UTM Homecoming

On Saturday, we headed to Martin to celebrate UTM's Homecoming. It was a cold, dreary day, but you would have never known it with the crowd that was there. There have been so many changes take place since we went to school there, but we agreed that they were all wonderful changes. These pictures are out of order since I took one camera to the pre-game festivities, and my smaller one to the game. I uploaded them out of order, so we'll start with the game and the changes that we documented.

We were bundled up and even had a blanket, but we still nearly froze out there. One major change that immediately caught our attention was the the tailgating going on before the game. I'm sure the crowd was down due to the weather, but there were still plenty of grillers. I think that would be so much fun to do. When we pulled up, my little redneck boy said, "I fink I smell something like pork chops out here."
The cheerleaders were wonderful, but they did not include guys, like they did "back in the day." Lee might have liked watching them more than the game.

The Skyhawks scored touchdowns! I hear they even win some games now, even though that did not happen while we were there. It use to never happen.

The band was huge and fantastic. I don't think the band had numbers like this during my days at UTM. Of course, I didn't frequent many football games back then to really attest to the bands' status...remember that lack of winning I mentioned earlier?

A lack of crowd support was certainly not the case today. The stands were packed, kids were standing around the fence, and they were scattered along the hill to watch. I was so impressed with the number of students there. The student section is now located on the home side, and it was full. They really participated in the game too. Another major change I noticed is that none of the students were dressed up for the game. Everyone was in their casual attire and hanging out with their friends. It didn't appear that they were with dates. And the stands did not clear out after the halftime announcements like they did when we were there.

A good time was had by all, even though this cutie didn't catch a football thrown from the cheerleaders. He kept his hands up just in case they came back. They didn't.

Our favorite change that UTM has made in recent years is the addition of Quad City before the Homecoming game. Student clubs, organizations, fraternities and sororities set up tents throughout the quad with games, activities, food, and entertainment. We have such a good time walking through and checking it all out. Lee's favorite booth was the ag students' petting zoo.

Here he is introducing himself to the camel. Matt told him the camel's name was Joe, so he kept calling him. "Hey Joe! Come over here! Joooooeeeee, come and see me now!" You get the picture.

He was warming up to him and started petting him while he munched some grass.

Joe wasn't so sure about the petting. He was only interested in food, which I was scared would be Lee's little hand.

Lee got the idea to pick some grass and feed it to Joe.

He kept waving it in the air yelling, "I've got grass for you, Joe. Over here Joe!" Of course, there were dozens of other people trying to pet and feed Joe at the same time.

Finally, Joe noticed that Lee had grass in his hand and came over and ate it.

Lee was THRILLED.

Then we moved on to the animals in a corral that the kids could get into with them. Lee thought this was hilarious.

See?

He wanted to hold this bunny so badly. Thank goodness he wasn't allowed to. I can just imagine all the children chasing and tormenting this helpless rabbit. It was a very fun day, and we can't wait to go back next year with Eloise!