Bates or Bust!

Today, I took my girls to Bates for the first time. I cannot believe that it was the first time I took them there. We are staying with my roommate from Bates and her family for a few days. Beck had to go check on her nordic ski team and the girls and I needed lunch. B had heard me talking about the "cereal wall" since I had gone up to Bates in May with Lisa Genova. So, it was natural for us to hit the commons area for lunch.

I have never seen my girls so excited about food. This was like Disney World to them. (Cheaper, too) They could not believe that you could get what you wanted, eat it and then GO BACK FOR MORE! Plus, Bates has done an amazing job with their new cafeteria. There are all sorts of ethnic areas of food, ice-cream, the cereal wall, toast, bagels, fruit, a gluten free section, a vegan section, pizza, salad bar and my favorite, the pastry/dessert area.

The girls were in awe.

Just look at B in front of the cereal wall.

She had cereal, then ice cream, then she went back for roast beef and hash browns. Yeah, not kidding.

K was giddy and started with cereal, then burnt 4 pieces of toast until she got the 5th one right, then moved on to ice cream and swore that the Sierra Mist was the best that she ever had. They even said that they wished they lived closer so they could eat there a few times a week. The conveyer belt that they put their dirty dishes on was the cherry on top.

We only had time to check out the swimming pool for B and the track for K and the hockey rink that is new since I had gone there. We did get to pose by "ski team rock" for a photo. (The ski team used to meet at this rock every day for practice before the bobcat statue became a fixture.)

Yup, future Batesies. At $50,000 a year, someone is going to need to hit the lottery BIG time! Or maybe I could start grooming them for scholarships now. Either way, I won't have to worry about them starving if they go here!

Why I Went to Maine!

The real reason I got to go to Maine for an overnight escape was that I volunteered to be Lisa Genova's bodyguard. If you remember(February 4), I wrote about Lisa and her book, Still Alice. Actually, I am friends with Lisa and we both went to Bates and she was doing a few talks up there, so I horned in on her time alone! Ok, I asked if she wanted company and thankfully she did!

We had a great time getting to know each other better and seeing our campus that we hadn't seen in a few years. It has changed so much!!! The amount of new buildings etc was amazing!

We got to stay in a guest house on campus...

This lovely walkway used to be a road, now it is a place where kids can sit on the grass and benches and hang out.
The most impressive change was the Commons. At Bates, everyone eats at the same place. This place was awesome and yes, our jaw dropped when we walked inside.

It wasn't the cute coeds that caused the biggest reaction. It was the cereal bar. Lisa and I spent many meals eating cereal. Actually picking up a box and pouring different types of cereal in our bowls. This is what the spoiled brats, I mean cute coeds, get now!

Yes, I almost fainted. Then I walked over to the bakery section. OMG. I think K wants to go just for this...
Because I cannot sleep in, I got up and walked around campus Thurs morning. I went and visited our ski team meeting place. Everyday for most of the year, except when we were skiing, we met at this rock. The tree has gotten quite a bit bigger in the past 20 years.

This lovely building was once the maintenance shack. Yeah, they tore it down and created this. 
Lisa and I kept wanting to ask each student if they knew how lucky they were! We were wondering if we could come back and grab another degree.

Thursday we were off to Portland to the 207 news office. Lisa was interviewed for 5 minutes. She will be on May 27th if you are in viewing area. It was really cool being a fly on the wall with my camera in the studio!


Lisa had never been to Ogunquit, so we detoured through there on our way home. It was about 90 degrees and a total beach day. We had kids to get home to, so we didn't stay, but we did put our feet in the 40 degree water. 2 days full of talking and interviewing and the girl looks this good.

Thank you Lisa for such a fabulous opportunity! I can't wait to go on your European tour with you!