college

Off she goes 👍🥲

| patmcg

We dropped Clairey off at college and left her in the best hands possible down in San Antonio.

I can’t say much because I’m still feeling pretty bitter-sweet about it.

I drove down with Claire in her car, then we all helped her move in, did some shopping, spent the night, did the various orientations, and had a “hello goodbye” picnic.

And then the administration insisted that we parents actually, you know, leave.

I was really happy we could all be there for Claire, even Molly, who missed an afternoon of high school to make the trip to SA.

I’m so proud of you Claire!

For the first time as a dad, I can really say that I wish you were five years old again. 🥲

But even though you’re officially “all grows up” now, we still have a lifetime ahead of us of goofing off and having deep talks about history and philosophy. Based on your new location, something tells me those talks are only going to get better. 👩‍🎓

Afternoon at the Blanton

| patmcg

Summer has the family scattered all around. With Molly still on her way back from the Pacific Northwest with her grandparents, and Claire back in town, it was a me & Claire night.

With Claire heading off to college in August, I wanted to do something fun and new with our rare one-on-one evening.

And then a big stroke of luck came our way: I got off work early for Independence Day. 🇺🇸 Our fun evening had become the rarest of great things – a fun weekday afternoon! We’re talking Ferris Bueller vibes here.

After a two-minute scan of the brain, I realized we weren’t gong to make it to a Cubs game or a downtown parade today, but we did need to take the opportunity to jump on one of the great museums around town, with their weird and pesky and mostly weekday hours.

So we met at the Blanton Museum of Art.

Claire and I had a great time, saw the famed Austin, and explored the gallery for like 90 minutes. This was long enough to take it in but not dull the senses. We discovered some amazing artists like Alfredo Jaar and Mequitta Ahuja.

One the way home in hot summer traffic, Claire suggested we drop by JuiceLand to get acai bowls and skip dinner. Perfect thinking.

It’s always fun when a tedious in-office work day turns into a fun downtown excursion with your kiddo in her last summer at home as a “kid”. 🙏

Walking UT

| patmcg

Molly is in 8th grade, but after some walks on the campus of a certain neighborhood college, aka UT Austin, she is pretty sure where she wants to go to college.

“I like the vibe,” is her explanation. And she’s keeping her grades up.

We’ve been going on walks all around UT when we can. We’ll walk from West Campus to the football stadium, from the “Hi, how are you?” sign to Hyde Park. We always stop for pizza. The Dollar Slice Club was our initial go-to spot for pizza near campus, but our favorite new spot is Roppolo’s.

Today we checked out the student union, and came across the perfect activity for her: Swiftie Night! I offered to drop her off, but she, being mature, insisted that it’s for actual UT students and not local middle schoolers. Fine, wait a few years then, you dedicated Swiftie. 😉