A first...

Ok, so this blogging thing is indeed more difficult than I thought... I've started this entry about five times, but never finish, so here we go again...

Football season is revving up here in Clemson country. We went to Fan Appreciation Day a couple of weeks ago, and I took this picture (of Keith, Ethan, and Laney) at the bottom of The Hill. I LOVE football season, and I don't care what anybody says -- nothing compares to game day at Clemson. I'm editing the original draft of this post because I originally wrote this tirade about my Tigers, but then I realized that this is a family blog, so...

Many schools do indeed have great traditions, but no tradition makes my heart stop like the sight of my Tigers rubbing The Rock, hearing that cannon's boom and the band playing our version of "Tiger Rag" like they'll never play it again, seeing the flags and balloons against that Carolina blue sky, and watching the players run down The Hill to the tiger paw on the 50. [Granted, I'm biased, but if you haven't seen it live -- if you haven't been there to hear the sounds of the fans and the band and the team, I don't expect any nasty comments because you can't understand until you've experienced it first-hand. :) ]

To be honest, this family almost wasn't. Keith -- my die-hard LSU boy didn't believe me either; we had our first fight when he disrespected my Tigers. As a sign of my undying love, I took him by the stadium one night on our way to Seneca -- I only share my Tigers with those I truly love, you see -- and he asked who Frank Howard was. Who's Frank Howard? Are you kidding me? If a man knows football, he should know Frank Howard, and I told him as much. Then, he dissed The Hill. I won't recount the conversation that followed, but let's leave it at this: He had two options -- he could apologize or he could get his irreverent arse out of my car. He stayed in, and he understood my passion when he experienced his first game at Death Valley.

Now that I've declared my allegiance to my team, I'll move on.

As for the game...

Keith and I decided to take the kids because 1) it was supposed to be sort of cloudy and a little cooler and 2) if we had to leave, it wouldn't be THE game of the season. Now, we've been to football games before, but they've all been high school games, AND (this is the kicker) Ethan's always had room to run and friends with whom to play. We didn't know how he'd do in a small space with a zillion of our closest friends that we don't know surrounding us, but we decided to batten down the hatches and go anyway. We dressed the kids in their orange finest -- Ethan in his miniature college guy CLEMSON t-shirt and cute little orange Crocs, Laney in her (12 months!) cheerleading uniform and tiny little KEDS. We grabbed some tailgating grub from Fatz and headed off to see our Tigers play.

Ok, so it seemed like a good idea at the time... :) Seriously, it wasn't bad. It was a little warmer than I anticipated... good thing we didn't do our die-hard tailgaters imitation and show up with two small kids at 9 AM for a 3:30 game... apparently those days may be long gone now, with the addition of Kid #2. We got there a little before 3 pm, only to find out that our lot was full. Boo. Moved to back-up lot and had to park on steep slope. Note to self: steep slope with mulch not ideal for playing with small children. Will find mulch in all sorts of odd places later when giving Ethan bath. Note #2 to self: Drive next time because Keith doesn't listen worth a darn and we could have been parked in a nice, lush grassy area if he did. :)

Once we got settled, we played around for a while... actually, I just got a new camera, so really I took pictures while Keith did the man thing and rearranged all of the "stuff" in the cargo area while simultaneously corraling the kids. (Payback for not listening when I told him where to park...) I got some cute ones that I'm posting here, too. (Laney in her uniform; Ethan; Ethan and his beloved cousin Emma whom he blames for the mess in his room even though she hasn't been over to play in quite some time, the 1/2-time show -- spelling out CLEMSON, in case you're wondering; Keith and the kids) Anyway, after a few fun-filled minutes of trying to coerce a very headstrong 3-year old to let me take his picture, we set off for the stadium.

If you know Clemson's parking situation, you'll be familiar with the hill going down to The Pit, or the big student parking area. If you've never experienced the hill, then you might remember the hill we called a driveway at our house in Knoxville; multiply that times a million. Anyway, Keith and I decided right then and there that we can have no more kids because we'd never be able to get any more bodies up that dadblame hill. I'll spare you the rest of the details of the trip in... mostly because it was all we could do to get to our seats without having to call for medical assistance.

The game itself was pretty uneventful. My dad and Emma were there, so Ethan was happy as a clam. He made friends with people we've been sitting around for years but have never really conversed with; I think he'll be a goodwill ambassador when he grows up. :) Laney cried when the Tigers got ready to run down The Hill -- I think the noise was too much -- but seemed to enjoy the rest of the game. Well, she at least enjoyed looking at the guy's shirt in front of us. Apparently (according to one of our new-found friend that sits next to us), babies can see shades of red and orange early on, so Laney probably had a sensory overload. The guy in front of us was wearing an orange striped shirt, which entertained her pretty much the whole time. High five to you, anonymous striped-shirt man... wherever you are...

The game was a blow-out, the kids were pretty good, and we didn't get ejected from our seats. A "WIN" so far in the Jennings' family scorebook...

And then it was time to tailgate. We opted for the post-game tailgate this time, since it would be a little more comfortable, weather-wise. We broke out the tables and the food... which kept sliding down the table since we were parked on the side of a small mountain. We ate. Ethan played. Laney kind of hung out in her carrier. We watched the crowds passing by (which is always lots of fun for me... people just crack me up). We packed up. We drove back to P-town. Woo-hoo. Much like the game... there was no exciting finish... just glad we didn't lose it in overtime...

The real fun started when I decided we need to run to the grocery store before heading home. Much to Keith's dismay, we went anyway. Now, remember, Keith is just returning to full-time daddy (and husband) duty from about 3 1/2 months on the road. :)

When I get back in the car, Laney is screaming like she's afraid someone won't hear her. Ethan is giving a play-by-play of something, but we can't figure out what. Keith is about to develop some serious nervous tics. I'm laughing inwardly, but I'm concerned that Keith may be ready to drive the car off of the road. As soon as I get in, Ethan starts on one of his favorite games -- "Where are we going?" Fun for everyone. As Laney continues to scream for no apparent reason, Ethan and I play the "Where are we going?" game. We start off in Timbuktu, but my geography skills aren't what they used to be, so we resort to going through the 50 states. (Sound fun to anyone else yet?) Ethan decides to kick the action up a notch and start yelling (I guess so he can hear himself over his screaming sibling), "WHERE ARE WE GOING?" to which I respond at the top of my lungs, "MASSACHUSSETTS!"... and thus the game game continues on a very loud level...

At the red light, during a convenient pause in all of the noise, Keith says, very quietly, "I think I have to go away on business..." :)

Till next time...