"Happy football day to you!"

The five of us were walking the six blocks to Bryant-Denny stadium from our parking spot, and as we did so, we saw hordes of people wearing crimson and white (and a few in black and gold), shouts of "Roll Tide!" punctuating the warm October air; there were Bama flags waving from vehicles and front porches, pictures of Big Al painted on business windows, and in the midst of all the festivity, Aidan stopped and said, "mommy, happy football day to you!!" I smiled and realized I could not possibly have said it any better; this was going to be a good day for our family and for Aidan's first ever football game.  Already in his four-year-old mind, he was beginning to understand how exciting Alabama football is.  "The tradition rolls on...."

Our boys--love them!

Ha! I stole your hat, dude!

Chilling on the quad in front of the library.  

Gorgas library--look at that sky!  Perfect weather all day.

T.J.'s roommate, David, letting Aidan try on his hat

We had hoped to make the elephant stomp as well as have a picture with Big Al, but we completely misjudged our time.  That was okay, though, as Aidan was thrilled just seeing Big Al on the field and dancing on the jumbo-tron.  T.J. went with friends and sat in the student section, and we leisurely made our way to our gate, stopping to take in more of the sights.

Playing toss the football with daddy pre-game...just like everybody else!

Andrew was mesmerized by all the names etched in the stone walkway leading to the stadium

at Bear Bryant's statue

Look,  Gate 38, finally!

 Sadly this is the best pic our neighbor took of us.  Aidan became very shy all of a sudden...

Our view....thanks to Mrs. Renee for the fantastic seats!  

Sooo exciting!

Some shaker action.  We had to instruct them on proper shaker etiquette.

No surprise, they loved watching the band.



Our neighbor let the boys try out his binoculars



Talking game stats?

Even though we got in our seats an hour and a half before kickoff, the boys did great and behaved really well. The homecoming ceremonies and the flyover added to the fun.  The people sitting around us were top notch as well, and were not the least bit bothered by the occasional wayward smack of a shaker or bump by the boys.  (With the exception of a couple of Vandy fans, but so what, right??).  We had figured we'd make it to halftime, but actually were able to stay until 3rd quarter, so we felt really lucky.  I guess we stayed a bit late however, because that was a long walk back to the car in that crowd (since the score was 27-0 at that point, we were not the only ones with the idea of leaving).  The boys were tired, especially Andrew, and he tried to melt down on us more than a few times.  Lesson learned.  He also may not have been feeling well, as he woke up very early the next morning with a stomach bug.  Other than that, what a great day!!  34-0 final score.  Roll Tide!