West Point Football…Go Army!

We’re off again.  This time we’re headed to West Point to watch the boys play football.  Oh wait! Maybe you didn’t know.  Brendan is not the only West Point cadet in this family.  James was accepted this year as well!  Both boys play on the sprint football team.

It was a very early day.  We got up at 4 am to catch a 7 am flight.

And we weren’t the only ones!

We got there in plenty of time for the game.  There was even time for a little tailgating.

West Point is right on the Hudson River.  The campus has a rich history and is in a beautiful part of New York.  It’s in the Hudson Valley, which is so different from Texas.  It’s a nice change.

It was a gorgeous night.  The weather was very fall-like.  A perfect night for football.

Brendan, #4, is on the defensive line.  All the jerseys have either "Duty", "Country" or "Honor" on the back instead of the names of the players

James, #30, is on special teams and is the long snapper.  On the sprint football team, all the players must weigh less than 178 pounds.  They were playing University of Pennsylvania.

I always wondered what the refs did during half time.

Final score, Army 38, Penn 13.  Go Army!  

James, Brendan and teammates stop by after the game.

Proud parents.

We stayed at the worst hotel I’ve ever been to.  It was supposed to come with breakfast but when we went down there, they had no coffee and one sad looking bagel.  We decided to go to Starbucks.  Today we were going to the Army/UConn game.  And Emily was coming with us.  She and Courtney were supposed to come up the night before and spend the weekend with us. Unfortunately, Courtney couldn’t come, and Emily was delayed.  Aside from missing Courtney (and we did miss her!), it all worked out.

Cousins.  John and Emily.

Here at Michie Stadium, the cadets salute during the national anthem.  All the cadets have to attend the game.  The whole section directly across the field is for cadets.  James and Brendan are in there somewhere.

During the pregame, there are lots of activities.  The have parachuters jumping from helicopters.  They are so precise.  They all landed right on the logo on the 50 yard line.  It was amazing.

The Army mule.

Top of the second quarter Army 14, UConn 0.

James and friends come by to visit.  We were in direct sunlight until about 2.  The cadet section is in direct sunlight the entire game and these are the uniforms they have to wear.

Brendan entertaining the troops.

Family photo.  Emily, Brendan, James, me and John.

Brendan and James.

One thing that I seem to forget is that all the students here are cadets and they are all in the Army.  See these cheerleaders?  In the Army.  Every time the team scores a touchdown, they do push-ups in the end zone.  I’m not talking girlie push-ups, I’m talking the real kind…that are hard to do.  They did a lot of push-ups today!

Final score?  Army 52, UConn 21.

View of the Hudson from the West Point Campus.

Saturday night family dinner at Long Horn Steakhouse.

The next day we drove to Hawthorne, NY to the Gate of Heaven cemetery.  John and Emily's grandparents are buried here....somewhere.  The cemetery is huge but very peaceful.  We drove around looking for the headstone.

Lot's of famous people are buried here.  We found this one.

This would be the grave of Babe Ruth.  There are bats and baseballs piled in front of the stone.  This hat and bat look like they've been here a really long time.

We never did find the grandparents but we'll be back.  Next time we'll call ahead and find out what section they are in and that should make for a shorter search.

From there it was back to the airport and home.  It was a quick but fun weekend.

Here's the video of the parachute jumpers.  This was so cool that they could hit the target!