San Diego Day 6: Game Day!

Game Day! The best thing about this day actually came the night before, when we were in the hospitality room getting dinner. It was essentially a big hotel suite with a bar, a huge table, a TV room with some couches, and a separate room with a food spread. I overheard some other people talking about what the TV was playing, and the volunteer attendant was saying she could put on the bowl game. I'm not sure what game she meant that was on that evening, but a few seconds later, O piped up in pure defiance 'That's not a bull game, that's football!' Imagine her dismay and anger as we explained to her that bowl games were football games for teams that did very well, and we were going to Washington State's bowl game the next day. She was all ready for a rodeo, or bull fight, or something else with bulls. We were dying as she insisted we were wrong, and we felt bad for the assumption we made for weeks as we pumped the kids up for our bowl game trip. This next picture about sums up how O felt about that conversation...

We actually took the picture at the Holiday Bowl Parade the next morning. The kids love parades, and this one was just part of a crazy, full day. I want to try to remember the timeline, so please excuse all the times inserted in here :). We woke up and had a normal breakfast before getting ready for the parade. It started at 10, and Alex had to be back at the hotel for his ride to the game at 10:45, so we figured we would see the first half or so. We had to have all of our  bags ready to go to the plane that morning early, so the morning was full of shuffling things around. We had 3 sets of stuff. 1: Stuff to go on the airplane, that we wouldn't have access to until we got to Pullman. 2: Stuff in clear plastic bags that I would have access to during the bus ride to and from the game and during the game itself. 3: Carry on stuff that we would get at the airplane. I was also going to be by myself with the kids during the game and we would have to carry all the stuff (and help tired kids) that we had with us from bus to plane and back to bus. So I tried to get everything straight. I tried to reduce the amount of stuff to carry without missing anything that would be needed at the game. I tried to think through all the possible scenarios of a day that I had no past day similar. It was an adventure, to say the least. 

We had our first snaffoo around 9:00. Alex took the rental car back at 8 and I wasn't done with the bags yet, so he took the carseats (which we needed in CA for the rental car, but didn't need again until we got to our car) and left me with the suitcases. They needed to be in the ballroom with everyone's stuff at 9. Problem is, returning the car took longer than expected, and all the sudden at 5 minutes til 9, I realized that I didn't have enough hands to bring all 4 suitcases down, let alone leaving the kids alone in the hotel room. I called Alex, and he called the Zollingers in to rescue me. It was so kind of them to bring our bags down, I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise.

Anyway, at 9:45 we headed down to the street (which was luckily less than a block from the hotel) where the parade was ending. When we got there with Hunter in the baby carrier, I realized that Hunter's diaper had leaked all over him and me, but luckily it was just wet. I didn't have an extra outfit for myself, so Alex took Hunter back to the hotel to watch the parade from our room and get changed. I hoped that I didn't smell like urine too much, and stuck it out with the other kids.

The kids were actually thrilled to be able to go to the parade, but we didn't get anything close to a good picture, so I'm going with this one.

Here is Alex's view. We were standing about half a block from the yellow truck you see in the street. Alex hung out with Hunter until it was time for him to leave, then the other kids and I came back and watched the rest from the room. 

The Holiday Bowl Parade claims to be the biggest balloon parade in the US. I'm not sure what that means, but here are a few of the balloons that we saw

I almost forgot that we saw Larry the Dr Pepper guy! I happen to love his commercials, and even the kids knew who he was, so it was probably their first 'celebrity' sighting :)

We got back to the hotel around 10:45, and had to be at the buses at 1:15, so we had a couple hours for lunch. Problem is, we didn't have Alex, so we hung out in the room and had vending machine lunch :). Next I shuffled Hunter (in his carrier), Makenzie (who should be on a leash these days), Carter, Olivia, 2 clear bags for the game, 1 diaper bag, 1 backpack, and 2 kid suitcases that O and C are working on being able to move through hallways and elevators :). I am sure I looked like a crazy person but we do what we have to :).

We made it to the bus on time, got all loaded, and waited. I've learned that traveling with the team is a lot of waiting. Waiting for players and coaches, waiting for arrangements that may or may not have fallen through, and just waiting in general to make sure that everything is good to go. We had a police escort to the game, which was the coolest part of the day for the kids. I was actually impressed with the way the policemen circle the buses and block everyone else. I was also surprised by the number of people that will stop and take pictures (and selfies) of buses with blacked out windows that have an escort, regardless of who might be in it. I hope whoever got pictures with us in them is sufficiently impressed.

A side note about police escorts: they do not take direct routes. We were on the bus almost an hour, for about a 20 minute drive. Finally, we got to the stadium and parked. Just as a reference, it was about 2:45, and the game started at 4. I also have this picture of the stadium. The bus parking lot is on the far left side of the stadium. Alex's ticket table was on the far right side. Also, we were sitting
on the far left side...This may seem like meaningless information, but it was during naptime and it was a LOT of walking for me, let alone for the kids. So we got there, and walked all the way around the outside to see Alex.

