Love and Honor to Miami

Last Saturday it was homecoming at Miami, our alma mater. While we knew going to the actual football game was out of the question (uncomfortable for me, too long for Cate who would've had to miss nap time, and tickets that weren't exactly cheap), we still enjoyed spending the morning and part of the afternoon enjoying the festivities. We started out visiting some of our favorite places on campus. Here's Cate in front of the gate that leads down slant walk-- the entrance to campus from Uptown Oxford.
Our next stop was Mommy's old dormitory. I lived in Stoddard Hall my sophomore year. It's one of the oldest dorms on campus. The rooms were nicely furnished, for a dorm, and pretty spacious as well. I was lucky to live there (and to have a smart roommate as you had to apply to get into this dorm and she was the one who got in, bringing me with her-- we had roomed together freshman year too). This was the dorm I lived in when I met Eric. We spent many nights in that spring of 2002 chatting outside this dorm until late in the night.
A short walk from my old dorm, which was pretty much in the center of campus, we hit up the school seal. The legend at Miami goes that stepping on the seal means you'll fail your next exam. I never stepped on it there, even though I wouldn't call myself superstitious. And in all my time spent at Miami, I only rarely saw students walk across the seal. Good thing Cate's not in college because she stood right on it.
About 50 feet from the seal is the infamous Upham Arch. If you kiss someone under the arch at midnight, you're destined to marry. Eric and I shared a few kisses there, but I don't know if any of them were at midnight. Incidentally though, Miami does have an unusually high rate of graduates that marry one another-- they're called Miami Mergers. We're a Merger. And yes, it's true, we do get a Valentine's Day card from the Alumni Association every year as a result. Anyway...Saturday we snuck a few kisses under the arch with our favorite little girl.
By then it was time to head Uptown for the parade. We stopped by the Alumni Association booth where we got some free coffee mugs and a toasted roll. These. Are. Heavenly. They too are a Miami tradition, served in the student center dining hall (the dining hall catering service was kind enough to bring them Uptown and give them out to the alumni for free). Cate loved mooching off of our toasted rolls.
We also stopped in at the bookstore to get Cate some new Miami gear. She's had something for every size range since birth, so we had to get something in a 3T (I know, she is just plain tall). We chose a hooded sweatshirt that Brennan will be able to wear later on. Cate was full of Redhawk pride.
The parade began and Eric was excited to sing the Miami fight song along with the Glee Club, something he was a part of at Miami.
The band ended the parade. Cate loves a good marching band and thoroughly enjoyed their performance.
We ate at one of our favorite restaurants after the parade-- Bagel and Deli. There's no seating inside, but there is a big picnic table outside. And some steps for a next-door store that people sit on. Cate chatted up some of the dance team alum who happened to be sitting on the steps before turning her attention to the college boys that live in the apartment above Bagel and Deli and had their windows open, partying it up before the game. They had her cracking up. I thought it would've been weird to take out my camera and take pictures though.

We weren't even a block away from Bagel and Deli, heading back to the car, when Cate crashed. She remained out for the entire 1 hour car ride home. A tired and pregnant mama also fell asleep, leaving Eric to enjoy the solitude of the drive home-- part of which is spent on some pretty two-lane roads.
Oh Miami-- we do miss you, and Cate seems to love you, so I guess we'd better start putting more money away now since you are the most expensive state school in Ohio (but totally worth it too). We'd love to have a second generation at the school we both love.

~Melody :-)