The Big Reveal

Sunday November 16th, 2008 will go down in history as Travis and Tanner's very first Bengals game. That was my big surprise. Since my tailgating days may be limited once Miss Mia comes home, I decided I wanted to take my nephews along for our traditional once yearly game.

The day was a cold one. And it started out a little wet from some snow flurries. But it was good football weather. For Ohio. We snapped a quick pic of the team taking the field.
But before heading over to the game, my crew taught the boys the fine art of tailgating. The first lesson is how to properly hang out in a parking lot. Tanner caught on immediately.
Next was eating. Lots of eating. Oh and drinking. But the boys stuck with soda.
Then, of course, it was time for cornhole, cornhole and more cornhole.
Check out the old school bus in the background painted orange with black tiger stripes. Now that's cool. The boys loved all the crazy team spirit they were witness to.
Travis has a good pitch but the guys let him take a few extra steps up since his arms are shorter than theirs. Notice the scoreboards, Tracy? (I had to rig them up for the parking lot. Not everyone can play on sandy beaches. LOL! Pretty inventive, wouldn't you say?) Although Craig committed a huge cornhole foul here by placing his beer on the board instead of in the handy dandy cup holder. And yes, that's a Bengals fan canoodling with her boyfriend who is an Eagles fan. Proof that love can overcome all obstacles, I guess.
Tanner giving a huge effort on the toss as evidenced by the look on his face.
Trisha is due to give birth in January. To TWINS! Now this girl is a trooper. And no I didn't hurt my hand as everyone kept asking throughout the day. That is a heated arthritis wrap thing. I wore one on both hands. Also had one of these on my back. And I hooked up both of the boys with their own, too. I'm no rookie tailgater. You gotta stay warm any way you can.
I had to snap this pic. Travis was totally chillin', watching the game, just munching down on that soft pretzel.
In spite of some initial complaints of their freezing feet, the boys really had a good time. And thankfully, the Bengals didn't lose the game. Well, they didn't win either. In fact, it was a tie. A very rare thing in NFL football. Leave it to the bumblings of our hometown team to pull that one off. But these days being a fan means just appreciating when you don't have to suffer thru another loss. Yes our expectations are low. LOL!
Oh and for all my Georgia blog mamas who think it's overkill for me to bring a cooler full of jello shots to our 3 day sleepovers..... this is pre-game.
And this is post-game. Now maybe you'll understand why it's just a reflex action for me to make so many. LOL!
PS. Don't worry. The 11 year old drove us home. Kidding, people.... kidding. He only steered. The 8 yr old laid on the floor to push the gas and brake pedals. I mean.. c'mon. It's not like he's tall enough to reach them himself. LOL!