Pictures from a Tailgate

Let me start this post with two things. First, there are five million photos, but you should be used to that. Second, I went to a "football school" and did that whole thing in college, so I thought I knew what to expect. We've also lived her for a year and driven up and down Nicholson on game day...but until you are there, walking around the campus...oh my word. It is insane. At one point Bree needed a nap and I took her on an hour and a half long walk literally around the campus...and during that time I saw purple and gold versions of absolutely everything you can think of, from RVs to baby bottles to trampolines - yeah, someone brought a trampoline to a tailgate - to one unfortunate pair of spandex leggings (shudder). It was unbelievable.

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Here's Carly pulling the cooler, or as we call it, "Earning Her Keep."

The guys started setting up and Carly was trying to help...so Sarah and I took the girls on a very long walk. I wish I could have gotten a photo of the octopus-looking beer funnel we saw, with eight clear tubes with spigots attached to a giant funnel...it was hanging from a tree next to three kegs and a soaking wet beer pong table...and I couldn't decide whether to be impressed or scared that it had clearly already seen some use by 8:30am. Sarah and I decided that maybe we would walk back to our tent another way.
Meet Campbell Mae (the white one) Sarah and Steven's dog. Carly freaked out when this big dog came over to say hi...he was really sweet to Campbell, but Carly was convinced that he was going to try and have the little dog for a snack.
The final setup! Not too bad for a bunch of first-timers! A group nearby had satellite with a couple of extra outlets they let us hook onto. Amazing!

Aaaaand there was a generator, so Carly spent a lot of time doing THIS:

She was just as happy as could be and it kept her out of trouble. The other half the time she was walking around with me or throwing the football around with the guys.

I'm giving myself lots of nice Mommy points for even posting this photo...it's so cute of Bree!

Oh yeah! Okay...and this is about 10am...they're brainstorming improvements. A flagpole, more tarps, fans...watch out!

So, so gross. So gross.

These are our newlyweds, Steven and Sarah! I looooove the look on Sarah's face when Steven is playing with Bree. So sweet!

So when Bree and I got back from our long walk, we decided it was time for jambalaya. This is the part where Paul tried to kill us all by lighting the propane burner while the hose was half an inch away from the flame. It wasn't until I was screaming at him and jumping up and down and the hose actually started SMOKING that he moved the can away. OMG.

See the painted dude in the middle? The ULL fan (that's who LSU is playing today, btw). Well...he was wasted and wearing red silk booty shorts, walking around riling people up. Apparently, about fifteen minutes after the girls and I left, he came back over and got a little upset when people started yelling "Tiger Bait" over and over. There may or may not have been unpleasantries. I'm just glad I wasn't there.

But nevermind about that, it was after we left. This is the first steps of some yummy jambalaya! Once I got someone else to help me regulate the cooking temperature (Paul has totally been fired from propane tank cooking), it came together quite well. Smelled great! The girls and I left before it was served, but from what I hear everyone liked it, except one girl from the next group over who said, "That's a lot of celery" to which Paul replied, "That's a lot of mouth, give me the plate and get out of here." She didn't think he was serious...so he said it again and she left, but she took the plate of food with her. So for the record...no complaining about celery when someone gives you free food. =)

And then when THIS guy rolled by, I figured I had officially seen It All and we left.

(In case you can't really tell, those are yellow and white seersucker shorts with his fraternity embroidered on them in purple. Phi Delta Theta. Classy.)