ONU Homecoming

This last weekend, our family traveled with Stephen's mom and dad to Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois for homecoming. This is the university where Stephen's grandpa went to school, his parents met, he went to school, and where he proposed to me, so it's got sentimental value oozing from every building. :)

The kids travel very well, and in no time we made it to Bourbonnais (3-4 hours away). We stopped for lunch @ a McDonald's with a super-cool playplace, so the kids got to burn off some extra energy. There was a minor scare when it was time to go. Katy had come out of her "one more time" through the slide, but Caleb didn't. After waiting a bit, we sent Katy in to look for Caleb and bring him out. She came out saying that Caleb wasn't in there. Coming from a girl who has difficulty seeing things right in front of her, this didn't mean a lot. So Daddy volunteered to remove his shoes and look around. When HE came out saying that Caleb wasn't in there, I confess to a moment of panic. (Aside: I'm not a mom who has to see her kids at all times to know they're ok, but Caleb is only two, and loves his own gender so much that he would gladly walk away with any male, especially if they're around grandpa age.) We looked closely one more time, and we were very relieved to see him hiding in another part of the play area. Hiding, you see, because he had pooped his pants.

Great.

Stephen -- who is assigned to boy clean up -- said it was the worst clean up job he had even encountered. I'm inclined to believe him, because he came out of the RR with two smears of poop on his forearms.

When Capt. McStinky was strapped in, we went to the campus to pick up our tickets.
Sadly, the music department canceled the afternoon concert (BOO!!), so now we just had the football game and the evening planetarium show.

The football game was versus Taylor University, where my father-in-law taught for many years. He was pleased because he couldn't lose either way, but the rest of us had more at stake. The kiddos liked the cheering, but they LOVED the marching band and mascot. As it turns out, the mascot was a guy who goes to our church. (Hi, Ben!) Katy got her picture taken with Toby the Tiger and could have died a happy girl. :) The Tigers didn't win the football game, but we didn't even stick around for the end. Having missed naptime, the kiddos were fading fast. They fell asleep on the way to the restaurant, and I stayed with them in the car to let them have a little rest.

We got to eat with Sarah's brothers and their wives -- always a treat. The kids were about sleeping on the table until our wonderful server brought out their meals early. THANK YOU!


After supper, it was time for the planetarium show. ONU is one of three digital planetariums in the state of Illinois, and it was a great show. The kids got to see how small we are in our universe, some cool constellations, and a laser light show. Great end to a great evening.

The drive back was even good because I didn't have to do any of it. :) Thanks, Mom and Dad! We love spending time with you and thoroughly enjoy having kids close to their grandparents.

Hopefully I'll be able to add some pictures later when I've got my camera cord with me.