Taco Tuesday

Last month a new restaurant opened in Gilbert. This wasn't just any new restaurant though. It was one of my dad's favorites.

I'm not really sure if Filiberto's is one of my dad's favorite restaurants, but I know that he has called Todd and I on any given day, at any given time, wondering if there was a Filiberto's nearby wherever he happened to be. And let's be real, we NEVER knew. I have to admit that I have never even been to a Filiberto's, but my dad swears by their breakfast burritos, and I'd heard from several members of the family that their rolled tacos were good too. But again, I'd never been there.

So last month, right after they opened, the four of us met my parents on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. That was fun enough, but added to that, their tacos were only $1. I think the 6 of us ordered 15 tacos. It was so much fun. And they were so good. And for the first time, neither Todd nor I really cared about the mess the kids made. Okay, that might be a little bit of a stretch, but we did decide that we'd give each of the kids their own taco and see how it went.

Ha. It was hilarious to watch them try to figure out the best, and easiest, way to eat a taco.

Here's Isaac with the taco in front of him. He wasn't to thrilled with the shredded lettuce, but oddly enough, he loves salads...

Finally after removing most of the lettuce, Isaac decided he was ready to give it a try.

I think he was a little unhappy with the taste in his mouth, because all he was biting into was the shell. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and...

flipped his taco over to eat it bottom side up!

As you can imagine, eating a taco from the bottom up isn't the most efficient, clean or best way to eat a taco, so Isaac ended up eating most of his taco from a pile on his plate.

He didn't seem to mind though. He continued to pick at the meat and cheese and ate most of his taco.

Unfortunately you can't see his almost-empty plate, but he did enjoy his first taco. And to top it all off, Filiberto's was giving away free churros too. Score!

We've only been back to Filiberto's once since then, and I've been once by myself, but I think we'll be eating their more often. After all, Tuesdays and "Taco Tuesdays" and that means tacos are only $1.50 each. You can't beat that!

I know, I know...

I promised a post all about Isaac, but I needed to get this down first.

Since it's the end of September, it means that Halloween is just around the corner. Now, I must say, I absolutely hate Halloween. I just do. I think I always have. Don't get me wrong, I think I have some good Halloween memories from growing up. I think.

But, I still don't like it. I thought that might change when I had kids. I'd be able to pick out their costumes for the first couple of years, hopefully dress them in some coordinating costumes (like last years princess and frog), and enjoy taking them trick or treating. Again, I thought that would make Halloween better. And to some degree it has. It's fun to know that Dylan remembers that she gets treats on Halloween, and that when she goes to the door she says trick or treat (how does she remember that after a year???). I've even considered hosting a Halloween party for some of the friends in the neighborhood with crafts and food and all that fun stuff. But I just can't bring myself to do it. I can't get into it.

But, I'm veering away from my original topic. You know, the memory I wanted to record.

I realized that my daughter is strong-willed and opinionated. Some might call her stubborn (actually most would call her stubborn), but stubborn sounds so negative so I prefer "strong-willed" and "knows her own mind." I knew that if I wanted any chance of Dylan putting on a costume this year, I needed to let her make the choice. In my mind I saw my kids as Jack and Jill, or Raggedy Ann and Andy, or even Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. I was imagining the cute pictures we would take and the memories preserved. Silly me.

When I asked Dylan what she wanted to be for Halloween she thought for a moment then stated she wanted to be a bee.

"A what??" I asked.

She said, "A bee, you know the ones that go bzzzzz."

Great, what was Isaac supposed to be? I racked my brain trying to figure it out. I thought, maybe I can let Isaac be the bee and Dylan can be a flower. That would be cute. When I asked Dylan what she thought Isaac should be, she again stopped to think.

She then responded, "A ladybug."

Nice. I don't think Todd's going to go for that, so now I'm stuck racking my brain trying to figure out how in the world I can dress my daughter up as a bumblebee and how in the world I can get my son to coordinate.

Do you see why I hate Halloween???

Dylan's Party...The Final Birthday Post

Since I have so many other things I'd like to highlight here, I thought I'd better go in chronological order. This post will highlight Dylan's family birthday party and her birthday celebration at school. I promise, not a lot of words, but quite a few pictures. Besides, don't they say a picture is worth a thousand words? After a few of my last posts, I thought it best to remember that this time.

As I said earlier, Dylan's only request for her birthday was a pink cake with strawberries and candles. At one point she mentioned flowers too, so this is what I came up with...

