A Weekend of Football and Bonding With the Big Girls

We had a great weekend.  Mike and I took the big girls to Fort Worth for the TCU/BYU football game.  Sorry to all my Cougar friends out there but I was glad to be in purple! 

Because we didn't want to leave the grandparents at home with no car seats for the little girls in case of an emergency, we reluctantly chose to take Mike's truck.  Can I just say, "what was he thinking for not getting a DVD player in that thing?"  That truck is fully loaded with EVERYTHING.  Everything but a DVD player.

So, a 5-hour trip and they didn't pack enough to do.  Surprisingly, they did pretty good, except for the non-stop whining on Mackenzie's part.  Oh. my. gosh.  "How many minutes now? How many minutes NOW?"  (Moan, groan, sigh) followed by "Mommy you're making the road too bumpy!" (Daddy was driving) followed by "I'm never riding in this stupid, stupid truck ever again!"  It was lovely.  I told Mike we needed a "whining OFF" button for our kids.

But we made it. It was kind of funny - we decided not to check into the hotel until after the game. I can't tell you how many times over the course of 2 days we had to lock all our luggage into the cab of the truck and then put it all back in the bed every time we got back to the car.  Ridiculous.

But back to the game.  So we made it early so the girls could play in Frog Alley.  They were quite happy to get their faces painted.  Mackenzie chose a cute, swirly design.

Then there's Kaitlyn.  The girl in front of her had a unicorn and rainbow painted on. We all oohhhhed and ahhhed over it. The face painting lady said "I bet I know what YOU want."  She was just so sure our sweet little Kaitlyn would have to have the same thing.  Mike and I just laughed.  We've been through this before and we knew Kaitlyn would want something creepy-crawly, as always.

So what did she choose?

How about a dangling spider and spiderweb, along with some vampire fangs?  Isn't she precious?  Such an angel, my Kaitlyn.  But hey, as much as I didn't want all of our pictures of her to look like this, isn't the face-painting for HER?  What's a mom to do?  She was GIDDY and spent the rest of the day hissing at people, including 3 grown men behind us in the bleachers.

Next stop, the obstacle course!

Then it was off to line up to be a Bleacher Creature!  If you are at least 6 years old, you can line up 30 minutes early and get to run out with the team and cheerleaders across the field at the beginning of the game.  How cool is that? 

Oh wait.  Did someone say line up 30 minutes early?  30 whole minutes?  What kid wants to sit on the stairs for 30 minutes, no matter what the reward is when that half an hour is over?  Not even Santa Claus himself would be enough, I'm afraid, for kids to sit there and act happily and excited.  Then again, mine were the only kids that looked like this:

Don't they just look ultra-thrilled about the impending festivities?

But then they finally took us down onto the field.

That at least made ONE of them happy.  Mackenzie, not so much.  You can see she is ecstatic about being on the field and having her picture taken.

Finally, heads up but no way is she going to crack a smile for us.  Nice mug shot!  Then again, any kind of smile would have completely detracted from Elvira there on the left.

Then, the moment of the big run! Mike had decided to run with the girls because they told us parents could go. So I would stay back and take pictures.  But as the excitement was building, the music was blaring (a little Metallica I might add), crowds were cheering, the big screen was playing their opening video, and the players were getting all pumped up to go, I started wonderng why all the kids around me weren't getting up close to front.  Why weren't they ooching their way up so they didn't run over all the parents?  Why weren't any parents starting to move back?

I started wondering if EVERYone is going to run.  I didn't want to be the last man standing and THEN have to do the 100-yard-dash alone in front of 35,000 people.  I would have to think quick.  Next thing I knew everyone took off! I tried to snap one picture, someone had already gotten in the way, and I realized no one was standing back.  I took off to make sure I was at least still with the mob of running people.  Sandals and all with camera in hand!

We get to the end and I find Mike and the girls (since I was lightyears behind them).  We thought for sure the kids would be beaming, even if we DID force Mackenzie to do it.  Then I saw this:

 Poor baby girl.  She finally told me she was scared doing it.  Let's face it - there IS a lot of noise and stuff and people to be quite overwhelmed by.  But Kaitlyn was happy...

See the Super Frog in the background?  Now, I'm a Texas Aggie and my blood runs maroon, but isn't the Super Frog a totally cool mascot?

Lastly, my favorite.  Here is Mike trying so hard to watch the game, as an ex-TCU football player himself, only to find himself playing Old Maid with his daughters in the stands.  It only lasted for 1 game though.  Still, it was a nice effort on his part.

Mackenzie loves games and was very happy to be playing cards!

Last funny story: Once we FINALLY got settled into our hotel room, we kept having to tell the girls to keep their feet quiet since we were on the 3rd floor.  Well, that was completely going in one ear and out the other.  I finally had to let them know I was serious.  I grabbed Mackenzie's arms and looked her squarely in the eye and told her to keep it quiet or she was going to get in trouble.  She started giggling, looked ME in the eye, and told me I had....wait for it.... dragon breath.

That's when I knew my children have finally lost all respect for me.  I was hoping it wouldn't be until they were maybe 11 or 12.  But nope.  I am no longer scary and considered someone to take seriously.  Perhaps I need someone to paint fangs on me.  Then maybe they might consider me a force to be reckoned with.