Thursday, February 28, 2019

2019 National Championship - Santa Clara, CA

Well.....we weren't planning on going...and I was a little on the fence about how we'd play against Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl...but then I got to thinking. Thomas and I haven't missed Clemson play in a National Championship in our lifetimes. That's a pretty cool streak. We went 1-1 in those 2 games, and both were amazing experiences and we didn't regret a single minute. Ahead of the Cotton Bowl, we decided that we don't want to let our tradition of being there in-person for all Clemson National Championship games go, so we requested tickets through IPTAY. Our fate was sealed when we beat down Notre Dame in the semi-finals. Was this a good, fiscally-responsible idea? No. Did we make it happen anyway? Yes.

The other part was that Thomas had a work meeting in San Jose, right near where the game was being played, for work that week anyway. Fate? Me thinks so. This was a legit meeting and had nothing to do with the game (supposedly...) so his airfare was covered through work. I've been traveling some over the last few years for work and I had enough airline points to get my ticket out to CA as well. So with flights covered, we felt a little bit better about the trip. Of course, we paid face value for our upper deck tickets, meanwhile, lower bowl, great seats were going for around $100. That hurt.

We got these babies in the mail several weeks
after the game!

To minimize the time away from the boys and minimize wallet discomfort, we took our chances and flew out the morning of the big game. I am not typically a big fan of the time zone changes, but for our purposes, it worked pretty well. We needed those extra 3 hours to make our plan work!

Clemson vs. Alabama part IV was happening and we were going to be there! Clash of the Titans once again in the College Football Playoffs. It never gets old (if you are a Clemson or Alabama fan).

We had a SUPER early flight about of Greenville, connected in Detroit, and landed in San Jose around 11 AM PST. Jan. 7, 2019

Selfie in Detroit Airport
Plenty of other Tigers on our flight!

We (quickly) got an Uber to our hotel - same hotel where our tribe was staying - changed clothes, then grabbed a ride to meet up with the Tribe for lunch before driving over the stadium.

Ready to go Tailgate!

Rick had a parking pass near the stadium so we jumped in his ride and we were so happy to be with the Tribe at the Natty again. All was right in the world.


The Tribe had been in the San Francisco area for a few days and had done some sightseeing/player stalking and Corey managed to get that sign that she's holding that said, "Roll AWAY Tide". It came in handy!

Supposedly this Clemson flag was on the
Golden Gate Bridge...I'm not sure, but I
love the picture anyway!

2019 National Championship!
Corey, Carole and me

The weather was pretty nice. It was a little chilly but at least the sun was out! Over the weekend, when most Clemson fans traveled, the weather was really crummy and it rained a lot. That probably put a little damper on the sightseeing and fun. But Monday was altogether a pretty day! We tailgated at the car for a while and then around the parking lot before heading up to the stadium. We had been told over and over again by the media that this game wasn't a sell out. That there were going to be lots of empty seats. Based on the tickets sold, more than 60% of them were going to be Alabama fans. We were prepared to be the vast minority. That said, during tailgating time, we were seeing a lot of Clemson fans and very few Alabama fans. As Corey said, "they're like cockroaches. You don't see them until it gets dark and then they're everywhere." LOL

We did see quite a few people we knew while tailgating and then even more inside the stadium!

Thomas, me, Matt
Taylor Newsome!
Natty Time with my man
Levi's Stadium
This is a picture with the Dwight Clark statue at the 49ers
Stadium. Dwight played at Clemson and then was famous for
"The Catch" from Joe Montana, against my Dallas Cowboys
in the 1981 NFC Championship, which sent the 49ers on
to win the Super Bowl that year.
The sweet lady that took this picture totally missed the
fact that we wanted the statue IN the picture.
Back at home, Fifi, Jerry and MaSha were taking great care of the boys for us! They sent us this "All In" picture so that we'd have the boys there at the game with us.

GO TIGERS!

In the stadium... GAME TIME!

I was not feeling confident in this game. I was just there to have fun and keep the streak of being at the Natty when Clemson plays alive. I totally always buy in to everything that the announcers and analysts say about the game. This was supposedly Nick Saban's best team. The Alabama Dynasty would continue. Clemson was too young and inexperienced, apart from the D-Line. And although he had a great game in the Cotton Bowl, our QB was a true freshman, and would he be able to handle the pressure of this big game? And so on..... 

Once again, very few people were giving us a chance. We thrive on that. 

Thomas and me in the stadium

Matt and Katie Money just happened to have tickets
really close to ours!

