FIRST CLEMSON GAME

To say that I was excited about this day is a major understatement. I have been (patiently) waiting for the day that I got to proudly take my boys to their very first Clemson game! I was always a little jealous of people that got to take their kids in utero or people that can claim, "My first Clemson game was when I was three months old", or whatever the case may be. It just hasn't been feasible up to this point for us to take them to a game, although they have visited Clemson before (see this post from May of 2014 when they were less than a year old!) just not on a game day.

Peery picture: #1 Tiger Fans!

Keep in mind that both Thomas and I had been season ticket holders ever since we graduated and very rarely missed a game (one I can remember were due to being in my cousin's wedding). When we found out we were having triplets, we knew that our season ticket holding days were going to have to change. It's been a struggle during football season to not be there, and watching on tv instead - because let's get serious, it's just not the same - and I've been counting down the days before we could show up with our kiddos! We needed good weather (aka not rainy or freezing, although it was pretty darn hot on Saturday), a decent gametime (no 8 PM games for these fellas), a Saturday that we didn't have other things going on, and a willing MaSha to take care of Ryan for us.

There are a few reasons that we decided to leave Ryan with MaSha for the game. First, it was going to be a hot day. Ryan's medicine does not allow him to sweat so it's harder for his body to cool off when it's hot and he can easily get overheated, which is dangerous. Second, we weren't sure where we were going to be able to park and it's definitely much easier to have toddlers with you that can walk, as it would have gotten heavy to carry Ryan across campus, especially if they all got tired of walking and we had to carry all 3 of them. Third, we were planning to carry two of the boys in with us and just have 2 tickets (and keep the boys on our laps) so that we didn't have to buy 4 (or 5) tickets. We can get away with it for 2 kids, but not for 3! So there you have it!

You just never know how a toddler is going to react to a new situation, and it can be scary to think about dealing with meltdowns in public, but you never know until you try it. I just figured that if behavior got bad, we could just pack it up and come home. No harm, no foul. This wasn't a "big" game since we were playing an FCS school, and it wouldn't be the end of the world to miss a lot of it, so we went for it!

Boys snacking in the car while we were sitting in game
day traffic. I had them say, "Number one! Go Tigers!"

We left a little later than we should have, but we found out on Saturday morning that Carole and her Clemson tribe had an extra parking pass in Lot 2 and 2 extra tickets for us so we didn't have to worry about a thing! No scalping tickets and no parking far away and schlepping across campus. WOO HOO! What a relief and we were, and are, so grateful!

Kickoff was 12 noon and we didn't pull in to Lot 2 until around 11:30. Yikes! We didn't want to miss any of the pre-game traditions and we especially wanted the boys to see the players Run Down The Hill, so we parked and only had a few seconds to say "hi" to the tribe before we had to get into the stadium and find our seats.

William - he means business

William and  Dada

Carole (aka Mimi) and Stokes

Family picture pre-game (and pre-sweaty mess)

William and Kate

Our gameday tribe :)
GO TIGERS!

The Andresen girls and the Peery boys. LOVE!!!!

We hurried on in there and had FABULOUS seats! We were in the lower deck and had a great view of the field! Our former season tickets were wayyyyyy up in the upper deck. We felt like high rollers down here in these great seats. ;)

We made it in time!

Stokes and Dada taking in the sights!

William and Mama

Players at the top of the hill

So Excited!!!

Woo hoo! The band was playing the Tiger Song (aka Tiger Rag)

YAYYYYYYYYY

Loved the fanfare!

Video that Carole took of Running Down the Hill

Starting to get hot....

Go Tigers!

He was a trooper!

Getting a little hot (and one of the little
guys didn't want to cooperate....can you
guess which one?!?!) LOL

We had a few empty seats in front
of us and this little stinker liked to sit here
and drink from his water bottle

Stokes and Mama

Enthralled

Stokes watching the SC State halftime performance

Clapping for the band!

Loving the show

William watching the band

In-game family picture
That's the band that shakes the southland behind us!

We made it through the first 2 quarters, with a few walks up to the breezeway for bottled waters, diaper changes (no, we didn't even think about trying any potty training) and a hot dog lunch! Stokes was definitely squirming around quite a bit and wasn't very cooperative when we wanted him to sit still, sit on our laps, take a picture, etc, but he did OK. William, on the other hand, was totally captivated by the whole scene. The only thing he got upset about was that he wanted to "play with the Clemson tigers" and I had to explain to him that he has to be older and bigger before he can play with them! HA! They both loved watching the half time shows by the bands and the balloons that get released during the Running Down the Hill.

By the time the halftime shows were over, we decided to head back to the tailgate for a little while before coming back home. The stands were emptying out due to the heat and total game blowout (final score was Clemson 59, SC State 0). We got several shout outs for staying as long as we did with the little ones! Before leaving the stadium, we went down to the first row to get a picture or 2 taken and we ran into Carole, Corey and Molly!

Carole giving William a hug

Hugs all around for Mimi!

3 generations of amazing women

We all walked back to the tailgate together. It was so nice to see that the tigers seemed to have found their offensive mojo and we put up a lot of points! I think the boys got enough of a Clemson game day experience in the first half and we were ready for some shade. I do not exaggerate when I tell you that we were all drenched in sweat.

Kate chilling at the tailgate spot

Drink up!

Kiddos playing

Mimi, William and Susan

Coco and Kate

Sweet thing!

Tailgate Tigers!

We stayed for a while at the tailgate just to catch up with everyone since we were pretty rushed before the game started. It was so great to see everyone and let the boys play with Molly and Kate! Stokes, especially, couldn't stand having to sit still and stay in one area at the game, so it was nice that he could roam a little at the tailgate. The boys were serious troopers and were having a blast, so we managed to avoid any meltdowns. I was a proud mama! It eventually became time for us to get the boys in the car and head back to Greenville. William fought off his nap for a little while, maybe he was just too jazzed up by all the excitement he'd witnessed, but it didn't take long for these 2 buggers to conk out.

Sleepy little fellas

Oh yeah, full head tilt

The boys were waking back up by the time we pulled back into our driveway and shortly afterwards, Thomas went and picked up Ryan. We sure did miss him during the game, but he had a great time with MaSha and Gran-O. They went to an outdoor farmer's market, randomly ran into and met an old neighbor of mine and had some down time as well. I think his low key day with MaSha was just perfect for him. But we will definitely get Ryan to a Clemson game at some point within the next few years!

Corey told me later that everyone from the tailgate was saying how well the boys were behaved and how cute they were. Let me just tell you, not many things sound sweeter to a Mama's ears than hearing awesome compliments like that! It made my heart soar.

We were so grateful and thankful for the tickets, parking pass and amazing day. We're thinking about maybe taking the boys up for another tailgate sometime this season, even if we don't go to the game. We'll see!!! Until then...GO TIGERS!