Goooo Biiiiig Reeeed

Go Big Red!

In this house, we are Nebraska Cornhuskers.  We spend a lot of time during September through November at our "Fall Vacation Home." Over the years, we have started a few traditions that make the experience that much better. 

For starters, every game day Saturday morning, we have flying "pamcakes."

These were the final batch of the year...

I didn't get a picture of them being thrown this year, but you can see everyone enjoys them.

Then the boys stay with Anthony and Tina and the girls and we go to the game.  We are so grateful that they watch the boys and the boys LOVE playing with the girls.  

Then it is time to get to the game.  

Stopping for a quick tailgate before the game

Mason got to come to one game.  Here he is with Uncle Nick

M & M   Cousins!!!

Then we head into the game.  We are lucky enough to get to sit in different areas of the stadium throughout the season.  

North Stadium: 

Here is the view from our seats after our first score in the Penn State game

 South Stadium

The view from South Stadium...check out that intimidation!

 East Stadium

The view from East Stadium at the Wisconsin game (gotta love the iPhone panorama feature!!)

Then we sit back and enjoy the game.

It took forever to get him to smile for a picture with me!

Learning about the game from dad

Fans

One of my favorite signs of the year

Already too cool for a picture with mom and dad!

After the game, depending on the time of day, we usually grab something to eat and settle in at our fall vacation home for some more football watching.  

And pizza making too.

On the way out of town on Sunday mornings, we have one more tradition.  We stop at LaMar's Donuts and get some nourishment for the trip home.  

mmmmm......

Sam double fistin' his donut holes. 

As another season has come to a close for the Husker Football team, we look back on the memories we have made with a smile.  Even if they made our hearts stop or at least skip a beat, we still love our team and will be back again next year.  

So, for a fitting end to the season, let me say:

We all can learn something from Tom Osborne and the way he led others. Not only on the field, but more importantly, off the field. May he have may more years of happy retirement with his family.

Our little spooks

This year, we had two cute spooks in our house.  Yes, I realize that I'm not supposed to call boys cute, but it is hard when that is what they are.

We were a bit traditionalist in our choice of costumes.  Mason was a Husker football player and Sam was a skeleton.

Yes, this is as good as a picture of him in his costume as I could get...

However in true Mason fashion, he was not Taylor Martinez or Rex Burkhead (those are current Husker favorites for those of you who ***gasp*** don't keep up on the day to day of the greatest team in college football.)  No, Mason decided that he wanted to be Johnny "the Jet" Rodgers.

Thank goodness for customizable jerseys!

Not to be outdone, Sam decided to improvise his costume and use Mason's helmet and football.  I guess this made him a Husker Blackshirt??  (again, sorry for the Nebraska football reference for those of you who don't follow it)

Tough guy

Give me my ball back!!! Maybe we should have had 2 football players...

We trick-or-treated around town and had a great dinner at the Banner County Fireman's dinner.  The boys enjoyed all of the treats that they gathered through the night. 

Yum!

Ha!  I got it open!

Earlier in the month, we had some fun carving pumpkins.  Here are some pictures of that fun: 

Summer Vacation

Yes, I realize that it is now November and I am JUST getting to writing about our vacation this summer.  One day I will be timely with these posts.  That would be the day you wonder who has taken over this blog!!!

As you might know (if you follow either of us on Facebook) Mason is a bit "into" presidents and presidential knowledge.  You might even have been one of the lucky few who has heard him recite the presidents along with some facts about them. So, when we were debating where we wanted to go this year, Mason thought that Washington D.C. sounded like the logical best place to go.  After some convincing, he decided that he could settle for South Dakota and Mount Rushmore.  So, we packed up and drove north.

Yup, if you decide bring one harmonica, you had better bring two!

If it has been a while since you've been to Rapid City, they now have statutes of all of the presidents gracing the corners of their downtown area.  Mason was able to name them and facts about most of them entertaining fellow tourists.

A handshake from John Adams

Directing with General Eisenhauer

Our great first president

High fives for Jimmy Carter

Listening to Abe's story

Going on adventure with Teddy Roosevelt

Taking a break with Martin Van Buren

Trying to hit Taft's fastball

Mason with his favorite, Andrew Jackson

 (yes, I had to have Mason help me remember who all of those were)

We finally made it to Keystone and Mount Rushmore

The future of America

We've arrived!!

We found the Nebraska pilar

The boys

Beautiful at night

We stayed for the ranger talk and lighting of the monument. Before they light it up, the park ranger wanders around and asks questions of the crowd.  Guess who could answer almost all of the questions...if you guessed Laura, thanks for the compliment, but guess again. He even got called on to answer the question "Which President was born on the the 4th of July?" Do you know?  Mason did.  I'll include the answer at the end of this blog.

We spent the next morning at Bear Country USA.  The boys (all 3 of them) loved seeing all of the animals.

Yes, they have bears at Bear Country

Wolves taunting the mountain lion.  Scary to think that there are reports of both of these not far from home!

Sam decided that since we were going very slowly he would help out as a driver. 

We decided that we hadn't had quite enough so we returned to Mount Rushmore for one more visit before we left.  

After a fun weekend away, it was time to head home.

Two worn out guys!

We had a great time.  It is a great time and we will probably be back.  With the presidential election right around the corner, we have had lots of discussions about presidents.  Who knows you might know the president of 2048!!!

Did I mention that he knows all of the presidents in order?  If you don't believe me, or would like to see it, check this out: 

***The answer to the presidential trivia question was Calvin Coolidge.