Y'all. This game. What can I say?!?! It felt like a dream. I kept looking at Thomas and asking if this was really happening and if it was real life. It was like the universe aligned in favor of Clemson. Everything was going right. Receivers were catching everything - literally everything. It felt like all the calls were going against Bama. Our defense had not one, but TWO interceptions, including a Pick 6. I mean....it was insanity. No one was expecting this, except maybe our team and our coaching staff. I was totally blown away. 

When it was in the 4th quarter, we were getting texts from the Tribe to come down to their section and squeeze in with them. Apparently no one was checking tickets anymore and the Clemson fans were so elated, they didn't care about cramming more Tigers into the area. Absolutely no one was sitting down anyways!

With Corey and Cle

CELEBRATION!!!!!!
Confetti!
National Champions!

In case you missed it, the final score was 44-16. It wasn't even close. We dominated Alabama from the first quarter and never looked back. This was a game for the ages!!!!

#tribe
We rolled the Tide away!
After the game, we were going insane. We tried to do our usual escapades and get into the team hotel to celebrate there with our besties (the players). Unfortunately, several thousand other Clemson fans had the same idea and the hotel employees were checking room keys to be able to enter. We had to go to Plan B. Another hotel down the street (which was also not letting people in) had a parking lot party going on with heat lamps and a beer truck. We saw more friends that we knew there too. Our voices were gone, the temperature had dropped, but we didn't care. We wanted to celebrate this EPIC game and enjoy our time on the top. 

Tribe after-party

We eventually went back to our hotel and straight to the hotel bar to keep the party going. There were several other Clemson fans there and no one was ready to call it a night! At some point, the bar closed down and we were forced to go back to our rooms, but we went back as some really, really happy Tiger fans. At that point, Thomas and I had been up for over 24 hours, due to our super early flight from Greenville that morning. It was a looooooooong day. 


Oh yeah, and did you know the
Empire State Building
turned orange & purple in honor
of the Clemson Tigers,
2019 National Champions?
Beautiful. ;)
New logo for this year!
This logo was designed by my friend's older
brother that I've known since high school.
How cool is that?!?!
The next day was a Tuesday. Thomas and I had a PTO day as his meeting wasn't until Wednesday and I had a flight out on Wednesday morning as well. We had the whole day on Tuesday to do whatever we wanted. So we went to Santana Row in San Jose, which is well-known for shopping and dining. We just wandered around, shopped a little, ate lunch and enjoyed a free day. 

Santana Row on a rainy day



Later that afternoon, we were seriously still so tired after the long day we had on Monday, we just went back to our hotel and napped before dinner. Naps are heaven.

We went to a casino near our hotel for dinner since it sounded like the best option out of what was close by. Spoiler alert - it was probably not the best option. Womp womp.

But they did have this fun gameday
set-up!

Dinner disappointment

It was a fun day and we were also just eating up ESPN and all the online articles talking about the game. Ahhh....what a trip.

The next day, Thomas had his meeting and I flew home to see the boys. Looking back, although we were a bit on the fence about going, and then we were conflicted about whether we should be spending hard earned money on the trip and the game, in the end, we were so glad that we took the chance and did it. I would have been extremely disappointed had I not been there. It was truly so awesome! I don't know when/if we will have the opportunity to have a game like that again, so I'm thankful I was there to witness it. 

Our future at Clemson, especially with our football program, is bright. As always, don't forget Dabo's famous saying, "The best is yet to come!" 

Monday, February 25, 2019

Cute take-homes from school

The kids make cute crafts and neat little things at school constantly. Especially around any sort of holiday, their teachers will organize some sort of craft that goes along with that holiday. I don't keep them all, but the best ones end up in a drawer to be kept forever (or until I find a nice way to organize all these things that I may or may not ever look at again). But in the spirit of trying to remember some of them, I wanted to share these. They make me laugh.

At Christmas time, Stokes and William's class made these little notes for Santa.

Stokes's note. It says:
"I want a tablet and a jersey" - DONE
"I need new shoes" - ALSO DONE
Santa was good to Stokes! He brought him his tablet and his jersey! Mama and Dada got him Nike shoes, too. He really must have been good!

William's note. It says:
"I want a toy Spiderman" - DONE
"I need more food." - UMM WHAT?!?!
William did get the toy Spiderman he was asking for. Awesome! I'm not sure why he thinks he needs more food, but I did get a good laugh out of that!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day


They each got to do an ornament thing (I guess it's an ornament??) saying what their dream is, in honor of MLK's "I have a dream" speech. Super cute and creative! I know it's hard to read, but no worries, I've got you covered! 
Stokes's says, "my dream is...for everyone to have a good school like {name of his school}". I thought that was so sweet and well thought out for him. 
William's says, "my dream is...to help get food for all people." Also, so incredibly sweet. I love it that they were both thinking of others. But I had to think, what is William's obsession with FOOD? I was wondering what his teachers were thinking. I promise you, he gets plenty to eat at home! He's such a funny little kid! 

