Three Kids and a Dog: Homecoming 2021!

Austen celebrated his first Homecoming as a freshman in high school this past weekend. He was pretty sure he wanted to go from the start of school so it was just a matter of whether he wanted to ask someone or go with friends. Since their school started a bit later this year due to construction, they only had five weeks between the first day of school and Homecoming. That's not much time to find a date especially if you are looking to ask someone new.

Austen and Izzy- HoCo 2021

When I asked Austen if he was thinking of asking someone his response was "I'm working on it." Then all of a sudden when I asked again he said that he had a date and had asked her two days ago. She was someone he had met in freshman orientation and was in English class with him. I asked how he asked her and he said in the hall during passing periods (I found out from his date later that he did it via text). Not satisfied with that way of asking because as a girl we expect so much more, I had our local florist put together a beautiful fall bouquet of flowers which he dropped off at her house one evening. He went in and met the parents while he told me to circle the block only to get a text a few seconds later asking if he could stay for a bit. Tom came to pick him back up an hour later and got to meet the whole family. They're just like us he said. A match made in Heaven!

About two weeks later with no more details on where they were going to dinner, who was going with them or if they needed a ride, I received a text message from his date's mom who gladly supplied with more details for the events surrounding the dance (the girls and girls' moms planned every bit of the events surrounding Homecoming). She also invited our family to their house for the Homecoming parade as they live on the parade route and they were having a small party. Hailey and Peyton were beyond excited at the possibility of meeting Izzy, Austen's date. Amazingly, our schedules were pretty free that morning so we all went to the parade at Izzy's house. Her parents were great and so was her little sister (8th grader). Izzy was fun and social too. Austen was the only teenage boy there with all of her friends and parents but he did great too and I could tell Izzy was happy he was there.

After the parade, it was home to rest for Austen while the high school girls got their hair and make up done (it's such a process for the girls - can't wait til it's Peyton and Hailey's turn. I'm sure I'll be exhausted!). We returned at 4:45pm to Izzy's house for pictures of just the two of them then off to the pre-party and pictures with everyone in Hinsdale at someone's huge house with a tennis court in their backyard. Again, most of these were her friends so Austen was a trooper for going along and fitting in with her group of friends (boys and girls). After the pre-party, Tom and I drove one group to dinner at Nabuki (a local sushi restaurant). I was surprised they went there and told Austen to eat beforehand so he wouldn't be starving later. His date ordered chicken nuggets and he ended up ordering something that was raw sushi instead of the rolls he's used to eating. He said he impressed everyone with his use of chopsticks but he didn't love his meal but ate it anyway because he didn't want to draw attention to the fact that he didn't really care for it. After dinner they headed to the dance which had been moved into the field house since rain was expected. Austen said he saw all of his friends there. It was hot and they danced or rather jumped around (no slow dance music was played according to Austen). After the dance, they headed to a post party. They were supposed to go to one that was at the former home of the old Chicago Bulls coach but they bailed on that one (which they heard later was boring) and went to another with Izzy's friends. I think his friends were done with him not hanging out with them so a few of his soccer buddies tracked him through Snap Chat and showed up at this after party where they all proceeded to have a great time. Austen had a great first Homecoming experience with a great girl and recommends that everyone put themselves out there and go (with or without a date).