A Busy Weekend

I can't believe we are halfway through December already! Like 2 weeks away to 2014 oh my gosh where has time went??? I know where my time has went this weekend. It has been a crazy busy weekend in the Navarro house. I know I said I would do better about updating the blog but I swear time just gets away from me. Let me just share a bit of our weekend with you and you will see why I don't update as often as I should.

Friday

 

Friday night Ashleigh had Winter Formal. Since I am currently doing a two week sub job at her school, her and her friends were able to just ride home from school with me. That means I had 4 teenage girls hanging out by the front office waiting for me at the end of my very long day of subbing as a sped para. We headed home so they could have some quick dinner and get ready for the dance. They looked adorable, and no I am not just saying that you can see for yourself!



Ready for the dance!



Silly girls



Hair Pose!


Now see I told you those girls were adorable! After we dropped them off at the dance we went out to dinner with R.J. and his girlfriend Renee. Yep that is what you just read, we went to dinner with him and his girlfriend. We went to a great little pizza place that brought all 4 of us alcoholic drinks when we sat down. I know the drinking age is lower here, but I was thinking um these are kids sitting across from me even though as much as I hate to admit it, next year R.J. will be a grown up and out on his own. Then my next thought was damn, I have to pick the girls up or else I would drink their drinks! :) Sadly they just went to waste, they were yummy proseco apple spritzers.

This was our first time really being around Renee although R.J. has spent plenty of time with her family. I must admit I enjoyed our dinner and Renee seems like a really nice girl. She helped Bubba clean out the car and even vacuumed it so she is already high up on my list.Brace yourselves I am going to admit something really shocking here. I don't always like R.J's girlfriends. What you don't believe me?!?! I know I am just such a friendly person and I keep my thoughts to myself so much! Hehehehe. Seriously all joking aside since I do tend to voice my displeasure at times over some of his girl choices, I think it is only fair to say when he is dating someone nice, and right now he is dating a nice girl. After dinner we picked Ash and her friends up and headed back to our house for a sleepover.

Yes I stole this off of twitter I am not ashamed to admit that!

Saturday

 

Saturday was off to an amazing start as I spent the morning making peppermint swirl bark, tiger butter, and butterscotch cream cheese cookies. I am chairing an event for my spouses group where we collect holiday treats and then deliver them to military members that tend to work 24 hr shifts or extra hours. We deliver to Security Forces, the flight line workers, post office workers, fire stations, and other places where they people tend to be at work when others are not.

We planned to head to Rudesheim to visit a Christmas market once I finished baking. For some reason my cookies took forever to make and we ended up leaving an hour later than we were supposed to. While we were getting gas I figured out why we left so late. R.J. called and his car wouldn't start. So we headed over to the exchange to see what was wrong. We weren't able to get it going and so we took him on his way to meet up with his girlfriends family so they could all go to a Christmas Market and we could go ahead and go to the one we planned on visiting. Yep that is right R.J. went to a Christmas market with her family not ours. Hmph emph Hmph (In my Kevin Hart Voice). Since we left so late we were thinking of not going but my wonderful husband decided we should go anyway. I am so glad he did, Rudesheim was the cutest town ever! Okay, second cutest town Rothenburg is the cutest!

Cool place that we ate dinner at.



Tiny narrow streets with tons of people, but super cute town!


In order to get to the Christmas market we had to take a ferry. Um I don't like bridges so I was a tiny bit FREAKED out for us to drive our car onto a freaking ferry! But it wasn't bad at all and was way worse in my head than in person. Here are some pictures of us waiting for the ferry and on the ferry. I got out of the car and took pictures and Rob and Ashleigh stayed in the car.
 

Waiting in line to get on the ferry.

       


The village view from the Ferry.



 

 

Yummy apple punch with amaretto.

We had a good time at the market once we found parking. One thing I did want to try was Rudesheim coffee which has a local brandy in it that they set on fire. When we finally made our way back to the little ice cream cafe they were closed so I did not get to try the coffee. Oh well guess we will have to go back!


 

 

I love these marshmellow wafer thingies. Might be because mine was Bailey's flavored. :)
 

Crazy girl. Not sure who she was posing like.
 

Such cool decorations on the market stalls.

 

Sunday

 

On Sunday I had to meet all the volunteers on base to collect their donations and plate up all the yummy goodies. Before leaving home, I went ahead and prepared dinner since I knew by the time I got home I would be super tired. So I made some kind of ham casserole that I found on pinterest. It consisted of ham, pasta, cheese, sour cream, cream of chicken and celery, onions and I threw in some grilled chicken too. It was a winner and I will probably make it again. Although not with ham, since I only make ham once a year at Thanksgiving. Next time will just be chicken and bacon. I tried to make it as low fat as I could and used all low fat ingredients except low fat cheese. That stuff is just nasty.

While I was plating up 27 plates of cookies with my fellow super spouses, Rob was troubleshooting the little car. Rob and his co-worker think they might have figured out what the problem is and will try to get it over to the auto shop tomorrow and find some parts at the junk yard. I sure hope they can get it fixed because I have gotten used to R.J. having a car and not having to run him to work and home all the time.

