This is my first blog try, so bear with me.

I just took Dean on his college trip, and sent periodic email updates to a few relatives, and that is what compelled me to just bite the bullet and start a blog.  I only hope I can be half as funny, creative, and interesting as my daughters are in their blogs!

After spending five days on the west coast on business, I flew to Boston to meet up with Dean to start his college tour. Saturday, Dean went to an MIT double header, while I was en route. I arrived at midnight, Mike picked me up, and all the Dowlings were up -- they are really night owls in that household, and after a night or two, I became one, too!

Sunday found us at the Harvard-Princeton double header. Game two went 17 innings - very exciting! 52 total hits; longest game in something like 99 years. It doesn't really matter who won (Harvard), it was great. We spent the last 8 innings watching with the MIT coach, and then spoke with the Harvard coach afterward. Then the MIT coach took us to MIT for a  tour of the athletic facilities.

On Monday, we went to MIT and Dean went to classes with an LDS freshman on the baseball team (going to Italy soon for his mission). Tuesday, we headed to Connecticut for the Yale tour, info session, Dean attended classes with an LDS Yale basketball player and we went to the Yale double header. Wednesday it was on to Penn and historic sites in Philadelphia; Thursday we headed south to New Jersey to see Princeton.  Dean went to classes everywhere we went (he chose to drop in  on a Quantum Mechanics class at Princeton) and we met with several baseball coaches. 

Other trip highlights: seeing Bryn Dowling star as Roxie Hart in the Broadway play "Chicago"; getting the quickie tour of Manhattan with Joey and getting yummy cupcakes at the famed Magnolia Bakery; seeing Ava and Christopher (Ava gave Dean quite the goodbye kiss!), Legal Seafood with Dars, Mike and Blake; Blue Man Group; Celtics games; Jackie's soccer game; Stephanie's amazing drawing with her eyes closed! etc.   Poor Kim, we had all this fun without him; he had to go to the Masters instead.