Last Thursday we drove down to the University of Illinois to watch the Fighting Illini women's soccer team. It was a great experience and all three of the girls loved it. Illinois beat Michigan and there were all the highlights one could hope for in a live soccer match :: flip throw-ins, a yellow card, PKs, and our little girl kickers where a little amazed that even at a collegiate level handballs and offsides are a common part of the game.
{This is the only picture of our University visit!}
The night of the game was perfect, and really it was the last nice day weather wise we might have this fall ... Mild with a slight wind.
We stayed at the Illini Union Hotel, which doubles as the student Union. It was fun to be there on a weekday, so that we could see college life in action. When Bei Bei peaked out of our third story room Friday morning and glimpsed students with umbrellas rushing along the zig-zagged wet sidewalks of the Quad to make their 8 am classes, she quipped, "There sure are a lot of young people with back packs out there!"
{I love that girl!}
We did our obligatory trip to get new T-shirts.
EHJ got a fun one that reads :: I SEE ORANGE PEOPLE
Bei Bei opted for the chanting :: I-L-L I-N-I, the raucous cheer of every Uof I sporting event
and MGJ opted for a subdued university logo.
Like I mentioned. We took exactly one picture.
But in our mind we have many more.
And great memories of showing the girlies around our old stomping grounds. (Remember last year when we revisited our first meager apartment in married student housing? We drove by building #2112, and glimpsed lamplight in the familiar windows we once artfully hung bed sheets in as treatments.) We were glad we used the Nikon a little more liberally on our last trip to the campus, because this year the Alma Mater statue is MIA ... off being refurbished somewhere, and it really looks naked near the Illini Union!
Thursday night we ate at a great ethnic joint on Green Street and got a pre-game Bubble Tea. Friday morning we popped around the corner to a Korean place where we ordered take away for lunch. Bi Bim Bap and Bulgogi are not generally synonymous with 'car friendly', but we made a go of it and managed to even wield chopsticks on our route to our State Capital where we had a date with Mr Lincoln.
