Day Forty Four

Today was a wonderful, exhausting day. Dad and I were busy from 12:30 until now, so it was 12 hours of non-stop activities. After relaxing at my house for a little while and learning that my neighbors are replacing the grass in their backyard with astroturf (classy), we headed to my favorite Austin restaurant - Jason's Deli. Louise Avant met us there, and we had a great time eating and visiting. The place was packed though, and the one open table was wedged in the middle of a bunch of full tables, so we all had to awkwardly wander around it in a circle before squeezing through any opening we could find. That didn't look weird at all.

After lunch we came back to the house, printed our football tickets, got ready for the game, and headed out for tailgate. Once again, it was extremely hot outside (96 degrees), but at least it wasn't in the triple digits again and the band hall is close by and nicely air-conditioned. Dad was able to meet up with a few old friends and reconnect with a couple of his old band directors, and we were finally able to locate the engraved belt buckle he wore as drum major. It was so cool, seeing the plaque with his name engraved on it sitting in a display case. I'm probably going to show if off to everyone I know. I also got one step closer to my dream of hitting the Big Bertha drum...I was able to hold the drum stick (photographic evidence coming tomorrow). One of the band guys actually did hit the drum once, and it immediately set off the car alarm for the car parked next to it. Hilarious.

Then...game time! For anyone who watched or listened to the UT vs Ole Miss game, you know it didn't end well for us. At all. But, Dad and I still had such a great time. Longhorn band performed a Disney themed halftime show, and it was just the best thing ever. My favorite was when they played music from Pirates of the Caribbean and formed the shape of a giant skull.

Get ready for tomorrow's blog post, it's going to be FULL of photos from today (which are all on my dad's camera, and dad is at the Avant's). He flies home tomorrow, which makes me really sad, but we've definitely had an awesome weekend so far. The only thing that could make it any better was if mom and Jeff were here. I miss you both!