On Living on Campus

In addition to the things I’ve already blogged about (Dining Halls & Campus Events) there are many, many real benefits to living on campus as a family. Here are some:

A great big huge beautiful back yard. The adventures and explorations seem endless. So many trees to climb; so many green spaces to play in; a mega-size-“sandbox” right outside our front door (it is actually a sand volleyball court, which Kyle and Owen LOVE!, but according to Meera it is a sandbox); and so many extreme sports for the boys to attempt (!). The whole campus is our play-yard.

Babysitters. Oh my gosh, the babysitters! The excellent, trustworthy, great-role-model, highly qualified, energetic, enthusiastic, eager-to-babysit babysitters! Right at our fingertips! At any moment! Literally, hundreds of them. Thousands! It feels like a luxury to the Nth degree. (Note that Meera is in a Cinderella dress in two of the three photos below! Not a coincidence. This is typical attire for Miss Meera, and will surely be how most students remember her years from now.)

Walking paths. We’ve always been an active family. But now it is so easy. So many walking paths within such close proximity. Lehigh’s campus is huge. We could walk for days and still not cover all the walking opportunities that exist.

Mountain biking. Right outside our door is South Mountain, which is part of Lehigh’s property, and which is covered with mountain biking trails zig-zagging throughout the woods. Braydon has renewed his love for the sport, and has been teaching his boys to love it too.

Always something going on — outside and in. We are loving living in a thriving, youthful, active environment. Photos below (in order left-to-right/top-to-bottom)— K & O join in a soccer game that has picked up on the lawn outside our front door; Kyle is intrigued with the formulas on the white board in the lounge, and gets the student studying for his chemistry exam to take a few minutes to give him a crash course; after school one day the bambinos listen in as two students in our hall practice for a duet performance they’re preparing for an Open Mic Night.

The Cup. Meera would want me to include this (!)… A major win-win-plus-plus for Meera is that we now have the campus ice cream shop right nearby. The Cup is right next door to the campus post office in Campus Square. We go there at least once a week (if not several times a week) to get our mail. We get our mail, the kids (or, at least, Meera) gets ice cream, Braydon and I sometimes get coffee, and… in nicer weather… we sit outside and chat with whoever happens to be walking by (there are always students we know passing through). Meera, our little Ice Cream Lover, is loving this.

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And there is the regular life stuff too. Everything isn’t all new, of course, and much about our family life has stayed intact.

We still make dinner~

We still have the daily grind of the school-lunch-making to attend to (below: a Meera lunch)~

We still do homework~

We still do hair~

And we play games~

And we continue traditions. Like our monthly First Friday tradition. Below: two First Fridays with Mommy— Meera and I went for Thai food / Owen and I went for Japanese food~

We still hang out together at home (Meera still paints, almost daily)~

We still have pizza and a movie many Friday nights~

In so many ways, or life is different. And in so many ways, it is the same. That is our new life on campus.