 I am SO glad that I had the Zollingers with me, it totally saved me from a hopeless situation. Makenzie adores Karissa, and goes to her immediately any time we are together. She actually fell asleep on Karissa's lap during the bus ride, and she carried her all the way around the stadium for me while Kenz was asleep. This left me holding Hunter, the 2 bags of stuff, and half dragging Carter and Olivia, but we made it. All the way around the outside, talked to Alex for a few minutes, then headed in for our next walk to our seats. Technically it was a shorter walk because we were inside the main gates (so a smaller circumfrence to the circle), but it felt much longer as the kids were tired and hungry, and I couldn't blame them.

I love this picture of Makenzie and Connor playing on the bus. It's actually before we left the hotel, but some of the pictures are from Alex, so they're in a weird order. Kenz and Connor played peekaboo, tickling games, and other games almost the whole ride, until she crashed on Karissa. I should remember how amazingly the kids did with their schedules all messed up, but Makenzie especially never cried or whined, she just slept when she could, and played the rest of the time.

Eventually we made it to our seats. We immediately faced the next challenge of getting food for everyone. It wasn't possible for me to take the kids and get the food, so Karissa stepped in again. She went to get food for herself and Connor, and then I left the kids with her while I went to get us food. It worked perfectly, and everyone was a little happier after eating a hot dog.

We played and watched the pregame show while we waited for the game, The kids had a fun time when I pulled out the soundproof headphones for Makenzie and Hunter. The only downside is that ALL the kids would have been happier with headphones on, especially O. She doesn't love the noise of stadiums at all. But here are some pictures of the kids during the game.

This is pretty much how we made it through the game. We were there from 2:45 until 7:30ish, and all of the kids took turns playing with Connor, who was the cool older friend for sure. Makenzie also sat with Karissa for most of the game :).

After the game (730ish) we headed down onto the field to cut across the field to where the buses were parked. We grabbed the post-game meal (YAY for Chick-Fil-A!!) as we got onto the bus. Then we waited...about 45 minutes later we headed to the airport, where we went through TSA outside (it was REALLY cold) and got onto the plane. I think it must have been about 10ish when we got onto the plane, but as an added bonus, there was another meal for us! We actually didn't eat again, the kids were all asleep on the bus and only woke up enough to be wanded and climb the steps onto the plane. I felt a little ridiculous again, because even with Alex there, we had 4 asleep kids, 2 rolling little suitcases, a backpack, overfull diaper bag, and 2 clear bags from the game. We sat in the back of the plane, so we passed a bunch of coaches, big wigs, and players on the way on, but we made it. Again.

All of the kids settled in, we traded seats with a few people so we wouldn't have to sit kids by themselves, and we got ready for the flight. Shortly after takeoff, all the kids were asleep except Olivia, who discovered that the screens on the back of every seat had movies and shows...including Secret Life of Pets! She figured it all out by herself and was watching the movie before I could convince her that she should be asleep at 11 PM.

We landed shortly after 1:30, and loaded the buses. Again we were shuffling all of our gear and the kids who were SO asleep, but a really kind player grabbed a few of the bags, which was a HUGE help. We landed in Spokane so we had about a 90 minute drive back to campus. One thing we had realized shortly into the day is that our car keys were never taken out of one of the suitcases, so they were on the equipment truck and Alex had to wait for them to go unbury our car from about a foot of snow and ice. So our timeline went a little like this: We got back to Spokane about 1:30, and were back to Pullman a little before 3:30. The equipment truck was a ways behind us (an unknown amount of time...) so we thought we could stay on the bus and wait. We were wrong about that, as the bus drivers had to leave. So we grabbed all of our stuff, and 4 sleeping kids (again) and headed into the freezing weather (actually about 10 degrees) and into a random building that someone had keys to. I tried to console all the kids, who were quite distraught and freezing, Alex helped unload some stuff and waited for the truck. As soon as the equipment was there, Alex found the bag, dug out the keys, and left for the 15 minute walk to go dig out the car. He was super grateful to a couple coworkers who had gotten the car mostly out (as much as you can do without turning it on), so he was able to come get the kids and I. We were still almost the last to leave, and we will do it differently in coming years for sure. We brought all the kids home and got them settled a little before 5. Alex brought all the bags into the living room, and I sent him to bed as well.

The last phase of our trip, or the first phase of the next one, was my bag switching and repacking the car. I had separated the suitcases so I could just unload the swimsuits and some random warmer weather things and pack the snow gear and Christmas gifts for my family. I also unloaded the clear game day bags, tried to clear out some of the garbage from my purse, and got things straightened up into 3 suitcases and a few bags instead of 4 suitcases. It's a lot easier to pack for a car trip than a plane trip. I added baby food, formula and car snacks, diapers, wipes, and warmer PJs for the babies. Then I loaded the car. It was around 8:30 in the morning when I finished, so I fed the baby and started the process for getting on the road to Boise :) Part of me thinks that we should never do it again, but then the adventure of it all sets in, and I halfway hope it happens just like this again.

All in all, the trip was a huge success. We got to have so many fun family memories with the kids, and the trip was easier logistically than I thought possible. Travelling with the team wasn't exactly set up for families, but I like to think that we are pretty flexible, and we try not to say no to opportunities that may not come again. Here's to hoping that 2017 brings a successful football season for WSU and we get to take the kids to another fun place next holiday season.