Game Day at Tuscaloosa: Roll Tide

I haven't been to a college football game in 19 years until just recently, and now I've had the privilege of attending two! As y'all know a few weeks ago my husband and I took our two Auburn fans to a live football game, and then this past weekend my oldest son invited me to go with him to an Alabama football game. 

My oldest son was given tickets by one of his bosses and after he asked a buddy who couldn't go, apparently I was next in line for him to invite. Can I just say I was floored that he would even think of me to take to a college football game, but still encouraged him to find someone else other than his dear old mom. But, he insisted he really wanted to go with me. And y'all when your 18 year old seriously invites you to go somewhere, you graciously clear your schedule and go!

I find marching bands fascinating with the formations they can make!

It was an eleven o'clock game so we had to leave super early to give enough time to get there before kick-off. Thankfully, my 16 year old son held down the 'fort' until my husband could get home from work. It was a fairly easy drive, even if it did take two hours. Once we got there it was a breeze to park and find our way into the stadium. Our seats were fairly high, but I was thrilled to discover they were at least on the end, making it fairly quick to get in and out and down to the bathroom (y'all remember, I am 28 weeks pregnant and this girl needs lots of bathroom breaks, lol!). 

The day was beautiful and the game was great. As in true Bama fashion by half time they were winning with a nice good lead. Due to the extreme heat and the fact that I forgot sunscreen {{ugh}} and we were both burnt to a crisp by this point, we decided to leave in the 4th quarter. We took our time getting back to the truck, stopping to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. It really was a fun time and I will treasure the memory always. I'm truly honored my son would invite me to a college football game when he could have invited anyone!

No trip to Tuscaloosa is complete without a picture with the famous Bear Bryant! The line to take a picture with the Nick Saban's statue was quite long so we skipped that photo op. 

While I'm not a huge fan of college football for a host of reasons, I must say it is a blast to watch a game live! The atmosphere is so much fun. I've also learned more about the game of football during my two visits to live games than I have in the past 19 years. I'm sorry y'all, but watching football on television is just plain annoying to me. But, up close and personal, it's down right fascinating!!

I'm still not swayed to one team or another, which is border-line sacrilege in the grand state of Alabama. You cannot physically be an Alabama fan and an Auburn fan, it just isn't kosher! To be honest both teams have their enticements, but neither one really wins me over, lol. If one of my family members is so inclined to invite me to a live college football game, I don't personal care who's playing. I would be delighted to attend and cheer for the team of their choosing. I guess that's not exactly the definition of a true fan, but I'm not sure I could ever be one really. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to BOTH football games and would gladly attend either one again!

With Love & Hope,
Jennifer

Visiting Tiger Country

Okay y'all it's college football season in the South!!!

 For those of you who don't know college football is LIFE in the South. It may be this way in other regions, but having lived in the West and visited the North quite a bit, I've never seen collegiate football devotion and dedication quite like it is in the South, anywhere else. Now, I have seen similar sentiments to the NFL and other professional athletics, but never to college football. 

I will not lie, I'm not exactly a fan of any organized sport. It just isn't my preferred choice of how I'd rather spend my time or money. And, to be perfectly honest the whole collegiate sport thing gets on my ever last nerve, especially in regards to how much teachers/professors are paid verses those directly involved with the athletic programs. After all students are attending college for an education so that they can be productive contributing members of society; without those teachers there would be NO college! But hey, that's another debate for another day ~ one in which I know I'm the minority. 

Today I'm here to share how we spur-of-the-moment bought tickets and attended the Auburn football game this past weekend. Because you know doing anything 'normal' would be so out of character for our family, lol. 

About 5am Friday morning my husband texted me from work to say he'd found great tickets to the Auburn game for Saturday and to let him know ASAP if I was interested. (We had already discussed starting a new family tradition of treating our children to a 'live' game of their favorite college football team ~ I just didn't realize it was going to start so soon!) Of course I said yes, and completely dropped everything I had planned for the next two days to attend and get us ready to attend the ballgame. 

We acquired four amazingly affordable tickets, which was perfect because it meant our two Auburn fans and both my husband and I could go to the game.

My husband informed me it was a 'white out game' and that we needed to wear white shirts. So of course I had to whip out my Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutting machine and design some shirts. Come on y'all, we couldn't go to a college football game wearing nothing sporting the Auburn logo. And it just so happens that Grandma had recently sent a care package including one of her famous appliqué tiger masks, which was perfect for our trip to Tiger Country! 

I'm sure all organized sport programs have regional traditions, of which I am completely clueless about. But, I do know for Auburn fans it's the 'thing' to go by Toomer's drugstore and buy a famous lemonade. Daddy and the two boys each got a lemonade. Everyone proclaimed them to be one of the best lemonades they'd ever had!

We had quite the ordeal getting into the ballgame. Unbeknownst to me this was the first home game as well as the first time they were using security scanners for all patrons. Because of massive confusion and poor organization it took us a solid hour to get through security. {{insert groan}} It actually was pretty crazy, because after waiting an hour, and it was nearly our turn to go through the scanners, the workers announced the particular line we were in was only for the visiting team!! Since there was no sign explaining this and we had just waited a really long time in the blazing heat, we decided to risk it and just go on through anyways. Thankfully we were able to get into the game without further delay!

We were anxious to get inside the stadium and settled in our seats so the kids could see the eagle soar. Despite arriving as early as we did, we barely made it inside and to our seats in time. My husband basically threw me my phone as they let the eagle loose! I did manage to get a decent video even if it was a major ordeal to get it, lol. Once we got settled the band came on the field and played a patriotic song and then FOUR FIGHTER JETS flew over the field! It was spectacular and I wished I'd gotten a video. But, we had no clue that there was going to be fly-over ~  it was amazing to say the least.

Believe it or not I did not take that many pictures. It was so crowded and loud and believe it or not I was actually trying to follow the game. I had no idea how awesome our seats were going to be especially for the great deal we got on them, but y'all, they were so great. We got to see so many plays up close and personal, I was totally impressed!

No sporting event is complete without a huge bowl of popcorn! (okay any function really, lol)

I think our two Auburn fans in the family thoroughly enjoyed their first ever trip to a college football game!

 Our trip to Tiger Country was awesome and I'm so grateful we were able to make this special memory with two of our children. While I'd prefer everyone in the family to have gone to the game, it's nice to do things with just one or two of our children at times. When you have a large family the dynamics are ever changing and as parents we try to adapt. We've made our fair share of mistakes along the way (and I'm sure we'll make many more), but making the effort to invest in our children's interest has never been one of those problems. Yes, it cost financially and took some major coordinating, but we made it happen, and had a wonderful time. I'm actually looking forward to taking the rest of our children to their favorite teams football game. 😊

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer