Trip to Baton Rouge

Justin, Jason and I finally made it down to Baton Rouge this year. It had been a couple of years since we had been to visit during football season, so we were really excited to take a road trip. Friday night we drove straight to a party being held for a bunch of old geezers we know. Just kidding, it was for a bunch of fabulous people we know that have been friends since they attended LSU, and just happen to be turning 60 this year. 2 of the honorees are of course my Mom and Dad (Mimi and Papaw to Jason), and it was fun to be there to help celebrate. It was also the first time some of my parent's friends heard the news of our expecting another baby, which was fun news to share. Jason also got a lot of attention and was very well behaved considering he had spent the previous 7 hours in the car.

After the party we headed on over to our good friends Emily and Drew's house, who were gracious enough to let us stay with them for the weekend. They have a very handsome almost 5 month old, William. Jason was very taken with the baby, and I think Emily and Drew got to see a little bit of what was in store for them when Will gets a few years older.

Saturday we got dressed up in our LSU Tiger gear and went out to LSU's campus for some tailgating. Good food, great fans, a lot of purple and gold, and multiple tailgating parties to attend = a great day of fun, albeit a long one. Our little tiger Jason was pretty worn out come game time. Emily and I took Jason back to the house and let the boys go to the game, where LSU soundly defeated Auburn. GEAUX TIGERS!

Sunday morning we went to brunch with a bunch of Baton Rouge friends and even managed to have a table of 14! It was really nice catching up with friends that we have not seen in a while. Then it was time to hit the road and head back to Texas, but not before stopping at CC's Coffee House (Community Coffee) for some to-go coffees.

The drive home was fairly uneventful, but as we made it back to the metroplex we got to drive through some pretty heavy rain. We managed to pull into our garage and quickly unload the car before it got really nasty. It's really fun to do road trips every once in a while, and this one was a success.

At the playground with Mimi and Papaw

Last weekend Justin and I spent Saturday tailgating with a bunch of Justin's college buddies and went to the TX State v. TCU football game. We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone, and TCU is a great campus to go and see a game.

While Mommy and Daddy were away playing, Jason spent the day and night with Mimi and Papaw, and as you can see below, I think they had a lot of fun.

Mavs Game

On St. Patrick's Day, we got to sit courtside at the Mavericks game against the Detroit Pistons. No, we didn't get the tickets from an extremely rich relative, and we didn't follow a rainbow to find a pot of gold at the end. We simply won them in a drawing. We were very fortunate to get the tickets. It was a great way to relax after a long, busy day at the office and it was really cool to be right in the middle of all the action. We also got to see firsthand how truly athletic these players are and how physical the game of basketball can be.

This may rank as one of the coolest sports experience for me. After a little thought I came up with a list.

Justin's Top 10 personal sports experiences:

10. 2003 Cotton Bowl - The year LSU played Texas, the game was still being played in the morning of New Year's Day. It was quite a feat for folks in their mid-20s to make it there in time for kickoff. We're pretty fortunate to have a decent bowl game so close to home. It'll be even closer now that the game is being moved to Jonestown (aka. the New Cowboys Stadium), but it may lose a bit of it's sense of tradition.

9. Suite at the Texas Motor Speedway - While you lose a little bit of the experience by being shielded from the noise of the cars, it's definitely a cool, once in a lifetime experience.

8. Suite at Texas Stadium (Cowboys vs. Redskins) - Again tickets that we won in a drawing. Hopefully we'll get to go to a game in the new stadium next season.

7. Texas State defeating Georgia Southern in the 2005 Division I-AA Playoffs - I'm sure this would be viewed as the most controversial experience on this list. Though Texas State isn't known as a football powerhouse, you have to understand that a) Georgia Southern had been considered a top team at the level; and b) Texas State had never experienced at game of this magnitude at home. So the underdog Bobcats won, and people stormed the field. I think I even recall hearing Al Michaels somewhere saying, "Do you believe in miracles?"

6. Rangers Ballpark (aka Ameriquest Field, Ballpark in Arlington) - I think sometimes we take the Ballpark for granted, but remember Arlington Stadium? Sure, the Ballpark could have used a retractable roof, but they have the Home Run Porch, a museum, and an overall cool look that includes architectural features of various, now-defunct ballparks. (Note that this sports experience ranks below the Fort Worth Cats.)

5. Fort Worth Cats at LaGrave Field - We sat along the third base line, first row. With downtown Fort Worth in the background, the scene just had a really good vibe.

4. Stars vs. Edmonton Oilers playoff game - The Stars won, the place went nuts, and I didn't feel so well the next day.

3. Fenway Park - Sitting in center field, right by the Green Monster. With so many stadiums being replaced over the years, Fenway is one of the last historical ballparks still in use. I couldn't quite figure out why the Red Sox fans were heckling the Yankees while their team was playing the Twins. It was quite amusing.

2. Sitting courtside at a Mavs game - (see below)

1. Tiger Stadium, any night game at LSU - The game that really comes to mind is when LSU beat Auburn on a last second TD pass. If you were there and weren't either in a fit of joy (LSU fans) or completely devastated (Auburn fans), then you have no soul or may possibly be some sort of undead zombie.

Honorable mentions: UT/A&M game at Kyle Field, UT/A&M game at Memorial Stadium, Fort Worth Fire Hockey, a at day at the Colonial PGA tournament.


On my "to do" list are:
Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, Indy 500, Daytona 500, Augusta National, (this list will most likely continue to change and grow).


Courtside!

Happy Holidays!

Well, it's been a while since we've posted, so this might be a long post. First, we hope that everyone had a nice Christmas holiday, and that the New Year brings everyone health, wealth and much prosperity. And now for some updates and pics from the last couple of months, which have been a whirlwind of activity.

Here is a picture from Jason's 50s dress up day to celebrate his daycare's 50th year since its founding. We thought he looked pretty cool!




Here are some pictures from Jason's Thanksgiving Feast his class had up at school. He was the only child in his class with both parents there. It was fun to sit and have lunch with him, and to see him interact with his teachers and classmates.



Oh, and I almost forgot! I have proof for the future when Jason tries to tell us that he does not like vegetables. Here he is eating (and enjoying) brussel sprouts!


We celebrated Thanksgiving this year up at Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah's house. Nana, Justin, Jason and I traveled together all the way to Collin county for the feast. Sarah and Josh did a wonderful job putting everything together and Sarah even saved the boudin ball/loaf. Justin, Josh and Jason even got to enjoy some playtime in the backyard (although I think it made them miss some of the Cowboys game.) Once Jason decided it was time to go, by throwing a fit, we trekked back over to Tarrant County and dropped by Matt and Erin's house (our Aunt Lindsay's sister) for a visit. There, Jason was able to play with his two cousins, Kassidy and Mckinley, and their cousin Ella.
Jason had a Christmas Program the next week, and we made sure we had good seats in order to watch his class perform "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" Unfortunately we did not get to see him on stage because he insisted on being held by the teacher during both songs. Oh well, maybe next year.

Mimi's birthday was next, and we went to church and had lunch at Christina's to celebrate. Jason was a little cranky, so Justin and I had to eat in shifts.

You may have noticed a recurring theme so far with Jason being fussy and having tantrums. He is still our wonderful happy little boy, but we have entered the much talked about terrible 2's, so sometimes Jason is a bit of a short fuse. In his defense, we have introduced a lot of new things to him recently, including moving to a big boy bed and beginning potty training. We feel he is adjusting well, but he is also continuously testing his limits and boundaries, and we are all learning together.

After Mimi's birthday we met up with Rebecca, Vince and Jacob to take pictures at our neighborhood clubhouse. Which reminds me, we still need to pick up those pictures. It was a memorable experience, as Jason cried the minute I put him in Santa's lap. I bet the pictures will be funny.

