Army vs Notre Dame
And we are off once again. Today we are heading to San Antonio for the Army vs Notre Dame game. Got my toes done in Army colors with our favorite players number (39) on my big toe!
Scott has picked us up and is driving us to the airport this fine morning. We were lucky enough to get first class on this flight as well as TSA pre-check, woo hoo. I think we have been flying out of Sky Harbor international airport so much that we tend to get TSA pre-check quite often when leaving Phoenix, but we usually are not as lucky on our return flights. We arrive at the airport to discover a very long line at check in. It seems odd as there is usually only long lines at the main area for check in with American Airlines, but today the first class check in is mobbed with people. As we approach the line we discover that not only is first class checking in there, but anyone who is considered a priority member, and evidently that is a lot of people! People are moving very slowly and it is truly amazing how many people are so confused by the kiosk process. I guess if it is your first time flying I can see it, but come on, our world is so full of automation these days. Hurry up people. No we are not late and no we don’t need to be in a hurry I just hate waiting LOL.
We are only going for the weekend but we have two fairly large suitcases. One has all of both of our clothes, jackets and personal items, the other well ……………………………. We are heading out a day before everyone else. You see we are all going to attend the Army vs Notre Dame game in the Alamodome but since our kids and grandbabies are in the area we MUST go see them too!! So our second suitcase is full of clothes and shoes for the girls!! I am guilty of spoiling them, as it should be, but am not as crazy as you might think. A friend of mine has 3 girls and was getting rid of a ton of clothes and shoes, and it just so happened that much of it was just the perfect size for our Norah and Lilah.
We get checked in and bags tagged and on their way and head for our gate. Although TSA pre-check is still usually quicker, so many have it now that lines are not as short as they once were. It is still awesome to not have to remove your shoes, or take your computer out of your bag or liquids out of your carry-on. Tracey still ends up having to remove his belt every time, which upsets him just a tad. I clear security with no hesitation and collect my stuff off the conveyor belt and realize Tracey is not right behind me, so I start gathering up his stuff as well. All of our things in hand I move down past the end of the conveyor attempting to get out of the way. Tracey eventually makes it through and it was his belt once again, so he is now waiting for his belt to come through screening so he can put it back on. He has that “errrrr” look on his face.
Once Tracey is redressed we head down to our gate and find a seat. Directly across from where we are sitting is a counter of sorts with stools around it. There are outlets and USB ports along said counter. There are people sitting and standing around using computers and phones that are plugged into this counter. No big deal, nothing out of the ordinary right? Except at the end of the counter is a sign that reads; “Power at this table is undergoing repair and will be back in operation soon. We apologize for the inconvenience”. I had to read the sign again, then rub my eyes and make sure I was seeing what I was seeing!! Tracey and I got a good laugh.
Our friend Jeff James “was nearby” as our Facebook alert tells us. He works for American Airlines. Tracey shoots him a text and tells him what gate we are at, and as usual Jeff takes time out for us. It is so wonderful getting to see him almost every time we are at the airport. Tracey and Jeff talk hunting again, as their hunting trip is fast approaching. I listen occasionally, more people watching and still laughing at all the people who are going to get on a flight with a device which has a dead or dying battery and be wondering why since they just “charged” it.
Our flight was fun as usual, because we make it that way 🙂
We land in San Antonio, grab our luggage and head to the rental car lane to await the shuttle bus to pick us up. Getting our car is pretty painless and doesn’t take as long as we expect from previous experiences. The attendant walks us out to the lot and gives us a choice of 3 different vehicles. Tracey makes his choice a 2017 Chevy Traverse, he says Robert drives one so it must be okay! We load our bags in the back and head to the exit. The next attendant, the one manning the exit gate, checks our paperwork and sends us on our way. We are pretty familiar with the area but I still get a little confused leaving the airport and getting on the freeway, so I turn the navigation on my phone on to direct us to Chris and Rachel’s house and we are on our way. Once on the freeway, we don’t need the navigation anymore as it has all become familiar already. We are excited to be in early enough to perhaps pick the girls up from school, so we call Rachel to make the arrangements, only to discover that Miss Norah doesn’t have school on Thursdays and we might not make it in time to get Lilah. What a bummer.
