Several "firsts"...

It's quiet in the house at the moment. Meg is off to school, after being off for a week for fall break. Mommy is at a work lunch (although not back to work yet, maybe part-time next week). And Matthew, drum roll please, is at daycare for the first time. God help 'em. Took him in this morning and they asked what his nap and eating schedule was...Hope and I just laughed. You mean some kids have a schedule?!? My two nights of Dad Duty, Saturday and Sunday, were similar to those past...Saturday night he slept from halftime of the football game to 4 am, some 6 or 7 hours. Sunday night, no more than 2 1/2 at a time.

He did have a good excuse for being a bit tuckered out Saturday night. He went tailgating before the Alabama, umm, "game"! We went down early for some wings at Buffalo Wild Wings on the Strip (he did that last week, too), back home for a while, then back to campus proper for his first real tailgate activity. Stopped in first with friends from church, the Chimleys, then a quick trip around Volunteer Village to wave at our friend Charles while he did his pregame radio show, then down to see Va and the gang. That was fun, but then a bunch of Alabama sorority girls showed up. I was ok with it, but Bubba said we had to go! No, we didn't go to the game. But, as Mr. Gump would say, that's all I have to say about that.


Heather, Meg, Sarolyn (spelling per Hope), Bubba, and Va. Great spot at the stadium, amid all the color and pageantry, overlooking the Tennessee River. And, as usual, Matt wasn't impressed.

At our spot for watching the Pride of the Southland on their march to the stadium. I'm watching Matt, he's watching the majorettes. That's my boy!

I was a bit concerned about the volume at this point, so I was sort of covering Bubba's ears. That's about a 300 person band blasting "Rocky Top" 4 feet away. He seemed more annoyed at my efforts than the sound.