After all that I met up with Rob and he drove me around the flight line so I could deliver some yummy treats to the Fire Station and the guys were pretty excited to get some holiday treats. The flight line guys were just as excited as were the gate guards. At times my spouses group is a lot of work and I think why do I volunteer to do this stuff but things like that are exactly why I do what I do.

Well I hope you all have had a great weekend. I am off to sit on the couch with a glass of butterscotch hot chocolate and fall asleep. I work 3 more days this week and start my break 2 days early. I declined the offer to work on my birthday and the day school gets out for the break. One of the few benefits to not having my own classroom, choosing which days I go to work!

 



November Ramblings

    

                                 


     Hello there! Hope all is going well in your area of the world. Things are great over here in our tiny  little village in Germany. Yes we finally made it home. It was a bit hectic and I really shouldn't complain about our trip home as some people lost their homes during the storms that delayed us. We were delayed in Chicago which caused us to miss our connecting flight to Germany, but Delta did a great job putting us on another airline getting us directly overseas. United was not as nice of a flight as Delta but we got home which was the important part. However, I do not endorse nor recommend flying United in any way shape or form, just wanted to make that clear! Now Delta on the other hand, I totally do! I will fly American one more time just to use up my miles and then I will totally only book Delta from here on out, unless someone else is paying then I will fly whatever airline they book me on! I'm not picky when I am not paying :) This girl isn't stupid.

     Speaking of airlines, for any of you that are thinking of coming to visit us or coming to Bubba's graduation here is a great site to purchase discounted tickets. This is the site we used to book our tickets the last time and they were by far the cheapest. They are having a really good sale right now and if you are ready to book, it would be a great time to do so. You do want to make sure you choose the 35% discount if you are a family member so you get the best rate. Discount Ticket Site Graduation is scheduled for June 6, 2014 and you would probably want to spend a few weeks so you can visit some of Europe's hot spots while here. Remember you can stay with us so you will not have to book a hotel, it just might be a bit crowded. But hey you will be in Europe and get to hang out with meeeee!! :)

     So what have we been up to since we have been home? Not a whole lot just back to our normal everyday busy lives. I started subbing again right before we left and transferred to Ashleigh's school. I was pretty happy to do that and am enjoying being back at the middle school.  I have missed teaching but have come to terms with not working full time at this point in my life. It has only taken me 2 years to get to a place of peace. I am not sure why that is. I think that in many situations we always want what we cant or don't have. When I am working I want to be at home, when I am home, I want to be at work. Well it's been 2 years this December since I stopped working and I will be honest I have struggled emotionally with not working. I started working when I was in the 7th grade and pretty much only stopped when I was pregnant with R.J. and we moved to Germany the first time. Since then, I either worked, had a baby at home, or went to school. So just hanging out at home is not something that I am used to. I have managed to keep myself busy since moving here I have subbed, tutored, and worked full time all summer. 

     Spending so much time in such close quarters over the past few weeks really made me appreciate my family in so many ways. As I said it really helped me come to peace with me not working. I have been able to be a part of so many aspects of the kids lives that I wouldn't have been able to do if I was working full time. I have been able to be home when the kids get home from school, be at award assemblies, go to out of town games, and countless other things. Not to mention the times I have been able to cook breakfast before school, pack lunch, or have fresh baked cookies ready when they walk in the door. Are some of these things silly? Of course they are, but they are absolutely important to me, and although they may not realize it they are important to my kiddos as well.

     So that is what has been really going on here. In addition to that we are preparing for Thanksgiving. Ya'll know that is my favorite holiday and normally I have my menu ready by November 1, but seeing as we were out of the country for most of the month I am bit behind and didn't have it ready until we got home. Since Bubba will not be home next year for thanksgiving, this year is extra special! We will be having:

Fried Turkey
Smoked Brown Sugar Ham
Bacon Wrapped Green Beans
Dressing
Sweet Potato Praline Casserole
Macaroni & Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Homemade Rolls
Cinnamon Honey Butter
Cranberry Sauce
Apple Crumb Pie
Caramel Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Cider Sangria

So that is the Navarro Family Thanksgiving menu, what will be on the menu at your house?

 

Trinity International College

Our last visit took us to Deerfield, a largish suburb outside of Chicago. When we were first contacted by this school I though oh hex no my baby isn't going to school in Chicago! But after visiting it's in a really cute area and far enough from Chicago to not feel like a big city but still big enough to feel like a town. Much like my favorite city Rowlett. It's too fast paced for Rob, but perfect for me. And the shopping is excellent! Soo many stores and malls. All of which I did not shop at! :( but I won't be moving here so let's get on to the visit! 

                                   

                                                      College Visit

TIU is a Christian school that offers both undergrad and graduate degrees. Since they do have grad programs they also have graduate housing, which includes family housing. It was quite weird to see a playground and bikes but there are several families living in the graduate housing area. That housing area is separate from the rest of the college. There are about 1400 students so it is one of the smaller schools. The campus is beautiful and almost feels as if you are walking through a park. 

