Al Roker had a "bittersweet" reason for his absence from Monday's episode of the TODAY Show. The meteorologist was away dropping off his son, Nick Roker, at grad school, while his granddaughter, Sky Clara Laga, returned home to her parents — leaving the NBC star with an empty nest once again. Al took to Instagram to share a carousel of sweet snaps from his emotional weekend. The first photo showed Al and his wife, Deborah Roberts, posing proudly with their son, Nick, ahead of his return to college.
Nick was the spitting image of his dad, sporting a black vest and a pair of glasses. Al mirrored his son's look with similar spectacles and a casual grey T-shirt.The following photos captured sweet moments of Sky playing in the garden and enjoying a special supermarket trip with her grandfather. It seems the weekend’s excitement caught up with the 2-year-old, as another picture showed her fast asleep in her car seat.
The NBC star captioned the post: "Well, my baby boy is back off to college and my baby granddaughter is back home with Mommy and Daddy. It was a bittersweet weekend."
Al's family life
Following Sky's birth, Al shared how wonderful it was to become a granddad and how much she has influenced him in a positive way. "It is magical, it really is," he said on the TODAY Show. "The thing is, everyone tells you it’s going to be this thing and you don’t know."
He continued: "It’s like when they tell you about having your first child. And then to hold this little girl, knowing almost 35 years ago I held her mom? ... she's just perfect."
Back in May, Al's son, Nick graduated with a degree in communication. To commemorate the achievement, Al penned on Instagram: In the caption, the beloved weatherman wrote: "Three years ago, we dropped him off as a first year college student. Today @nickroker155 has his #associatesdegree in #communications and we could not be prouder of how hard he has worked and is determined to get his #bachelorsdegree Way to go, my boy."
Meanwhile, Al and Deborah's daughter is a freelance journalist living in Paris, and has covered several big events with NBC, including the Paris Olympics.
Al reflected on his and Deborah's empty nest during an episode of TODAY after Mother's Day. Al explained it was a "weird" one as it was the first that none of their children were at home. It was the first Mother's Day with no kids at home," he said. "[We] had a lovely afternoon, and just kind of chilled out, it was nice."