Weekend at Dartmouth

Welcome back!

To me!

It's true. I'm back from the northeast. By the way, did you know that Darmouth College is in Hanover, New Hampshire? All this time, I thought it was in Massachusetts. For real. Until Saturday afternoon at the game, I thought Dartmouth was in Massachusetts and had been following that weather to plan for my clothes for about a week. I'm an idiot. Thank you, Camie, for helping me out with that :)

Anyways, I finally recovered from my sob fest on Thursday afternoon after leaving Leia and we were well on our way up north bright and early Friday morning. Our flight from Lafayette to Houston was short and sweet. No problems there. But then our flight from Houston to Boston was interesting to say the least.

The first thing that I smelled when I sat down in my seat (the middle seat between two large men) was the strong scent of booze. Big time boozer sitting to the left of me. Lovely. Oh! He was also a mouth breather and slept the whole time. Needless to say, he smelled and creeped me out. Thankfully I was able to sleep a little bit of the three and a half hour flight so I tuned him out during that time.

We landed safely in Boston, met Jamie's family there and made the two and a half hour drive to Hanover. Oh my goodness, you guys. That part of the country is absolutely beautiful! The colors are the definition of all things Fall. Oranges, reds, yellows, browns, greens. Gosh, it was stunning! I could have gone another hour or two just to look at the gorgeous scenery.

Once we got there, we went straight to the Dartmouth football field to watch Kirby practice before the big game on Saturday.

Here's Marty and Jamie walking and talking:

Hi, Kirby!!!
The stadium was really neat and picturesque. It was set in what was like a bowl of beauty. All around you were hills and color-changing trees and absolute beauty. It was fabulous.
All the boys warming up:
Jamie, me and Camie:
Jamie takes the best pictures:
We planned on being there for Homecoming because we figured there would be a lot to do and see. I don't remember how long they've been doing it, but Dartmouth has a tradition to have a big bon fire each year in honor of the Freshman (I believe). This year, the Freshman are the class of 2015. Here's where the bonfire was going to be lit Friday evening:
It's also tradition for the Freshman to run around the bonfire a certain amount of times. This year, they had to run around it 115 times which is around ten-ish miles. I wonder how many of them actually completed it?

We toured the campus and went shopping in the super cute stores for a while, scoring some "Big Green" Dartmouth apparel. I ended up with a hunter green, long-sleeved shirt. Love it! I also got a green and pink breast cancer awareness Dartmouth t-shirt. I was eyeing this really cute white sweater with a big "D" on it, but it was $80. For those of you who know me...I'm way too cheap for that :)

After shopping, we ate at this fabulous pizza place! Yum!

Camie and I:
By the way, it's a little chillier up north! We wore boots and scarves and tights and jeans and sweaters. Today, I wore sandals and a sun dress. I miss actual Fall weather.

During the Homecoming festivities, there was a big parade with alumni, athletes and more! Then there was a big speech done by the President at this building:
Not sure what the building was, but I'm sure it was important.

Most of the crew, minus Kim:
Kirby and Camie:
Me and Jamie:
I love it when he smiles all handsome-like :) Oh! And that's his new Dartmouth sweat shirt that I picked out for him. Love it.

Here's the gigantic bonfire:
It was blazing hot!

After all of the Homecoming events, we saw Kirby's dorm room and then headed to the hotel for bed. We were exhausted.

Saturday morning, we woke up, worked out, ate breakfast, and headed to campus. Kim wanted to show us the library and I'm glad she did. There was this one part of the library that was historic. Was it called The Tower? Maybe? I don't remember, but I literally felt like I stepped back in time walking through this building. It was incredibly beautiful and unique and full of history.

We also went into the Dr. Seuss room:
Did you know that Dr. Seuss went to Dartmouth? I learned that this year during Dr. Seuss week at Pre-school.

This is "The Green" I think:
It's right outside of the library and it kind of reminded me of a prettier "Library Lawn" from the OK State campus.

We had lunch at the football tailgate and then it was game time!

Two sky divers jumped out of a plane and landed on an "X" in the middle of the field:
Camie, my sister-in-law just went sky diving a couple of weeks ago, so she totally could have done this stunt! Maybe next year, Cam.

They both landed safely and one of them brought down the game ball:
Me and Camie at the game:
It was the perfect football weather! Not blazing hot. Not too cold. Juuuuust right.

Here come The Big Green football players! Woo too #44 Kirby Schoenthaler!!!!
Just look at that view:
Here are all of the guys singing their alma mater (I think) after they beat the Columbia Lions 37-0. I was a proud sister-in-law. Way to go Kirby!
Saturday night, we were fortunate enough to get to hang out with Kirby. I can only imagine how exhausted he was. Thanks so much for hanging out with us, Kirb. We so appreciate it :) We grabbed dinner at this place called Molly's and then drove a ways to get ice cream. Delicious evening as always!

Sunday, we ate breakfast all together, then made the trip back to the airport to head home. The Schoenthaler's back to Bartlesville, and me and Jamie to Lafayette.

Thank you for such a fabulous weekend, Marty and Kim! We love you so much and can't wait to see you guys over Thanksgiving weekend!

Kirby, thanks for letting us hang out with you in your new home! We love you and are looking forward to seeing you at Christmas time?...maybe :)

Camie, I'll see you in two weeks! Whoop whoop! Love you, sister!

And most important...I've got my baby Lulu back. More on that reunion tomorrow.

Love you guys so very much and I hope you all had a marvelous Monday!