Battle of Bristol

The Battle of Bristol (Hokie vs. Smokey) was announced several years ago, and Terry's Dad (Papa to all my kids) realized it would be on or near his 80th birthday (9/21/2016).  So he bought tickets years ago - enough for everybody in the family including all his grandkids (even the ones who don't like football!).  We spent the weekend together in a cabin in the mountains and then drove to Bristol for the game (largest college football crowd in history!).  Here are some pics from the cabin:

All the tickets:

All the chips:

Arriving in style:

We stopped at the Skieras (friends of ours who live just a mile from the track)for sandwiches before the game, and Mark and Sally came to the game with us.

We did lots of walking!

And took lots of photos:

The pregame was awesome!  Such a spectacle!

And yes, the field was that far away.  Even watching the jumbo screen was a struggle.  But we had lots of fun.  And after a rough start, Tennessee won 45-24.  All in all, it was an awesome memory that we got to share with the whole family!

I must point out that the Battle of Bristol did not occur on Papa's actual 80th birthday, but on Sept. 10th.  Papa's 80th and Noah's 17th were on the same day - September 21st.  Noah celebrated his 17th in anti-climactic fashion here at the house:

  

Best in Show

Back in 2012, Noah won "Best in Show" in the Lego competition at the Tennessee Valley Fair.  This year (I'm talking about 2016 here as I'm a bit behind on my blogging), he won again for his "Prairie Style Pad"  - a house he worked on all summer - adding detail after detail.  No instructions were be used as designs had to be completely original.

I love the little details like the tire swing and ketchup and mustard bottles on the BBQ grill:

I think Noah's favorite detail was the garden hose in the back:

The house has two floors.  The roof comes off to reveal and upstairs bed and bath:

And the second floor comes off to reveal the kitchen and living room below:

A few people ask where he got all the tan Legos for the exterior.  Well, we used to have one of these that we got at a garage sale:

Yes, Yoda gave his life for this house.  Or at least his Jedi robe.  Noah won $100 for his efforts, and what do you think he did with the money?  More Lego, of course.

In a related activity this fall, I coached a Lego League at Master's Monday.  I enjoyed working with these boys even though our competition didn't go so well (please, if you're in Lego League - learn from our mistake and calibrate your sensors, people!)