SNL & UC vs. ND

We had a pretty busy weekend. It was good but I was kind of ready for the week by the end of it. I say that only because I typically get more sleep during the week than during the weekend. I have a tendency to stay up later on the weekends yet almost always wake up early. During the week, I also wake up early but I go to bed earlier. By Sunday evening of this weekend I remember feeling so tired and thinking that I was ready for five days of better sleep than the weekend :).

Friday evening was nice and low key. Alyssa went to our school's home football game. I wish I could muster enough care for the football program to go to the games but after a busy week, staying in, snacking on Twizzlers while watching Netflix with Donnie always sounds way better than going to a football game. #letsstayhome. Alyssa wanted to go to the game so I took her to one of her friend's house whose parent(s) then took the girls to the game (I guess it's better to arrive to the game with a friend than without...). 

Saturday morning (grrrr, I woke up super early even though I didn't have to), I ran and as I was arriving home from my run, Jacob arrived at the house. The reason he came over bright and early was to go to South Bend, IN with Donnie and a couple of friends to see the University of Cincinnati vs. Notre Dame football game at ND.  UC is really good in football this year. They are ranked in the top ten in the nation and ranked higher than THE OHIO STATE which if you're from Ohio or any surrounding state or a college football fan in general you know is not something that happens... ever. I mean, not to be dramatic, but I don't think UC has ever been as good as OSU in the polls so this year is kind of a big deal to the UC fan, student or alumni. Jacob and his friend AJ convinced their dads to go to take them to South Bend to see the UC- Notre game. Basically, they wanted someone to buy the expensive game tickets, finance all of the other costs associated with the weekend and drive them to the game and and around South Bend they wanted to spend quality time with their dads. 

When AJ came to the door and Donnie saw his Notre Dame shirt, Donnie was like, "Trip canceled!" He was kidding of course. AJ and his dad are actually huge OSU fans- I think AJ just wanted to go to see a college football game besides an OSU game and he made the valid point that it may be good for Donnie and Jacob to be with Notre Dame "fans" should the guys be surrounded by angry Fighting Irish. 

Two Bearcats and two Fighting Irish...

Shortly after the guys left, I left home for Oxford, OH to see Abby. Alyssa had a cross country meet but it wasn't until the evening which freed up my day. It was parent's weekend at Miami and Abby's birthday is next week; I wanted to see her near her birthday so it worked out really well for a short visit. Alyssa wanted to come with me but she also didn't want to walk a lot since she had a meet later in the day. She decided to stay at home so just I went. Abby and I had a good time in Oxford. We walked to a small farmer's market near campus, had lunch, did a little shopping in the shops near campus and then I took her to Kroger to get some coffee pods and snacks. I also brought her a birthday present and balloons so she had something celebratory on her birthday. 

The leaves were just starting to change. Snapped this picture of the almost birthday girl.

Abby and me: We ran into a friend of Abby's from high school and I asked her to take our picture. I was wearing a UC Bearcat shirt under my Miami mom shirt. I know wearing a shirt under a shirt isn't in style but I was definitely more concerned with supporting UC and Miami than with how I looked. 

Once I arrived back home, it was time almost time for dinner and then to get Alyssa to the school so she could ride the bus to the meet. This meet was the first one this year that she rode the school bus to the meet- riding the bus runs the risk of getting quarantined due to contact tracing and requires wearing a mask which is less than ideal but the good outweighed the bad and the good was glitter. Yes, this night time race at Centerville High School, dubbed Saturday Night Lights, or SNL, entails running the course at night time and glitter is an integral part of the evening. The young ladies apply glitter to their face and arms- I love how this simple and somewhat second grade sounding activity adds fun to the evening. Anything to make a 5K a little more palatable!!

Alyssa's race was scheduled to begin at 9:15 pm. That seemed late to me but after the track and field season last spring, I am reassessing what seems ridiculously late (she was scheduled to run at 11:30 PM at one onerously large track meet which required numerous heats of events which necessitated an 11:30 pm start time for the last event). Alyssa's taking the bus meant that I didn't need to arrive at the meet until shortly before the meet was supposed to start which is what I did. On the way, I saw lightening (for the love) and knew her race would either be postponed or canceled. It was postponed until 10:00 pm. Alyssa said her body felt physically tired by 10:00 pm. Like not her muscles but her entire body. She was ready for bed- but she had to run a 5k. Poor thing. She ended up PRing for the season by three seconds so that was good. After the run, she had to do a cool down, help clean up her school's area, and then we got stuck in traffic so it was close to midnight before we arrived home.

The course ends on the track which is kind of neat. All the spectators sit in the stands and cheer for when their runner(s) come by. 

Sunday was, unfortunately, an early morning for me but I let Alyssa sleep in until she had to get up so we could make it to our church's second service. Straight from church we went to the grocery store. The weather forecast called for rain which sounded like as good a reason as any to pop some corn and watch a fall movie. Well before the movie ended, Donnie and Jacob returned home from Indiana so we stopped watching it to see the guys and hear about their weekend in Indiana (the movie wasn't very good and we had already eaten our snacks which was the best part anyway). UC won the game (I already knew that as I got really into the game and listened to it on the radio on my drive home from Oxford) so that was exciting. Apparently, the ND fans were kind and even congratulatory to Donnie and Jacob after the game. The boys had LOTS of stories to tell. Many memories were made over the weekend. I am glad that most everything worked out for them during their time in South Bend. 

Sunday evening we went out to eat with Donnie's dad, stepmom, uncle and two family members from out of town who were in town on Sunday. Had an enjoyable meal and then it was time to get ready for a busy week of work and school.