We drive on, just chatting away. Go figure, us chatting. Funny how we don’t seem to run out of things to say. We evidently got so engrossed in our conversation that Tracey almost misses our exit! But he safely makes a beeline across the right hand lane and off the exit ramp. As we are driving in the neighborhood just past Lilah’s school we see Rachel and Norah heading toward the school to pick up Lilah. I guess we could have made it if we had the appropriate paper to claim her from her teacher. But instead we honk and wave, as Norah waves with enthusiasm as she tries to steer her bike. I was afraid she was going to crash before we could get past her so she could stop waving. They went on to the school to get Lilah and we went on to the house. We have the garage code so we let ourselves in and put our stuff in our room. Yes our room!! and I will never let anyone say otherwise LOL. We walk out onto the back deck so we can watch them as they walk back home. They have to walk across the street as there is no sidewalk on the side where their house is, so they can’t hear us yelling at them until they are very close. They stop right across the street and wave and smile and giggle. We watch them until they round the corner out of site and then we walk through the house and out the front door to await their arrival.
We wait and we wait and we wait and we wait. It seems like an eternity has passed and they still haven’t rounded the corner back into site on their street. We are worse than little kids, we are so anxious we keep talking each other out of walking around the block to see if we find them. Let’s go, no let’s wait, no let’s go, no let’s wait when finally we see them rounding the corner at the end of the street!! yay. we can barely control ourselves and we are the adults here LOL. The girls finally look up from their conversation with their mom to see us waiting at the end of the driveway. Lilah starts to skip towards us, Norah gets off her bike and pushes it towards her mom and takes off running towards us. We can hear Rachel yelling at them to stay out of the street, watch for cars, be careful , but not sure the girls heard her. They run the rest of the way home pretty much staying on the sidewalk and hesitating at driveways to check for cars, and run all the way right into our arms!! Just like heaven on earth I do believe. These two little girls stole our hearts the minute they were born and never gave them back.
Lilah does her homework and it is not too long before we head just outside the neighborhood and across the highway to Cedar Springs Restaurant for dinner. The girls like to eat there and so do we so it is a great fit. As we sit and chat at our table and munch on our appetizers, Tracey strikes up conversation with a veteran sitting behind him. I know surprise surprise! The gentleman was wearing a veteran hat and Tracey wanted to thank him for his service. They discussed his service during the Vietnam War and he shared with Tracey that he lost most of his hearing. They then got into an in depth conversation about his new hearing aides. Tracey was very interested as they were adjusted with an app on his phone and had the ability to block out background noise in situations like a noisy restaurant. Made Tracey think they would be great for his mom 🙂
Our food soon arrives and Tracey ends his conversation and returns to our table. We enjoy listening to the girls chatter and share their days with us as we eat. When we finish dinner it is back to the house for showers and bedtime as they both have school the following day. After their showers the girls take turns bringing me their essential oils and having me rub their feet. (they say mommy doesn’t do it right!) And it is off to bed for the girls. Rachel is not far behind them, and Tracey and I not far behind her.
Good morning and Happy Veteran’s Day! Lilah has informed us that her school is having some sort of Veteran’s day program although she isn’t clear on exactly what they are doing she does know without a doubt that she is allowed to bring a Veteran with her to the program! Of course she has chosen her favorite Veteran, her Papa. So Tracey is up and ready and headed off to her school to meet up with her. Evidently the students only got to attend the program if they brought a Veteran so when Tracey checks in at the school office, they have to retrieve Lilah from her classroom so that she can go with Papa. She is grinning ear to ear when she comes out of class and sees Papa standing there. They go together to the cafeteria to join the program in progress.
