Super Sports Weekend 2008 (plus a little more!)

Okay, so this post has a million pictures but they were all important in showing you what we have been up to. To start out with we have this great picture of Ryan. About 2 months ago we were sitting in church and he had not shaved for about a week. I told him I didn't think he would last not shaving until school started. Of course he decided to take me up on that and promised he would not shave until his white coat ceremony which is tomorrow night.As you can see from the above picture he lasted a long time! But since we were meeting up with some of his friends from high school this past weekend he wanted to surprise them with a little something special, which is pictured below...
I know, I married a hottie. So this is what he wore on his face all weekend long! He decided to shave it off before orientation for school on Monday which many people thought was unfortunate...not sure if I was one of them...
Now to what we have really been up to! This past weekend (as my blog title indicates) was the Super Sports Weekend 2008. This is becoming somewhat of an annual tradition among some of Ryan's friends from high school. Ryan actually didn't get to go last year, but this year since the festivities too place close to us he was able to attend. The weekend started Friday with Ryan, Jeremy, Chelsey, and I heading to Pittsburgh to meet up with Jeff, Kimi, and Caleb. Jeff is attending dental school at the University of Pitt and Caleb was able to come to town on business, plus stay a few extra days (and he was escaping the hurricane in Texas!) It is so great that Jeff and Kimi live so "close". Pitt is only about 3 hours away, so I am sure we will be seeing more of them in the next 4 years. We were able to stay at their cute little house and experience the narrow and extremely slanted Pitt streets. Friday night we were able to go watch the Pittsburgh Pirates vs Houston Astros baseball game at PNC Park. This park was so amazing! Right on the water with views of the bridge and skyline in center field. Even I can appreciate a baseball park like that. After the game they had an AMAZING fireworks show. We all thought it was probably the best fireworks any of us had ever seen. I usually don't even like fireworks that much, but these were awesome!

My camera really doesn't take very good pictures of fireworks, but believe me they were great!
Saturday's sporting event was the U of Pitt vs Iowa football game. The University games are held at the professional football stadium, Heinz Field. It was a really nice stadium with some of the same views as the baseball field. It actually turned out to be a good game and we had a lot of fun. Although this sports weekend was meant for the boys I like sports and so I had a great time going to all the games.
The girls (we missed you Di!)

The guys
So for the finale of SSW 2008 we drove 4 hours (with a few little unexpected detours from our good friend Nancy- the GPS) to Washington DC. A kid the boys went to high school with, Chris Cooley, plays for the Washington Redskins. The boys were able to get some great tickets and go to the game. Unfortunately there were no tickets for us girls so we weren't really sure what we would be able to do while the boys were at the game. Luckily for us, Chelsey has been to DC a few times and knew how to get us on the Metro and into downtown DC from our hotel. It was actually really easy and how Ryan and I will be doing DC when we ever go back. The boys were able to meet up with Chris before the game and hang out, tailgate with his family in the players parking lot, and had some great seats. After the game us girls met up with the boys at Chris and his wife Kristy's house in Virginia. The drive to his house was so beautiful. Chels and I are officially in love with Route 15! Huge Victorian style houses with amazing yards. It was just what I always pictured countryside on the East coast being. Chris's house fit right in with the rest of them and he and his wife were very gracious hosts. Us girls even came away with some awesome souvenirs! :)
On our way back to from downtown DC we rode the Metro along with all of the fans returning from the Redskins game. Almost 95% of them were wearing Cooley jerseys and Kimi mentioned what they would all think if they knew we were heading to his house at that very moment. This little boy on the Metro had some sunglasses on and kept saying "I'm cool like Cooley", it was so funny!

So below are some of the pictures from DC! I loved DC and want to go back so much with Ryan. I know he would love it too, especially the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and all the animal exhibits. There is so much to see and do and we literally crammed everything into 6 hours!

World War II Memorial

Back of the White House (that's as close as we got!)
Supreme Court Building
National Archives (saw the Declaration of Independence here)
The Capitol Building

Washington Monument
Lincoln Memorial
Our trip was so jammed packed, but we had such a great time. We didn't get home until 3 am on Monday morning and poor Ryan had to be up for school orientation at 6 am! I wanted to get up and take a first day of school picture of him, but 1) I was way too tired and 2) He had been in a lot of pictures over the weekend and I don't think he would have appreciated having to be in that one! Orientation lasted the past 2 days and will end tomorrow with his White Coat Ceremony. I think it has made him a little more nervous for classes to start next Monday, but I know he is going to do great. I start class tomorrow and can't wait. I am excited to get started in school again and think being here at OSU is going to be a great addition to my education.

Finally, tonight Ryan and I were able to go see The Lion King Broadway production here in Columbus. We had a great last date night before crazy school starts. I had seen the show in LA about 7 years ago, but really wanted to go again. I am so glad we did! It is such an amazing show! Between the costumes and performances I left feeling so happy! Music is so important to me and watching music transform into such a beautiful production brings me so much joy. I literally almost cried during some of the numbers because they touched me so much. It is still my dream to be in play like that someday!

I love theaters! They are so beautiful and this one was no different!