Yale v Princeton 2013

Every other year, Yale comes to Princeton for their regular season football game.  This year, was the 5th Yale/Princeton tailgate, and my second time joining in on the celebration.  Our gracious hosts, the Buck family has both Princeton and Yale grads in the family and they coordinate a stellar tailgate party that has quickly become one of our favorite weekends of the year.
When the weekend was finally upon us, Mike and I were eager to get out to Princeton to join our friends and also to hit the road for our first trip in our brand new Jeep Cherokee!  Winston enjoyed his luxurious back seat, we had an endless supply of tunes from Hair Nation & the Boneyard, and we were safely directed through Friday Manhattan rush hour traffic by the lovely navigation system.

After a night of preparation, we were ready for the big event.  Courtney was a saint, and got the entire set up started before any of us had even left the house the next morning!  And it looked AWESOME.  As we had done two years prior, we brought our own version of Handsome Dan mascot- our sweater-clad English bulldog who just so happens to be an avid football fan.

We had an absolutely, unseasonably gorgeous fall day - I didn't even wear a coat!  We spent the better part of 6 hours nibbling on the delicious spread provided by the Buck family, sipping on some excellent whisky (provided straight from Scotland by your's truly!), puffing on festive pipes, drinking Mr. Buck's famous whiskey sours, and tossing around a football - trying desperately to keep it away from Winston.  SURE - some of us made it into the game this year, but we've quickly learned that going to the game isn't the actual purpose of the event.  The purpose is for us to enjoy each other's company, maybe make fun of a few wannabe "Winklevoss's", and take in the sights of the amazing campus on a brisk autumn day.

Another tradition of Yale/Princeton weekend that we appreciate is the friends slumber party that happens in the evening.  The pipe smoking usually continues over some leftovers from the tail gate followed by a card game (this year we finally convinced my husband to play Apples to Apples again) that continues well into the night.  We didn't make it out o the fire pit in the backyard this year, but we did all gather around family room (complete with a blazing fire), to watch a scary movie as we had done in year's past.  Yes, I think I fell asleep before the opening credits were over - but the rest of the crew seemed to enjoy it!

I adore our friend's weekends and the annual traditions that have been established over what has been more than a decade of friendships between these guy.
I'm a little bummed that I won't be writing about this weekend again until 2015!  But here is to another successful Yale v Princeton weekender and a HUGE, HUGE thank you to all of the Bucks for the dedication and preparation in making this another unforgettable weekender!