Sunday, September 12, 2010

THE EPIC COUSIN WEEKEND!

First and foremost, happy birthday Madison! Second.... wow, boys. That was a spectacular weekend, and we may need a few blog posts to do it justice. I don't know if my post will be big enough to do the job.

Thursday night, Nick, Nate, Ben, Jake and Mary Beth arrived and we had a nice evening at home with some cribbage (Jake dominated) and late night pizza. The Buyskes and Fabianne (Des's sister) arrived the next day and the cousins toured around Chicago a bit while Des and I were at work. Friday evening we went to an art gallery where a friend of ours had an exhibit opening then out on the town for dinner. Because we had to get up early on Saturday, we went home fairly early and intended to get to bed. We were having so much fun, though, that bedtime turned into about 2:00 a.m. Joey and Mike played a little guitar. Matt, Jake, Nate and I had a memorable discussion out on the deck (where Nick slept!). The girls did girl stuff.

Our place is not very big. But with a little creativity, everybody was able to cram in there . . .

Then in the morning it was time to hit the road for South Bend for the big game! Here we are in the elevator leaving our place...


We battled some rain on the road and at the tailgate, but it didn't dampen our spirits. The wetter the better! A friend of mine from law school had his tailgating van all set up for us and we grilled burgers, had a few beers, and even had a little dance party pre-game. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. (Coo coo ka CHA!)
Everybody got into the game, thanks largely to Matt's connections. What a rollercoaster it was. This is how we felt for about half of the game:
And this is how I prefer to remember it:
After the game, we were all pretty depressed for a couple of hours, but we went back to our tailgate and made the best of it. Before you know it, we were having fun again. So much so that we were the very last people in the parking lot at the end of the night! Then we went to my friend's house to hang out and hit the sack. Des whipped up some late-night pasta for the boys, which I missed due to a little nap. Hard to keep up with these guys!
On Sunday morning, the Buyske boys headed back to Chicago to catch (or narrowly miss) their flights. The rest of us had a nice walk around campus . . . Overall, it's difficult to put into words how much I loved having everyone come up for the weekend. This is such a wonderful family that we are all a part of and it warms my heart to see the cousins make the effort to get together like this. Miss you guys already.

8 comments:

Johnny Piano said...

Very cool post and pix! Looks like y'all had a great time. We had coffee with Marc and Jan today and talked about the game a bit, but our experiences certainly didn't match yours.

Jan said...

It certainly did not. But, since I was in the comfort of my own home, I could scream as loud as I wanted to! What a game! These pictures are hysterical. I have talked to Mike and Matt tonight and they say it was beyond fun! Joey is still settling into his place in Denver but we will chat with him tomorrow. I am so glad that you could all get together and enjoy each other's company. Those are special times!

mary said...

You guys are so blessed...to be such good friends as well as family, to be at a good game (even tho the end result wasn't the best), and to have such totally awesome parents that didn't get to go with you!
Love ya all!

Molly said...

I am so glad you all had such a good time. But really, how could you not with you all being together?! I, too, feel extremely blessed by the closeness of this family. Many people aren't even close with their parents or siblings, let alone their cousins and aunts and uncles. We are all blessed! I can't WAIT to come out next month!

Benjamin said...

Like Abe said, words can't describe how awesome the weekend was, from the time I got there to the time I had to miss lunch on sunday w everyone. I just wished we all lived closer so we could get together more often. It's now a must that we all get back to a game next year.

Jen said...

Wow, that is so awesome you guys were all able to get together! I watched the game from the top floor of my dorm-like living here in Newport in my khakis as I was on duty that day. Probably not as cool as what you guys were doing, but still, good game and good company here. I hope to catch ND in NY when the play Navy (go ND!) Glad all had safe travels and had a good time

Anonymous said...

most of my favorite people in the world!!! miss you all so much, and great to see you all having such an awesome time! damn. xoxoxo, rika

Ila said...

I found a picture of a Mrs. C Moore in a Goodwill store in South Bend. It was taken in 1918 and she was probably in her 20's. Please let me know if this may be your relative so I can give you this picture. It is beautiful, BIG and OLD!

Ila
4derms@gmail.com