This weekend has been marked on my calendar for a while now. Today was the CU marching band alumni group's fundraiser picnic. A few years ago, they started holding them in the spring, with the featured attraction being a root beer float bar where you could take home a Silver Buffs/I (heart) GBMB pint glass. (GBMB= Golden Buffalo Marching Band) Originally the activity they wanted to fund was replacement of band uniform hats. So many were cracked or crushed and the alumni group decided to chip in for new ones so our descendants, as it were, didn't look raggedy. This time around, the Silver Buffs are working on establishing a band scholarship. Naturally I was going to pony up for that. Also new this year, they created fancy new mugs specifically for the root beer floats. They still had some of the pint glasses for sale, which was a good thing. A certain toddler broke mine last month.
My daughter showed up mid-morning to drop off Val for babysitting. She had enough time for me to make an asparagus and cheese quiche for breakfast (and told Val it was egg pie--so Val kept saying "piiiieee!") We went out to reinstall the car seat and load a stroller into the trunk. Val watched us through the screen door, and was So Mad (!!) when we came in saying no, we weren't leaving until later. She thought we should go for a car ride right then, no questions asked. Instead, she had to wait until after play time, and after nap.
Finally it was time for the picnic. We loaded up and went to Boulder. I had Mr S-P drive so I didn't have anxiety driving around campus, with all its changes and rules and one way streets. There are gigantic new buildings, one over where a parking structure had been, and one multiple new storeys on Imig Music, where the band picnic was. Nothing stays the same. We walked around to the back of the music building, where it adjoins Farrand Field, where the marching band has practiced since long before I ever got to CU in the 80s. There were only a couple people I recognized, having missed on the last several year's worth of alumni events for various health reasons. I'm sure I'd seen bunches of these people before; I just couldn't recognize most of them, as most were closer to my kids in age. We checked in, got our wrist bands and root beer float tickets, and went in for food. Try as we might, we couldn't get Val to eat anything but a few bare chips from the nacho bar, and an apple. This kid wouldn't even touch a root beer float!
She did, however, enjoy the heck out of herself running on Farrand Field, playing with the lawn games, and meeting a young girl who was maybe 4 years old. It was a challenge to get her to leave when time came. We had to put her back in the stroller and wheel her out. To lessen the disappointment, I snagged a gluten-free vanilla oreo for her (and one for me), and she seemed content to work on that until she zoned out in the car.
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