Three Kids and a Dog: Mom's Weekend @ Illinois

Austen's Fraternity House - Phi Psi

A few weekends ago, it was finally my time to hang out with Austen at Illinois! It was Mom's Weekend, and with a week to go Austen still wasn't sure of what we were going to do when I arrived. The fraternity had very loose plans that kept changing but we decided that I would head down on Friday, check into the hotel and then come over to the dorm about 4pm and then we'd do dinner. I was traveling with Austen's roommate's mom too so it was nice that we had some plans together.

That drive is so easy (as long as it's not in a torrential downpour like it was freshman registration weekend). Before we knew it, we arrived at the hotel to a very warm welcome for Mom's weekend. There was food and balloon displays and non-alcoholic beverages. We checked in and then headed to the boys' dorm where we hung out for a bit and then decided we'd go back to the hotel for dinner (it was a highly rated dinner/lounge venue). We took some pictures at the balloon displays before dinner and then enjoyed some cocktails and a lot of appetizers (the boys thought it wouldn't be enough food but they ended up taking food home). The boys actually got served at this restaurant without an ID so I won't name it but they were happy and we were a bit shocked! Ha!

Anyway, after dinner we hung out in our hotel rooms for a bit before heading back to the dorm to pre-party before heading to a bar called Red Lion. Now, I had heard a lot about these bars and how disgusting the floors were so I made sure not to wear a good pair of shoes and to make sure they were black! But the Red Lion wasn't that bad. We met up with some of his pledge brothers and met some other girls and their moms from his dorm floor. Also, ran into an old neighbor who has a daughter who is a freshman at Illinois so that was fun to catch up. She was telling me all the fun things the sorority had planned the next day for Mom's Weekend - permanent jewelry, brunch, flower arranging...boy how different it is having a girl! I can hardly wait for Peyton (and Hailey) to go.

Berry Matcha

Red Lion was fun and I actually thought it was a pretty cool bar as we were able to be inside and outside - and it was a really nice night, weather wise. We left the bar sometime after 12am and then headed to the infamous taco trucks then back to the boys' dorm for a bit before retiring to the hotel.

The next morning, we let the boys sleep in for a bit before retrieving them for brunch (I found a great breakfast place during Family Weekend that has wait times of two plus hours but I got on the waitlist early). They have fabulous coffees, lattes, matches, mimosas, etc. plus really good food.

After our bellies were full, Austen and I went to the fraternity for mimosas (orange juice, champagne and a plastic cup - make your own). This was their big plan for Mom's Weekend. Austen and one of his fraternity brother's kept apologizing and saying when they are in the house they will make a better plan. It was fine though - the most important thing was that we got to spend time with the boys. I did get a tour of the fraternity though. Quite different than the Indiana fraternities (and sororities) - everything is bigger at Indiana.

From there we met up with his roommate and mom again as well as his future roommate in the fraternity (next year) and his mom to head to the craft fair in the Union where we bought a few things. The boys weren't thrilled to go but I said, hey, this is called "Mom's Weekend" so we get to do mom-type stuff! We milled around for a bit before walking through the engineering campus and buildings.

The boys were slowly losing steam and were in desperate need of a nap so we decided to leave them late afternoon and start our trek home.

It was just enough time at Illinois. Good to see Austen and meet his friends as well as see how Illinois rolls out the red carpet for us moms!