Are We Having Fun Yet?

It's Friday night. The Varsity Football team is having it's final home game of the season. The Junior High band has been invited to play during the first half and in a special half-time show with the High School band. Gabriel has been practicing all week during band for the Big Night. This is the first opportunity for the Jr. High band to play AND march at the same time.

Allen is sick so I decide to take all the kids to the game to hear the band and watch the half-time show. It is one of the first cold nights we have had. We arrive at the game late (of course) and have a REALLY hard time finding a place to sit. Our nice neighbors spy me leading around 5 kids through the bleachers and wave us over to sit with them - most people are just looking at me like I'm crazy.

We sit and watch the last of the 1st half. Simon and Oliver really get into the whole "stomping on the metal bleachers to make as much noise as possible during exciting moments" thing. Good thing it is acceptable behavior at the game.

We eagerly await the half time show that we have heard so much about. When Gabriel comes out he is on the opposite end of the field. I can only see him if I look through the video camera and zoom ALL the way up - and even then he was angled directly behind a high school senior and all that was visible was his eyes and forehead.

Immediately after the half time show we vacate our spots on the bleachers, I don't think we would have lasted much longer without someone falling or spilling on someone else or something. The kids have been begging to go run in the sand pits behind the bleachers so we go to find Gabriel and play for awhile. Not 5 minutes later EVERYONE is complaining that they are FREEZING and want to go home.

So - in short we spent $15, saw 10 minutes of a football game, watched half-time (but couldn't really see Gabriel), heard LOTS of whining about how freezing it was, had to walk forever since I didn't get a parking spot close - nor did I remember to bring the stroller so I had to hold Amelia and the kids had to hold all their "stuff", and we didn't get home til after 10:00 (Can you say "Tired/Cranky kids"?).

Would I do it all again? Definitely.
The things I do 'cause I love my kids.

P.S. We did redeem the night by warming up with hot chocolate when we got home. Of course in hindsight I realized that this might not have been the best idea - to fill up a 4-yr-old bladder right before bed...

Gabriel is the kiddo in the middle with the trombone. This is taken on extreme zoom so not too clear. The senior blocking him stepped away for a minute and I snapped this shot.

I couldn't convince any of them to wear a coat so they were cold. In their defense it wasn't too bad when we first left the house.