Videos from Graduation

Hey All:

Here are a couple of short videos from the Graduation ceremony. They were taken from my phone, but they still seemed to be of decent quality. In the first video, Brandy comes across the stage at about the 47 second mark and Fran follows a couple of seconds later.

Graduation Night

Last night was indeed a special one. Brandy and Fran both graduated from Mississippi State University; Brandy with her MBA and Fran with her BBA. They were actually able to sit almost right next to each other in the procession and walked across the stage within a couple of seconds of each other. Both had a good time and I even caught a sneak peak of Brandy singing the alma mater at the end of the program. Nice to see. Congrats to both for their hard work and great accomplishments. Here are some pics.

Will, King of Theater

Our son might have a blossoming career in the theater. This past Sunday, we went to the annual Aldersgate Christmas dinner. Great food and Christmas caroling. Towards the end of the evening, Will was on stage and directing friends and family to "SIT!" in certain places (as any good usher would do) and then he promptly put on a quick dance recital to the piano music in front of roughly 30-40 people. No stage fright at all. Make sure to note his change in tempo with the piano. Enjoy and Happy Holidays.

Future Cardinal Pitcher!

Will's been working our recently and getting that arm in shape for a Spring Training gig with the Cardinals or the Red Sox. Quite an arm he's got on him, but I really need to work on getting it him to switch to southpaw. Southpaws make good money these days in the Bigs.

Will's First MSU Men's Basketball Game

We took Will to the Hump about a week ago for him to check out his first Men's Basketball game. We thought that with it still being football season and a weekend game around Thanksgiving that it would be pretty empty and he'd be able to move around a bit. He enjoyed it as you can see from the following two videos. Go Dawgs!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Akers' family. This year, we were able to make it downtown to Starkville's Pumpkinpalooza. I was a bit surprised at the number of people that were there. Last year, Will was sick and wasn't able to attend. This year, there was much to look at, so he stayed transfixed on all of the different looking "people" walking around. He loved his Batman outfit though and by the time that Halloween rolled around, he was beginning to catch on to the whole "Trick or Treat" thing. Brandy was pop star Lady Gaga, while Ryan was nicknamed Papa Gaga and took pictures. All in all, it was a success. Will enjoyed meeting all the new kids and handing out candy as well as the ride in his Batmobile...the Radio Flyer wagon to get halloween candy.

A Glimpse of the Lambeau Environment!

Green Bay, Wisconsin - Packers vs. Vikings

Day 1: Welcome to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Wow...what a trip! In what was one of those "once in a lifetime" opportunities that I hope isn't once in a lifetime, Brandy and I took off to Green Bay for a Packers/Vikings football game this past week. I finally got the chance to see Brett Favre play even if it was in a Minnesota Vikings jersey. In fact, this was his last game at Lambeau Field, which was pretty special.

A couple of words about Green Bay...first, it revolves around the Packers. Everything is Packers...which is a good thing for fans. This city was as clean as I have seen...and the people were fantastic, very similar to what you would find in the deep South. This pics begin and end on our first day there. Prior to leaving, we did a "things to do in Green Bay" search and were able to accomplish it all for the most part. First stop was Captain's Walk Winery, which was locally owned and set in an old house in Green Bay. We had some great conversation with the locals...and most of it revolved around, yes, the Pack. We left there and went to a locally own cheese shop, which was out of this world. The owners were extremely welcoming and let us sample several of their different cheeses. Nala's Fromagerie...they ship too. I highly recommend looking them up on the web. The rest of our stop that day had us at the Packers Pro Shop inside Lambeau, where we saw AJ Hawk, Packers linebacker. Later, we came across a wedding at the Lambeau, which we were told happens quite often. Also included here are a few pics of our hotel, the Tundra Lodge...named for the "Frozen Tundra" of Lambeau Field. It was very convenient...a straight shot to the stadium and about 4 blocks away.

Day 2: Lambeau Tour, Packers Hall of Fame, Titletown Brewery, Brett Favre's Steakhouse, Packer Walk of Champions, and MSU/UAB game from Curly's Pub at Lambeau Field

We were fortunate enough to be able to get Lambeau Field Tour tickets and in a word...Awesome! From the private box tour, to the history lesson, to the Tunnel Walk out to the field...you don't want to miss this. They piped in crowd noise as we walked through the tunnel to the field. So much history on that field...it was surreal to be there on it. After the tour, we headed for the Packers Hall of Fame and as you can see from the pictures...it was pretty amazing. From Lombardi and Starr to Reggie White and Brett Favre. It was great. I even did my own Lambeau Leap. We had tickets to Hinterland Brewery, but there was no one there, so we went across the street to Titletown Brewery (an old train depot) and watched some of the early football games as it poured outside. Brett Favre's Steakhouse was up next for lunch. Great food and a shrine to Favre (a part owner). Throughout the day, we passed by several of the Walk of Champion statues which were a neat touch. Brandy even got her chance to hang out at the Green Bay Mall. After a quick trip back to the hotel, it was off to Curly's Pub to watch the MSU/UAB game. Afterwards, we headed a couple of steps over to the Kid's area and played some sports related arcade games. Really cool place!!!











































































































































Day 3: Game Day!

The forecast for game day looked really bleak. However, overnight things changed and we had zero rain during the game and relatively cool temperatures. Perfect football weather! We slept in that morning, which means we woke up at 7:00 am. After a jog and breakfast, we spent some time in the Tundra Lodge arcade playing skeeball and those sorts of games trying to win tickets and prizes for Will. Then it was off to the Indoor Water Park, for waterslides and the lazy river. Around 3:30 is was time to head out the door for the Packerfan Tailgate held at Brett Favre's Steakhouse. It was a spirited crowd of both Packers and Vikings fans. It was pleasant to see a fierce rivalry with friendly fans...much different than stuff that you see in the SEC where aggression usually turns into fights. Good food and a funny appearance by former Packer Gilbert Brown. Then we headed for Lambeau. It was absolutely amazing. I put it right up there with my favorite sporting events of all time. We had a blast.

The game itself was great! Came down to the wire. It was like an All-Star game...Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Percy Harvin, Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss, Jared Allen, Donald Driver, Donald Lee, Clay Mathews, AJ Hawk, Charles Woodson, Greg Jennings, and so on. Our seats were right on the 50 yard line. Amazing. Forgot to mention that Lambeau is basically right in the middle of a neighborhood. Seriously. Peoples' backyards and fences are right next to the property. On game days, those back yards turn into elaborate tailgate headquaters for tons of fans. Some of the setups were unreal.

You should have seen Brandy getting into the game. She was letting Favre have it. I think that she converted to a Packers fan on the trip. I understand why Favre left, but he was crazy to leave that environment. In the end, a late rally by the Vikings fell short when an apparent game winning pass to Percy Harvin was overturned by instant replay. Chaos ensued as Packers fans rejoiced in finally beating Favre. Some of the last pics in this group show an injured Favre celebrating what he thinks is the game winning pass. An earlier pic (out of order) with his hands on his knees is when the call was overturned a Favre realized it (the game and his time at Lambeau) was over. I feel for the guy. I'll always be a Favre fan, but I'll always be a Packer fan. The last pic is of him walking off Lambeau as a player for the last time.