Dylan helped me mix the batter for her cake, and enjoyed licking the spatula when we were done. We popped the cake in the oven and off she went to quiet time. Once the cake was baked and cooled, Todd and I frosted the cake with white frosting and proceeded to frost twinkies with strawberry frosting. We weren't sure how much it looked like a flower (I think all the twinkies should have been in half instead of just some...hindsight is 20/20) but Dylan saw her cake before her party and immediately said it was a flower! Woohoo!

Most of her cousins were here and so was our neighbor. We sang, ate cake and ice cream, then proceeded to unwrap the mountain of presents she had accumulated.

Dylan had some great help opening her gifts, and was pleased with all of them. There was so much chaos that I'm not sure how much excitement she actually showed that evening, but trust me, she remembered every single thing she received and has asked about each of them on any given day. Kobi and Kylee were great helpers and even covered her eyes when Todd and I gave Dylan her gift. Needless to say, I wondered if she would appreciate our gift but as soon as she saw the cradle, she ran from the kitchen to her bedroom and retrieved her baby doll, ran back to the kitchen and immediately put baby doll into the cradle and proceeded to rock her the rest of the evening. I'm happy to know she liked her cradle!

On Monday we set off for school with some frosted sugar cookies so Dylan could celebrate her birthday with her classmates. I was able to get to school in time to snap a few photos of Dylan in her birthday crown and eating the cookies we brought. Her teacher, Miss Sarah had even put a sign in the front yard recognizing the day. Of course, I had to get a picture of the birthday girl with her sign too.

Finally, the birthday celebration is complete, and we can all move on to other topics.

Coming up next...a post all about Isaac! The poor boy has taken a backseat recently, and I have just the post for him!

All About Dylan Part 3

It's lunch time today, which means more cupcakes. Such fun! We had cupcakes and cheese and fruit and crackers. Of course, the cupcakes were the first to go, but the rest was eaten as well. Is our lunch considered a well-balanced meal??? I doubt it, but the kids sure liked it.

Along with lunch I gave Dylan her next toy...a Strawberry Shortcake puzzle. If you saw from the first birthday post, Dylan loves puzzles. It's been a favorite during quiet time...both for Dylan and for me. As long as she has her Mickey Mouse puzzle, she's content and quiet. Her puzzle was only 25 pieces and and for ages 3 and up. But she's gotten so good at it, there's barely any challenge. I found a Strawberry Shortcake one at the dollar store that had 63 pieces and was for ages 5 and up. The pieces were smaller, and there were lots more of them, but Dylan wanted to try it immediately.

We sat down with the puzzle after putting Isaac to bed, and I'm simply amazed at the patience Dylan has. She has no patience for me trying to teach her something, or me helping her with her homework, but she has all the patience in the world for putting a puzzle together. I helped her some by pointing out things to look for or how to figure out where some pieces might go, but not a whole lot. She sat and worked on that puzzle for about 40 minutes. But she did it. All of it. And she immediately wanted to take it apart and do it again. Instead, we crumbled it up, put it in the box and trotted off (happily!) to quiet time so she could put her puzzle together in her room.

This toy was a winner! I may have to go buy a couple more $1 puzzles for her.

All About Dylan Part 2

So our next little toy for Dylan was something she's never played with before. And oh my goodness was it the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. I found a cute Strawberry Shortcake jump rope and wanted to see how Dylan would play with it. She knew exactly what it was, but had no coordination to use it. But that didn't stop her from trying.

Not long after, it became a leash to pull Isaac around the house, then after that it became a toy to trail behind her and she had me sing while she danced in circles with the rope coiling up behind her. It should be fun to see how her coordination picks up as she learns to use this new toy.

All About Dylan

Today is Dylan's birthday. I have a three year old. I love that. We've been hyping Dylan's birthday all week long...and longer I suppose. For about a month I've been asking her about her birthday. She's told me repeatedly that she wants candles, and presents. She's also said she wants a pink birthday cake with strawberries. Those items have been her criteria repeatedly, and she hasn't wavered. I thought for sure she would change her mind a hundred times, but she never did.

Today I'll post numerous times (alright, maybe three or four times) throughout the day. Mainly these posts will be for Todd since he isn't here to share this day with Dylan.

