Big Red in the Big Ten

Welcome to the Big Ten Nebraska!  We were warmly welcomed by the Cornhuskers in Lincoln, NE.  We were "lucky" enough to sit behind the cornhead and were told to try a Runza; we ended up having two!



Tailgating

I have to say that this is one of the coolest things that I have ever seen at a tailgate!  I didn't have the nerve to participate but I enjoyed watching other guests play as teams.  At one point there was a game of home v. visiting fans!  They won both the game here and the football game, but it was all in good fun!

Joe Pa

Last year I took this picture thinking that Joe Pa may retire and this would be the last time I would see him as a coach.  At the beginning of this year I thought I was wrong.  How could I know that by the time Penn State came to town Joe Pa would not be coach anymore?

WOW!  What a way to go out!

Boo Hoo!

We did not come home with the National Championship, but we did get to see New Orleans and travel the 1-10 from New Orleans to Biloxi, Mississippi. It is amazing how much rebuilding there is left to do. That part of the country is forever changed by Katrina.

We ate Louisiana cuisine, visited the French Quarter, and Bourbon Street the first night we were in New Orleans. We did most of our travelling by walking because we stayed in the Warehouse District. We spent our second day in New Orleans partying like a true Buckeye at Ernst's Cafe right down the street from our hotel, the New Orleans Buckeye Hangout! Our last morning in New Orleans, we ate beignets at Cafe du Monde, which Ron did not think was much of a breakfast, doughnuts not being his thing! I, on the other hand, wanted to try them and loved the warm doughnuts with powdered sugar. We saw some donkey drawn carriages and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for our traditional t-shirt.

One of the best parts of our trip was going to the Garden District. I wanted to visit the toy store there, but did not find anything for my kids. For lunch we went to The Big Fisherman, bought a bag of crawfish, and took them to eat by the Mississippi River. Boy, were they delicious!

I did get to rest and relax on our trip, sleep in and read a few books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. What a great trip!

Happy New Year!

I made it through the grind of the end of the year, illness and all. I got a really bad eye infection that has finally cleared up!

Riley's pirate party was a hit, and he was happy that his friends came to his house to play!

At the last minute we went to see my husband's family in Cleveland for New Year's and Ron's birthday. It was a fun day with family and we got out of there in the nick of time because they got 8 inches of snow!

Now, we are preparing to go on vacation! We leave tomorrow for New Orleans! Now that the preparations are almost set, I am getting more excited! I know that everything will be okay while I am gone, but there is the restaurant to worry about and the kids that are staying home with grandma and grandpa. But, this is my chance to have some fun, see something new, and sit with a good book and relax!

Now, how will the Bucks do in New Orleans? Will we come home with a national championship trophy? I hope so, but only time will tell!