Time in Tempe

Yesterday Derek, Ash, and I drove down to Tempe to visit Zach at ASU for the day since it was a convenient time to visit due to the long holiday weekend.  It was WONDERFUL to be with Zach and great for my heart to have all of my guys together.  

We arrived around 10:30am in the morning and brought all sorts of snack goodies to Zach at his dorm. (Interestingly enough, Zach's roommate and other suitemates were all up in Flagstaff for the long weekend.  I think Zach was thrilled to have his dorm room to himself for a couple days.)  Ash got to see Zach's dorm room and declared that it was smaller than he expected (which Derek and I thought was funny since our dorms at Purdue were much smaller than Zach's room).  Zach then took us around the campus a bit to show us where some of his classes were held, the rec center, etc.  

We spotted the meal-delivery bots lined up by the Student Union ready to deliver lunch to hungry students.  

Lots of pretty flowers blooming on campus despite the near 100 degree heat.  If you zoom in on the picture, you can see bees enjoying them.  Its awesome how the flowers sport ASU's colors crimson and gold.  

We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant close to campus called Rosita's.  Very yummy!!! During lunch Zach was telling us all about his life at ASU.  So far he is enjoying it very much, although he reports that the food could be better.  His meal of choice is hamburger and fries.  Although one evening they served quesadillas which were good.  He says that he misses all of our homemade Mexican food.   

His classes are going well.  He really enjoys Calculus.  Chemistry is his least favorite class.  He reports that his Engineering 101 class is the "most expensive arts and crafts class ever"!!! Basically they use pipe cleaners, cotton balls, wood, and any other materials provided to work together in teams to complete various projects- like building a car.  Sounds fun! 

After lunch we hung out of campus in the shade and then Zach took us around to see other sights. 

Here is a view of Zach's dorm, Tooker House.  It has 4 different wings.  Zach's wing is pictures on the right.  His room is on the fifth floor on the reverse side of the building that is pictured.  The main entrance is located on the bottom left of the building and the cafeteria is located on the bottom right. His dormitory is in a courtyard with two other engineering dormitories located on either side of his (not pictured).  You can see the night open area where the kids hang out, toss around balls, and sunbathe when it is not 1000 degrees.   

Here is a view of Zach's wing from the reverse side.  Zach's room is on the fifth floor (5 windows up) and the second window in from the right.  

There is a bridge connecting the courtyard in front of Zach's dorm to the main part of campus.  You can see Zach, Derek, and Ash starting to go up to cross the bridge.  

Here Zach is showing us the building where his rocketry club meets.  He decided to join the engineering Rocketry club.  Way cool!!! And no, this is not like building 4H rockets.  This is much more advanced, building rockets out of heavy-duty materials that are typically 6-8 feet in height.  There are multiple teams in the club working on various aspects of the rocket.  Zach says he is most interested in the team working on fuels and fluid dynamics. (We think this is amusing as this has the most CHEMISTRY of the different parts of the rocket!)  Anyway, we will keep you posted as we learn more about his experience!

Ash, Derek, and Zach peek into the rocketry and automotive club workshops.  

It was a great day and we can't wait to hear more about his adventures! 

In other completely unrelated news, per request of a member of my class, I created a "Barbie-Pump" mix for my BodyPump class with fun peppy, party-time music by female artists.  My participants got into the mood by wearing pink and Barbie-themed apparel.  It was fun!