IT’S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!

Maggie LOVES college football, specifically anything related to the SEC.  She lives, eats, sleeps, and breathes football during the season.  Her two favorite teams to root for are the University of Florida Gators and Auburn University out of Alabama.  When college football season starts you can find her planted in front of the TV, cheering, yelling, coaching, and more every Saturday.  She has introduced her brothers to the love of the game. She has rekindled the love of the game in her daddy (who NEVER watched football until she started him in on it again, SIGH!), and has even inspired some friends and family with her love of the game.

When Maggie turned 10, we took her to her first Gator game for her birthday gift.  She’s been itching to return to the Swamp and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at UF ever since.  This year for her 14^th birthday she was given tickets to the game by some dear friends of ours.   To say that she was thrilled would be an understatement of monumental proportions.  I think she scared the cows with her shrieks of delight.  With her birthday money we HAD to go shopping to get new Gator gear, which I laughed at, she has a drawer full!  BUT, the bigger boys were slightly left out, they really wanted to go to a game and have fun with the Gator life.  It seemed as if this year was all about Maggie again, or so they thought.

Maggie opening her birthday gift!

We surprised Ethan and John Robert this past Thursday evening with the news that they would also be going to their first game at the Swamp.  While they wouldn’t be sitting with Maggie (she was with the family that got her the tickets), they would be on the 40 yard line in great seats.  Not quite the nose bleeds section, but high enough off the field to see everything.  The boys were thrilled.  This was their first ever live football game and they got to spend the day with their daddy!

My parents graciously let us borrow their car since it gets a lot better gas mileage than our truck and so that I would have a vehicle since I was staying home with the little boys.  The day started off with three excited kiddos, all dressed in various shades of orange and blue getting up to head to the Swamp early.  At 8:30, they were off for the 3 hour road trip, excited chatter filling the air as the adventure began.  The game, or so I was told, was awesome.  The Gators won something that the kiddos were all thankful for.  

Maggie was with her friends.

The boys hung out with daddy.

It was a GREAT game!

Even more than the Gators winning and making it into a bowl game which I’ve been told is a HUGE deal!  (HA!); my kiddos won!   They got to spend the day with their Dad making some amazing memories.  They got to see the game up close and in person.  They got to dance, stomp, cheer, yell, scream, and chat with all the other fans.  The kids got to make a sweet memory that will last for a lifetime.  As a mother, I can’t ask for more than that!

It’s with pride that I say: It’s Great To Be A Florida Gator!  It’s with even more pride that I say: It’s Great To Be Robert’s Wife and My Kiddos Mama!!!