UMass Homecoming

A few months ago, Jason received a message on Facebook from George Parks, the beloved band director at UMass, requesting that alumni marching band members make plans to attend the homecoming celebration this fall.  He was hoping for a record number of alumni who would come back and play in the band at the game.  Jason hasn't been back for Homecoming since leaving Amherst, so we decided this year would be a good year to pack up our troops and enjoy a fall weekend in New England.  We booked our hotel room, rented a mini van and made plans for all of us and Jason's parents to head to Massachusetts for the weekend.

Sadly, a few weeks ago, George Parks passed away suddenly after a marching band performance.  Everyone was shocked.  He was 57.  He had spent his entire professional career building the band program into the amazing one that it is.  (And you know, from this Blue Band fanatic.....that's saying something!)

Not surprisingly, his dream of a large alumni band came true....and something tells me he was quite pleased.  Almost immediately after the news of his sudden passing got around, the numbers of alumni coming in from all over the world started to skyrocket.  On Saturday, when the combined band took the field, there were 925 alumni band members there to play together.  Add to that the 400+ members of the regular band and it was a sight to see.

My pictures aren't the best because I was at field level with the kids so that Joshua could try to spot Jason.  But here are a few attempts.

Obviously, the whole point of the trip was for Jason to be able to be with the band and all of his friends from college.  It was so great to see him back in his element and loving the company of so many people who really meant a lot to him during his college years.  I think any of us who have "grown up" and had our lives change so drastically since college would probably agree that the feeling of being back on campus with your friends just brings it all back to you.  And I think you can appreciate it all even more after having experienced the "real world" that we all longed for so much during college. 

So, Grandma and Grandpa came along with us because they absolutely love it in Amherst, and because I was afraid I might need some reinforcements during the weekend since Jason was off doing his thing most of the day Saturday.  He had to be at rehearsal at 6:30 on Saturday, leaving us with the munchkins to entertain.



We visited a little farm place (didn't turn out to be too exciting...but burned about a half hour).  We had been lured there by a "make your own scarecrow" claim on the internet.  But upon arriving and realizing that they were actually LIFE SIZE scarecrows, we decided to pass.  If you'd have seen the mini van and its resemblance to a clown car, you'd understand why we elected to leave an additional passenger in Western Massachusetts.

We picked up a very fancy lunch at Subway and tried to introduce some Penn State style tailgating to the UMass fans.  Sadly, it was about 10 degrees outside and the winds were blowing something along the lines of the speed of the twister on the Wizard of Oz, so we opted to stay inside the van and find things to entertain  us until game time.  Turns out that was a wise move.  We were plenty cold after sitting outside for 3+ hours at the game.  No extra "tailgating" time needed.

After the game on Saturday night, we brought dinner back to the hotel and then went swimming at the pool there.  Joshua loved it...although I think Lauren enjoyed it more.  It was her first time swimming in a big pool and she just couldn't get enough.  She was kicking her legs, splashing with her arms and even put her face in the water a few times.  I believe I might have some of those Mommy & Baby swimming classes coming up!

We made our way back to PA on Sunday morning.  The kids travelled a million times better than I would have anticipated, and we were so grateful.  Joshua enjoyed a lot of movies on his DVD player and then spent the rest of the time drawing pictures and working on a few new sticker books we had gotten for him.  Lauren and I were in the back back of the van and spent our 12 hours of car riding packing and unpacking every bag I own.  She ate some snacks, drank some milk from her bottles and even ate a bologna and cheese sandwich at one point.  We read books over and over and over again.  We sang songs, tickled piggy toes and tried to learn how to say some new words. 

All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  I hope we'll do it again next year.  And I hope it's 65 degrees in Amherst that weekend instead of 25.  Just saying.