Last year, for Dylan's birthday, I made cupcakes so we could celebrate all day long. We had cupcakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and whenever else we felt like it throughout the day. Now, before anyone gets on me about healthy eating habits, I gave her "real" food also. But, also throughout the day I gave her some little trinkets that I found at the dollar store. The theme last year was Little Mermaid. She had so much fun whenever I gave her a new toy or present. We had so much fun on her birthday, that I knew it had to become a tradition. A day of cupcakes and presents for birthdays. How can you not celebrate all day long, as much as possible on a day that only comes once a year?

I had a little bit more trouble with a theme this year. Dylan doesn't have a favorite show or cartoon character. I don't think she quite gets what favorite means. But, since she was adamant about pink cake and strawberries, of course my mind went immediately to Strawberry Shortcake. She was one of my favorites growing up and she's making a solid comeback with kids again. So, yesterday began my hunt for all things Strawberry Shortcake.

This morning Dylan woke up and stayed in her room. There was no doubt what she was doing. I crept down the hall with the camera to capture what my 3-year old loves to do.

I told her we had a special breakfast and we needed to get dressed and get Isaac up. We went to the kitchen, and I proceeded to frost a couple of cupcakes. Dylan loved hers, and Isaac loved the frosting. I also gave them bananas to eat with their cupcakes. Isaac figured out the easiest way to eat his cupcake too. He ate all the frosting off without touching it and then shoved his finiger in the middle of it and ate it like a sucker. It was hilarious. My favorite part of the meal was when Dylan's cupcake was gone and asked Isaac to share with her. He gave her some cupcake, then, seeing she hadn't eaten her banana (he had eaten his) he requested some of her banana. And so, the trading began. Cupcakes for bananas, you can't beat that.

I gave Dylan her first gift of the day. A Strawberry Shortcake DVD. Dylan has no idea who Strawberry Shortcake is so I didn't get much of a response. I expected this so I explained that it was a new movie we would go downstairs and watch. I really hope she gets it, or else this whole theme thing is going to fly right out the window.

Luckily, I started to movie and Dylan was instantly mesmorized. She didn't take her eyes off the tv and even Isaac was spellbound for awhile. Todd even called to talk to Dylan and even though I paused the movie, her eyes would not be diverted. Too funny.

I'll update some more later as Dylan gets some more treats and trinkets. After all, this day is all about Dylan.

Not Forgotten...

This whole week I've been so busy preparing for Dylan's birthday tomorrow. Last minute shopping, final preparations for her party and just getting her excited in general. Of course, part of my prep work included trying to decide how I could adequately and appropriately pay tribute to my soon-to-be three-year old. I went back to last year's birthday post, and as I read it I was reminded of something about Dylan's birth; in no way, shape or form did I want her born on the 11th. Not at all. It was not a day I wanted her to have to share with such a huge tragedy in our country. I was adamant about it. My daughter would not be born on September 11th. And that was when it hit me; today was the 11th.

I knew that it was coming. I'd been seeing all the news events and the local tributes and all of the made-for-tv movies, but it didn't really sink in that it was here.

September 11th was such a different day for me than for most people I know. To me, it wasn't the 11th that haunts me. It was officially the 12th... and the 13th. I had friends who lived in NY at the time and I can't imagine what this day was like for them. I don't think anyone can understand what it must have been like to be there. But I can't even comprehend what they day must have been like for millions of Americans.

You see, on that day, I was on a plane. I was coming home from my first trip to Europe. I was with two friends, and originally, our flight was supposed to stop at JFK. Instead, we changed our tickets and ended up taking a non-stop flight to LAX. After my trip was over I scrapbooked my trip, with a special few pages dedicated to the September 11th tragedy. Part of those pages included quite a long journal entry about how I was affected that day.

Because this blog is partly a journal for me, I wanted to copy down those pages of my memories of that day...

This morning Diana and I woke up in our London hotel room at 4:30 so we could meet Nikki and Aileen out front to catch our cab to the Heathrow airport. They were meeting us at 5:15 for the 40-minute cab ride. We arrived at the airport at about 6am and checked in. We sat around the terminal until Nikki and Aileen boarded their 7:55 non-stop flight from Heathrow to San Francisco. Diana and I then waited until our 8:50am flight was ready to depart. Once situated on the plane, we settled in to watch movies and remember the trip we just had. Diana and I were already planning our next trip for the following year.

