Saturday, October 19, 2013

Back to Old Fairview

Last weekend was Homecoming at Butler.  And we had some friends coming to town for it. They told us there's a free family fun fair on the mall, and that we should check it out.  Now, back in my day (I'm so old now, you know) there was Not a Free Family Fun Fest on the mall.  There were lots of people roaming around, exploring, kids playing, but nothing like This.  
So we got there at 10, and parked by the carillon so that the kids could play there...and Mommy could take some pictures.  


The boys took off for the bridge.  


Back and forth and back again. 
They had a great time playing on it. 



They got a kick out of the fence.  It had been a Long Time since I brought the boys down here to play.


All my sweetboys by the carillon pond. 


And of course, we had to do an entire family photo.  

As we were sitting there admiring the scenery, the carillon started to play.  It brought tears to my eyes.  


They heard the music and couldn't wait to make a mad dash to the top.  Just like I used to do. 


And they found their favorite place at the top, just like we used to. 


My favorite view.  
I may have to frame this one.  
From beneath the bell.  


It's one of my favorite places.  And this was the first time in I can't remember how long that I stood right under it while it was playing.  Of course, most of the time, it was after dark that I was down there.  It was my Thinking Place. 



It's not a thinking place for the boys.  But it sure does motivate them to be cute.


Long stairs going anywhere. 


Getting all three to look at me doesn't work.  But that's ok.  At least they were happy. 


Then they wanted to run around the pond.  There's a waterfall and another pond back behind that connects to the canal.  So the big boys took off running.  When they reached the road, they turned right around and ran back. I don't know where they get all that energy. 


Sweet boys backsides.  



I just love this one of Sam - sweetboy in the sun.  
Chris had taken off into the woods to find the perfect big stick.  
When I only had 1 child, we used to come down and play all the time.  
Whatever happened to those days?  I think we need to come down more often.
Because it was a big hit for Chris, for Sam....


And even for Jacob.  


This is one of my favorite views, not just of Butler, but in the world.  


A little more bridge time before we headed up to the fest.


Here's another great place that the kids loved.  They both asked if they could go inside.  Blessedly, the planetarium was closed.  


But both boys really wanted to go inside, so we let them run over to the BU and they took turns running the initials and trace them.  They were pretty cute. 


By the time we got to the mall, Jake was ready to eat, and the kids wanted to do the Bounce House. 
Chris loved the bounce house slide. 


Though it turns out Sam is not a fan of bounce houses, Especially when there are lots of bigger kids circling back around (including his big brother) to ride down the slide again.  And Sam is not a fan of heights.
So after I fed Jake, Sam joined us for the train ride around campus.  



It was really just circling around the mall, but it was Great!  


And as soon as we were done, it was time to go again for Sam, because Chris decided he wanted to go with Daddy.  So the three big boys took a trip around too!


Cheesy sweet boys. 


I love this shot - Eric took these (as obviously he was on the train with them) but the BU out the train window with hypnotized sweet boys.  


And back to Mommy!  3 sweetboys! 


Then it was time to do groovy things on the mall - like Balloon Animals! 



And how can you go wrong with a balloon Bulldog?! 


Sam chose an Alien, and Chris chose a 3rd eye hat.  Weird.  But 2 seconds after he recieved it, he dropped it on the ground and popped the alien head.   So he went back through the line and got himself a third eye too.

Then it was time for the ballooned baboons to get in the face painting line. 
My friend Amy got this picture of the Daddies and all the yahoos waiting semi-patiently in line.


But you know these busy lines today, they don't move very fast.  
So Amy and I dashed over to watch the band while the boys got their faces done.


Yeah Band!  

Back in my day, on Homecoming we went through the mall on the way from the Reilly Room (and playing the War song for the alumni luncheon) to Hinkle, just traipsing through campus.  Nowadays, they do a Full Parade.  The band leads the way, followed by floats done up by pairs of houses.  It was Great!  Short but sweet.  Frankly, I would have been perfectly happy just seeing the band.  Actually, that's all I did want to see.  The Band and my friends, and that's all I need.  Well, and the carillon.  And that's all.  

The boys, well, they wanted to play a bit more. 


Dueling weirdos.  
They got third eye alien balloon hats, and sparkly bulldogs painted on their cheeks.  Eric took this picture of them while they waited in line to get caricatures drawn of themselve too. 



Mommy just needed to sit a bit.  I would have loved to spend money and get crazy, they had a bunch of food trucks parked right next to the mall, for I was hungry, but I was so tired I just wanted to go home.  I was very happy to see my big boys coming to find my on my cushy bench.  Apparently traipsing all over campus is about all my body can handle. 


But yep, these boys had a great time.  
Gonna have to go back. 
Back to Butler, Back to Old Fairview
Back to Tony and the Team to Cheer the Royal Blue...


0 comments: