UCF Charge Onto the Field
With Our Spirit, We'll Never Yield
Black and Gold Charge Right Through the Line
Victory is Our Cry
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y
Tonight Our Knights Will Shine
Go Knights!!!
This weekend we took the kids to their very first football game. And what better way to start the in-person football obsession that will hopefully follow than visiting the old alma mater and going to a UCF game? We have some football loving kids. Kenzie can do almost every penalty call out there (in addition to touchdown and first down) and Will seems to think football is awesome (he also knows touchdown and is working on first down) so going to a game seemed like it would be right up their alley. However, going to an actual football game, in person, is a bit more complex than just showing up when you have two young kids in tow so this was something we thought for a while about and planned out (like anyone would believe I would go into this without some planning anyway...)
A month or so ago we decided that the first UCF game of the season would be our best bet. It was on a holiday weekend and against a division II team so we figured it would be less crowded than some of our other options (Maryland, anyone?) Plus, kickoff was set for 7pm so it worked out well that we wouldn't be out in the heat of the day. We bought tickets from StubHub and decided on tickets on the visitor's side (though it was all UCF fans in the area) near the band and student section. We were hoping that the band and nearby cheerleaders would help to keep the kids entertained some. We got tickets in Row E so we were pretty close to the action. With that, we were set to cheer on our Knights on the first Saturday of college football season.
Saturday morning we didn't do anything spectacular. We wanted a low key morning since we knew it would be a big afternoon/evening. We spent our morning watching Gameday and then a few football games that we flipped between. Kenzie wanted her nails painted for the game so we had a bit of a mommy/daughter mani session to get ready. She was so excited with her nails. (Bonus points to Daddy who went out during Gameday to Walgreens to get the requested black and gold nailpolish we needed just because he knew it would make her happy.) We put Will down for a nap a bit early and he was asleep by 12:30. Kenzie did her "rest time" in her room for a while.
We started the "wake up Will" routine about 2:30. That little man was not ready for that. We usually just open his door and let him wake up on his own in hopes that he stays a bit happier if it is sort of on his own terms. He woke up okay and we got him dressed but then it all broke down. I wanted to try to get a few pics of the kids in their black and gold gear before heading out and he was NOT having it. We ended up going back and forth between squirrel spying in the backyard (his usual calm down technique) to coming back inside and trying to convince him to take a picture. He would calm down outside and the something would upset him when we got back into the house. Eventually we moved the entire picture plan outside. That worked.
After our picture taking excursion though, everything seemed fine and we headed out towards UCF. It is about a 40 minute drive each way for us so we wanted to leave early to get there since we knew we would have quite the walk once we got there. When we got to campus we had to decide where to park. We had taken a look at our options beforehand so we decided to head towards the front of campus and park in what used to be referred to as the Math and Physics Garage. Now it is Garage B or something like that but we knew it's relation to everything so we figured it would be a good option. We haven't been to that side of campus in quite some time. Things have changed. We actually passed up the garage the first time and had to enter at a different point because I convinced Steven it couldn't be the right garage. I just didn't recognize some of the stuff around it. We parked easily and once we sublocked the kiddos, we were on our way towards the stadium in no time. We decided to take a walk near the Reflection Pond on our way towards the Union. The kids thought it was awesome. We pointed out places we lived or had classes when we went to school there to Kenzie (and Will but he was too busy looking at everything around him). Will and Kenzie walked the entire way to the Reflection Pond and Will thought the water was awesome. We took a few pictures because these are moments I want to remember. It only took Kenzie about 3 minutes before she plopped down on the grass by the fountain between it and the library and looked like a miniature college student. Didn't take her long to figure out the awesomeness of the area and how peaceful it can be. She looked right at home.
After that we headed over towards the old bookstore to see what type of merchandise they had going this year. Kenzie wanted to just hang out in the book area despite none of them being quite her speed and Will wanted to try to remove the clothes from shelves or hide in the clothing racks so we spent most of our time rounding them up rather than actually looking at anything. Eventually we decided to pack it up and head out of the bookstore. There were just too many people in a small area and it wasn't worth the hassle. There was one quick photo op before we walked out though and Kenzie had to be a part of that.
We then headed down to the Union because it was getting close to dinner time and we didn't know what all might be open. As we got close, we realized that we could hear the drumline warming up somewhere nearby. We knew that the rest of the band was stationed outside the Union getting ready to play so we thought the drumline might be heading their way to play with them. Steven ended up walking around the Union to see if he could find them while I hung out with the kids out front just in case the rest of the band played. He disappeared for quite a while. The kids ran in circles making friends with other UCF fans. Steven ended up finding the drumline but they were obviously not moving so he watched them a minute before heading back through the Union to get us.
This is where we hit a bit of a snag. We didn't know what restaurants on campus might be open for dinner on game day so we weren't quite sure yet what we would do. We knew there were a couple of places closer to the stadium but we couldn't walk there and then chance needing to walk back because things were closed or too crowded. Unfortunately, the Union only had Subway and Dominoes opened. The kids will sometimes eat sandwiches, but Subway wasn't a great option. We elected to just get pizza. We figured we could just get a large and if we had left overs, we would just toss them. It was fairly inexpensive anyway so we didn't feel bad about it. We ended up with a large cheese pizza and then for the next 30-45 minutes we sat in awe while our children basically polished off 3 pieces each. We ate their crust but we each only ate 1 full slice of pizza. It was crazy. All of this was after Kenzie had pitched a fit that she didn't want pizza. Then tried to tell us that she didn't like it once we had it. We decided that our kids just get hangry sometimes. She eventually started eating (and drinking water as it was HOT) and then was fine. Needless to say, Steven and I were a bit hungry even after finishing dinner. The kids were happy and full though so we moved on. We decided to strap Will onto my back after dinner because we knew this would be the longest portion of our walk and it was when we would need to mosey through all the tailgaters to get to the stadium. Lots of people. Lots of drunk people. While we were in the Union though, the band came in and we managed to catch some of them warming up in the middle of the Union. Part of our concern with this entire experience was going to be the noise level. Will is not that into loud noises. Sometimes they seem to startle him. He did great though even though the music was LOUD. It was loud even for Steven and myself. Kenzie covered her ears but both kids seemed to think it was cool. Will was on my back too so we think that helped some. He felt comfortable and knew I was "holding" him.
After all that excitement, we set out for the stadium for real because we knew we wanted to get there early enough to see pre-game. We managed to catch the band as they were about to start marching down Memory Mall. Kenzie waved to all of them as they passed. It was adorable. Will just appeared to be in awe of the entire thing. He was just quiet and taking it all in.
The trip through Memory Mall was quick. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Just get through. We went the opposite direction of the band and ended up meeting up with them again outside the arena. We stopped to watch for a few more minutes because they were doing the fight song and chant at this point. Kenzie and Will clapped right along and tried their best to sing as well. I admit (we all know I'm a crier) but something about watching our little ones cheer along with other UCF fans at a game at our alma mater made me tear up. It's so crazy to think that some 14-16 years ago we were little freshman on this campus ourselves and now we are back with our family watching our team play. It was quite amazing actually.
We took another trip into the bookstore by the arena but didn't stay long. It was even more crowded and Kenzie decided she had to potty. We had to run over to the arena for her to go potty. She decided to make a new friend while we were in there. A young college student was sitting on the floor and Kenzie sat down right next to her and struck up a conversation. The girl showed her a video of her friend on her phone that she had been watching and the two of them sat there for a few minutes chatting. I have to stop here and say something about the students and young people (btw... calling them "young people" makes me feel old but I have to remember that I am some 14 years older than a lot of them at this point) we ran into. They were great. I don't remember it being quite like this a few years ago but to their credit, all of them were really nice and friendly with our kids. A few people remarked at how cute Will was and one young girl even said he would be her kid, meaning her kid would be all decked out in UCF gear one day at a game. A couple of girls stopped to tell Kenzie that they really liked her bow. Overall, every student we interacted with (and some were just randomly friendly to us without us saying anything to them first) was great. I'm impressed with this group of kids as a whole. Okay, back to the subject at hand though. =) When we left the arena we happened to catch the parade down the street into the stadium with Pegasus and the knight, the cheerleaders, dancers, and band members. One of the cheerleaders stopped to talk with Kenzie and even let her hold her pom poms and taught her how to shake them. It was so sweet. The dancers waved to Kenzie and Will as they came by. Will got a high five or two. It was awesome. They thought they were so cool. It's so funny the difference in how you do thing with kids versus without. Without kids, we probably wouldn't have stood there and watched them go down the street. With kids, it was one of my favorite moments of the entire day. Kenzie with the UCF cheerleader made my heart happy. She was so excited. Will seeing Pegasus and yelling that it was a horse and horses say "nay!" was adorable. I love moments like this and I hope we always remember them.
We followed the band down to the stadium. We elected to play dumb with the carrier as Will was still on my back and see what happened when we tried to go inside. We were hoping to not need to check it and it all turned out okay. No one said anything to me and once inside, I saw a few other people wearing kiddos so that worked out well. As soon as we entered, there was Knightro. We stopped to take a picture with him because we couldn't pass that up.
We then wandered around the stadium towards our section checking out everything along the way. We found our seats with no problem and after seeing where they were, elected to go down to take a potty break before all the fun started. Once back in our seats, it was time to unveil the new scoreboard. It is quite something.
Before the game started there was an announcement that we would take a 49 second moment of silence in memory of the 49 lives lost in the Pulse shooting. I have never, ever heard a stadium so quiet. It was something and quite an experience. Our city really banded together after that tragedy and the respect for one another is something that although it came out of a terrible tragedy is something I am thankful to have witnessed and been a part of.
The pregame show started after that and the kids thought it was awesome. They cheered right along with everyone around us. Kenzie and Will learned as much of the fight song and chant as they could and tried to sing along. After the National Anthem there was a (slightly late) flyover. Both kids thought that was awesome. Will is obsessed with "zooms" so this was his favorite moment of the day, I'm sure. He yelled about the zoom and told me it was loud. Haha! He waved "bye zoom" when it flew out of sight.
The game itself was so much fun. Although we did spend some time convincing Kenzie that she wasn't "done" with the game yet and it wasn't time to go home. It had been a long day already and she was sort of bored at times. One of my favorite moments was when the band began to play "My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark" aka "Light It Up" according to Kenzie. She recognized it immediately and got so excited. It is one of her favorite songs right now. She is so going to be like her daddy. She can recognize a song after just a note or two even when it is played by a marching band. After the first quarter I took her down (with Will) and bought them popcorn. We figured that would keep them busy. Our goal the entire time was to make it to halftime, see the show, and then head out. Will randomly yelled "GO!" during the entire game and pumped his little fist. Anytime something exciting happened, he would cheer right along with everyone else. Kenzie's favorite part seemed to be when the other team had a third down. The stadium gets LOUD. We would let her stand on the seat and yell along with everyone. She really enjoyed that. After UCF's first touchdown (and the only one we actually saw) we stood up and jumped to Zombie Nation with the entire crowd. Both kids laughed and yelled because apparently it was super exciting. Glad they got to experience "the trampoline" that is Bright House Networks Stadium.
We watched the halftime show though it wasn't as impressive as it could have been because we were on the visitor side so they played away from us. We then headed out of the stadium. It was after 8:00 and both kids were about done. Will was almost asleep on my lap at the end there. We walked half way back to the Union and decided to take a break. To Kenzie's credit, she kept right up with us. We had to slow down half way when she got a stitch in her side from running to keep up. Poor kid. We took about a 15 minute break in the Union and let the kids finish their popcorn they didn't finish in the stadium before we left. I also had to move Will from my front to my back. He is getting too big to carry on my front at this point so it wasn't that comfortable. I don't wear him often anymore anyway and probably haven't had him on my front in 5 or so pounds so I didn't know it would be uncomfortable until we tried it. Anyway, when we left the Union, Kenzie requested to see the fountain one last time and we gladly strolled by there. I should point out that the walk from car to stadium is likely about 1 to 1.5 miles or so. She walked the entire way so taking breaks was a necessity. Her little legs won't take her quite far enough without a break. Will walked part way when we first got there. That surprised us too. He would rather walk than anything else usually though until he gets tired so I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised. The Reflection Pond was so pretty at night. Glad we made one last stop.
We made it back to the car and had the kids in pjs ready for the ride home by about 10pm. It was late, but it was such a good day that we didn't mind. I should probably mention that UCF won. And won big. We are excited to see what Scott Frost does for this team this year (and hopefully in the coming years.) Anyway, both kiddos were out within about 15 minutes. They snored the entire way home and both transitioned to bed like it was nothing. We have them so trained. Haha! Today they slept in. Until 7. =) That is sort of sleeping in around here. We had church this morning but both kids were obviously overtired. Kenzie was crying a lot and Will followed me around crying for a while before church. They had lunch after church and we encouraged Kenzie to take a nap while Will napped. He took almost a 2 hour nap and Kenzie is still sleeping as I write this maybe trying to make her nap closer to 3 hours. That's how we know it was a good (and tiring) day. Kenzie so rarely naps so having her take one (especially a marathon one) tells us that she was tired. Glad she has such fun memories to go along with it though. She told anyone that would listen at church today that she went to the game. Anytime someone asked Will about the game he got excited. If they asked if he had a good time he would nod his head and say "yes" with a big smile. We had a blast too. So glad we decided to go ahead and try this out with the kiddos. We will spend the rest of the football season cheering on our Knights from home, but next year.... we'll be back!
Go Knights!!! Charge on!!!
With Our Spirit, We'll Never Yield
Black and Gold Charge Right Through the Line
Victory is Our Cry
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y
Tonight Our Knights Will Shine
Go Knights!!!
This weekend we took the kids to their very first football game. And what better way to start the in-person football obsession that will hopefully follow than visiting the old alma mater and going to a UCF game? We have some football loving kids. Kenzie can do almost every penalty call out there (in addition to touchdown and first down) and Will seems to think football is awesome (he also knows touchdown and is working on first down) so going to a game seemed like it would be right up their alley. However, going to an actual football game, in person, is a bit more complex than just showing up when you have two young kids in tow so this was something we thought for a while about and planned out (like anyone would believe I would go into this without some planning anyway...)
A month or so ago we decided that the first UCF game of the season would be our best bet. It was on a holiday weekend and against a division II team so we figured it would be less crowded than some of our other options (Maryland, anyone?) Plus, kickoff was set for 7pm so it worked out well that we wouldn't be out in the heat of the day. We bought tickets from StubHub and decided on tickets on the visitor's side (though it was all UCF fans in the area) near the band and student section. We were hoping that the band and nearby cheerleaders would help to keep the kids entertained some. We got tickets in Row E so we were pretty close to the action. With that, we were set to cheer on our Knights on the first Saturday of college football season.
Saturday morning we didn't do anything spectacular. We wanted a low key morning since we knew it would be a big afternoon/evening. We spent our morning watching Gameday and then a few football games that we flipped between. Kenzie wanted her nails painted for the game so we had a bit of a mommy/daughter mani session to get ready. She was so excited with her nails. (Bonus points to Daddy who went out during Gameday to Walgreens to get the requested black and gold nailpolish we needed just because he knew it would make her happy.) We put Will down for a nap a bit early and he was asleep by 12:30. Kenzie did her "rest time" in her room for a while.
We started the "wake up Will" routine about 2:30. That little man was not ready for that. We usually just open his door and let him wake up on his own in hopes that he stays a bit happier if it is sort of on his own terms. He woke up okay and we got him dressed but then it all broke down. I wanted to try to get a few pics of the kids in their black and gold gear before heading out and he was NOT having it. We ended up going back and forth between squirrel spying in the backyard (his usual calm down technique) to coming back inside and trying to convince him to take a picture. He would calm down outside and the something would upset him when we got back into the house. Eventually we moved the entire picture plan outside. That worked.
After our picture taking excursion though, everything seemed fine and we headed out towards UCF. It is about a 40 minute drive each way for us so we wanted to leave early to get there since we knew we would have quite the walk once we got there. When we got to campus we had to decide where to park. We had taken a look at our options beforehand so we decided to head towards the front of campus and park in what used to be referred to as the Math and Physics Garage. Now it is Garage B or something like that but we knew it's relation to everything so we figured it would be a good option. We haven't been to that side of campus in quite some time. Things have changed. We actually passed up the garage the first time and had to enter at a different point because I convinced Steven it couldn't be the right garage. I just didn't recognize some of the stuff around it. We parked easily and once we sublocked the kiddos, we were on our way towards the stadium in no time. We decided to take a walk near the Reflection Pond on our way towards the Union. The kids thought it was awesome. We pointed out places we lived or had classes when we went to school there to Kenzie (and Will but he was too busy looking at everything around him). Will and Kenzie walked the entire way to the Reflection Pond and Will thought the water was awesome. We took a few pictures because these are moments I want to remember. It only took Kenzie about 3 minutes before she plopped down on the grass by the fountain between it and the library and looked like a miniature college student. Didn't take her long to figure out the awesomeness of the area and how peaceful it can be. She looked right at home.
After that we headed over towards the old bookstore to see what type of merchandise they had going this year. Kenzie wanted to just hang out in the book area despite none of them being quite her speed and Will wanted to try to remove the clothes from shelves or hide in the clothing racks so we spent most of our time rounding them up rather than actually looking at anything. Eventually we decided to pack it up and head out of the bookstore. There were just too many people in a small area and it wasn't worth the hassle. There was one quick photo op before we walked out though and Kenzie had to be a part of that.
We then headed down to the Union because it was getting close to dinner time and we didn't know what all might be open. As we got close, we realized that we could hear the drumline warming up somewhere nearby. We knew that the rest of the band was stationed outside the Union getting ready to play so we thought the drumline might be heading their way to play with them. Steven ended up walking around the Union to see if he could find them while I hung out with the kids out front just in case the rest of the band played. He disappeared for quite a while. The kids ran in circles making friends with other UCF fans. Steven ended up finding the drumline but they were obviously not moving so he watched them a minute before heading back through the Union to get us.
This is where we hit a bit of a snag. We didn't know what restaurants on campus might be open for dinner on game day so we weren't quite sure yet what we would do. We knew there were a couple of places closer to the stadium but we couldn't walk there and then chance needing to walk back because things were closed or too crowded. Unfortunately, the Union only had Subway and Dominoes opened. The kids will sometimes eat sandwiches, but Subway wasn't a great option. We elected to just get pizza. We figured we could just get a large and if we had left overs, we would just toss them. It was fairly inexpensive anyway so we didn't feel bad about it. We ended up with a large cheese pizza and then for the next 30-45 minutes we sat in awe while our children basically polished off 3 pieces each. We ate their crust but we each only ate 1 full slice of pizza. It was crazy. All of this was after Kenzie had pitched a fit that she didn't want pizza. Then tried to tell us that she didn't like it once we had it. We decided that our kids just get hangry sometimes. She eventually started eating (and drinking water as it was HOT) and then was fine. Needless to say, Steven and I were a bit hungry even after finishing dinner. The kids were happy and full though so we moved on. We decided to strap Will onto my back after dinner because we knew this would be the longest portion of our walk and it was when we would need to mosey through all the tailgaters to get to the stadium. Lots of people. Lots of drunk people. While we were in the Union though, the band came in and we managed to catch some of them warming up in the middle of the Union. Part of our concern with this entire experience was going to be the noise level. Will is not that into loud noises. Sometimes they seem to startle him. He did great though even though the music was LOUD. It was loud even for Steven and myself. Kenzie covered her ears but both kids seemed to think it was cool. Will was on my back too so we think that helped some. He felt comfortable and knew I was "holding" him.
