Alma miss you too.

Shoeshe’s birthday was Thursday and that seemed a good excuse to go visit our old home town, just in time for Alma Mater’s last home game of the season.   We were not really going to see football but rather to see Shoeshe and eat at some of our favorite old haunts.  The Husband used to work at a hotel in *Alma Mater, so he dropped the owner’s name when we were making reservations and got us a huge discount…big enough that we stayed two nights instead of one.   When we got to town on Friday night we checked in, fed Ellie-Mae and met Shoeshe at the best Italian restaurant ever.  We told our server it was her birthday and she got free cake, which she gave to The Son, because she hates us and thought it was fun to watch his head spin around backwards.

Ang and JHJ both used to work at the best restaurant ever, and the menu had not changed a bit.  When the waitress brought my 24 with extra mushrooms (penne and chicken in cream sauce), I remembered why Ang and I would always share an order.   Ang would pick it up, between her lunch and dinner shift as hostess, and bring it to me while I worked at the senator’s office.  I would close the door, and we would sit at my desk, eat and watch Rosie O’Donnell on the TV that was supposed to stay tuned to CSPAN.  That was just the beginning of a weekend full of memories.  Some were bad, but they were overwhelmingly good.

The next morning we perused the awesome new mall they have built at Alma Mater, and The Son beamed a little girl in the mall kiddie corral.  In his defense, the child was sitting at the bottom of the slide as he was coming down it.  We left and took him to a real playground instead, and I swear, it was the BEST playground I have EVER seen, and that is saying something because I do consider myself a bit of a playground connoisseur.   It is located at a nearby lake, the lake where we had church cookouts, and Ang and I walked miles upon miles so I would fit in my wedding dress.  It was really cold, but that did not slow us down any.

The Son fit in the tire swing much better than the adults.  Like his new hat?  Target special in Alma Mater colors.

This is one of those barrel rolling things.  The Son had it easy.

Although The Husband also did really well.

Shoeshe pretty much sucked.  So did I, and there is a picture of me on this thing as well, but it is my blog so I get choose which pictures to publish.  Awesome.

This may look like a normal slide but it is made of of lots of tiny little rollers.  I was worried about his fingers getting caught, but he was fine.

The Husband thought he would be fine too….but it was not made for more ample adult-sized bottoms.  He tried it on his stomach the next go around and now we can not have any more children.

We had so much fun playing that we were late for the game!  When we got there they were already doing…um something.  I have no idea.  But doesn’t the field look pretty?

There was a lot of um hugging?  And running.  And throwing.  I just cheered when people around me cheered and started to boo when they booed, but The Husband said that was teaching The Son bad sportsmanship, so instead when other people booed we just yelled, “Awe that’s a shame.  Better luck next time!”  Shoeshe pretended she did not know us.

We really enjoyed the band! They were entertaining.  They could play and dance at the same time.  Ohhhh.  Ahhhh.

We left after the half time show.  It was just way too cold, especially since The Son flat out refused to wear his mittens and I had already flashed our whole section when he threw a temper tantrum demanding to Nur-Nur during the second quarter.  Whoever thought it was a good idea to plan a game at nap time obviously did not have a toddler.  The score was tied when we left, but I hear Alma Mater won, so YAY! I guess.  Whatever.  They still have a great debate team.

The Son fell asleep in the Huckablazer before we were even off campus so Shoeshe gave us a tour down memory lane.   Campus is completely unrecognizable from just six years ago.  My dorm is now Co-ed!  The student union is so massive it takes up the whole center of campus.  The college owned apartments, that were considered the height of cool with their T1 lines, are now obsolete because they are the only part of campus that is not wireless.   Trees are gone and a parking garage is in their spot.  The Wesley foundation where Cat and I spent so many hours looks so much better, and has bought out the Church of Christ next door.  The new science building has a lovely greenhouse on the top, and the road I used to speed down to get to work on time is now just for bikes and pedestrians. Get Cat to tell you about the time she got run over by a bike on that road.

Since The Son was snoozing away, we drove by every apartment either of us lived in.  The first one, still across from a mosque is now owned by HUD, that should tell you something.  It was never a nice apartment complex, when I first moved in just for the summer while the dorms were closed, I was so scared to live there by myself that I begged HYR to live there with me.  She complied, and we toughed it out together.  The next apartment we lived in was bought out by my old church and they tore it down to put up a parking lot.  It was a change for the better.  My first apartment I ever lived in alone** was so small that I could not open the front door without hitting the coffee table, and yet I still crammed in a full-sized Christmas tree.  It looked  exactly the same, as did the huge old house turned duplex The Husband and I first lived in as newlyweds.  That is where he carried me over the threshold and hit my head on the door frame.  Oh the memories.  We drove by his old apartment too, the one he shared with BIL and had so much dust that the first (only) time I cleaned it for them I found thirty-seven dollars in change under the dust on their entertainment center.   It looked the same as well, although that part of town seems to really be going downhill.

We went back to the hotel to finish naps, check on the dog and to lose some of the layers we had on, and then met Shoeshe for sushi and hibachi.  The Son thought a Boston roll was a cupcake and got mad when it tasted like kelp instead of icing.  We told our server it was her birthday and she got free cake, which she gave to The Son.  Because she hates us and thought it was fun to watch his head spin around backwards.  Hey Deja Vu!

We finished the night in the indoor pool at the hotel doing something The Son has been begging to do since August.

The next morning we made it just in time for the contemporary service at the church I went to the whole time I lived there, and only saw one person I knew. We finished the trip up  with lunch at the same place The Husband and I had our third date.  I asked him if he remembered that date and he told me he did because he really liked the v-necked sweater I wore.

When we pulled out of the parking lot after giving Shoeshe final kisses, The Son cried saying, “Shoeshe, Shoeshe, you come back, I want you back!” and it was not just because she gives him presents.

We will be back soon.  Alma Mater has a basketball team right?

*Alma Mater is code for the town the actual university is located in.

**I used the term alone very loosely because The Husband and I were newly engaged and were pretty much inseparable.

Filed under Friends-All three of them, NaBloPoMo, Photography, The Husband, The Son |