We started our day by sitting in on a class. Class size is pretty small here and the professors know all students by name. I enjoyed the class but it made me miss teaching even more! After class we met with the professor who is the head of the department and discussed the AT program. TIU also offers pre physical therapy and a dual degree program which would allow Robert to graduate with his masters in 4 to 4.5 years. 

After our meeting we went to chapel. Since TIU is a Christian school, they hold chapel 3 days a week and students are required to attend half of the sessions. Chapel is student led and organized. Songs were led by students, announcements were made, and then a guest pastor from a local church gave the message. I enjoyed attending chapel and think its a great way to grow spiritually. Several of the schools we have visited offer chapel but not all make attendance mandatory. 

Next, we met with Coach Kenny who we have been communicating with for several months. We had lunch in the caf. I have to say I was not impressed. I only had salad for lunch. The admissions brochure talks about the pizza in the caf so I was really looking forward to trying it and they didn't have any. Also no burgers, no sandwiches, no grilled chicken. You can go to fresh and order a sandwich to go but in the normal caf they didn't have those things. It was a healthier caf than others but nowhere near the variety as other schools. Over lunch they talked football and Ash and I ate and laughed at Ashleigh's impersonation of Rob Aka Bill Cosby! 

The best part of the visit was during lunch. While in the caf several players came over to introduce themselves to us. They saw us sitting with coach Kenny so they came by just to say hi and meet Robert. I really liked that. Instead of just saying hi to coach they stopped shook all our hands(I can do without all the hand shaking though, I'm running out of sanitizer) and talked to bubba. That goes a long way. At one school the players didn't really speak. It was a big difference here. 

We then toured the school with another girl who is from michigan but is being recruited by Austin College too. Small world! Her mom is hesitant about going all the way to Texas so I was able to show her some pictures of our visit and give them some insight on the school. They thought it was pretty cool that we went there. Trinity has the best dorm we have seen for Underclassmen. They have suite style living with double sinks and built in bathrooms as opposed to community bathrooms. However, they have one laundry room for each dorm. It's a smaller school and the facilities reflect that. TIU does not have the newest or fanciest facilities that we have seen but they do have great people. 

We ended our tour with a follow up with admissions. Robert has been accepted already and offered academic scholarships. Being a NAIA school, TIU can offer athletic scholarships so we were asked to do a fasfa estimator to kinda see what our EFC may be. Apparently that is not normally done on site but usually done as a follow up, but was asked so that they could get the ball rolling on an athletic offer. 

                                                  Final thoughts

An athletic scholarship combined with an academic scholarship would be great. But, this is far from home (home being Texas)! I like aspects of the school, but I'm not impressed with the facilities both football related and AT program related. I do love the emphasis that is put on faith here and the ability to grow spiritually. So I'm a bit torn. We are heading to the game today and to pick Robert back up. He spent the night with the players and went to the women's basketball game. I'm excited to hear about his night. 

*** Update. This morning TIU offered Robert a football scholarship. They put together an offer combining an academic scholarship and football scholarship! It's pretty cool to see the letter of intent that he can sign agreeing to play there and accepting the scholarship. Combined they both cover about half of the total tuition at this time. It's still pretty early on in the game so we are going to take our time and let bubba have a chance to figure out what he wants and where he wants to be. Thankfully he doesn't have a deadline at this time so he has the chance to do that. ***

                                     

Now it's time to head home and pray and reflect on our visits and see where we go from here and determine if I should buy one of these shirts!!! 

                                          

Augustana College

                               

Today's visit took us to South Dakota. Yep that's right South Dakota! I never thought I would willingly go there, but we did. Augustana or Augie is a DII school with a little over 1800 students. It's a small DII school but they play much bigger schools. It is located in Sioux Falls SD which is the largest city in SD and has a population of 180,000 so it's a much bigger town than yesterday's town of 5,000! We didn't

get to see much of the city due to time but I did like what I had the chance to see. We had a chance to try a local bar and grill type place for dinner called KravN and it was delicious! They bring you bowls of cotton candy so of course that was a hit with me and Ash! 

                                                        College Visit

We got to sleep in a bit today since we did all the driving last night and stayed pretty close to Augie. We started our visit with a tour of the campus. Our tour guide here was my favorite of all so far. Now in total we have been on 8 campus tours, the 3 we visited in May and the 5 so far on this trip. Carrie was our tour guide and she did a great job giving us a real tour as opposed to just following the script that I am sure they are supposed to memorize. The campus was very pretty and full of cherry blossom trees plus evergreen trees that get decorated for Christmas. One of my favorite parts of the campus was that, several buildings have huge floor to ceiling windows. It really is beautiful there and I'm sure it looks amazing in the fall and during the winter with snow. In the library there are study areas near this huge bank of windows and during the winter months they have hot chocolate and hot apple cider that you can enjoy while you study. It sounds like a great place to curl up and study to me. Not sure that Robert thinks so but I thought it was cool. 