Friday, February 22, 2019

The Prove-Its come to town!

Joey, Lisa and Davis PRUETT (referred to by the boys as Prove It) came to visit us in early January. We had a great weekend with them! Davis refers to the boys as his brothers and they just adore playing with him. I love how close in age they are and how well they really get along. I guess they've been growing up together, even though we live far apart, due to our joint beach vacations over the last several years.

They got to Greenville on Friday evening and we went out to dinner with the Mays and Young families and Matt Owings at Moe's BBQ downtown. This place was perfect for a large group on a Friday night because you order at the counter and it's first come, first served on the seating. We managed to grab a large table and a small one right beside it. We also didn't have to wait long for our food, so we could decide when it was time to leave, without waiting on a server.

Fun group!

The food was really good, too! It happened to be the day after Clark's birthday, so Stephanie brought birthday celebration stuff for him, including a cookie cake and noise makers for the kids! They were having a BALL.

Birthday cake for Clark!

Loving the noisemakers!


All of the kiddos!

They were more interested in blowing their noisemakers
than taking pictures!
The guys:
Matt, Joey, (Ryan), Thomas and Clark
Best buds

After dinner we went outside to the large fire pit to continue our conversations and let the kids run around and blow their noisemakers with their friends.

Fire pit time!

It was all fun and games until one of the noisemakers ended up in the fire and tears ensued. Aunt Steph came to the rescue though with a brand new toy she happened to have in her car! She's the best. 

Before bed: dress up and play time!

We had a quick breakfast at our house before heading out to Fountain Inn, a little town right near us, only about 15 minutes away, to meet up with the Mays family.

Breakfast time!

Downtown Fountain Inn in so cute! We started out at Steam Coffee & Cream. This is a small coffee shop with all the charm you could possibly want! A good friend of mine owns it and I had been wanting to try it out for a long time. I loved it so much and can't wait to go back. The environment is open and inviting, and importantly for our group, very kid-friendly. My friend has 4 kids of her own (including a 1 week old newborn as of right now!) so she knows how about being a busy mama and how to make her coffee shop easy for families. The coffee was so delicious. I'm so impressed with my friend and can't stop raving about this place!

Steam Coffee & Cream

With my good friend, and owner, Adrienne
(very pregnant at the time)

one of Adrienne's littles - Annie
How cute is she?!?!?!
Steph loves Adrienne, too!!
Cuties!

When the kids got rambunctious and ready to leave, the dadas took them across the street to run around and blow off some steam (hahaha, see what I did there?). The mamas stayed for a while, talking and relaxing. Ahhhh....

When we were ready to go, we met up with the kids and Dads for a few minutes to check in and also make a wish in the big fountain. Because, duh!

Playing on the swing
Kids!
The sun was bright and we couldn't get Ryan to look up!
Mamas - Steph, me and Lisa

Making a wish and throwing a penny

Downtown FI

The Mamas once again left the kids and the Dads to go do a little shopping. There were several really cute boutiques in downtown Fountain Inn. My favorites were Southern Sisters and The Black Tulip. Both were so awesome and I've already been back since that time! I even bought a few things that day because I loved the stores so much. I honestly was really impressed with Fountain Inn. There are a lot of cool things happening there. It's ridiculous to say, since it's really so close to our house, but I'd never been out there before to check out the downtown. Like I said, I've already been back and look forward to more coffee and shopping mornings in Fountain Inn!

When our brief shopping jaunt ended, it was time to grab some lunch so we went to a yummy local Mexican place and enjoyed some lunch with the whole crew. 

After lunch. the Mays family went home and we went back to our house to try to let the kids use up as much energy as possible. It was a gorgeous afternoon with lots of sun, so we pulled out the bounce house for the boys. 


We also ended up getting out bikes and scooters and going on a little bike ride and playing in nearby cul-de-sac. It was a fun afternoon!

That evening, Clark had plans with his high school buddies in Seneca so Steph and Ava Lane came back over to hang out with us some more. We had dinner and then while the kids were playing upstairs, the adults played a little game called What do you Meme? It's a totally inappropriate, adults-only, hilarious game and we were all dying laughing. 

What do you Meme?

All of the grown-ups had fun and the kids loved their awesome play date, too.
Davis being silly


Snuggling with Ava Lane and William

Hugging on Uncle Joey

William and Joey (aka Goo Goo Gah Gah)

We love the Prove-Its!

It was just an enjoyable, laid-back, fun weekend with our awesome friends. That's the life. If only we could do it every weekend...