On Friday, we woke up bright and early and caravanned to Annapolis with my parents and brothers. After a quick tour of the Yard, where my dad showed Patrick Bancroft Hall and Tecumseh Court (and the rest of his old stompin' grounds) and a trip to the Mid Store, we met Dad's classmates for an awesome tailgate... It was great catching up with old friends and hearing sea stories from those who knew my dad way back when!
After tailgating for more than a few hours, we made our way to the stadium in time to see an F/A-18 Flyover (awesome as always!), March On and the Exchange of Prisoners, where exchange students from the Naval and Air Force Academies are returned to their own sides of the field to cheer their team on with their shipmates (or whatever the Air Force equivalent of "shipmate" is).
We had a wonderful view from the Hill (end-zone, sitting on the grass) so that we could all sit together, and really enjoyed some of the bantering with fans from both Academies sitting around us! Of course, the end of the game was super exciting: in the first overtime series, Navy kicked a field goal, and then (thankfully!) was able to keep Air Force from doing the same!! To celebrate, Todd and Jake even put me up for Irish-style arial pushups as the Midshipmen did the same in the end-zone!
Unfortunately, Dad missed the very end, because he needed to go set up his drums at a local hotel where his bandmates from Danforth were celebrating their 35th Reunion! We joined Dad to watch him play a few songs before going to see visit my grandfather at his inurnment site in the Academy's cemetery and enjoying cheese and wine in our hotel room. We woke bright and early this morning, had breakfast in the hotel, and made it back to Hampton Roads in time for 10:30 Mass at our home church!
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