Next, we had a Christmas celebration over at Nana's house. It was a lot of fun to have 3 toddlers (Jason, Kassidy and Mckinley) all opening presents up in the same room at the same time. The kiddos also got to decorate pine cones and frost and decorate cookies. Jason's technique was superb - frost then eat. Then we all got to go and enjoy Kathie's choir perform their Christmas program which included dancing, singing, and even an appearance by 3 live camels. Jason really enjoyed all the music and lights.




Oh, and here was the wonderful Christmas card we sent out this year. Jason's frowny face cracked us up.
Jason has been obsessed with happy faces and sad faces lately, as I think they represent the two main emotions he identifies with right now. He has us draw them repeatedly on his Doodle Pro and Aquadoodle, and he likes to act out his own happy and sad faces. He also wants to make us happy, so if he does something he thinks we'll be proud of, like eating his vegetables, or putting his head on his pillow at bedtime he'll ask "Mama/Daddy happy?"

Here he is sporting one of his happy faces and his Santa hat, which he loved wearing.


We had two really fun events over at Deborah and John's house this year, a vocal recital of Sarah's voice students and a Christmas dinner party. Both were really fun. We even got to sing the 12 days of Christmas song at the dinner party because we had 12 adults at the table, and each of us had our own line from the song!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun too, as Jason loves opening presents and tearing tissue paper. He even enjoys picking up all the discarded paper. We also had wonderful celebrations at Mimi and Papaw's house on Christmas Day and the Saturday after Christmas.



We brought in the New Year with Rebecca, Vince and Jacob and we all decided to stick close to home this year and spend time with our kiddos. It has become a tradition to celebrate this holiday together, and one which I hope we will continue for many years. Here are some pictures of Jason and Jacob.

We were also very excited for Mimi and Papaw who traveled to Atlanta to watch the Tigers play in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. They had instructions to cheer loudly for us too, and it must have worked because the Tigers played a great game, beating Georgia Tech with a final score of 38-3. Here's a picture of Mimi and Papaw at the game.


Hope everyone has Happy New Year and GEAUX TIGERS!

Cowboys New Stadium

Jill and I recently got the opportunity to tour the new Cowboys Stadium. We were quite excited, as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

We first went to the Stadium Preview Center. There, they had snacks, Cowboys Cheerleaders, a real-life sample of a suite, and a much, much smaller model of the stadium itself. We also got to see Jerry Jones's bus while we waited to be picked up and taken for the tour.

The faux-luxury suite in the preview center was really cool. One of the walls was even covered in a wallpaper that gave you a feel for the view from the suite. However, on the wallpaper, I noticed something was totally off about the Ring of Honor. The had "Emmit Smith" in the Ring of Honor. I included this picture in the slideshow. It's not like they'll have his name misspelled in the actual stadium, but I thought it was kind of funny considering he's one of the all-time greats for the team as well as the league. Shortly after my discovery, it was off to the job site (aka. JerryWorld or Jonestown).

When we got to the stadium site, the van dropped us off on the North side across from Wal-Mart. On gamedays, this will be the side of the visiting team. We entered the stadium on the main concourse, which brought us in around the 2nd or 3rd level of seating. We had a chance to see lots of tubing, quality copper wiring, drywall, metal, and concrete. Kidding of course. Sure, it's still about six months from completion, but you can see things really taking shape. One thing that stands out is how enormous it is on the inside. The still have the hole in the roof, but the can close the roof if needed. Considering this stadium is to host many events besides football, it's a good idea to have the open or closed option. What will be a major difference from Texas Stadium is that the entire seating area will be cooled or heated if necessary. That makes concerts in July or August MUCH more bearable.

What stood out most for me is the video board that will soon be installed. In the slide show, you'll see what appears to be a bunch of scaffolding in the middle of the field. Instead, that is the frame for the four-sided video board. It stretches about 50-60 yards in length and in height, makes it about halfway up the stadium. It looks so much larger than what I've seen online.

Enjoy the slideshow!