The college is pretty historic ( read old) but has been renovated and is very up to date  and full of technological equipment. The science building is being renovated with 40 million dollars of improvements and already has a ton of equipment that bigger schools in the area do not have. In one of the buildings they have a bird cage full of birds. I'm sure they were doing some sort of research or habitat study on them, but it was pretty cool to see when you walk in. 

The dorms were bigger than some of the other schools we have visited. All dorms are co-ed here like at the previous school. Freshman must live in the dorms but after that have the option of living in a theme house or apartment. The theme houses require a service project for the duration of the year and involves all the housemates. One theme house volunteered with the Big Brother program, another with the local food bank. It's up to the housemates on what their theme or service project is. There is a house near the stadium that is called the Augiholics and they coordinate all the school spirit activities for the campus as well as host tailgating events before the football games. 

After our tour, we headed over to meet with the financial aid rep. Our time with her went well as she gave us more insight on how scholarships and aid works for Division II, we learn more and more with each visit. It is such a small world that her husband used to work with the coach that we met with yesterday. Both have moved on, but sure does seem like such a smaller and smaller football world. 

Next we met with the director of the Athletic Training Program. Our meeting with him went well. He was very upfront and direct on how much time the program will require, as well as the importance of grades. Many schools will not allow athletes to enroll into the AT program due to the clinical requirements, but Augie is willing to work around the athletes schedule and even work out a summer internship if necessary to complete those required hours. Then we toured their amazing training facilities where the actually do rehab and treatments and headed over to football. 

                                                             Football

We met with Coach Schrenk who we have been communicating with for the past few months. We chatted for a bit and then went over to the caf for lunch. No, we did not have to pay for lunch here. This caf had by far the best food hands down! Pizza wasn't good, but they has so much other stuff it was ok that the pizza wasn't great! All 4 of us had Mongolian BBQ. We chose our ingredients and they cooked it up for us with our choice of sauce. I think you could eat that everyday and never have the same combination! If the Mongolian bar wasn't enough to make it the greatest, they had a blizzard machine!  Of course you know I had to try it! So I had a chocolate malt with butterfinger. Oh my gosh I would be HUGE if I ate there every day! 

After lunch we toured the football facilities. The only thing I can say is WOW! Augie has the best facilities in DII. The locker room was NICE. Leather couches, flat screens, PS3. Outside of the locker room were the laundry lockers. What's that you ask? These boys drop their football laundry in the chute, and someone washes it and places it in their laundry locker. During two a days it even gets done between practices! It for sure made a difference in the way the locker room smelled! 

             

Like a few other schools Augie has a separate weight room for athletes. It is also very well equipped and completely decorated in Augie style. As I mentioned Augustana has great facilities. Not just for football but for other sports as well. Wait, are there sports other then football? J/K there's cheer! Seriously though the baseball field has a turf infield which looks amazing. But on to the real sport, the stadium is fantabulous. My pictures don't do it justice since they are taken from on the field. 

We ended our day with more talk with the coach and a follow up with admissions. Academic scholarship notifications will go out in the next few weeks, and athletic ones won't be finalized until early next year.  Robert has already been admitted to Augie so as with other schools that was brief. The coolest part of the visit was that when they went to give Robert a free t-shirt, they gave Ashleigh one too since she visited Augie as well. This was the only school that did that! 

                                                     Final Thoughts

I loved loved this school. Now if you are keeping track that is one love less than HSU. I virtually toured this school online and have been following them on twitter so I knew going in that it was going to be one of my favorites. I must say though that the in person visit far surpassed my expectations. The people were so nice! From the hotel we stayed in, to the resturant, to the school, everyone was just down right nice. In the caf one of the workers introduced herself to us, told Robert she would cheer fir him at the games, and then came and showed me and Ash how to use the blizzard machine. 

The AT program is outstanding. Academic wise it is a great school and has high standards. I know Robert would be challenged but also helped along the way. He would leave prepared to work or enter PT school. Football facilities are obviously a plus. Seriously a laundry locker and beautiful stadium need I say anything more? On the serious side, even though I had hesitations going in about SD due to the demographics, once there all of those went away. The people we encountered including the coaches care about the kids there and making sure they leave as men and are prepared to be successful. Faith, family, and then football are their order of priorities and I agree. 

Being a DII school redshirting is an option and is something that is commonly done. That means if Robert redshirted his fresham year, he would practice and be a part of the team but not play during that first year. Then he would have 4 more years of eligibility for football. So he would stay at college for at least 4.5 years. The benefit is to learn the program that first year. For him and his academic program it would also ease up his workload. The benefit to us, is that by the time he starts, we will be back in the states and can see him play. That is all stuff that is decided once he reports to football camp next year but it is something that is a possibility with DII but not DIII. 

So negatives, duh it's SouthfreakingDakota!!!!!!!!!! That's not Texas! Mama can't come to every home game. They also don't have PT school so that means moving on to another school for his doctorate on Physical Therapy when he's done. As every other school, we will weigh the pros and cons and pray about this decision. 

