We Are...

What a weekend it has been! We found ourselves in Lewistown again this weekend for some "Joshua" help while Jason and I enjoyed a wonderful day in Happy Valley for the PSU vs. Notre Dame football game. While this blog is supposed to be dedicated to all things Joshua, I have to take a moment to set the scene for what happened yesterday at Beaver Stadium.

The tradition of the PSU/Notre Dame rivalry is a great story in college football. It's always a great game as both teams battle to defend the legend of their football programs. For the fans, it's a day that we've been waiting for since the 2007 schedule was announced years ago. The tailgating was intense for sure. Everyone had gone all out with their food and drink spreads. People were friendly and outgoing-- there was a greater sense of comradery than usual, at least it seemed that way to me. This was the first ever all stadium "white outs" that had been declared by the university, so as you looked around, all you could see was white. There were the few who just didn't seem to get it--- dressed in navy blue, or something even more bizarre like red or yellow. It's as if they live in a cave and hadn't heard about the white out.

We travelled over with Steph and then met up with Stacie and her friend for some tailgating fare. It's so much fun to set up camp and start cooking. After a while we went out walking to meet up with friends of Jason's and Steph's and then ended up meeting my dad at the group he was with. This tailgate was a bit more "upscale" from our burgers and dogs party, but it was the party where we learned of a pretty smart business venture. Everyone was visiting and talking about the game when two guys came by with a wagon load of food. Apparently some of the State College businesses are capitalizing on the PSU market and are starting tailgate delivery services. Now, in a sea of 150,000+, locating your customers has to be a challenge, but cell phones talked the wagon right to us. We mooched a few ribs and some hot wings, a beer and a whoopie pie and then made our way into the game.

The crowd was unbelievable. Honestly, this game ranked right up there with all of the other big games I've been blessed to experience at Beaver Stadium. At the first PSU touchdown, the atmosphere in the stands was electric. The all stadium white out was incredible and I'm sure will receive a lot of national attention over the coming weeks. Without a doubt, the PSU football atmosphere has got to be one of the most amazing in all of college football.

While we were in State College, mom and Libby spent the day with Joshua and by all accounts had a wonderful time. He apparently behaved like a little gentleman, and I was so thankful. He was fast asleep when we got home at 11:45, but saw fit to wake up around midnight to greet us and spend some quality time with us. Shortly after 3:00 am we managed to get him back to sleep. Not a great ending to the night, but if there's a silver lining to this situation, I had missed him so terribly during the day that snuggling him back to sleep wasn't the worst possible scenario. But at the time, if you had offered me snuggling or sleep I would have chosen sleep without a moment's hesitation.

So today we headed back home to unpack and get Jason into position for the Dolphins kickoff at 1:00. We also had to eliminate another mouse (but we're getting better---- this one was in a closed trap so we didn't have to see it!). We've also located their entrance point- behind our stove, so some steps were taken to make that a little more difficult for our rodent intruders. Luckily I didn't see mouse #3 so I don't have to make good on my threat to move out.

The little man is fast asleep right now, so I'd better use the time wisely and get something done. It's been a wonderful weekend for sure- great football, time with Jason without the baby, visiting with family and now a nice, quiet Sunday at home. Life is pretty good!