After all that excitement, we set out for the stadium for real because we knew we wanted to get there early enough to see pre-game. We managed to catch the band as they were about to start marching down Memory Mall. Kenzie waved to all of them as they passed. It was adorable. Will just appeared to be in awe of the entire thing. He was just quiet and taking it all in.
The trip through Memory Mall was quick. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Just get through. We went the opposite direction of the band and ended up meeting up with them again outside the arena. We stopped to watch for a few more minutes because they were doing the fight song and chant at this point. Kenzie and Will clapped right along and tried their best to sing as well. I admit (we all know I'm a crier) but something about watching our little ones cheer along with other UCF fans at a game at our alma mater made me tear up. It's so crazy to think that some 14-16 years ago we were little freshman on this campus ourselves and now we are back with our family watching our team play. It was quite amazing actually.
We took another trip into the bookstore by the arena but didn't stay long. It was even more crowded and Kenzie decided she had to potty. We had to run over to the arena for her to go potty. She decided to make a new friend while we were in there. A young college student was sitting on the floor and Kenzie sat down right next to her and struck up a conversation. The girl showed her a video of her friend on her phone that she had been watching and the two of them sat there for a few minutes chatting. I have to stop here and say something about the students and young people (btw... calling them "young people" makes me feel old but I have to remember that I am some 14 years older than a lot of them at this point) we ran into. They were great. I don't remember it being quite like this a few years ago but to their credit, all of them were really nice and friendly with our kids. A few people remarked at how cute Will was and one young girl even said he would be her kid, meaning her kid would be all decked out in UCF gear one day at a game. A couple of girls stopped to tell Kenzie that they really liked her bow. Overall, every student we interacted with (and some were just randomly friendly to us without us saying anything to them first) was great. I'm impressed with this group of kids as a whole. Okay, back to the subject at hand though. =) When we left the arena we happened to catch the parade down the street into the stadium with Pegasus and the knight, the cheerleaders, dancers, and band members. One of the cheerleaders stopped to talk with Kenzie and even let her hold her pom poms and taught her how to shake them. It was so sweet. The dancers waved to Kenzie and Will as they came by. Will got a high five or two. It was awesome. They thought they were so cool. It's so funny the difference in how you do thing with kids versus without. Without kids, we probably wouldn't have stood there and watched them go down the street. With kids, it was one of my favorite moments of the entire day. Kenzie with the UCF cheerleader made my heart happy. She was so excited. Will seeing Pegasus and yelling that it was a horse and horses say "nay!" was adorable. I love moments like this and I hope we always remember them.
We followed the band down to the stadium. We elected to play dumb with the carrier as Will was still on my back and see what happened when we tried to go inside. We were hoping to not need to check it and it all turned out okay. No one said anything to me and once inside, I saw a few other people wearing kiddos so that worked out well. As soon as we entered, there was Knightro. We stopped to take a picture with him because we couldn't pass that up.
We then wandered around the stadium towards our section checking out everything along the way. We found our seats with no problem and after seeing where they were, elected to go down to take a potty break before all the fun started. Once back in our seats, it was time to unveil the new scoreboard. It is quite something.
Before the game started there was an announcement that we would take a 49 second moment of silence in memory of the 49 lives lost in the Pulse shooting. I have never, ever heard a stadium so quiet. It was something and quite an experience. Our city really banded together after that tragedy and the respect for one another is something that although it came out of a terrible tragedy is something I am thankful to have witnessed and been a part of.
The pregame show started after that and the kids thought it was awesome. They cheered right along with everyone around us. Kenzie and Will learned as much of the fight song and chant as they could and tried to sing along. After the National Anthem there was a (slightly late) flyover. Both kids thought that was awesome. Will is obsessed with "zooms" so this was his favorite moment of the day, I'm sure. He yelled about the zoom and told me it was loud. Haha! He waved "bye zoom" when it flew out of sight.
The game itself was so much fun. Although we did spend some time convincing Kenzie that she wasn't "done" with the game yet and it wasn't time to go home. It had been a long day already and she was sort of bored at times. One of my favorite moments was when the band began to play "My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark" aka "Light It Up" according to Kenzie. She recognized it immediately and got so excited. It is one of her favorite songs right now. She is so going to be like her daddy. She can recognize a song after just a note or two even when it is played by a marching band. After the first quarter I took her down (with Will) and bought them popcorn. We figured that would keep them busy. Our goal the entire time was to make it to halftime, see the show, and then head out. Will randomly yelled "GO!" during the entire game and pumped his little fist. Anytime something exciting happened, he would cheer right along with everyone else. Kenzie's favorite part seemed to be when the other team had a third down. The stadium gets LOUD. We would let her stand on the seat and yell along with everyone. She really enjoyed that. After UCF's first touchdown (and the only one we actually saw) we stood up and jumped to Zombie Nation with the entire crowd. Both kids laughed and yelled because apparently it was super exciting. Glad they got to experience "the trampoline" that is Bright House Networks Stadium.
We watched the halftime show though it wasn't as impressive as it could have been because we were on the visitor side so they played away from us. We then headed out of the stadium. It was after 8:00 and both kids were about done. Will was almost asleep on my lap at the end there. We walked half way back to the Union and decided to take a break. To Kenzie's credit, she kept right up with us. We had to slow down half way when she got a stitch in her side from running to keep up. Poor kid. We took about a 15 minute break in the Union and let the kids finish their popcorn they didn't finish in the stadium before we left. I also had to move Will from my front to my back. He is getting too big to carry on my front at this point so it wasn't that comfortable. I don't wear him often anymore anyway and probably haven't had him on my front in 5 or so pounds so I didn't know it would be uncomfortable until we tried it. Anyway, when we left the Union, Kenzie requested to see the fountain one last time and we gladly strolled by there. I should point out that the walk from car to stadium is likely about 1 to 1.5 miles or so. She walked the entire way so taking breaks was a necessity. Her little legs won't take her quite far enough without a break. Will walked part way when we first got there. That surprised us too. He would rather walk than anything else usually though until he gets tired so I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised. The Reflection Pond was so pretty at night. Glad we made one last stop.
We made it back to the car and had the kids in pjs ready for the ride home by about 10pm. It was late, but it was such a good day that we didn't mind. I should probably mention that UCF won. And won big. We are excited to see what Scott Frost does for this team this year (and hopefully in the coming years.) Anyway, both kiddos were out within about 15 minutes. They snored the entire way home and both transitioned to bed like it was nothing. We have them so trained. Haha! Today they slept in. Until 7. =) That is sort of sleeping in around here. We had church this morning but both kids were obviously overtired. Kenzie was crying a lot and Will followed me around crying for a while before church. They had lunch after church and we encouraged Kenzie to take a nap while Will napped. He took almost a 2 hour nap and Kenzie is still sleeping as I write this maybe trying to make her nap closer to 3 hours. That's how we know it was a good (and tiring) day. Kenzie so rarely naps so having her take one (especially a marathon one) tells us that she was tired. Glad she has such fun memories to go along with it though. She told anyone that would listen at church today that she went to the game. Anytime someone asked Will about the game he got excited. If they asked if he had a good time he would nod his head and say "yes" with a big smile. We had a blast too. So glad we decided to go ahead and try this out with the kiddos. We will spend the rest of the football season cheering on our Knights from home, but next year.... we'll be back!
Go Knights!!! Charge on!!!
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