Annapolis 2C weekend Sept 4 - Sept 7
Thursday: This was our first time we could experience 2C weekend. Unfortunately James missed his while studying abroad in Germany. We flew out of Milwaukee airport around 11am. Lucky Wilson stayed with Susan again. Grandma arrived Wednesday evening. Our flight was direct to Baltimore. Amy and Rocky, Noelle's sponsor parents, picked us up. We went right to there place to get Noelle's car. Well, actually, we hung out awhile to chit chat and have cheese and crackers while waiting for the rainstorm to pass. They both know how to talk! We then headed to our VRBO. We rented the middle floor of the same rental we had for James' graduation. We chilled for a bit and then made our way to the Iron Rooster for pizza. We ordered extra for Noelle and her roommates. Matt headed to Noelle's soccer practice and Greta, Erm, and I headed back to our VRBO. I hit the Safeway grocery store for some essentials. Tonight was an early night for all us, we were pretty spent from the travel.
Friday:
This morning I ran out and back over the Severn River to an upscale neighborhood with million dollar homes on the water. Once back we showered up and headed to meet Noelle. This morning we attended class with her, Maritime Warfare, Cyber, Modern history, and Poly science. Kelly and Rob attended as well. It was all way over my head. Cyber was like a foreign language to me. Modern history was interesting to Matt. He even joined a group to work on assignment questions. I had to laugh when he was trying to convince the other student on how to answer based on what the following question was. He didn't even read the assigned material!! In cyber we all worked on a quiz, open to searching on AI. Although AI was not accurate!! In Cyber class the professor asked who was previously in the military. Rob spoke up and went on and on. At the time we weren't aware who was speaking from the other side of the room until he mentioned his daughter Noelle. Then the professor asked Noelle why Navy and not Westpoint. She said, "My brother went here….so Navy, Navy, Navy all the way!" Matt and I sat behind a parent who would not stop bragging!!!!! Holy cow did I want to tune him out!! We met several friends of Noelle's who were so nice! The boy from Alborchurkie whose wants to be a lawyer was super nice, his parents too. They seemed so down to earth! When lunch time hit we all were able to eat in Kings Hall. Everyone had to stand behind their chair until announcements were over and we were allowed to start. It was a family style meal of fried cheese potato balls, fried chicken sandwiches, salads, pies, cookies, ice cream, bananas, and oranges. After lunch we went back to our VRBO, except Greta. She attended the final class with Noelle. Come to find out she played tic tac toe in class. Matt and I went to buy him running shoes at DSW. He forgot his at home. Once back he went for a run and we all chilled till it was time to go to dinner with Sammy's family at Sea Salt. They are all super sweet. Greta enjoyed chatting with her sister who is swimmer and freshman in high school. They talked about how they plan to make a lot of money when they grow up, music, bad teachers, girl drama and more. Sammy's older brother joined. He is in his final year at the academy. He hopes to fly once he graduates. Her younger brother was pretty interested in his video games. Although he did share he is good at all positions when he plays soccer, except gollie. Rob and Kelly joined for dinner as well. It was a fancy restaurant known for seafood. My king salmon was heavenly. I skipped on the octopus and clams. Afterwards we headed back downtown to Annapolis ice cream, except grandma and I. We pulled up Larz playing varsity football back in Green Bay on utube. Wow…go Larz!!! We once again, hit the hay early tonight. Noelle ended up staying with us tonight.
Saturday:
This morning I ran my usual route. Once back we showered up and drove to Amy's to grab Noelle's raincoat for the football game. We then went to brunch at a diner. Poor Noelle had to go out to eat twice. It reminded me of how she shared with us in Honolulu after a Hawaii trip how she didn't mind two households, that way she didn't get sick of one family. Makes me laugh. We drove back to our place and walked to the midstore. I found myself a blue Navy sweatshirt (once again) and a Navy bandana for Zoey. Erma found Felix a Navy polo shirt. We headed back to our place to chill until it was time to catch our Uber to the football game. We got there in plenty of time to watch Noelle march out on the field. Unfortunately the game got delayed not once but twice due to thundershowers. All the fans had to squeeze into the area by concessions with overhead cover. I didn't admit it to anyone at the time but I definitely didn't care for the crowded environment. But that's okay….it was about Noelle. We only stayed for the first half. Erm and I instead took an Uber home while the rest stayed back for tailgating. Noelle changed into her dad's clothes, to include his Jesus sandles. The theme was to dress like your parents. It definitely made us laugh. Erm and I walked to chipotle for dinner and made our way back to the VRBO. Soon thereafter the rest of gang arrived wet and exhausted. Off to bed we went. Noelle was again at our place tonight.
Sunday:
My final run over the bridge was in the rain this morning. It felt good. At least it was light out unlike the other mornings. We showered up, packed up, and headed to the crep store. Matt and Greta each ordered savory ones. We then went to Noelle's soccer game. We were lucky to meet Noelle's good friend from Westpoint and her mom. Her friend is the golie and is doing an exchange program this semester. Greta was voluntold to throw balls to the goalie for warm ups. Matt, Greta, and I enjoyed chit chatting with her Westpoint friend's mom. It was interesting to hear that Westpoint has far fewer women. They also have a unique teaching structure where the students self teach and then do discussion during class to dive deeper into what they have already learned on their own. Interesting method! We were able to witness Noelle scoring! Unfortunately two of her teammates injured themselves during the game. Noelle lead a team cheer at the end as she is a team captain. Afterwards Matt drove Matt, Erm, and I to the airport. We got Einstein bagels and boarded our "Southworst" plane, as Matt calls it. He thought I was so nieve. He thought I believed that was the actual name. While driving to the airport we chatted with James on speaker in the car. We all wanted to know how his date to Costco was with Maggie. He said, no she didn't go. We were totally surprised. After hanging up he texted us back to let us know he needed to act chill since she was at his place right now…planning to watch the Packer game together!! Once back to Milwaukee we drove back to Stoughton and went to pick up Wilson. He was super excited as usual to see us home.
It was a fun trip. Who knows when the next will be??? Hopefully before she graduates!?!

