Clay and I met and fell in love, pause for appropriate sighs from the audience, while both in school at VSU. And since we still live here, we of course like to be involved in the Homecoming festivities. Last year, since Gavin was only 5 months old, we didn't really do much other than come and hang out in Drexel Park for an hour or two where we met some friends and let the kids play on the playground while the adults chatted and reminisced. So this year I was pumped that Gavin would be old enough to enjoy the parade and then hang out some on Saturday.
On Friday we headed up there a little early to ensure that we got a good spot to view the parade and rack up on all the candy that they throw out. We met two of my closest friends who are also my sorority sisters and have kids somewhat close to Gavin's age.
Even though none of the girls look happy, I promise they were all having a good time!
Cheese!!
Next year I don't think we will have to go quite so early, there was hardly anyone there until right at 6, when the parade started. The parade starts about 2 miles away from main campus, where we were set up, so the kids had about 30 - 45 minutes of play time before the action started. I was kind of worried about Gavin trying to take off into traffic but luckily the roads were blocked off pretty early so the cars were limited and he had all those pretty girls to keep him distracted.
The parade was a hit and Gavin had lots of suckers and was very entertained by all the loud music and dancing that was taking place.
After that we went across the street to the front lawn where they were setting up for the concert and had two enormous bounce houses for the kids. Poor Gavin wanted to bounce in one of them SO bad. He stood at the entrance for what seemed like forever getting the courage up and then he did finally and crawled up and stuck his head in. One look at all those big kids and there and back out he came! Oh well, maybe next year. Instead he had a fantastic time chasing all of the college guys trying to take their soccer and footballs from them. They were really sweet and understanding and let him hold them a few times and run with them. I did realize that Gavin has no fear of strangers if they are holding a football, so that is something we will have to work on.....he just runs right up to them and sticks his little hands up to them.
There were also quite a few dogs out and I was really surprised at how timid Gavin was around them since we have a 100lb dog at home that he plays with all the time. He would yell, Dog, Dog, Dog, and try to go after them but when they would stop and come close to him, he would run the other way and try and climb up my leg.
We kept him out at least an hour past his bedtime, and he did so well! He did not want to leave at all, but I knew we had a long day on Saturday and we needed all the rest we could get!
We didn't get many pictures at all on Saturday, there was just too much going on to distract all of us. We started out in Drexel Park again and played around while waiting for the Sheeley bunch.
All the strange dogs from the night before apparently got Gavin used to it so he was a little braver and actually pet the one we saw in the park.
And then walked through campus to the new Student Union Building to enjoy our free lunch for being alumni. It was super tasty as usual and Gavin had lots of fun making a huge mess on their nice fabric tablecloths. After that we treked back through campus and stopped by the KD tent on our way to the KA house. I spent most of my days in college at the KA house so it is always fun to go back and see all of our friends and to remember all the fun times we had there. My little brother is also a KA so he was there and Gavin sure does love his Uncle Dave. Blackeyed Katie was playing and as soon as we got close Gavin started bouncing up and down and dancing his little heart out, it was so stinking cute!! We had left our camera in the stroller across the street so we didn't get any pics. There was one girl there who decided to take up a babysitting role and I attempted to catch them all dancing in a circle to the band with my phone! I obviously didn't quite capture it, but you get the picture.
Gavin had such a big time and was so busy playing and making all the college kids laugh that he didn't even realize he had missed his afternoon nap. He was so punchy from all the excitement and lack of sleep, it was hilarious. I mean seriously, look at these faces! It looks like he might have gotten into some adult beverages, when our backs were turned :-), just kidding of course!
