What a weekend!

We've finally returned from our sojourn to ND. While we almost didn't make the trip, it ended up a resounding success. Bullet points below detail the weekend:

~ Katie and I were both not feeling well last week and when it was time to leave on Thursday, Katie had a fever and did not feel like going. We planned to leave at 9am and it was already noon. Fortunately, I was able to convince to down a couple bottles of tylenol which clouded her judgement, so we hit the road the jack. The boys handled the trip well, sleeping for 3 hours, taking an hour break to eat and stretch, and then 3 more hours on the road.

~ Many kudos to Rick, Renee, and all the Sandstrom for outstanding accommodations! Not to mention some schweet Giordino's 'za. Good stuff, but Katie was really sick at night with a really high fever. So the next day we discovered she had Mastitis, so her doctor faxed a prescription to local Walgreens. We headed off to ND on Friday, delayed slightly due the sickness.

~ Friday was a rough day, between not feeling well, the boys also didn't like all of the tylenol and advil in their milk, so they were throwing up left and right. I told them to save it for tailgating.

~ Band practice was a great place to meet up with friends. Shout outs to everyone who was there. So, how did this years annual encounter with Dr. Dye go? Well, you see, every year he comes up to me and has something so completely random to say it usually leaves me speechless. So at some point I knew Dr. Dye would see the kids. After the practice he comes over and sees the boys, looks at me, while all my friends are around, and says, "I heard you were shootin' blanks!" Excuse me brace face? "Oh there's two? I guess you've got good swimmers like me!" (At this point, my implodes).

Are you kidding me? Shootin' blanks? Excuse me Mr. "I had twins when I was in my 40s". Good swimmers? This from the man who is all about good public image? This year left me the most speechless I can remember. How does one diagnose this situation? Socially inept? I still don't know. The only thing I know is that Dye wins again.

~ Friday night included a nice dinner with Jess, Ben, and Amy at Chili's. The highlight of dinner conversation? Ben explaining how the Air Force base he is working at has high security chambers he has to pass through called the Man Trap. How did Amy interpret this? She told Ben that Mothball probably wants Ben to pass through Man Trap. Way to go Amy!

~ We spent the night in Stevensville, MI which worked out really well. 30 minutes north of ND, $65 a night. Yeyeah!

~ Saturday morning we arrived at the one and only Mothball tailgate at 8:30am and we were the first young adults there. THE FIRST ONES! Are you kidding me? The family with two newborns that stayed in a hotel 30 minutes away beat all the single drunks to the tailgate? Unacceptable. Ben blames Amy, but I don't completely believe him. Jess, you've got an excuse, Nick looked like he needed some assistance most of the morning. Everyone enjoyed some sweet Italian snausage courtesy of the stallion himself, Mr. Gabbianelli, and a new tent purchase by the Goehler's was an outstanding addition. Always good times.

~ After some great revelry, which involved seeing a number of awesome peeps, we were off to Hogan/Spoonhower tailgate. My highlight of the Mothball tailgate, the following conversation, which was awesome because there was no pre-existing conversation, everyone just chirped in - the timing was classic:

Me: There he is, Nick Lambrecht, you text messagin machine!
Somebody: Mr. Nimble Fingers
Mothball: Jess, you lucky girl.
Jess: Shut up!

~ The HS tailgate was in the radio tower lot, which by definition, is much more crazy drunk than the other lots. Almost immediately we were greeted with surprise as Marie says to me, "Look what I drinking Vnak. Water." Whoa doctor! The dominos have begun to fall! More ND babies (or baby) on the way! Congrats to the Spoonhowers! How awesomely exciting this is! I have chuckled quite a bit since we found this out and the fact that Jeff has to get 8 hours of sleep a night. Oh, this is gonna be good.

~Anyway, the highlights of this tailgate? Mr. Hogan and Mr. Hogan. First, he kept saying, "Vnak, go get another beer!" I know I attended your daughter's wedding and I may or may not have had an extended inebriated conversation with you, but are we really on Vnak terms or should you have said, "Brian, help yourself to another!" Who am I kidding? I loved it! And so did he. The real highlight was when the Faltos decided to do a shotgun and Mr. Hogan joined in. He pierced the hole correct, however, proceeded to hold the can upside down so we he opened it up, it all came pouring out. But don't think not drinking the beer didn't stop him from severely enjoying himself, he threw the can down with authority and gave it a hell of a stomp! Mr. Hogan, I love you.

