Last Saturday, Mike and Aubree made plans to come over to make New Orleans Saints shirts for the babies to rock for the game.  Kara, Lin, and Bobby also came by to hang out for the day and do dinner. 

Preston's Reggie Bush shirt

The ladies bought shirts, iron on numbers, and iron on logos for to make some New Orleans Saints gear for Sunday’s game.  They came out really good!  Alisha made Preston a Reggie Bush shirt and Aubree made Kaitlyn a pink Saints shirt.  They were so cute.  Alisha and Aubree also made shirts for themselves to wear to match the babies.

On Sunday we headed up Kevin and Ash’s house to watch the big game and hang out with friends.  Alisha and Aubree were sure to get the babies together to take some cute pictures!  The game was so-so in my opinion, but the commercials and half time show were horrible.  Ill start with the commercials.  What happened to good, funny, commercials?  They were so lame this year!  Then we have the halftime show.  What the heck?!  What happened to Aerosmith with Britney Spears killing it up there?  What happened to mainstream music artists?  What is up with these multiple years of boring classic rock artists from before my time???  If you are going to do that, then throw a modern day artist in there from a different genre to get more people interested!  No one wants to see people nearly break a hip on stage in their old age!

Be sure to click the pictures link above to take a look at the two babies together.  So cute!

In the afternoon I had tried to get all of the guys together for a good game of football.  We had about 10 people that were in but most of them backed out due to a little rain.  Four of us showed up and we said “screw it, lets play”.  We played for a while just as a QB and one receiver taking turns trying to make it into the end zone.  It was fun on its own, kept us active, and made for a good time.  We were soaked, but it was still so worth it.  Afterwards, we headed over to Taco Mac for a quick beer and then headed home to get ready for dinner later in the evening.

We made plans to leave little Preston with Alisha’s mom and head out with friends.  Bobby and Courtney came over to our house and we headed out to Buckhead to meet up with Mike, Aubree, Ryan and Andrea.  We had an excellent dinner and had a great time.  It was very nice to see everyone again and as always the food was spot on.

We were told about an Irish Pub just off of the square in Dahlonega called Shananigans.  It was in the basement of a house that was turned into a restaurant / pub which was pretty cool.  The place was quite full (not very large though) and had a great vibe to it.  Everyone was kinda seated close to each other and the decor was like you would expect for an Irish Pub.  The food was quite delicious and the wait staff was on point as well.  Everyone there seemed to know each other and the friendly table next to us occasionally carried on a nice conversation about everything from food to beer to Preston.  It was great.

After we ate we headed over to Caruso’s to try out the stout that they brewed for the season.  On the way out the friendly table next to us warned us about the beer but we did not take their advise and shrugged it off.  Holy crap were they right!  We headed over to Caruso’s and ordered just the beer.  It was the worst beer to ever touch my lips.  When I say it was bad I mean it was TERRIBLE!  The beer had a very distinct sour taste to it and was just freaking awful!  I would rather drink Bud Light by far… hell, I’d drink a keg of Bud Light to not drink that again.  While we were sittingn there just looking around, Alisha spotted a rediculous painting of Dale Earnheart.  It was a picture of him above his car about to be spun into the wall that killed him… all in the middle of an Italian restaurant next to a nice mural.  WTF?!?!  Bobby and I left a full glass of terrible beer on the table, got our checks, and got the hell out of there.  UGH!

We had Alisha’s mom watch Preston for the night and we headed off with Bobby, Dan, Hector and Reagan out to Paradise City; I mean Athens.  We headed to Terrapin, as always and enjoyed some great local brewery beers and then over to Copper Creek for some excellent dinner.  Dinner and drinks were great but man was it FREEZING.  It was in the teens in Athens and unfortunately Copper Creek’s heating system was not working so we froze.  LOL.  Hell, it was still worth it.  We then headed over to Trapeze for a few more drinks and hung out.  By then we were cashed in.  We are old now but we still had a great time.  I Love Athens!!

