Notre Dame Trip 2016

Last weekend, we took a trip to Notre Dame for the Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game.  First, we drove to Uncle Jim's lake home on Lake Michigan on Thursday.  We had some yummy pizza, settled in for bed, then enjoyed the beach on Friday morning.

The kids had fun building sand castles and playing in the water (even though the water was VERY cold!).

Uncle Jim and Grandpa - can you tell they're brothers?

Trevor telling Melanie that the rock he found on a beach is a compass and says to go that way.

Theo waving.

The kids loved the big floating mat.

Friday after lunch, we headed to campus, got some new gear for the kids (they grow out of clothes so fast), and then headed to the house Nanny and Grandpa rented for us in South Bend.  While Daddy checked out our items at the bookstore, we stepped outside to see the Irish Dance Team perform.  Here are Sarah and Trevor enjoying the show.

After campus on Friday, we left the kids at the house with Uncle Brian and headed ~30 mins south to Nappanee, Indiana to Amish Acres, where my cousin Kristin is performing at the Round Barn Theater.  She was Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof and she was fantastic!  We really enjoyed the show and were so happy to get to see her perform!

On Saturday, we headed to campus after a visit to Tommy and Mary.  Trevor enjoyed a ride around campus in style.

Checking out how the trees dedicated to Nanny and Grandpa and Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa have been growing.

Home Sweet Dome!

Looking up under the Dome.

Tailgate at "Tilly" (the wood sided station wagon that used to be my Grandma's and is still in the family).

 Enjoying the concert on the steps.

Then Trevor and Theo went back to the house with Nanny and the big kids went to the game. 

 Sitting in Great-Grandpa's seats with Grandpa!

 And Mommy!

Pre-game show

There was a flyover at the end of the National Anthem.

 GO IRISH!

The game was one for the W column, but at least they made it interesting with a 2nd half comeback.  Almost made it to the win, but not quite.  The kids still had a blast!

 At halftime, the ND and MSU bands joined forces again for the 15th anniversary of 9/11.  In 2001, I was in the band when 9/11 happened.  The very next game in Notre Dame Stadium was the MSU game, and the MSU band joined us to play Amazing Grace and it was a surreal experience.  Here is a video of the 2001 performance.  It was fun to see the ND and MSU bands come together again in tribute.

 At the end of the game...kids still awake and happy. Here are the 4 of us in our family seats.

After that, Austin had had enough and started crying when we asked him to take 1 family picture together (minus Trevor, of course, who was back at the house sleeping by then).  We tried to get him to pull it together for 1 photo, but this is the best we got.

We headed home on Sunday and had a good drive home for all of us but Sarah.  The poor girl gets carsick from time to time and was not feeling well at all on the drive home.

We stopped by Wisconsin Dells at a Walgreens and got her some Dramamine for motion sickness and she was feeling great again within minutes of taking it.  Yay!  We got home safely and got the kids to bed since they had school again Monday morning.

We had a great trip and enjoyed brining Sarah to her first game in the stadium!  As an added bonus, we managed a trip in which no one vomited (though we were close!), no one needed stitches or staples, no family drama, and minimal kids meltdowns.  I'll count that as a success!