During the program at different times they ask Veteran’s of each branch of service to stand and be recognized. Lilah tugs on Papa’s shirt as he stands for the second time, “Papa you already stood up” she says. Papa tries to explain that he served in both the Navy and the Marines during his time of active duty. He must of done okay as she beams with pride and gives him a big hug. After that each Veteran is handed a packet, made by the students full of drawings and thank you letters. Tracey begins to open and peek inside, only to realize the gentleman behind him is crying from reading his. Tracey quickly closes his packets and tells Lilah he is saving it to read later at home, not sure he has even read it at all 🙂 Once the program is complete, Tracey walks Lilah back to her class and heads back to the house.
In the meantime, Chris and I had driven Norah to school and picked up 6-shooters for he and Tracey. I don’t like coffee EVER, but if you do this is the bomb diggity I guess.
Tracey and I head to the airport to pick up Leslie and Larry, woo hoo. We circle once before getting a text that they are out on the curb ready to be picked up. We pull up and get out. We hug Larry and go to hug Leslie, only to have her back off and tell us she is sick, oh no.
She is not sure what is going on, but is covered in hives and has stomach pains, yikes. We give her a quick hug anyways and load everything into the car and we are headed back to the house. Leslie and Larry are shown to their room and given quick tour of the house before we all settle on the couches to watch the U of A game on tv.
Rachel and Chris place an order at Rudy’s BBQ and we all settle in for the night.
Leslie retired early as she wasn’t feeling well at all and was the last to get up on Saturday morning. I should say the last to get out of bed as I don’t think she slept much of the night. Larry was concerned at one point and thought maybe we should take her to the ER. I have always heard that doctors make the worst patients, and I now know that is true. Leslie didn’t want to go to the ER, even though she didn’t know what was going on. By the time we have all gotten up, showered, gotten ready for the day and eaten breakfast, Larry sends me upstairs to check on Leslie, see if we need to get her to a doctor. I don’t find her in their room, where he said she was sleeping last time he went up. I do find her blow drying her hair in the bathroom 🙂 she is sitting down while doing so, but she has showered and is dressed. I am hopeful even though she confirms she does not feel any better. It is about this time the nanny shows up to watch the girls while we head into San Antonio to watch the Army football game. She greets everyone and gets to playing with the girls right away. We load up the cars and head toward the city.
We have reservations at a hotel right on the riverwalk for the night so we are all a little excited.
We hit downtown as the Veteran’s day parade is ending and it seems like every street in San Antonio is closed. Okay well just every street the parade is not on, okay well every street we need to get on!! We lose Chris as we exit the freeway and are now on our own to find our way to the hotel, yikes. Of course google keeps telling us to turn on streets that are closed off. At least google does not say “recalculating” because it would have sounded like a broken record.
After going way out of our way, we now know where the Alamodome is, and the Alamo, and lots of hotels besides ours. We have circled at least twice before we decide we need to turn down a closed street to get to our hotel. Larry pops out of the car and moves some cones so Tracey can navigate a right turn, and Larry jumps back in. We need to make one more right turn but there is a police officer in our way. As he is attempting to wave us off to the left, we are trying to explain we are trying to checked in to that hotel RIGHT THERE!!!! He grumbles as he gives in and allows us to turn the corner and pull right up to our hotel. Whew that was a tough one.
We are early for check in so of course none of our rooms are ready. We check our bags with the bell hop while we wait for our rooms to become available. We get a text from Chris saying they are in the bar across from the registration desk in the lobby. We soon join them for a quick beer before we head over to the game.
We decide that if we had such a hard time getting to our hotel, then taxis and ubers probably can’t get here either. That means we head out on foot toward the Alamodome. It is not a bad walk and doesn’t really take that long. About ¾ of the way there we are met up by our niece Kayley and her girlfriend. You see Kayley is the whole reason we are here, her boyfriend is the captain of the Army team.
They walk the rest of the way with us to the game. The closer we get to the Alamodome the more crowded it becomes. The excitement builds, so glad we were able to make the trip. We stop to pose for a picture before going in to find our seats.
Thanks to Leslie we have great seats in the end zone! Because it is Army the pre-game is more patriotic than other games and we love it!
The game is exciting because we know someone on the field but unfortunately his team did not fair too well this game.
After the game we join the families outside the stadium waiting for their sons to come out for hugs and pictures. I guess this is the norm, I have just never had anyone I know playing I guess 🙂 We are corralled into an area surrounded by barriers. This must be what cattle feel like. As we stand in this small cramped area, more and more family members of players are showing up so now that group they “corralled” has expanded outside the barriers again. Now security is pushing us to the other side of the street to await the players. It seems like forever but it probably wasn’t really that long before players start wandering out of the tunnel. Before long Jeremy is spotted by his family, where he receives a lot of hugs, high fives, fist bumps and loving comments. With every thing on his mind and his family their for him, Jeremy still takes time to come over to us and give hugs and thank us for coming to watch him play. He even posed for pictures with all of us!
We leave him with his family as the team is headed by to New York tonight and we head off to grab some dinner.
We remember seeing a brazilian steak house along our walk to the stadium so we are headed there. It was easy enough to find again and we are seated rather quickly even though there are 7 of us. Leslie is still not feeling well and only lasts a short while until she excuses herself and goes back to the hotel to rest.
We have a great meal and even better conversation, before calling it a night and heading back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel we take a walk along the Riverwalk and try to get tickets for the boat tour. We finally find where you buy the tickets only to discover they are already closed for the night. Tracey and I head back to the hotel while the others enjoy more of the Riverwalk and find a place for cocktails. We check in on Leslie before calling it a night.
Sunday we leisurely get up and get ready. Larry and Kayley have said they are heading over to the Alamo for some sightseeing but will meet us back at the hotel to take the riverboat tour before heading to the airport.
We head down to meet Chris and Rachel for breakfast. While trying to find them we see Larry and Kayley at a table on the other side of the restaurant. We say hello and they are headed to the Alamo, while we join Chris and Rachel for breakfast. After breakfast we gather our bags from our rooms and check them with the bell hop and all meet in the lobby. Leslie is still not feeling well but she is going to join us on the boat ride. We walk to the ticket booth and buy our tickets and await our boat.
The tour was interesting and beautiful and enjoyed even more because we were all together.
Once the tour was over we went back to the hotel and gather our belongings. Chris and Rachel head home to see their babies and get ready for company they are having over to watch football, and we head to drop Leslie, Larry and Kayley at the airport. Since our flight is still 5 hours later we decide to go see our grandbabies for a few hours. When we arrive at the house, some of the guests are already there watching football. We more or less sneak in and kidnap the girls and their carseats. We take them to one of their favorite places, Buc-ee’s. For whatever reason they love this place. For those that don’t know, it is a gas station on steroids! There must be upwards of 120 gas pumps, a 68,000 sq ft store and more than 80 bathroom stalls!!!! WOW. We love the store for the rustic handmade decor for sale and recently discovered AMAZING apple butter!! We end up buying a christmas ornament and decoration and apple butter and cobblers to take home. Okay not exactly take home, it will need to be shipped to us! The girls are not interested in toys or stuff this time, just a snack. They each get to pick a snack for now and one for later this evening after dinner. We spend an hour or so wandering around with the girls enjoying their exploration of new things. Eventually we head back to the house, where the girls excitedly show everyone their snacks. We meet and chat with the friends that are there for football and food. We have a snack and watch some football before we have to head back to the airport.
Does it ever get easier leaving? Doesn’t seem to me for even though I know I will be back again soon.
What a great time we had, looking forward to next time!
ps, oh yeah Doc Leslie upon arriving back in Tucson went to the ER!!! She is feeling much better now 🙂