After my second movie ended, I turned on the "map" feature so I could track our flight and see where we were and how much time was left before we were to arrive in LA. The screen showed that we were somewhere over Canada and there were 3 hours and 48 minutes left before we were to reach LA. Instead of turning on a new movie, I watched the screen a while longer and noticed that our "time to destination" had changed from 3 hours 48 minutes, to 58 minutes. I noticed on our map that our destination had also changed. At first it looked as though we were going to Chicago, but as the map zoomed in, I saw that it was Winnipeg, Canada. My first reaction was that United was nuts because they had some other plane's flight path tapped into our monitors.

After seeing the same information a second time, the captain came on the PA. He said: "Ladies and gentlemen, some of you may be watching the flight pattern on your screens and notice that our intended destination is Winnipeg, Canada. We have been requested to land in Winnipeg and that is all I know. I don't know why we are being asked to land, I can only tell you that there is nothing wrong mechanically with the plane. We'll update you as we learn more."

Of course, we cracked jokes and said there was a bomb on the plane, or wondered if we were picking up passengers because our flight was so empty and we even took bets on how long we would be on the ground, but no one knew why we were landing. We landed at about 11 or 11:30 am Central time and once on the ground the captain came on again and said we were not going to the airport terminal but being requested to go to a remote location. Then the thoughts of a bomb became more real.The "remote" location turned out to be a military base. We saw the jets and the carriers and then the Army vehicles as well. We knew there must not be a bomb on the plane, because the captain came back on the PA and said that we were being asked not to deplane but to sit and wait for further information.

After about an hour, we received our next update from the captain. "There have been 4 or 5 plane crashes and there are 7 or 8 planes missing." We didn't know where the crashes had taken place or anything else but that. A half-hour later the captain told us that 2 planes had hit the World Trade Center, one had hit the Pentagon and another was on the ground being held by hijackers, and now there were 4 or 5 planes unaccounted for. We were also told that the US airspace had been closed.

Little by little we were learning more information about the events in the US, especially NY. We finally heard which airlines were involved and upon hearing that some were United, Diana and I immediately wondered if Nikki and Aileed were ok as they had left an hour before us. We had no idea where the planes originated, only that three were headed for LA and one for San Francisco. We were starting to receive updates more often now and our whole flight was panicking. Only two phones on the plane worked and it took roughly 10-15 minutes to find an open line. We were told that another flight with 350 passengers was going to deplane before us and that it would be 4-5 hours before we could get off the plane. In the mean time, they had patched our in-flight audio system to a local radio station so we could hear the news about what was happening. This was the first time the severity of what happened really hit me, but you can't imagine anything like this happening until you actually see the video footage.

Finally at about 9pm local time, I was able to get through to mom and dad. I used the phone on the plane, and it cost me a fortune. It was $10 just to connect the call, then $10 for each minute. I knew that mom was tracking my flight and that she must have known we landed in Winnipeg, but I also knew that she would want to hear my voice. With all the time changes we had been through in the last two weeks, when I heard that the first plane hit the WTC at 8:45, I immediately thought that mom was already at work and hadn't seen the tv nor really wondered about me because she could track the flight. Once I got through and talked with her, she told me that it was at 6am when Shanen called her and told her to turn on the tv. They were both panicking and wondering where my flight was. It didn't help at all that one of the United flight numbers was 93, and my flight number was 933. Mom told me during that phone call that there were many anxious moments and that she was hysterical. She also told me that my friend had called her even before she had left for work wondering if she had heard from me. I talked with both mom and dad before hanging up, letting them know that I was ok and that I would call again when we got off the plane.

Finally at 11pm our plane began to deplane. In groups of 20, we were led off the plane. My group of 20 finally got off and 11:30. At the bottom of the stairs that led from the top of the plane, an armed guard from the military base met us. Passengers had their own military escort and we were asked to take all of our carry-on luggage and put it in a line flat on the ground. Our guard stood behind us. There were floodlights so we could see, and police officers all over the place. From the right side of the line, a police officer led his canine down the row of bags so that the dog could detect any type of bomb or anything else that might seem dangerous or suspicious. Once the dog finished, a second dog was led back up the row of bags, then a third dog to check again. It would normally seem to be a little overly cautious, but in light of the circumstances, everyone was glad that such precautions were being taken.