I am so glad you came Reagan.  I hope that you had a good time and I look forward to you being able to come when you are able to enjoy it more!  Little Preston did well with his Grandma at home.  He slept and ate well and was very easy to care for while we went out.

SOME of the guys

Thanksgiving evening the guys in the family took a ride over to Sharon Springs Park in Cumming.  It is right around the corner from Edwin and Geni’s so it was perfect.  When we got there we found that it was a fully artificial turf field and was completely numbered!!  It was AWESOME!  Ever since that night I had been itching to play some more football with the guys.  It was a great time and was a great way to keep active.  My legs were SHOT after playing.

So last weekend I organized for a lot of the guys to get together and play and nice game of two hand touch / flag football.  While we played the ladies planned to get together at our house as well.  We had a great turnout of 17 guys!  A huge turnout even though the weather was in the low 30’s as a HIGH.  It was VERY cold but we all dressed warm and showed up to play a great game of football.  It was such a blast again!  We had some great highlights and just an all around great time.  Everyone got along very well and we had no injuries.  A total success!  I was sore for like 4 days after playing.  That sprinting over and over again really beats the hell out of inactive legs. 

After the game we all headed over to Taco Mac for some food.  The ladies and kiddos came up there as well to meet up with us.  We had TERRIBLE service (always do at 141!!!) but ohh well… we still had a good time.

Shirt Lin and Kara bought

After Taco Mac everyone kinda did their own thing.  We headed back home to hang out with Andrea and Ryan (and the kids).  We all just hung out and talked until about 11:00 or so and then they took the trek back to D-Vegas (Douglasville).

We had such a great Saturday.  Man did I have a great time playing football.  It was awesome!  We are hoping to get the guys together every other Saturday to play.  Hopefully we can make it happen!

The shirt that is on Preston is quite a funny story.  A while back Kara and Lin came over to watch a football game.  Lin and I were in the living room watching the game and Alisha and Kara were in the kitchen.  So Alisha must have caught a glimpse of two linemen pushing and shoving at the line and said, look at those two guys fighting at the hut-hut line LOL!!!!!!!!!  She was referring to the line of scrimage but did not know any better.  She will NEVER live that down.  When Preston was born Kara and Lin got him a shirt that says future member of the hut-hut line  on the front and Natic with a number on the back.  It was a perfect gift!

LOL!!!

We debated a few times whether or not to go out this year being that Preston is so young.  Alisha really needed to get out of the house after being kept in for the past two weeks.  This turned out to be a day of firsts for little Preston. 

We headed out to get some things done and headed down to Alpharetta to join and do some shopping at Costco.  That place was a total MADHOUSE!  It was insane!  You literally could barely walk in there.  After leaving Costco without buying a single thing (just not worth the lines) we headed off to Walmart (the nice one off of exit 12) but not before stopping at the Phillidelphia Pretzel Company for some delicious soft pretzels!!  mmmmmm!  We then headed off to Bobby’s house to check out his new tile backsplash in the kitchen and take Preston to another first – Taco Mac!!!  We sat down and had two beers before heading up to Danny’s house to bring in the New Year.

Danny, Kelly, Bobby, their parents, a couple from Chicago, Hector, Reagan, Geni and Edwin were all there.  It was a nice chill night with good food and family.  We had a few beers and some great times.

Yesterday we had a few visitors over to the house to check in on us and to see our little Preston.  Bobby came by in the early afternoon to hang out for a bit.  He brought Alisha a very thoughtful gift and stuck around for a bit just to catch up.  With us having Preston and him being busy at work we have not had much time to catch up.  He had to head out before long but it was great to see him for a bit.

Mike and Aubree had planned to come by last night as well and bring us some dinner (thanks guys!!!).  Aubree and Kaitlyn came by earlier and then Mike came straight from work.  We had La Cazuela which Mike picked up on his way home and watched some Intervention for a bit.  I LOOOVE that show BTW… I am addicted to drug addicts LOL.  Baby Kaitlyn was SOO cute when she saw Preston for the first time.  She started smiling and going nuts when she was next to him.  It was sooo cute!