~On Friday night at dinner, Ben Merello filled us in on what happened during the pep rally. At Marie's tailgate he proceeded to tell me about the tailgate all over again, except this time a few beers deep. Needless to say, the f'inheimer was dropped just about every other word. According to Ben, Charie Weis said, "I'm starting a new tradition where the f'in team captains are going to sing the f'in alma mater in front of the f'in student section at the end of the f'in game." Nice.

~ Katie, the boys, and myself left the tailgate and meandered to the bookstore and then decided to go see the band at inspection. After Dr. Dye's ridiculous comments the day before, I really didn't have much desire to go see concert on the steps, but we had some time so we decided to see inspection. Now, up to this point, the trip had been kind of stressful for Katie and I. We both didn't feel well, she officially was sick, the boys were throwing up on Friday left and right, and this was our first trip.

So you almost start to wonder - why was I so persistent about bringing the boys to ND at their tender age? Well, their we were: On the campus where I spent 4 important years of my life and formed so many memories and friendships, in the shade of the trees on God Quad, under the Golden Dome, in sight of the Basilica where Katie and I were married. The drums started playing, the hair raised on my arms. And as the band started to play the Victory March, it was too much. I started crying like a little girl. Right then and there I realized the purpose of this trip: to baptize Thomas and Joseph with the ND spirit. Mission accomplished.

I can't express the deep level of satisfaction both Katie and I felt at this moment. For all of you out there who don't have kids, the best thing I can liken it to was the satisfaction felt when Clark Griswald (Chevy Chase) finally arrived at Wally World in National Lampoons Vacation.

LIke the title says, what a weekend. Here we are at another. Go Irish, Beat Michigan!

For those of you who haven't seen this, check out this link to the video clip of current Michigan QB Chad Henne's HS coach when Henne was at Wilson high school. Good for many laughs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow2TwwzSXHg&eurl=

It's September? Say what?

Yoyo!

Today's post begins the traditional apology for lack of posting. But to be honest, I doesn't bother me. You see, we have had an uncharacteristically awesome weather to close out August and start September. Usually, it's hot and humid and there is not much desire to be outside, other than my daily ritual of nude bathing in our front yard. Instead, we've had very pleasant, cool, arid weather. The kind of weather that says, "Git yoself away from your computer and enjoy!" So that's what we've done.

Ok, that's all a lie. The real reason? ND Football. Plain and simple. Thank the good man upstairs for helping und.com update their coverage, which now includes endless amounts of video of practices, press conferences and such. Why blog when you can have a direct injection of ND football daily? Seriously, I did't even know how to mentally prepare for the first game. ND rate #2? I feel like a chicken with it's head cut off running around.

Anyway, we won. It wasn't pretty. But you can see the potential this team has. Also, Weis didn't call any of his bread and butter plays from last year. He's holdling his cards. If I'm PSU or UM, I'm scared. Terrified really. My prediction for this weekend 28-17, ND

Oh yeah, the boys. :) They are doing outstanding. About three weeks ago, they started to discover their fingers and, man, are they delicious. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten. They cram as many is as they can, until they gag themselves. It's a hilarious process. About a week ago, they started to discover their vocal chords. So now, we can get them to smile and coo back. Deathly cute. It hurts it's so cute. When we were watching the GTech vs. ND game, Thomas talked to TV the whole second quarter. I don't blame him. We all had words during the second quarter.

So, tomorrow we embark on our first long trip the boys. Thursday we drive to Chicago and stay with Katie's aunt and uncle, which should be a great time. Then Friday we head to ND for Legends, band practice, and dinner. Then we are off to Stevensville, MI for the night, only to return early in the AM for some sweet tailgating. We are leaving after concert on the steps to Chicago to watch the game with Jess and Nick and his new baby, a beheamoth 60 screen. Then on Sunday we leave Chicago to MPLS. Should be an awesome time, although Thomas and Joseph need to finish their packing.

Plenty of review with pics to come when return.

PS: Here is Weis' secret weapon for victory.

Look out PSU, these mean mofos are suited up and ready to go. Just imagine trying to tackle these guys.