Parents weekend!

I’d like to hear about your Parents Weekend experiences. My last one was in the Fall of 2010 so I’m well removed from the activities these days.
What did you do?
Where did you stay?
What did you like?
What did you dislike?

Any tips for newbies next year?

Stealth_81
 
Stealth_81 said:
I’d like to hear about your Parents Weekend experiences. My last one was in the Fall of 2010 so I’m well removed from the activities these days.
What did you do?
Where did you stay?
What did you like?
What did you dislike?

Any tips for newbies next year?

Stealth_81
Click to expand...

We enjoyed the women’s soccer game on Friday night. We opted not to attend the football game this year as my mother attended parents weekend with us and it’s too much for her (walking and heat).

While my son attended; we explored Manitou Springs and visited the cave dwellings which was so cool! There was an art fair in town which made navigating the small streets challenging. Then, we had lunch at a great bbq place in Old Colorado Springs.

On Sunday we attended mass at the chapel; which was lovely and very touching as the chapel closed today for repairs.

We stayed in a home near Black Forest which was great. It gave my son the opportunity to unwind and enjoy time with family. My son was able to show off his new car and gave my husband and his brother a tour of the Springs.

I think this year we explored more restaurants than activities. We had breakfast at the Cheyenne Mountain resort on Sunday morning. The food and the views are amazing!

This year was more focused on spending time together and not partaking in as many Academy scheduled events. It was not planned this way; but it seemed to work out this way.
 
While this was our third PW, we did all of the events on Friday and Saturday. A little backstory : My dad had a massive stroke 2 days after DS left for BCT. My parents had planned on attending that first PW with us but sadly, his recovery was not going to permit it that year. Fast forward 3 years later, dad is finally strong enough to go so this was the first time my folks have seen the academy. We used a wheelchair for anything at the academy (he can walk with a cane, but it's very slow going). I have to applaud the parking staff as we used handicap parking both Friday and Saturday. We made sure we arrived early since we knew getting him to places would take a little longer. Most of the time, the special wheelchair-accessible van shuttles would drop us off right at the entrance to our event.

We stayed in an Air BnB about 20 minutes south of north gate, just off of 25 on Fillmore. DS introduced us to "Bad Daddy Burgers" restaurant...delicious!! We went to the COS Hot Air Balloon glow on Sunday night. It was amazing!! We stood right in the middle of the balloon teams as they inflated the balloons (although that meant a mad scramble when they started coming down, LOL). I highly recommend doing it next year. Parking for us was only $5 (some places were charging $10). There were inflatables for the kids, food trucks (don't know the cost on those) and a live band performing.

Our experience has been that PW is very hot and sunny! Bring plenty of water, sun screen and cooling towels. The only time we needed jackets was when we were waiting for the parade to start on Friday morning. Evenings were nice and cool once the sun started to go down.
 
My first PW: whirlwind!

To answer Stealth:

What did you do?
Gazed at my son and his friends and tried not to be totally creepy. Probably didn't succeed.

This first year, my kid was BEAT, so most of the time we laid low and just let him rest and decompress, that was just the ticket for all of us.

We had toured about 18 moths ago before his first application and saw a lot of cool things- but to get a really in depth tour from my DS was great, I learned even more. I am so very grateful for this opportunity for my kid. Like: wow!


Where did you stay?
My youngest DS and I stayed in Pueblo West with my brother's family. It was a lovely opportunity, however, next year I may look into accommodations a bit closer- adding 2 hours of driving to each day was a lot.

What did you like?
The feeling of family, respect and love. I loved that Gen Silveria was so present and accessible to everyone, that truly meant so very much to me. I loved feeling like we have gained a few thousand (million?) more family members. I feel that my DS is well cared for and people are truly concerned for his success and he is EXACTLY where he is meant to be!

The demonstrations were amazing, the soaring, the ground crew for the soaring team, the falcons....oh those falcons (can I have one as a pet? tyvm!)

The tunnel show! If you do nothing else for the weekend, make sure you can get a spot to see that! Not only watching the band, but seeing how much the football team loves their band, well, it made my little black heart swell just a bit.

What did you dislike?
That it had to come to an end. Haha!

I was a tad disappointed that when Colgate came on to the filed there was booing. Like, that's not sportsmanship. They are there for our entertainment, they are just playing the game like "our" kids are, too- and this may be how they are paying for their own college careers. That made me a little sad- I would be sad if people jeered our boys. I realize that's a little bit of the fun of sports and the rivalry, but we can be better than that.

Any tips for newbies next year?
RE-APPLY YOUR DAMN SUNSCREEN. (Trust me here, signed, A. Krispy Kritter.)

Converse All-Stars may not be the best shoe choice for a ton of walking (raw pinky toes)

Try to make many mental notes about your time at PW so you can turn them over in your head while you wait for Thanksgiving/Christmas

Jump in and make new friends- some of these other families will be exactly what you need when you, as a parent, need a little support. I have connected with a few amazing women through our children and they have already become cherished friends (you know who you are, pat yourselves on the back, beauties! I love you girls)

I didn't bring my "big" camera (SLR.) I honestly did not regret the decision: it's heavy and I am not going to get large prints of any images from this last weekend. Your phone will make images up to 8x10 with no problems, so, just keep it light and airy and fun.

If your Parent's Club has a booth at Arnold hall, volunteer if you can, or, if it's not too busy at that time, at least stop in and say "Hi."

