Samford Homecoming

We left the beach on Thursday afternoon to go up to Birmingham.  It was our 10th reunion at Samford; how in the world is that possible?  We knew a lot of our friends were coming in town too, so we were excited about going.  We arrived at dinnertime on Thursday evening and met Josh and his life-long friend Jimmy at Giano's.  It's a little deli-type restaurant that has been around forever.  Ryan and I ate there a lot during college; seriously, a lot.  Delicious food at very reasonable, college kid can afford, prices.  When we walked in, the owner smiled really big and said "I haven't seen you guys in awhile; do you live around here anymore?"  Yep, he remembered us after all these years.  That felt good.

We had planned on having our annual family pictures made Friday morning, but unfortunately, they got rained out.  Hopefully we can reschedule them soon.  Instead, we went to the McWane Center which is a kids' science museum.  It was pretty neat, and the girls enjoyed most of it.  It was really crowded with Friday school field trips, but there was still a lot to explore.  Both girls loved the grids that they could press their hands or face against and see their impression.  They also liked the little aquarium area; Mia was the first one to pet one of the little sharks that swam by!  We took pictures but they are on a different camera that I can't currently find the connection cord for.  Whoops.  We also had lunch with Josh and Amy at Milos.  One of our favorite things about returning to Birmingham is visiting all the yummy places we used to frequent while in school!  It's fun to reminisce about lots of memories at them.

Saturday morning arrived, and it was a beautiful day.  We were so excited to head to Samford and join in the festivities.  The day started with a parade.  We had front-row seats which the girls loved.  They really enjoyed watching the cheerleaders and dance team go by.

 Both love music too, so they were thrilled to be this close to the band.

 Not too surprising, they were a little captivated when Miss Samford and Miss Jefferson County rode by in their "vertible" as the girls call it.  They could see the tiaras on both of their heads, so they assumed they were in the presence of royalty; this is a very big deal to little girls!

We happened to be very close to the end of the parade route.  The girls thought this was fantastic because as all the organizations rode by, the college kids pretty much dumped at the girls' feet their bags of candy they had been throwing out during the parade.  The girls were thrilled with their loot!  Here they are with Mr. Beeson enjoying a lollipop afterwards.

 Our whole family with Mr. Beeson.

 Looking up the corridor at the beautiful library.  The girls love books, so we walked them around inside.

 They were very excited to meet Spike the Samford Bulldog mascot.  Lily has a little stuffed Spike that my mom gave her as a baby; she loves it.  Well anytime we are around town and Lily sees a picture of Uga (the University of GA bulldog mascot), she says "There's Spike!"  She has no idea that UGA has a bulldog mascot.

 Presidential hopeful Herman Cain also stopped by campus for a visit.  He was in the middle of a 2 day tour of Alabama, so he came by for a meet and greet.  We didn't meet him (the line was really long), but it was neat to see him for a few seconds and cheer him on.

 Of course, the best part of the day was catching up with lots of old friends.  We ran into a lot of former classmates, fraternity brothers and sorority sisters.  It was so fun to catch up with everyone and meet all the kids (there are a ton of them!).  It's amazing how things like email and Facebook make you feel like you are keeping up with people, but when you sit down face-to-face, you realize how much of their lives you are missing out on.  It was really great to reconnect with so many people over an outdoor lunch.  This is a picture of several of my Zeta Tau Alpha pledge class friends.  I think Claire came the furthest, from Dallas, TX, but only a couple of people still live in Birmingham; I am glad so many made the trip!

 Saturday night, several of the sorority sisters met at Moes Original BBQ for dinner.  We reserved a private room which was so helpful (great idea Tay!).  The kids had a lot of fun getting to know one another and playing together while the adults enjoyed catching up too.  Here's a picture of most of the kids who were there that evening.  Future Samfordites maybe?

 Another round of pictures; everyone's husband was taking a picture at the same time so it was like the paparazzi had come!

On Sunday, we went to church and then enjoyed lunch afterwards with the family.  We came on back home to Smyrna after that.  We had been on the road for 10 wonderful days, but I have to say, we were all glad to be home.  Our weekend in Birmingham was a fantastic way to wrap up our vacation!