Stay tuned as we hit up our final stop, Trinity International University in Deerfield Illinois! 

The road to February 5, 2014 continues...

Wayne State College

We had our 4th visit today. Hard to believe we've only been in the states for a week and a day, we've been to so many places and have driven so many miles and in so many states, I was up by 4:55 this morning and by 6 we were all at breakfast and on the road before 7! It was a 5 hour drive from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Wayne, Nebraska. It was a LONG drive, I mean ride! I have never seen so much corn in my entire life! Just a bit of information, Wayne is in Wayne Nebraska which has a population of a little over 5000 people. The school has 3,558 students so it is a very small area. The school is bigger than the others but the town is by far the smallest. When I say small I mean small! 

                               

                                                       College Visit

We made it to Wayne State College (WSC) around noon and were given discount lunch tickets. Yes I said discount tickets. WSC already lost points for Ash because we had to pay for lunch. Our discount gave us a dollar off the price. Most importantly the pizza was not up to par with the other schools and I didn't even finish eating it! However, the patty melt was amazing! While all the food was ayce it was served by the staff as opposed to the other schools where you served yourself. 

After lunch, we met up with the admissions officer and a group and had a general admissions briefing. Robert has already been accepted here so we are ahead of the game. The admissions girl gave a great briefing and was very nice. We were then met by our navigator Robbie, who gave us a tour of campus. The campus is nice and has a lot of updates throughout. ALL of the dorms are co-ed here and have some crazy rules on opposite sex visitors! Some dorms have 24/7 visitation and some only on the weekends. So that means so fast little girl can spend the weekend in my sons room! What?!?! Um WSC just went down on my list ;) 

Next we met with the Department Chair of the area Robert would study. He gave us some information and a tour of the exercise science facilities. They have an amazing program and a pretty cool lab full of fun looking equipment and toys that bubba would get to play with. 

We ended our day with a visit with the DC and talked basics and timelines. Since this is a DII school they can offer football scholarships so he gave us some info on how that process works as well as the red shirt process. Finally we chatted with the head coach. Robert's current DC attended school here and knows the current coach. The coach is prior AF and began his coaching career while stationed overseas in Greece. It's pretty cool to visit all these random schools and realize that there is a connection somehow, just shows how small our world really is! We didn't stay for practice since we have a 2 hour drive to South Dakota, so we ended our time at WSC and hit the road.

                                                     Final Thoughts

I liked WSC. I enjoyed the people we encountered and that the students were polite and respectful. Since we had a short visit we didn't have a chance to meet any of the football players but as we were walking with the coach, they were heading to practice and everyone spoke to him and he addressed them all by name. It is a bigger school, but I liked the size and the opportunities that come with a bigger school. But, it's in Nebraska. That means I won't be able to drive to games once we move back to the states. Being a DII school means better facilities an amazing field and possible athletic scholarship offers. Guess we will have to wait and see what happens! 

                                       

Just in case you are keeping track, so far in our 8 days we have been to; 6 states, 4 colleges, and 7 hotel rooms! One night we got to stay two nights in a row!!! 

Up next, is Augustana in South Dakota. Stay tuned! 

Coe College

Today was college visit 3 at Coe College in Cedar Rapids Iowa. We flew into Chicago last night and checked into a hotel outside of the city around midnight and got up early and hit the road to Coe. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive but it was a fairly smooth ride no major traffic. Nothing exciting to see on this trip either just fields and fields and silos! No radio and no cell service either. But if RJ chooses Coe we can fly straight from Dallas to Cedar Rapids so no boring drive necessary.

                                                       Campus Visit

Since our drive was so long, we had a modified visit today. We met with the offensicve coordinator talked some basics and then headed over to the Caf for lunch. It was the 4 of us and the OC.No players at this lunch. While I had more room at the table, I enjoyed being able to interact with other coaches and players at the other schools. It gave me some insight into the type of people Bubba would be around. Pizza here was better than at HSU but Austin still has the best pizza of all! Gatorade choices were better here though so Robert liked that! 

Next, we chatted with admissions. Robert has been accepted here and offered 76,000 in academic scholarship money so most of our discussion regarded the Athletic Training program at Coe. The admissions staff was great and very friendly and seemed really interested in Robert as a person and athlete.

We were then given a very brief tour of the campus since we had only 30 minutes until our meeting with the head coach. The campus is very beautiful with a lot of improvements to the buildings. The campus had that Midwest tree lined road feel and looks a lot like a college should look. On our tour they showed us a dorm room. Other schools show us a model dorm, however here we saw an actual lived in dorm room. Of course it was a girls room, but the dorm is co-ed so they look similar I'm just sure this one was cleaner! This school is one of the smaller ones with a total of 1400 or so students. 

