Thanks to a combination of stupid things, DSL was down all day yesterday, so my report on the events of the weekend was delayed. But here it comes -- but without pictures -- because taking photos while carrying a grabby baby in a sling is difficult.

But anyway -- after waking up and all that usual stuff, we dressed ourselves and the children. The Boy complained that he didn't want to wear "dressy clothes" though black cargo pants, a plaid button down shirt and sneakers hardly count as dressy in my book. The Middle Girl was excited to get to wear her new rainbow tights and The Baby was just glad she had something to chew on. We packed the car with snacks, music, changes of clothes and rain gear and stopped for gas, money and breakfast at Sonic on the way out of town.

Sonic has semi-decent fast food breakfasts, but currently the only thing they offer for a children's breakfast is French toast sticks. The words children, syrup and car should never be used in combination, so we started the morning with slightly sad children because they wanted whatever plastic toy Sonic was handing out and we made them get grown-up food. The words orange juice and little girl who takes the lid off things should also not be used in combination, so before we even left the parking lot, we needed to stop and mop up the Middle Girl. If you were intriguiged by the steak, egg and cheese breakfast burrito -- wonder no more. It has no flavor.

The actual drive was painless. The girls slept almost the whole way and The Boy wanted to listen to Tom Petty.

In Sewanee we got our registration packet, found parking and opened the car up to the chiming of the carrillons -- a concert by the brother of a good friend. The carrilloneur played violin at our wedding when he was still pretty young and it would have been nice to see him, but he must have run down the stairs and vanished into the mist before we got to the tower. We did run into another friend and classmate of my husband's though, so we wandered around together.

It was a foggy day on top of the mountain. As foggy as any day I remember while I was there. We headed over to the ugly McClurg Dining Hall, House of the Flying Buttresses and Phallus Palace, with an actual name reminiscent of the sound of wretching. I suppose it is some what nicer than the two different dining halls that were available when I was in college, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Nor does the number of food choices actually mean that the food had improved. I rememered why I weighed nothing during college. There was never anything I liked to eat. I need to go back to college.

The children ate though and we ran into more people we knew, including George ( a commenter here on occasion) and his lovely pregnant wife.

By the time lunch was over, it was time for my sorority alumnae tea. Yes, I was in a sorority. No, I really am not sure why. Back in my day (yes, I felt like a geezer) there were no sorority houses and so seeing one, and its location right next to another sorority that wasn't particularly beloved by mine was odd. There was only one other alum there that I knew and we chatted and admired each other's babies, but that only goes so far -- so we pressed on towards the football game.

The track has been redone and rubberized and most the path around the field has now been paved in ubiquitous aggragate concrete. During college several pairs of my shoes suffered irreparable damage when they were walked repeatedly through the gravel around the football field, so I appreciated the paving -- especially since we were pushing a stroller.

Although the general rule is that one should plan a homecoming game against a team on can beat, Sewanee decided to try the novel approach of playing a team they couldn't even score against. The day being extra blustery and foggy, so that people couldn't see the field at times probably didn't help. Not that having a losing team is really anything new. There is a reason we still brag about our team from 1899.

The halftime show deserves a blog entry of its own, but I will note that we now have all sorts of new sororities and they now nominate a Homecoming King. The fraternity and sorority awards for academic achievement don't seem to be handed out anymore.

After half-time, the fog rolled in even more thickly, we couldn't see the field and the kids were cold. So we walked over to the house of a professor who lived next to the football field to chat and warm up. After another stop at another professor's house, a stop by my old living quarter's at the German House, where a party with lots of sausages, kraut and beer was in full swing, we headed for our last stop -- the newest academic building, which used to be one of the dining halls and a dorm, where my husband lived for one year. The renovation was beautifully done inside and they even added the pitched roof that the builders had always intended but had run out of money to make years before.

On the way home, I thought the kids might sleep, but they didn't. However, they were fairly mellow. I was sore and achy from walking all day lugging a baby in a sling. I need to go into training before we go to Homecoming again.

All told though, it was a fun time and I enjoyed seeing some familiar faces and catching up with some lost acquaintances. I'm glad my husband and children indulge me and go along for these jaunts. You can't go back to college or anywhere else, but now ten years later, I can honestly say I wouldn't want to. I felt more like a real grown up after visiting Homecoming than I ever do.