another state football game

This year, the football team Andy works with made it to the state championship.  It was pretty excited for them since they had never gone that far in the playoffs before.  The game was played the day after Thanksgiving.  I worked the night before, came home for a nap, Andy went to ride in with the team and I loaded up all the kids for the drive to the football stadium.  The kids were excited for a rode trip and the promise of snacks at the game.

We got there a little after the game started. The challenge was trying to find a parking spot in the area.  We found a lot that was open and then had to walk probably 2 blocks to the stadium.  Did I mention garmin took us through downtown Indy on the night the lights downtown were being lit?  Had to do a bit of a re-route.

Plenty of seats were open where we sat.  I like to give ourselves plenty of room to move around.  And complain.  And we were very close to the snacks.

I forced them to wait until half-time to get nachos, popcorn and water.  I'm so mean.  I also forced them to eat suckers. 

I think even Kinley enjoyed watching all the movement on the football field.

Can you see him?  The person we came to see-the bald man in the white polo-Andy!

It wasn't the best game to watch from our team's perspective.  They ended up losing-a rough night for Westfield fans.

The team lined up for a final photo.  We stayed until the very end and even watched the team get their medals.

Then all the kids wanted to climb up into this tractor thing to get their picture taken.

 

 

 

Then we had to walk those two blocks back to our car.  In the cold and dark.  That was probably the worst part.  The van soon warmed up and I put in a movie for the kids.  Everything was good again.  We didn't get home until late and getting in the house into beds was a little dicey, but we did it and now the kids have another cool experience to talk about.

Butler fun!-homecoming 2013

Our annual tradition-Butler Homecoming!  We did this probably about 3 weeks ago.  Just trying to catch up. Andy and I do love getting to take the kids every year and Butler is a great venue to watch a football game.  The kids can move around a lot and Ewan almost ran out onto the field during the game as he was running up and down a hill and no one batted an eye.  So, we packed up the van and forgot our sunscreen and made our way down to Indy.


Ewan got to say "Hi" to the Butler bulldog mascot.  I think he really looks forward to this. 

Kella's got her shades on.

Kinley's first football game!

Yes, they got a snack-popcorn.

Kinley with Daddy.

I really wanted to get all the kids in a picture together, but of course, there was one that didn't want to cooperate (see the left side of photo). *sigh*

Well, we tried.  And a kind lady walking by offered to take our entire family picture.  We said "no thanks".

The best we could do.  Wonder if there are any future Bulldogs in this photo?

Kella got her way and got her picture taken riding the little dog.  Thank goodness.  This is what she wanted to begin with.

A great trip!  The kids did great and we managed to see most of the game.  Cale got to buy himself a little ball.  (He loves souveneirs.) We walked around Hinkle Fieldhouse.  We will be back for a basketball game this winter :-).

once again, we go to Butler homecoming

Time for Butler homecoming!  This year, the game started at 6pm.  I was curious to see how everyone would do with a later start time than all the previous times we've gone.  And, it was a cool day, too, and I knew it would only get colder as the night came.  So, we dragged out the winter coats, some blankets, gloves and handwarmers and made our way to the game. 

One thing I like about Butler's homecoming is that is it always easy to find a close parking spot.  This year was no different.  We parked in the same lot, pretty close to the field and by a bunch of pretty trees with big, yellow leaves.  I made an attempt to get a photo of the kids.

The evening start time meant that we had to feed everyone.  If I had been more proactive, I would have packed food for the car ride down so we wouldn't have to eat at the game.  As it was, we feed the kids there and got scalped by food prices.  Yikes! 

Everyone likes Cracker Jacks.

It got colder, but only some of us wanted to wear our nice, warm coats.  We made it until a little into the third quarter before Kella, especially, and Liam, a little, were ready to go.  When we left, Butler was losing and had just let the other team score 2 touchdowns in a row if I remember right.  Well, wouldn't you know it?-Butler came back late in the 4th quarter and pulled out a win!  Too bad we had to miss it.  Hopefully next year, we can stay longer.  Hopefully next year, it's a little warmer out, too.  Our next goal for Butler sports is to make it to a basketball game this year.

Kella perked up nicely by the time we made it home.  She is wearing a blue lei that the cheerleaders handed out to the fans in honor of the BB team going to the Maui Invitational.  I think that she thinks she looks awesome in her new blue necklace.

Butler Homecoming 2011

Last Saturday was our annual trip to Butler for their homecoming game. We've been going since Cale was not quite a year old. I look forward to taking the kids because Butler is a relaxed place to go for a college football game.  And, homecoming has some family-friendly things, too.  We never make it in time for the pre-game fun things (one year we will), but the boys just like the chance to roam around part of Butler's campus.  The difference this year was that Andy had the chance to be the atheletic trainer for the game that day.  How cool is that?  He got to go back and be the trainer for the school he graduated from for the team he played for!  I figured I could handle the kids by myself.  I was probably a little delierious from working the night before and not having any sleep.  It sounded like a good idea to me.  First things first, that Saturday, the 3 older kids had gymnastics-wear them out early.  We came back home after that and I packed some stuff, including lunches, to take to the game.  I had a few moments when I almost backed out of going to the game, but I knew that Marcus and Cale were looking forward to this.  So, into the car went the kids and me and away we went.

First thing on our list was to see the Butler Bulldog.  The boys look forward to this and started looking for the bulldog as soon as we entered the stadium.  Cale needed his picture taken

Liam was in a pleasant enough mood to say "hi". 

Then it was Ewan's turn.

Our first seats were on the "hill".  I thought this would be nice because the kids could move around.  And, the view was pretty good.

Hmm, I don't think they were watching a lot of the game.

I made the executive decision to move to some bleacher seats in an empty area of the stadium.  We went inside to get a drink (Strawberry Crush) and watched the band and dance squad perform (they did a routine to the song Moves Like Jagger-one of the kids' favorites)

Our new view of the field also offered a view of the trainer-hello Andy!  We stayed for the entire game.  The boys were able to move around and play on the bleachers.  They did pretty well.  It was harder to contain everyone without Andy there to help.  5 against 1 aren't great numbers.  Liam was the hardest to control.  He's just a determined 2 year old who has a plan and doesn't want mom to interfere.  His new tactic is just to sit down and not move so you either have to carry him or try to get him to stand up by pulling on his arm-always fun to do in a crowd of people.

Oh Kella!  Why do you look sad?  Are you hungry, cold or upset that Butler got trounced by a school I've never heard of?  Poor baby was ready to go home.

After the game, we went into Hinkle Fieldhouse for a snack.  We also had to get our pictures taken with another bulldog.

Kella wasn't sad for long!  A happy baby glad to be home!