After the brief tour we met with the head coach. He's been in coaching for 40 years and has been the Gatorade coach of the year. He asked some questions, and we asked some questions and that was about it. His son is the OC we met with earlier, and he took us to see the campus wide weight room, pool, and athletic training rooms that Robert would utilize as an athlete and student in the AT program. The facilities were pretty standard and open to the entire school like at Austin College. We did not see the locker room since players were preparing for practice. 

We then headed to practice for a bit, but it was too cold for me and smash so we headed to the car to warm up and so I could write my blog while the boys checked out the practice and met some more coaches. They met with the strength and conditioning coach who went over the yearly plan and how they workout both on and off season. Rob was so cold his ears felt like they were going to fall off so they ended the visit and we headed to our hotel to relax before ending our night at B-Dubs! 

                                                      Final Thoughts

I thought the campus was pretty. The dorms were a bit more updated than at HSU and the cost of laundry machines is built into the tuition rate. I just didn't get an overwhelming feel of home like I did at the other schools. I really felt as if other schools went out of their way to spend time with bubba and get to know him and how he would fit into their program. I didn't feel that way here. Not that they weren't friendly, they were, but I walked away without being told what they can do for my son or how he would benefit from being there. They do have his undergrad program, but no option for him to continue on there. Bottom line, the school has to be some place where I know my bubba will be well taken care of on and off the field and will leave a better man. I'm just not sure that would happen here. 

Next up is a 5 hour drive to Wayne State College in Nebraska.  Robert's current DC and his wife went to school there and have great things to say. We shall see tomorrow how it works out. Stay tuned! 

Hardin Simmons University

Our second visit was at HSU in Abilene Texas. I will be totally honest and say that after Austin College, I wasn't expecting to be impressed. Boy was I wrong! I loved loved loved HSU!!! Like seriously loved it! Good thing this is Robert's decision and not mine, because I would be changing tickets and committing today and shopping for the rest of our trip if it was up to me! However, I guess he is supposed to make this decision since he is the one that is going to live there for 4 years so we will continue on and see what happens. :) 

To keep up with our timeline, we got at the crack of dawn on Friday and drove for the most boring 2 1/2 hours ever to Abilene. No joke it was the most boring drive in the world. Nothing to look at, no cell service, and no radio stations. Thank God I had my iPad so we could listen to my wonderful music selection!

 

                                                                        College Visit

We left pretty early(shocker I know) and arrived almost an hour before our appointment. The wonderful admissions office altered our schedule for us to maximize our time. So we started out with meeting with admissions which was super quick since Robert has already been accepted. We then moved on to meet with Coach Fello the defensive coordinator. We briefly met with him and arranged to hook back up later that afternoon when we had more time. From there a young graduate assistant (G.A.) gave us a tour of the facilities and showed us their equipment. The locker room is a lot bigger that the previous school and they have a separate weight room just for athletics, however they are not as new. We briefly met with the head coach after that and then it was time to move on.

Robert then went on to anatomy class and we chose not to sit in and headed to the POD ( provisions on demand) to grab a snack and some coffee. After class Robert found his way back to the caf all on his own :) and we had lunch with some players and a different G.A. The G.A.'s are working on a higher level degree and basically interning with the coaching staff at the same time. Lunch was super boring for me and Ash as we were sandwiched between Robert and players and Rob and the coach. Austin had a much better food choice and their pizza was way better! 

After lunch we met up with a group of people that were there for Cowboy Friday. Cowboy Friday is held once a month for campus visits. We toured the campus to include the model dorm room and several classrooms. The dorms here are all single sex, no co-ed dorms, and they are smaller and a bit older than at Austin. No fancy smancy apartments of cottages here. However, rumour going around is that new residential halls are being built. Once the tour was over we headed back to the field house to talk football.

                                                                   Football time

If I wasn't already impressed before, this is where HSU really got my vote. We met with the DB coach who would coach Robert if he chooses to go there. During that time they ( by they I mean coach, Rob, and Robert) discussed X's and O's and Ashleigh and I tried to stay awake! If you know me, you know I love football but when you start drawing plays on the whiteboard you lost me! Anyway for about an hour they discussed football and then the DC came in. Now we have been communicating with Coach Fello for the past few months and his background in coaching is impressive. He has coached in multiple places and even spent some time working for the Big 12 implementing instant replay so his opinion carries a lot of weight to me. 

We went thought a video presentation where Coach Fello told us several key things about the HSU way and asked Robert questions to determine if their ways and his ways would mesh. By the end of that hour I felt as if HSU will be a good fit for my bubba and if he chooses to go to school there I know he will be in good hands. 

                                                      Game Time 

We spent the night on Friday in another Hampton Inn and checked out Abuelos and the Mall of Abilene. I'm happy to say that the mall was much better than the one in Sherman! Then on Saturday we were given tickets to see HSU play TLU. Back in May we visited TLU and Robert just received an email notifying him of his acceptance.  

                    

Prior to the game, Robert hung out on the field with Coach Fello and saw up close and personal what the DB's do for pre-game workouts. We had great reserved seats in the section with many of the players parents. Going into the game TLU had an undefeated record and HSU has a losing record this season. But, HSU won the game and knocked off undefeated TLU 73-44! It was a great game complete with crazy penalties, an ejection, and even record breaking touchdowns! One cool thing was that prior to the boys coming on field the alumni and parents all made a spirit line for them to walk through before they ran onto the field. After the game we had a chance to chat with the DB coach for a minute and then we headed back to falls town. 

                                  

                                                    Final Thoughts

Choosing a school has to be based on more than just football. The school has to be someplace where my baby will be able to leave and start the next chapter of his life. In his words, " a place that will prepare him for the next phase, as much as his parents have prepared him for college." There are several reasons why I think HSU will do that. The number one reason being the academic program that they offer. Robert can pursue his degree in athletic training and then continue on and complete his doctorate in physical therapy in only 6 1/2 years. That is huge!!!! To be able to complete his bachelors degree and stay at the same school for his doctorate would be great!

Another reason is the emphasis that is put on success. Each football player is given a success manual and the coaching staff uses it to monitor grades, attendance, help with time management, and a ton of other tools. Underclassmen are required to attend tutorials weekly as well. There is also a huge emphasis put on faith at HSU and I think that is extremely important.

 HSU just felt very homey to me. Maybe it was because indirectly there were some connections. One of the sweetest girls I met in Louisiana graduated from HSU. Come to find out one of her dear friends is the lady we have been communicating with in the admissions office,who is just as sweet as can be! Even after Rob kept calling her Mr. because he thought her name was Brian not Brynn! Then we found out that one of the head coaches best friends is one of Rob's classmates and a former teammate. Several staff members are alumni which says a great deal to me! These people graduated and chose to work there instead of moving on. Must be a pretty special place. 

The last thing was that Coach Fello looked both Rob and I directly in they eyes and told us he would take care of our son and they would not do anything to mess up the hard work we have done so far. I believe they care more about just football there. Don't get me wrong, I think they want to win games, but I believe they want to teach these guys how to be successful both on and off the field as well as how to be great men. I haven't got that feeling from other schools, and for that HSU has Mama's vote! 

I'm ready to buy this shirt! 

Next up, Coe College in Iowa! Stay tuned to see who has bubba's vote as the road to February 2014 continues!! 

Austin College

                                                          Visit #1

On Wednesday we left Wichita Falls and headed to Austin College in Sherman Texas.  Since we are just a few hours away from Wichita Falls, Grandma Angie was able to come along with us and see the recruiting experience  first hand.  When we arrived we met with Coach Coachmen who is the recruiting coordinator/quarterback coach. Immediately upon arrival, the quarterback met us in the parking lot and him and bubba headed over to his apartment. R.J. Spent the night with 4 football players, all Juniors that live in a fancy 4 bedroom apartment on campus. Once they headed over to the apartment, we spent some time with the coach discussing basics and then headed over to our hotel. 

                                                                         

 

                                                                        

After check in, we went to see what Sherman has to offer.  We checked out the mall which was not very big, then headed over to Cheddars for some dinner. Sherman had all the resturants that we could think of and a bunch of stores for shopping. The Mall left a lot to be desired, but it's a relatively short drive to the Dallas area for real shopping. 

                                                    College visit

Thursday morning we checked out and headed over to the school to meet with the head of financial aid. The financial aid lady was great and was able to answer a lot of questions and provide a ton of insight into the process that we will need to go through if Robert chooses Austin. 

Next, we joined up with another family and met with the admissions counselor. We have already been through the admission process and are way ahead of the game, but the session was still very informative.   One of the great things about Austin is the CI program for freshman. Every freshman is enrolled in a seminar class and is assigned a faculty mentor that follows them throughout their 4 years at Austin. During orientation the students are grouped according to the CI class and remain with the same students all year. It automatically creates a cluster where the student can develop relationships and form connections with the other students throughout the year.

We then met up with a student  tour guide and toured the beautiful campus. Austin is a small division   III school with slightly more than 1300 students. There are several dorm options including co-ed and all male options. Juniors have the option of moving over to apartments with either half kitchens or full kitchens. Seniors have an option of moving into cottages that I would be happy to live in! The Idea Center is a new state of the art science building where R.J. would have a lot of classes. The campus was much bigger than I expected, but very manageable. 

Next, we met up with several coaches and headed to the dining hall for lunch. R.J. ate with several of the football players while we ate and chatted with the coaching staff. The dining facility was totally amazing and I was overwhelmed with the options! I can see bubba eating there every day! Thankfully, Austin requires the unlimited dining option for freshman! 

Our day was not quite over yet, we then met with the defensive coordinator and the Rob's talked specifics and we tried to stay awake! Next up was the AD who was quite entertaining yet serious in his own way. Finally, we met with the head coach who ended up making me cry and promised to take care of bubba if he chooses to go there. We ended our day with a tour of the athletic facilities where we did see the messy lockeroom which surprisingly  doesn't smell half as bad as R.J's room! 

