I've enjoyed reading about your families, so it seems only fair to tell you about mine:

Nicholas is 24--was a Systems Administrator for a software company in Seattle at 19 and then at 21 decided college sounded much more fun than 18 hour work days. He's just finishing up his junior year at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and calls himself a biologist-in-training.

Mical is 19, moved to Oregon to live with her brother and friends last fall and works in a department store there. This fall she starts college at St. Scholastica in Minnesota. It's a lovely college that I graduated from and Mical was born when I was in school there. She went to her first class when she was 5 days old. I played a concert there that night, had her with me and she was introduced as the newest member of the music department. It seems only fitting that she decided to end up there for college!

Both our kids homeschooled (in a way we all loved called unschooling) and traveled by bus and train in their teen years all over the states and Canada to visit other unschooler friends they met at a homeschoolers' camp in Oregon several years ago. We had our share of visitors--anywhere from 10 to 25 kids at a time for a week or more. Our log house is not at all large and squeezing that many kids in was a real feat, but they were always amazing kids. 8 years after the first camp they are still close to many of those same friends and even live with some.

I have great kids and am happy they stay in constant touch with us and come visit often. I loved the years they were growing up. I also have to say the old empty-nest, after the initial shock of each of them being gone, isn't a bad place at all. Their dad and I are having a great time (we took our first kidless vacation in 25 years this year) and my time is my own again. When the time comes, I will be happy to spoil grandchildren.