fight on..

the weekend of oct 20th the usc trojans marched into notre dame country ..and we were there to see the show. smell the smells.. enjoy the beautiful campus and the hospitality of the locals. we had been planning the trip for months. we were invited by mark and jen cusano. (you know mark is a trojan himself) and i must admit ~ except for the company ~ i was dreading it a little. i thought it was going to be miserably cold.. i dont like to be cold. that can wreck an entire trip for me. however..it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful weekend!

my mom arrived on thurs evening to stay with the munchkins.. we stayed up late packing.. and kyle got up even earlier on friday morning to ride to work with tyreece. after settling everyone in for a nap..i finished my packing and loaded the car. i left around 11am.. my mom was in charge of the crew! what a trooper! all the babies love her.. after doing a little last minute shopping i met kyle and his boss for lunch. then got to see sam's new bar, which is so awesome! cant wait to hang out there! we made our way to the airport around 2.. and our flight was right on time at 430. of course we had a little time to kill in the airport - but we were in total vacation mode and nothing was gonna get us down! after arriving in chicago and getting to our hotel..we met up with mark and jackie (aka the meyers) we shared a suite with them. the cusanos flight was delayed a bit so they met us at the restaurant for dinner straight from the airport. after an awesome meal we had a drink or two and took in the lights from a really cool bar overlooking downtown. then we called it a night.

the next morning we all loaded up in a brand new cadillac escalade and drove to south bend, indiana for the much anticipated football game. we all wore trojan colors-thats cardinal..not red- and played the part of supportive fans. honestly, we initially wore the colors to support mark..but we were proud to call ourselves trojan fans (altho temporary) by the end of the day. fight on.. has real meaning now. the notre dame campus was absolutely amazing! we did take lots of pics.. but im not even sure they do it justice. the weather was beautiful.. the final score was 38 to 0.. and the locals were still nice on our way out. pretty cool place. i would highly recommend adding it to your list of must see places in the united states. it was a long entertaining ride back to chicago after the game.. full of good laughs.. couple of crazy potty breaks.. and good conversation. thats easy for me to say..i did not have to use the bathroom. and kyle & i rode back in the center row. captains chairs. very nice. we made it back just in time to change clothes for our 1030pm reservations at the chicago chop house. (one FULL day..but it wasnt over yet..) then we hit the town.. until 5am. who knew bars in chicago stayed open that late! definitely a cool city. we will be back.

kyle, mark and mark passing a football around in the parking lot. hey, what happened to that football?

one really pretty tree.. kyle and jen were big fans!

i dont know what makes me smile the most about this pic..the amazing building or the button on the back of marks head!

more campus architecture

thats kyle & i in front of 'touchdown jesus'

the group..mark c, jen, jackie, mark m, jammi, kp and a few pics of the field.. soon after the game i lost interest in photographing anything. unexplainable..if mark & jackie ever share their pics from chicago i will add them. ;)

on sunday we all had lunch at the infamous gino's east. it was every bit as good as the reddicks said it was! and then my wonderful husband drove me 5 hours to see one of my best friends! we saw the entire state of indiana.. and the ohio river as you pass into louisville. met jenn and jeff for dinner..watched the cowboys game..thanks to the genius of tivo.. slept a few hours in their amazing new home.. spent a little quality time with my favorite little kaitlyn in the whole world.. and drove back to chicago. it was such a long drive.. and kyle should have been REALLY mad at me for talking him into it.. but he was a trooper. i love that he shares (or at least caters to) my need to do too much in too little time! we did have time to stop off at a casino on the lake in chi-town to play a little black jack. and then we were texas bound. needed to get home to our babies! all in all a wonderful time! im so glad we went! thanks for the invite mark and jen. we are definitely in for the next adventure!