                                                        Final thoughts

I really liked the campus. I was impressed with the employees from the front office to the campus workers we encountered along the way.  The coaching staff was outstanding and every single person went out of their way to ensure we were comfortable and felt welcome! I really did love the school and staff. Plus side is that it is close to family and duh it's Texas!! Only downsides, it's probably the most expensive school on our list and the mascot is a kangaroo! The money we can work on. The mascot ain't changing! 

         

 

Next up is Hardin Simmons stay tuned to see how they compare! 

College Road Trip

I know I've been doing a terrible job at updating the blog and I always say I will do better, but this time I mean it! I even dl an app for my iPad to make it easier. Hopefully it will also curb my perfectionist needs and will allow me to post more frequently! 

Okay enough about that on to the topic at hand! The Navarro Family College Road Trip! Um wait I guess since we have to take like 5 planes this should be the Navarro Family College Road & Air Trip!! The next two weeks are going to be crazy and we won't always be able to keep in touch or call so I will try to update through the blog about our trip. Just in case you don't follow me on twitter (which you should go do now @niktastik1219) or read all my fb posts let me just give you a quick overview. 

Left Germany and now we are heading to Texas via OKC. In Texas we will visit Austin college in Sherman and Hardin Simmons in Abilene. Then we fly to Chicago and from there drive all over the freaking place. Coe College in Iowa, Wayne State College in Nebraska, Augustana in South Dakota, and finish up at Trinity International University in Deerfield Illinois! Our goal is to find bubba a college that he likes, will enjoy playing football at, and most importantly one that Mama is ok with! We all know that's the most important part, because if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy!!

                

                                  

We have been extremely blessed and Robert has been offered over 100,000 in academic scholarships! He is still awaiting the athletic scholarship portion.  As a parent I can't describe how proud I am of my son who has worked so hard to get to where he is right now! Only 3% of high school athletes go on to play collegiate sports at ANY level or sport! My bubba is one of that small percentage. Getting to this point has not always been easy, but each moment has helped turn him into the great young man he is becoming right before our eyes! I am sure the next few months will be just as hard as Robert chooses a college and we prepare to send him out into the big scary world on his own! 

Stay tuned to  find out how our visits go and where the next chapter of Robert's book of life begins. The countdown to Februrary 5, 2014 is officially on!

                                  

Navarro's in Paris

Navarro Family @ the Eiffel Tower

For Spring Break, we took a short 3 day trip to Paris with our friends the Moreno's. We left bright and early on a Sunday morning and had a really easy drive to the hotel. We stayed outside of the city at L'Elysee' near Disneyland Paris. It was a nice hotel with the basics such as beds, bathroom, & bar! Best of all it had underground parking and was across the street from the train station and a mall. I would definitely stay there again.  It was a great trip and we had a blast. I think I may have wore everyone out but we almost made it to see everything that was on the original itinerary list! Instead of uploading a massive amount of photos I created a mini movie of our pictures. I hope you enjoy viewing our pictures just as much as we enjoyed taking them!

 

Sadly we didn't make it to the Louvre in time to see the Mona Lisa. We got there 20 minutes after it closed. So we will have to go back, but being 4 hours away I don't see a problem with that! One of my favorite things to do was to put a lock on Pont des Arts. You put your lock on the bridge and then throw the keys into the Seine River to lock your love forever. I glitzed our lock up with pink glitter so that if we go back it will stand out and we can find it.  We had a great time and I am sure we will go back again!

 





My love, and our lock!

I'm Baaaccckkkk

Wow it’s been almost a year since I have updated the blog. So sorry to deprive all 6 of my fans of my awesomeness, but you can finally relax I am done with school and am still unemployed so I have nothing to do but blog! I will be able to update my blog now and you will finally be able read about all of the fascinating details of my life on a regular basis! For today I will leave you with my list of things I am looking forward to now that I am finished with grad school (yay me!!!)

1.     Interacting with my family instead of half listening and half doing school work.

2.     Not citing everything I say in APA format.

3.     Sleeping all night (no more 1 A.M. web conferences with professors in Texas)!

4.     Reading trashy romance books instead of text books.

5.     Applying for jobs and waiting on the NOR (notice of results) that tells me that although I spent the last 2 years going back to school I am still not qualified to be a secretary for the government.

6.    Using my laptop for shopping, candy crush, FB, and anything other than Microsoft word and Blackboard!

7.    Tweeting! Yep that’s right, I tweet random stuff. Lucky you, you can follow me there too, at https://twitter.com/niktastik1219

8.    Feeding my addiction to pinterest. Oh pinterest how I have missed you!

9.    Watching T.V. especially reality shows that are so stupid you can’t stop watching.

10.   I almost forgot the most important part, celebrating graduation. I will be doing that from now until May 19, 2013 (that day after actual graduation).  You are all welcome to join me in my celebrating, either here or there or by Skype somewhere in between!

 

Have a wonderful day, do something nice for someone, and stop and smell the coffee. Yep I said coffee, I don’t know why people say stop and smell the roses, they don’t really smell good ask Outkast.