Baylor Homecoming. The time each year when the bears all head to Waco to meet up, enjoy fellowship together and do all things bear. I love Homecoming. I love seeing old friends. I love seeing a stadium full of green and gold. I love remembering what Homecoming means to me.
Homecoming 2002 was the first time James asked me out. He invited me to the KA tailgate, where I met his fraternity brothers and friends. It's been 10 years, and I still love to think about that day. Among other reasons, that made this weekend even more special for me. Cullen's first homecoming, 10 years since our first "date," and Charly nominated for Homecoming queen. What's not to love?
We started out early with a lunch at George's. Cullen spent time teaching Charly about If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. Charly read to Cullen, and he corrected her where he thought he knew the story better.
We spent most of the afternoon wandering around campus. We got pictures of Cullen in several iconic places where he shouted CHEESE! as loud as he possibly could. I now have a collection of Cullen pictures with this face.
The lighting is a bit off in this one, but I love that look on his face.
Of course, we had to take a "little break" from chasing the squirrels.
One of the highlights of my Friday was getting to see Keane, my director for student involvement back when I was a student. He was (and is) such a great guy to be around and a fabulous mentor. It was so fun to come back to say hi again and introduce him to Cullen.
And the highlight of James' day would likely be seeing the Heisman. I told James about it when we were in the SUB, and we managed to walk up just a couple of minutes after they put it on display. Enjoy the ridiculously unflattering picture.
The silly people put the Heisman out without a case. Of course, it's just assumed that we would all know not to touch it. But Cullen didn't know. And Cullen man-handled the Heisman. Cullen almost got man-handled by a police officer.
He took it in stride and took this hilarious break to drink some milk.
We had dinner with friends that night and then headed back to campus for the bonfire. Cullen was not impressed.
He was also not impressed by Isaiah Austin. James got really excited about him being some important basketball recruit. I just take the pictures.
And we got to see the bears. Up close and personal. Cullen was pretty excited to see them playing.
The necessary photo of Pat Neff at night. And an itty bitty Cullen sitting on the lawn. I didn't even make him do that. He is just that cute.
We ended up spending the night in Hillsboro, so we got to drive by James' great-great-grandfather's house on Saturday morning. It's pretty awesome to know that we had family living there about 80 years ago.
Saturday morning was the parade. THE parade. We got a really great place to watch, and I was so excited for Cullen. His very first parade!
He HATED the big bear.
After about a 30 minute delay caused by a broken float, the parade was re-routed. I saw the first float turn, and we booked it to the new parade route. Just a few minutes later, our favorite Homecoming nominee came around the corner.
James is such a great dad, and Cullen had the best time with him this weekend. I love having family time with my boys.
Charly looked just perfect on Saturday. We were so proud to cheer for her in the parade!
Cullen and James are so silly together. I can't even remember why at this point, but a while back, James taught Cullen to rub his chin and say, "Veeeery peculiar." Cullen says, "Berry culiar."
From the parade, we moved on to tailgating. We visited with friends while Cullen met a new girlfriend. She was a few months younger than him, and he was absolutely smitten.
And what's a Baylor tailgate without Ken Starr?
Cullen was a great little spectator at the game. He had a lot of fun and a lot of snacks.
He was a fabulous cheerleader for Baylor.
And Laura got some really great pictures of Cullen with James
How big is this kid?
Within five minutes of car time on the highway, Cullen was out. He slept most of the way home and asked for more parade when he woke up. I can't wait to take him back to Homecoming next year!
xoxo ashley
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