The shopping at Arnold Hall will be a mad house- I got a flyer from the Nebraska booth for charms/pins and ordered later, much easier AND the shipping was SO darn fast- like crazy fast (mad props, NE folks!) If you don't already have one, you will need a clear bag for the game the next day- they are cute and affordable at Arnold Hall that day- just mentally prepare yourself for the melee of crazy moms: I can say this cuz I was one of them, oh. so. crazy.

The tailgate is a riot, so great to get to meet your kids' squadron in a little more laid back setting. Bring a little cash to donate to them, they work hard at this, it's a worthy donation. BUT remember, you ain't gettin' in without your cadet: there were a lot of us forlorn parents sitting sadly on the outsides looking in until our brats showed up to let us in, hahahaha!

Get loud, get proud: if the cheerleaders and band are trying to hype you up, help them out: GET HYPED UP! No one is gonna remember you after this weekend (unless you are super rude or you flash your bewbs) so, show your spirit- hoop, holler, clap, have all the fun! If you do not currently possess school spirit, watch YouTube or message me, I will teach you or share some of mine! LET'S GO FALCONS (clap, clap) HERE WE GO FALCONS (clap, clap!)

RE-APPLY YOUR DAMN SUNSCREEN. (ouch)
 
Agree with Momof4; bittersweet since it was also our last Parents' Weekend.
Something relatively new this year - cadets could sit with their family during the football game provided an additional ticket was purchased for them.
I say additional for two reasons: 1) a ticket in addition to the ones purchased by family to sit in their desired location; 2) cadets already pay for "season" football tickets (it is taken out of their pay), but now they have to purchase two tickets to sit with family (one in the cadet area and one for the "family" seat). As a minimum, the Academy should reimburse the cost of the original mandatory ticket. Instead, families pay double for football tickets for the cadets.

Stealth_81 said:
I’d like to hear about your Parents Weekend experiences. My last one was in the Fall of 2010 so I’m well removed from the activities these days.
What did you do?
Where did you stay?
What did you like?
What did you dislike?

Any tips for newbies next year?

Stealth_81
Click to expand...

Do? We mostly just spent quality time together as a family - DH, DD, me, oldest DD and young granddaughter along with DH's brother and some of his family. Ate out a couple of times, but also relaxed and cooked/grilled meals at the rental house.

Stay? An AirBnB in a relatively quiet BriarGate neighborhood minutes from the South Gate with plenty of space for all and a decent fenced yard for toddlers.

Like? Seeing and talking to friends from our local area as well as others we know. The Cadet squadron picnics on Friday; the squadron tailgates, and as always hanging out at ThudGate.

Dislike? Weekend was too short, as always. Cadets actually had scheduled classes on Friday.

Tips? I will mostly "ditto" peppypea, but add to bring clothes for a varied weather and temperatures.
Most of all, enjoy the time with your cadets and their new family, which is now YOUR family.
 
I’ll comment on Friday only. We really enjoyed the demonstrations before the parade. Excellent!
Required classes for cadets on Friday was a huge bummer. We didn’t feel like we were with them for a significant part of the day. Other years where we could follow them into the academic areas, meet their professors/advisors, see academic demonstrations by departments, etc. was much better. We felt like we really got a sense of this aspect of their lives. Also, because of this change, Arnold Hall was a zoo. It did not seem prepared for those kind of numbers. Hopefully this was a one-time occurrence.
 
At our last PW, it was pointed out to me to watch the opposing teams bench area as the Wing charges off the field into the stands prior to the start of the game. There will be some cadets who try to run/jump into the opposing teams bench. If the get there, it's a NCAA violation with a $1K fine to the school so there are many AFA personnel standing in-between to "catch" the interlopers...They're were caught with smiles all around...just good fun. Think the high jump athletes have the best chance to get over the human wall! Check it out next PW.
 
I completely agree that the classes on Friday thing was WEIRD. Would have liked to have been able to meet the teachers/professors instead. Was very disappointed in the amount of trash leading from the parking lot up to the parade field - get with it USAFA. Every active duty base does a FOD walk when DVs are coming - super disappointed in this lack of attention to detail. Additionally, cadets working "security" made people pour out their water and drinks before walking up to the parade field. Made no sense whatsoever. I'm sure they were just enforcing what they were told to do but people with full water bottles were allowed to proceed but if you had a bottle that was half full you were instructed to dump it out. Pre-parade activities were AWESOME. Post parade cookout in the Quad was really nice as well. AOC meet was GREAT. Super glad they got to stay out Fri night. It was also very nice that cadets got to join their family at the game. There were plenty of open seats all over the stadium. We did not see a need to buy an additional ticket. We understood that we would not be allowed to displace anyone near us - that was not an issue but we would have just moved to some of the many open seats in another location if necessary. The fly by of the KC-46 at the game was LAME, especially after it flew by on Fri at the parade. Seriously... only one flyby at the Parent's weekend football game and it was a repeat from Friday - SMH - I hope something else was scheduled during halftime and that maybe the weather delay dorked it up. I get being a good steward but there is real training to be done flying along on the front ridge for F-35s. I was SUPER IMPRESSED that Colgate (after taking a beating) joined our team for the 3rd verse. I had not seen that done by a civilian team before - HUGE RESPECT for them! We checked out Dragonman's in C-Springs and got some skydiving practice at iFly in Denver. Spent time with the Sponsor family as well. Great weather - definitely needed the sunscreen for the parade and game.
 
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