wildcat football

Something I look forward to EVERY year - taking the fam back to our old stomping grounds,

and cheering on those Wildcats!

Getting dressed all in purple, seeing the pure excitement in our kids' faces, driving those beautiful hilly roads that lead us into Manhattan, checking up on our old houses, remembering different parts of campus and different parts of towns for different reasons.

I'm always way more excited than Dave.

In fact, he only agreed to go to the game if it was an early game and we could be back home for OU to play at 6. 

Did I really meet this guy on K-State campus?

I think he would have gone anyway, but he was trying to play tough.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the expression on Taylor's face.  We were headed to the stadium, they were both in awe of all the people and all the purple.

The minute she saw the stadium she screamed "OH!  Now I remember!"  And the smile on her face was priceless! She wasn't sure she remembered us taking her to a game before - but it all came back to her!

We dressed for 70 degree weather - we didn't think about jackets or long sleeves.

So we made a quick stop at Target for long sleeve t's for the family.

We tailgated for just a bit with some dear friends of ours from home.

The Mattingly's are like another family.  This is "Big" Taylor - she's in her 5th year at KSU.

We loved her name - and it was fun to tell her that we were stealing it for our first born!

Taylor was soooo excited to get to see "Big" Taylor - we of course were so excited to see her too!

We headed to our seats and ran into Aunt Stefanie, Uncle Steve and the boys on our way!

A few minutes in, it started sprinkling and the sky was looking BAD!

 See, I told you.

It was FREAKY.

 The lightning is what ultimately got the game delayed.

They announced that everyone needed to leave the stadium and seek shelter.

Really?  Where in the world do 50,000 people go?

 So after a 20 minute stand-still in our seats (I guess good flow isn't possible when thousands of people are trying to leave at one time), we headed back to the Mattingly's RV.

Until the rain started coming down hard enough that we were going to be soaked if we kept going.

So we ran to the nearest building - in which they would not let us inside.

The sports complex is where the locker rooms are, where are the players were and all the cheerleaders.

We were not important enough to be able to enter - although we were promised if it was a dire emergency, the security guy at the door would let us in.

So we just stayed up against the building, watching the storm.

 It POURED.

Freaky, swirling clouds.

 

 When the rain stopped we finally made it the rest of the way to the RV to join our friends.

 After an hour delay, they started back up.

The sun came out - we stripped our long sleeves and it was beautiful!

 Mason even got his nap in.

Thank goodness for these great seat-back seats - I would never have been able to hold him without that back to lean on.

 We knew what section Aunt Stef and her family were in - and I just so happened to notice her when she was walking on the stairs (with no binoculars!) - so we watched where she sat. It was fun to zoom in on this picture and actually see her!

 We asked the lady behind us to take a picure.  After she snapped it I heard someone say "HI AMANDA!"

My 4th grade teacher was 2 rows up and spotted us when we turned around - she was my FAVORITE teacher, she made me love math, and she made me want to be a teacher!  She came to our wedding and it's always so fun to run into her!

 No trip to Manhattan can end without a stop in Aggieville to fill our tummies with some of the food we miss so much!

My first choice would have been So Long Saloon - but the line was out the door. Welcome to Manhattan on game day.

So our next choice was Pat's!  Sweet Potato Fries and the best honey mustard!

And guess who just so happened to show up the same place - COUSINS!!!

It was a fun ending to our day.

Unless of course you count the hours that this little gal then played "cheerleader".

She must have been watching those girls like crazy - she was doing high kicks and throwing her pom poms in the air trying to catch them and even asked Daddy to hold her up.

Overall - SUCH a great day!

Any day that the Wildcats and Sooners come out on top is a great day in our house!