It is crazy how big she has gotten in the 7 months she has been around.  I cant believe little Preston is going to grow so big so fast!

Man in two of these pics, the guys on TV look like they are looking at Alisha, Aubree, Kaitlyn, and Preston LOL – kinda creepy!

We went down with Bobby and Dan to grab some dinner and drinks and met Andrea and Ryan there.  We had a great time just talking it up but I will say I was not impressed at all with the beers.  I felt as though they were very watered down.  It was almost like good beer Bud Light style…I don’t know… there was absolutely no beer taste there.  Let’s put it this way.  We all know Alisha hates beer…. she actually liked this. 

I dont know if we had a bad batch or something, but it was no good in my book at all.  We were one of three tables on a Friday night and that may be why.  The food was okay, nothing great really, but the service was great.  Our waiter really went out of his way for Alisha and that was really cool of him.

It was a chill night with some good company to wrap up my birthday.

Alisha had a hair cut appointment in the morning in Alpharetta and somehow convinced me to tag along…. ohh yeah…I remember how… she rubbed Athens in my face LOL.  Since I had so much time to kill I decided to get a haircut of my own at a Sport Clips up the road.  After getting all trimmed up we headed over to Einstein Brothers Bagels for a quick lunch before heading back towards the house to get ready for Athens. 

Terrapin Brewery

Alisha has refused to come along and decided to stay back while Lin, Dan, Bobby, and I headed off for one more night of fun.  Kara and their mom left in the morning to head down from Pittsburgh as she is now living in Georgia!  As you should already know I LOVE Athens and could not wait to head up there to enjoy what may be my last trip up there for a little while.  We had a blast!  The night started off with the traditional visit to Terrapin Brewery.  It is my favorite brewery period.  That place rocks and their beer is just unmatched.  We enjoyed many of their year round beers as well as some special brews.  They had their Wake and Bake (an oatmeal stout with coffee added to it) and Pumpkinfest (an octoberfest with pumpkin) which were both stunning.  That Pumpkinfest has come a long way since it was first introduced and the spices are starting to come through so well.  The Wake and Bake this year was just insane.  I think they may have reduced the amount of coffee added this year which made it the best it has ever been.  mmmmmm!!!!! 

Copper Creek Brewing Company

After Terrapin, we headed off to Copper Creek, another one of our must have stops for Athens.  It is a brew pub that makes some absolutely incredible beers and serves the best food.  I wish this place was in Cumming becuase I would live there!  We had a great dinner and a great time.  MMMMM  I love that place.  Afterwards we headed off to The Globe which happened to be our last stop this trip.  We ran into this chick at the bar that Dan called out for wearing a Tim Tebow jersey.  Turned out that Lin knew her from college and that started a whole night of interesting conversation.  She was a trip.  Next thing you know we are at a table with her and her friends just talking all kinds of college football trash LOL.  This chick was a total trip and her friends were hilarious too.  We had a great time just talking it up before calling it a night and heading back home.

Ahhhhh Athens… I love you

After brewing Bobby came over and we headed to dinner at Bucca di Beppo.  We had a great time catching up on events from the week as well as enjoying some good food.  I will say that I was very shocked by the new pricing.  It costs quite a bit more than Maggianos and the food is NOWHERE near as good.  That may be my last trip to that place for me.  Great atmosphere but those prices are kinda ridiculous even though you are supposed to share. 

After dinner we headed to Cold Stone for some ice cream and then to Taco Mac so that Bobby and I could have the limited beer from He’Brew called Jewbilation 13.  It is a 13% alcohol beer and is made with 13 hops and 13 grains.  It was pretty damn smooth for that kind of alcohol content and was a perfect way to wrap up the night.

notes:  The cider (Graff) has an OG of 1.064 (expected an OG of about 1.060).