From my coast to your coast: Billsville, Part Two

So even though the weekend had already been deemed a total success by Friday night, the best was really yet to come. We woke up bright and early Saturday morning (9:30am to be exact - come on now, I was on West Coast time!) and got dressed for the day. I was planning on wearing an oversized, vintage Williams sweater my mother had graciously purchased for me three homecomings ago. I had worn it every year and was most certainly not going to change my routine now. If you know us, you'd know that us Kriegs are super superstitious - more on that momentarily.

My two best college friends my first homecoming with my sweater

(Jessie, Me, Char)

We then headed to brunch at the Orchards. My grandparents (Nana and Pops), my aunt / godmother / Space-Camp-parental-guardian-extraordinaire (Jules), and her two adorable kids (Jack and Sam) were all there to kick off the day with some delicious morning goodness. We were celebrating Jules' birthday so we opened presents, laughed over old memories and new, and enjoyed the Orchards' delicious omelettes, frittatas, and toast.

My mom also took the time to inform us that while she was traveling from Milwaukee to Boston Friday morning, she had found a penny lying on the floor of a dirty bathroom stall. Since she is uber superstitious and did not want to be the cause of Williams losing (because clearly her leaving that penny alone would have led to Williams' demise), she picked that little 1-center up bare-handed stuffing into her pocket to give Sam to put in his sock come game-time. When Sam was offered the opportunity, however, he intelligently declined. I don't blame you Sammers. Who knows what kind of aim those people have after a long plane ride.

We then packed into the car and drove over to claim our seats in the Williams College bleachers. My dad insists on getting to each game in time to see the FULL warm-up, so he had already been there for a full half hour deep in concentration. As we watched the final twenty minutes of stretching, passing, and helmet bumping, we chatted the rest of the morning away with my aunt Stacey and her fabulous daughter Em, who had just joined in as well.

THEN the clock struck twelve and the game was on!

Now let me just make one thing clear before I go on: I do not like football. A bunch of oversized, burly men running around in tight spandex with those strange little cup things hitting each other and then rolling on the ground is not my idea of entertainment. That and I don't understand any of the rules. Too many pauses, too many positions, and too many flags.

BUT as soon as they kicked that first punt / kick-off / whatever you call it, I was memorized. They ran this way and that and hit one guy and then another and the whole thing was fascinating.

And best of all, Sammers was starting, so I got plenty of time to watch him in action. (Let me just take this moment to note that Sam - while a football player in body and hair - is certainly no football player in brain. We visited a former Econ professor of both mine and his on Friday afternoon who so aptly remarked: "You're a football player? Given your astounding intellect, I always forget." Way to make me proud, little bro.)

The whole game was electrifying but the pinnacle of excitement was Sam's catch in the first half:

The quarterback tossed the ball into the air seemingly to no one, but then suddenly - out of nowhere - Sam leapt out of the mound of bulky bodies to snap the ball out from the sky, tuck it tightly underneath his arm and begin his run towards the end zone.

I bounded out of my seat cheering as loud as I could as I watched Sam begin his power play. First #20 leapt onto his back clutching at Sam's neck like a poor little child, but my Sammers kept on chugging. Then #3 joined his teammate on top, but Sam was unphased - his legs kept churning towards touch down victory. Next #50 jumped in on the fun, but still the threesome couldn't bring him to the ground. It wasn't until #64 - weighing in at whooping 285 pounds - joined his teammates on top that Sam was FINALLY brought down. HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, AMHERST?

Unfortunately, Williams didn't end up victorious in this particular match-up, but I could not have been prouder to have witnessed my brother in such glory that sunny, albeit chilly, Saturday afternoon.

Post-game we all hit up the tailgate for some delicious burgers and pumpkin spice whoopie pies making time to snap some family pics.

Sadly, we then had to say our good-byes to Nana, Pops, Jules, Jack, Sam, Stacey, and Em and head back to our little cottage for some good beer, ribs, and guac. I won't bore you with details on the rest of the night - they were all kinds of college-y goodness with just a tad bit older crowd.

(Gretters, Me, Char, Gretters' friend Anne,

whose camera took this lovely pic)

Sunday morning (hours after Stefan had departed), I went for a lovely run on Blair with my fabulous friend Char, sipped a delicious tea at the coffee shop on Spring Street, and then joined the rest of the fam for homemade brunch at the cottage. We had my dad's famous veggie omelettes, Sammer's crispy bacon from Cumberland Farms (that came with a free dozen eggs - what deals you can find these days!), my mom's luscious fruit salad, and Dunkin Donuts bagels courtesy of Gretters and her wonderful boyfriend Al.