the end of July when the accompanying exhibit in the art museum closes.

That evening we took Joe, Lisa and Allie out for dinner. It brought tears to my eyes when Joe and Lisa offered to be Veronica’s surrogate family if she went to Wellesley (she’s since decided that it’s not the school for her). The next morning, it was time to drive to Ithaca, New York.

Photo Shoot in Massachusetts...

Veronica took advantage of the woods behind Joe and Lisa’s house to do a photo shoot with Ashlynn. As usual, it was too hard for me to choose between the pics, so here’s a bunch.

Home Leave Started in Massachusetts...

Planning our first home leave since August 2011, was extremely complicated as we needed to fit in university tours in four states plus a visit with James’ family. Unfortunately, there was no way to squeeze in a trip to California. We started with two nights in Massachusetts staying with Joe and Lisa that we’d met in Bonaire in 2011. Was very impressed with Joe’s weight loss. Luckily, he’s still willing to eat pizza and fired up his wood burning oven to make us dinner.

Unfortunately, 8-year-old Allie didn’t really remember the girls, but she was willing to let them sleep in her room and play with their dogs.

Ashlynn especially enjoyed Khan, an 8-month-old Newfoundland. On the flight over, she announced, “I’m going to be so annoying on this trip. I can just feel it.” Luckily, she was wrong!

LAMDA, Musical Theatre Examination...

When Veronica started taking singing lessons, she knew that she didn’t want to take the traditional British singing examinations. Her instructor Jenny suggested that she take the LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) exams instead and Veronica loved that idea. In early April, we went with Jenny and one other student to Brussels for the exams.

Veronica sang two songs for her Grade 6 exam, starting each with a short monologue. Here she is setting the scene for singing Skyfall by Adele from the James Bond movie of the same name.

I really loved her performance of Cabaret, which was sung by Liza Minnelli in the movie version of the musical by the same name.

We got to watch the girls rehearse, but couldn’t watch the performance in front of the examiner. Veronica had to wait weeks to find out that she passed. You can watch her performance from Jenny’s earlier that week.