From there we were asked to retrieve our bags and to accompany our guard to positively ID our checked luggage. I grabbed mine and off we went through 4 different customs stations. We showed our passports and spoke with the customs officials and police officers, and even after such a long day, everyone wsa very friendly and had continuous words of encouragement. We were even told that we could stay in Canada for up to 6 months, which sounded like a good option at the time. When we reached the fifth station inside the hangar, there were long rows of tables so that each of our bags could be hand searched. My first thought was "how embarrassing" my second thought was, "thank goodness that this is being done, I wouldn't want anything to be overlooked." Our guard then followed us into a side room where at least 30 police officers were waiting to question us individually. This is where my military escort left me. I met with a very nice lady who took all of the normal information (ie, name, address, phone number, where we were headed, what we were doing) then she asked if I was scared to fly again and how this had affected me emotionally. I told her that I would be fine getting on a plane again, because I knew that they wouldn't let us back in the air until everything was safe and secure.

We finished chatting and she walked me outside to a city bus that was waiting to take us to the provided hotel. (I was originally in a separate hotel from Diana and Frank, but after telling the representative from Canada Air, she found me a room at the TraveLodge so that I could be with them. She said that at times like this, it was important to be with friends and not be alone. She was great.) We got to our hotel in downtown Winnipeg and checked into our rooms and I opened my door at 12:43am. All in all I had been awake for 27 hours, but I didn't go to sleep then. I turned on the tv, and for the first time, I saw the tragedies that had occurred throughout the day. The images that I had in my mind based on the radio accounts were nothing compared to what I saw on the tv that night. I was glued to the television and couldn't turn it off. Finally, at about 3am I fell asleep with the tv on and the night was finally over.

What my journal entry didn't cover was what happened on the days that followed.

I had seen a local college and assumed that if there was a college, there must be an institute building. If there was an institute, there had to be a singles ward, which meant a bishop. Diana and I called the bishop the next morning, and his wife came and picked us up immediately and took us to our home. We watched the news and she made us lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches never tasted so good. She showed us around Winnipeg and we had dinner with the bishop and his wife that evening. It was so comforting to know that no matter where we were, or what our circumstances were, there was someone we could turn to for help and comfort. It was an amazing lesson to learn.

We never got an exact time we were going to leave Winnipeg to return home. We got some falst alarms now and again, but eventually, we left for the airport. We had a flight to LA, the only flight leaving Winnipeg that day (there were three flights diverted to Winnipeg, ours and two others). We went through some serious security (where they confiscated all the swiss army knives I bought in Switzerland for family members...and that I never got returned. They were supposed to be mailed to me.) and finally boarded our flight. It took hours of sitting around the airport but finally on Thursday the 13th, we headed home.

It was an eerie feeling arriving at LAX. For anyone who's been there, you know just how busy that airport is. This day it was anything but. I have a picture of the terminal board listing all arriving and departing flights. On that board every single flights said either delayed or cancelled. Our flight was the only flight that said arrived. Walking outside, there were no cars. Just the bus that was going to take us to an off site parking lot to meet our families and hundreds of police officers. Officers walking around, officers in cars, officers on motorcycles and officers on bikes. No limos, or hotel vans or car rental transports. No one dropping off or picking up. And the most eerie sound of all...no planes taking off or landing over our heads. It was completely silent.

I'm not quite sure how to sum up all that I felt over the course of those few days, or even how I feel about those events now. I do know that Septemeber 11th changed America and nothing will ever be the same again.

Orange and Blue

**I'm so sorry for how long this is...
but I didn't want to forget anything or leave anything out!**

About a month ago I got an e-mail from an old teammate. She sent the e-mail out to all the former players she had contact information for, and wanted to know how many of us were planning on attending the University of Florida vs. Miami football game. Needless to say, I was not planning to attend. I've only been to a few Gator games since graduation, and none of them had been back in Gainesville. I have been on campus since graduating, but not for about 4 years.

A couple of days later, another e-mail was sent out that suggested we hold a reunion for all the former softball players before the Miami game and make a weekend of it. I wasn't sure I wanted to go, wasn't sure we had the money for me to go (or at least spend the money to let me go) and I was pretty sure there was no way I could even get tickets for a sold-out game. It was going to be a lot of money for a lot of "ifs" and not a lot of time.

Todd was great about it and said if I wanted to go, he'd take a day off work to watch the kids so I could travel back to Florida on Friday, see the game on Saturday night, and return home on Sunday. So, I bought my plane ticket, made a car reservation and booked a hotel room. I still had my reservations because I didn't have tickets to the game. Another couple weeks later I was talking to Todd's mom and telling her about my quick trip back to school to see my former teammates and catch a game. She was great and offered to take the kids so Todd could go back with me.

