Trips to State College

In my failure to post recently, I've missed some things that were actually, gasp, interesting.  Like, Chris and I went ALL BY OURSELVES to see the opening game of Penn State's season.  And, before you try to accuse us like one of Chris's cousins...no that does NOT mean Lion #2 is on the way.  We stayed with another one of Chris's cousins, and just had a good time.

And, you can pretend that this is even from this past weekend, because I wore this same outfit on Friday.  Though my hair is shorter now. 

We went up early enough so that we could see the pep rally on Friday, and then the game on Saturday.  We did not get to go out, though, as Chris forgot his ID.  Believe it or not, they still won't let him in bars, even though there isn't a chance we're under 21.  We did tailgate with some of his college friends on Saturday, and I may have consequently sent entirely too many of you text messages.  ;)

Ok, now this past weekend.  While this was not Robby's first trip to State College, it was his first time attending a game.  Well, he was in utero for #400, but that doesn't really count.

The car ride up could have been a complete disaster, but blissfully, it was not.  Traffic was awful, and it took us 5 hours to get there.  Robby napped for about the first 2.5, but after that?  It was all on me to entertain him.  I am very grateful that he is entirely obsessed with trucks right now, so a lot of the entertainment was pointing out the window and talking about each truck we went by.  I also brought a stack of books, including some he didn't know by memory, that I had checked out from the library.  He had his yankee doodle singing doll, a toy steering wheel thingy, and toy computer, and then his dad's iPad that had a few apps and the movie "Cars" loaded on it.  Robby still really has very little interest in tv or movies, so the video really didn't hold his attention for more than about 10 seconds, but it was worth a try.  But let's own up to it.  By the end I was relying on potato chips.  And there was still some screaming.  But overall?  It went much better than I would have anticipated.  

We got to State College around 5:30, and stopped in to McLanahan's for some subs and cookies, and then snagged a spot on a hill to watch the parade.  Please ignore Robby's food intake, or at least don't judge.  This weekend was far from following nutritional recommendations.  He had some sub, but then was very intrigued by the cookies (he does NOT usually get them).  So enthralled, in fact, that he kept trying to hand out 1/2 eaten cookies to all the people sitting around us.  They appreciated the sentiment, and thought he was cute, but...soggy 1/2 eaten cookies?!?!  Gross!

And, yeah, anything Mom is drinking is WAY better than what's in his sippy cup.  Even if they're both water, which is the norm.  At least he's getting better at drinking out of bottles and cups and it's not as big of a mess.  Though...off topic...every time we're in the bathroom, he insists on getting a little dixie cup of water, and then dumping it on the floor, smushing it, then throwing it in the garbage.  He may not have that concept.

In the little bit before the parade started, he met a golden retriever that was getting very nervous about the drums approaching, but still seemed to enjoy the attention.  And, fortunately, the owners were nice and didn't mind a toddler coming over every 5 minutes to say "hi".  He's got waving and saying, "Hi" and "Bye" down very nicely, and so is pretty good at melting strangers' hearts.  We, and everyone around us was referring to him as, "The Mayor" because of his outgoing personality.  Again, this is a mixed bag.  I'm glad he's friendly, confident, sweet, cheerful, all that...but terrified that he would just walk off with a stranger.  

When the trucks started going by?!?!  WOAH nelly.  He couldn't get enough of them.  And then there were bands, too?!?!?  He was dancing like a mad man, to the point that I saw a college girl videotaping him on her phone.  I honestly never know how to feel about that.  Do I think she had any malicious intent what-so-ever?  NO.  Was the time the guy at the swimming pool videotaping me running around after Robby in my bikini a little more creepy?  Absolutely.

He made it through a lot of the parade, but it was too long, so by 7:45 we left to go to the hotel.  That night...well...it was alright, but not as expected.  Robby flat out refused to sleep in the pack n play, but consented to sleeping in a bed with me.  Alright...it meant that I ended up going to bed with him at 8:30, but so be it.  I was tired, anyway.  He is currently waking up multiple times a night with nightmares and SCREAMING, often needing comfort to go back to sleep, so I've been pretty tired.  Chris, of course, managed to not even notice when he was in the bed next to us.  Men and their sound-sleeping.  Bah.

We hit up the Creamery for breakfast (bagels, not ice cream, though it was tempting), and were thrilled that the glee club stopped in to sing.  We chatted with some nice Northwestern fans (one named Robby), and then headed back for some "tailgating".  Our usual tailgate had been cancelled because of the rain, and it was less than ideal for us to fully set up ours, so we grilled a couple burgers and called it a day.  We went a bit early...and...I became the worst mother ever.

See Robby sitting nicely on the bench 2 pictures up?  Well, he started moving at lightning speed climbing over benches.  He made it over one, and then the picture above is the 2nd.  See my hand baaaaarely grasping his pants?  Yeah, he managed to go head first over the bench and conk his head on the cement.  He really wasn't too phased, but it was scary as anything, and I felt awful.  And...you will notice in all the rest of the pictures he has a giant egg on his forehead.  (Which, actually, daycare tried to have me sign an incident report for on Monday, because they thought it had happened when he and Louisa were fighting over a toy...but I digress.)

Our seats are really pretty good.  They're about 1/2 way up the lower section over my right shoulder in the above picture.  Robby, however, was not cool with sitting in them.  He wanted to move, there were too many people, it was his nap time (can I say going to a 12pm game is perhaps not the best choice for him?), and...it was just not happening.  He and I hung out on the concourse for the 1st quarter, and then Chris found us and said that his cousins had a bunch of space near them, and we should go join them.

Chris's cousins always make their way to the VERY top of the stadium, which is actually ideal for kids (don't steal this!).  They have room to spread out, move around, and generally be maniacs without disturbing other people.  Even better?  Robby had a bunch of 2nd cousins that were more than happy to chase him.

Note the horrible egg screaming, "Worst mom ever!"

I've raved about Nicole before, but here I go again.  I lament every time I see her that I wish she lived closer.  But, she's about 2 hours away from us.  Her dad joked that he'd have to drive her down to babysit.  She's still a bit young (about to turn 11), but soon!  And, oh man, is she eager to get to start babysitting!  She'd be fantastic.  She's so good with Robby.  Yes, this really makes me wish I had family nearby!

They continued the "stuff Robby full of crap" practice, and he chowed down on lemon water ice and nachos.  Sigh.  Totally with my permission, but, we'll have to figure out a healthier way to do football one of these days.

And...with cousins and 2nd cousins on babysitting duty?  We got a breather!

Our view from the top of the stadium.  It actually was a great spot to sit!  You got a really good vantage.

Around 1/2 time, Robby was starting to melt down, and we decided that we'd be better off driving home and letting him nap, then trying to stick it out.  Chris was BESIDE himself when the game got so good, but at least we got to listen to it on the radio (LOVE XM), and the trip home was fairly painless.

We were amazed how well Robby did with the crazy amounts of activity, though by the end he was a little manic and overtired, but generally?  Couldn't have hoped he would do better.  Great weekend!

And, just for fun, last year at the same time: