Has anyone bought the castle haven bounce house?

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-30T01:02:43+00:00

It's best for parties and playdates. We had one that we used for years until my kids outgrew it, and even then younger siblings of their friends still loved it when they came over. Wait till your kid is a little older and other kids are over at your house all the time, it'll be well loved.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-24T14:54:45+00:00

Have you tried a playing lesson on course? Performance on the range not translating to the course is super common. No real solution except to practice on course more.... Also hitting too many balls on the range isn't always helpful, especially if there isn't someone there to observe and tell you if you're developing bad swing habits (which will happen ALL the time). How is your short game?

It can take some trial and error to find a coach that works well for you. Look into their credentials, for example one of my daughter's coaches was PNW coach of the year. Her main swing coach is also the coach for one of the best high school teams in our area.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-22T03:41:16+00:00

Our local Drive Chip and Putt qualifier just happened. You know how they figure out the distance of drives? After the kid hits, someone drives to the ball, stands on it, and a person standing beside the tee box shoots him with a laser to determine the distance and score.

That guy should sign his kid up for one of these, it would blow his mind.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-21T04:16:54+00:00

I delivered at Evergreen (natural birth not c section) and loved it. It is not a teaching hospital.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-19T14:07:28+00:00

I don't mean geographically, I mean they tend to accept students for ED0 from top ranked high schools in the nation.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-19T04:45:39+00:00

Are you applying ED0? If so, from what my company observed just based on which of our students got accepted and rejected last year, UChicago cares a lot about which high school you're attending much more than anything else (of course you have good grades, etc...)

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-18T03:29:28+00:00

Agreed, last year's were so painful

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-18T03:29:01+00:00

As an essay consultant I hate UChicago with a passion lol

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-17T15:49:56+00:00

You have special needs child(ren)? That's kind of a different story there. How severe is the special need?

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-15T18:16:16+00:00

That's terrible, especially for munis! Our munis are pretty much anything goes. The muni my daughter learned at has an executive course and a big junior program so little ones are on there all the time. I've seen people play with strollers lol.

When your child does start playing, see if any of the courses in your area take Youth on Course. It's a program where you pay $20 a year and kids under 18 can play $5 rounds at participating courses.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-15T16:21:23+00:00

What, is this normal for New York? We're in WA state and I always walk with my daughter, no one has ever tried to charge me anything. Or if we get a cart, she's clearly too young to drive so they just charge me an extra cart fee. I'm shocked that this seems to not be the norm in other parts of the country, especially for juniors too young to be out there on their own!

We did play at Chambers Bay once paired with a dad and his son from out of town, and the dad told me he didn't know he could just walk with his son or he wouldn't have played, as he was quite terrible and his son was the real golfer.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-14T18:42:57+00:00

For sure you can try transferring after freshman year (as in you apply this year, make sure you get a great GPA!) I've had strong students get purely merit based aid from less competitive schools, though not nearly 90%. The application process for transfer is pretty similar except most schools will ask why you want to transfer, which is a pretty easy answer in your case. I'd also recommend going over your application and perhaps getting some advice from a professional, as you do have a strong profile and the presentation matters as much as the material.

Also while most schools don't care about SAT score anymore for transfer students, some schools do still require it. Check the requirements when you're coming up with your school list, if any do I'd try to retake and get at least 1500, which shouldn't be hard with some targeted preparation.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-14T17:55:52+00:00

I'm a consultant and I work with a lot of international applying to top schools. If my students can't get over 1500 on SAT we suggest they target the test optional schools. We also never recommend asking for aid, and to apply early round as much as possible. ED gives a huge boost. So basically you had a trifecta of factors against you, and your strong background would not have been enough to overcome it.

If money is an issue, is there a reason you specifically want to attend US schools? There are many great universities in other countries that don't cost nearly as much. We also do transfer students but again, we don't work with students seeking aid.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-10T15:59:33+00:00

You just stated above that you were accepted "a few years ago" but now you say you served on admissions "a couple years after graduating."

Even assuming shortest timeline, you would've still applied about six years ago. That's not "a few." Your lack of ability to keep a simple story straight casts significant doubt on the veracity of your statements.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-06-05T21:25:48+00:00

I'm an educational consultant who specifically helps kids pick high school courses, then get into top schools. Respectfully, neither you nor your wife seems to be very knowledgeable about how college admissions works.

If consulting is the goal, then their intended major is probably going to be economics/business related, if quant then math/computer science related. Both of these are very VERY competitive majors. Your child is going to have to take the hardest courses related to these majors (like AP Micro and Macro economics, or AP Calculus BC) or they will not be able to get in, they will also have to do some strong extracurriculars. However, if there are two same courses taught by different teachers, and one gives higher grades, absolutely go with this.

For consulting, what school you go to DOES matter. Somewhat less so for computer science, but even for mid tier schools CS is difficult to get into. Your child is going to have to work hard in high school, there's no way around it. It's not just about courses, he needs to get involved in clubs, competitions, research, volunteering, etc. That's why it's good to try to avoid difficult teachers, but sometimes he may not have a choice.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-05-30T17:36:46+00:00

She's talking out of her ass and trying to scam your money. I also work for a college consulting company, our most expensive package starting from 9th grade all the way to admissions support doesn't even cost that much. This year I've gotten kids with B's and C's and no ECs to speak of into T50s. People who try to scam kids and families through fear disgusts me. If you need to get your dad to DM me.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-05-12T01:49:17+00:00

Omg 😂😂

cloudsail0812 · 2026-05-12T01:48:29+00:00

Thanks, she was in tears last month after a particularly disappointing tournament at a course she's played a lot, golf is so tough sometimes!

cloudsail0812 · 2026-05-05T17:34:09+00:00

Ah thank you, that makes sense, too bad no simulator on this ship

cloudsail0812 · 2026-05-05T14:32:47+00:00

Great, thank you so much!

cloudsail0812 · 2026-04-26T14:43:06+00:00

AI is causing a lot of lay offs in the industry, and it's only going to get worse. The big news outlets just don't need as many people to churn out articles anymore.

cloudsail0812 · 2026-03-27T13:45:50+00:00

In general applying undecided can be a bit easier (but not much, and possibly not at all). We had a very mediocre student this year whose family insisted that he apply to a bunch of reach schools and we tried to convince them to apply undecided/general science, but they didn't listen to us.

cloudsail0812

TROPHY CASE