Another plane ticket was bought and I put in a call to my neighbor. He was going to be my best bet for tickets to the game without having to spend $200 per ticket from a scalper the day of the game. When Todd and I went to the National Championship game in 2007 it was our neighbor who scored us the tickets. We lucked out. He works for a ticketing company that has contracts with most of the colleges around the country and the Fiesta Bowl. He's called in a lot of favors for Todd and I, and I can't even begin to express my gratitude for all he's done for us.

I put the call in next door asking if there was any way he could find two tickets for us. I didn't really have a lot of hope because I knew the game had been sold out for months and that Miami had even oversold the number of tickets they had available for the game. But, I figured it was worth a try. If he could score tickets to a National Championship game, a Florida game she be simple, right?

Wrong!

But, we'll get to that in a little bit.

Todd and I had an early morning flight on Friday (and by early, I mean our flight left at 6am), and we flew to Orlando. We got in about about 3pm local time, took our shuttle to the car rental agency and drove about two hours to our hotel. We checked in and hung out for a few minutes before leaving for another 30 minute drive to Gainesville. That's right, because of the big game, there was absolutely no hotel room available in Gainesville so we stayed about 30 miles south in Ocala. Not fun, but not awful either.

We drove to Gainesville and the first thing on our list was to find Todd and Gator t-shirt. There was no way I was going to let any ASU item of clothing make it on this trip, and he needed to experience a Florida game the right way...wearing Orange and Blue. Since Miami's colors are green and orange, blue was the color of the day. There would be no mistaking who we were rooting for! After securing a shirt for Todd we went over to a restaurant to meet with some teammates and grab some dinner.

In true softball fashion, none of my teammates showed up when they said they would, so Todd and I grabbed a table and ordered dinner. As we were eating they all started to arrive, only about two hours after the appointed time, but since we were late, had to wait for a table, and were ordering food, it really wasn't that big a deal. Slowly but surely more and more friends arrived and we spent a fun, loud evening reminiscing and catching up. Todd and I had had such a long day that we were exhausted and knew we had a long drive back to our hotel. We left the bar/restaurant at about 11:30 and finally crawled into bed at 12:30.

We were also getting up to be back in Gainesville Saturday morning at 9am. No such luck. We were beat and slept in some, grabbed a good breakfast and made it back into Gainesville at about 10:30. I needed a shirt (I didn't find one I like the night before) so we did some shopping for me, then hit the local Verizon store. I know, not your typical stop on a weekend like this, but I wanted a new phone and was hoping that a Gainesville store might have some fun Gator gear. It didn't happen, but I got a great new phone that I absolutely love!

After activating my phone we headed on campus to start our huge tailgate. If you've never been to a game in the South, you may not understand what tailgating is all about. Todd and I have season tickets to ASU, but we don't tailgate. In fact, I always tease Todd about ASU games vs. Florida games. I think it's probably gotten a little bit old because Todd doesn't find it funny...at all! Either way, as we drove on campus there were already plenty of people parked on the grass tailgating. It was now just before noon and the game didn't start until 8pm. They were already tailgating 8 hours before kickoff. But that's not the worst of it. Typically, some of the parking lots around campus are shut down on Thursday night before game days so motorhomes can come in and park and start their tailgating early. Two days early!

So here we are, driving through campus to meet up with my teammates and there are already cars parked about a mile away from the stadium. It's a free for all on game days. If there's an empty space (whether on the street or on the grass) you park there. You don't worry about parking tickets or fire hydrants, you just park. Because people were already parked a mile away, that made me truly nervous for finding a parking spot anywhere near our group. We were meeting at the track to tailgate there before the game. As we pulled up there were cars everywhere, tents already up, BBQ's smoking and alcohol flowing. I jumped out of the car to find some suggestions for parking. My teammates were fantastic and moved a barrier and we parked right in front of our tents...and right in front of my old dorm room. So funny.

The setup was amazing. There was so much food...and alcohol. That really isn't surprising though considering my old teammates. Luckily, I knew in advance to request plenty of water and soda for Todd and I. Water was key regardless because of the heat and humidity. There were hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, pasta salad, potato salad, dips with veggies and a huge cake. We even had t-shirts made up for us with the reunion date. It was a lot of fun.

