GO PACK GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a week! So many adventures, so little time...I guess I better start with the beginning...

Kenny and Beth had a lot of fun during the Halloween week. They had several costume parties to attend, and of course there was trick-or-treating. Beth went as a princess (she's in that phase), and Kenny went as a vampire (we don't know where he picked up that idea). Our neighborhood is a prime target of trick-or-treaters on Halloween, and even though we're not on the main outer loop that gets the bulk of the action, we still get dozens and dozens of visitors. This year, Hope took the kids around the block, and I stayed behind with Stephen and passed out candy.

Earlier that day, brother Bob had called to inform us that there were still tickets available for the Packers-Chiefs game that they were going to the following weekend, and asked us if we'd like to join them. I was in the woods that day (Hope called the work cell phone I was carrying to inform me), so I thought about it. By that evening, we decided to do it--I proceeded to wear a cheesehead that night while passing out candy.

Before we could do the trip, I needed to complete a quick business trip to eastern Texas. I periodically go to archives to search for historical photographs that can be used to help describe past environmental conditions, such as the virgin pine forests of this area. For this trip, Hope and the kids were able to join me, as Kenny had a couple days off from school due to a teacher in-service. On the way to this area, we drove past the Hope, Arkansas airport that still has thousands of FEMA trailers and mobile homes parked in it that had been stockpiled after hurricanes Katrina and Rita:

This picture doesn't do the scene justice. After my work the following morning at the History Center in Diboll, Texas, we spent a few minutes looking at their train exhibit:

We also stopped at the Texas Forestry Museum (also in Diboll) and at Stephen F. Austin State University in nearby Nacogdoches, Texas so I could look at their library. We then drove north, arriving in Idabel, Oklahoma by that evening. After a quick supper, we headed over to visit Father Chet, the Glenmary Missionary priest who had been in Monticello when we arrived in 2000, and who had been assigned to this location about a year and a half ago (he was the priest that baptized Kenny and Beth). We had an enjoyable visit with Father Chet and a novice (priest in training) from Kenya named Crispin that evening, and we had breakfast the next day with them at a local restaurant. After breakfast, we headed north to Kansas City.

We arrived at the hotel in KC around dinner time, met up with Hope's parents, who had arrived a few hours earlier, and then waited for Bob, John, Jim, and Lisa to arrive. We eventually headed to one of the famous KC places for barbecue (which turned out to be part of a large and noisy casino). The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel before Bob shuttled John, Jim, Lisa, Kenny, Rich Pruden, and me to the spot our group was tailgating at (Hope, her mom Ann, Beth, and Stephen stayed at the hotel). As you can see from this picture, the weather worked out beautifully for us:

The stadium in the background is Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs.

As we walked to the tailgate area, a couple of buses escorted by police passed us--presumably, this was the Packers team arriving at the stadium.

We then spent the next couple hours tailgating. What an experience! Plenty of food and beverages, generally good company--LOTS of Packer fans, most generous and cherry Chiefs fans, and a few sourpusses...

Remarkably, time passed quickly that morning, and we joined the crowds in filing into the stadium, which also went surprisingly fast and easy.

Our seats, though in the nose-bleed section in one end zone, still provided good views of the action. The picture above is of the Packers going through some pre-game warm-ups.

The stadium gradually filled with about 80,000 fans, perhaps 1 out of 5 who seemed to be rooting for the Packers:

When the game finally did start, the action was fast-paced, and though the first half was low scoring and ended poorly for the Packers, you had a feeling things would work out.

In the second half, Favre threw a couple touchdowns, including a 60-yarder that headed right towards us, and a key interception return for a touchdown by Charles Woodson, which also ended up heading towards us.

The final scoreboard said it all... We all had a great time at the game, most of the Chiefs fans were gracious in defeat. We let the traffic thin out of the parking lot for an hour or so after the game before returning to the hotel. Rich and Ann Pruden then left for Michigan (Rich had to work the next day). Kenny and I were both hoarse from cheering, and at least I was pretty tired, but not too tired to not take a dip in the pool.

We left early the next morning, before the rest were even up, so we could get the kids back before too late. Kenny did miss a day of school, but since we've decided to cancel our Thanksgiving trip up north, he'll actually miss fewer days overall. Now all we have to do is get back to our routines, and catch up on some sleep!