Todd and I spent some time walking around campus and taking in the tailgating sights. We saw where the filmed ESPN GameDay earlier that morning (where my teammate Emily was prominently in the front row) and we took pictures with a full sized Gator.

We ate a bunch and hung out and reunited with old friends that weren't on the team, but came by to say hi. We saw old strength coaches and academic advisors, trainers and equipment managers, old football alumni and even an alumni basketball player stopped by to say hi and eat some food....and he's currently in the NBA. We played games and listened to music and tried to scalp tickets for the game.

At one point we went into our old locker room to see the changes that had been made. It used to be called the UAAAC, but has since changed it's name. Our lockers were there, as well as our training room, but the softball team has moved to their own training room out at the softball field so this was just our own memories. As we walked in, there were some changes along the wall across from our laundry lockers. Each year had highlights and pictures from each of the teams that used that particular facility. It was a lot of fun to see some of the highlights that I had been a a part of. There was our team picture from my freshman year. It was the inaugural year for softball.

There was a picture of me at bat my senior year, and even a short blip about me being the first Gator softball player in the NCAA record books. It was quite a sight to see our history up on that wall for all to see.

Todd and I still didn't know if our neighbor was successful with tickets, but we headed to will call at 4pm just in case. The line was already starting to back up when we got there 20 minutes early. But, we gave our name, showed our ID and lo and behold, there were two tickets with our name on them. Hooray!

We also noticed that with a football ticket, you could get in free to the women's volleyball match with Long Beach State at 5pm. Are you kidding? A couple hours in an air conditioned arena, away from the heat, and with bathrooms? Todd and I were sold. We walked into the O-Dome (or the O'Connell Center as it's officially known) and the first thing we see is Alberta (our female alligator mascot; Albert is our official mascot.) Todd wanted a picture with her, so I took one...and then realized that Todd was flashing his "gang" sign.

For those that don't know or can't tell, that's the way those Sundevils at ASU say "go devils."

I thought it was pretty funny, and one of these days I'll have it blown up and hung in the house, just so Todd knows that this house is truly a divided household when it comes to our college allegiences.

We left the volleyball game after Game 4. UF had lost the first to sets, won the next two and were playing a Game 5. And we left. Not a happy thought for me, I wanted to see if we could pull it out (notice how I say we like I'm part of the team? I do that when I talk about UF for some reason. Even though I'm an alum, I'm still part of it all. Weird, I know.) Instead we headed back to the group to help take down and put away all of the tailgating gear because kickoff was coming and no one wanted to miss it. I also wanted to say goodbye to friends and teammates because I had a feeling we wouldn't run into anyone after the game and Todd and I were leaving first thing in the morning.

We helped clean up, said our goodbyes and headed to the stadium. We found out that our seats were about 75 rows back (which in reality isn't too bad, we were underneath the press box) and we were on the 30 yard line. And, we were seated in the alumni lettermen section. We had seats next to a nice man and his wife who have had season tickets for almost 20 years I think. I could be wrong though. Either way, as we began to talk with him it was brought up that I was hear for a softball reunion and he mentioned that he was one of our team doctors. He told me his name, and as soon as he said it, his face clicked and I recognized him immediately. He no longer works at UF but for a school in Georgia, but he and his wife keep their season tickets and make the 300+ mile drive six or seven times a year to see the Gators play. Can you say dedication and support?

Needless to say, we had a great time at the game. It was sold out, and not an empty seat in the house. Here are all four corners of the stadium, in the 4th quarter. Todd took a picture of the empty seat beside him just to try to prove me wrong about the sell-out crowd, but I quickly reminded him that the only reason that seat was empty was because the doctor moved to the other side of his wife when their friends headed upstairs to box seats. That's rough.

The Gators won 26-3 and played well overall. The first three quarters were slow, but we finished strong and the win is all that counts.

I was right in thinking I wouldn't see anyone from the team again. We left the game a few minutes early so we could get on the road before fighting traffic off campus, on the freeway and all the way to our hotel. Looking back, it was a great decision. We made it back to the hotel by midnight and knew we had another early morning to come home on Sunday.

I'm so glad Todd and I made this trip together. I'm glad he was able to meet my old teammates, see UF in all its football glory, enjoy a "real" college football game, and spend a quick weekend with me. I do wish he wouldn't have heard quite so much about what life was like in my college days...or those of my teammates. Oh well, what can you do?

It was a great weekend and if it happens again next year, I'll do my best to be there then too.